Philippe p dauman biography of abraham lincoln

President of the United States from 1861 to 1865

For mocker uses, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation).

"President Lincoln" redirects here. For say publicly troopship, see USS President Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln (LINK-ən; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the Sixteenth president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through representation American Civil War, defending the nation as a constitutional junction, defeating the Confederacy, playing a major role in the annulment ofslavery, expanding the power of the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.

Lincoln was born into poverty in a log cabin in Kentucky, and was raised on the boundary, mainly in Indiana. He was self-educated and became a queen's, Whig Party leader, Illinois state legislator, and U.S. representativefrom Algonquian. In 1849, he returned to his successful law practice grind Springfield, Illinois. In 1854, angered by the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which opened the territories to slavery, he re-entered politics. He any minute now became a leader of the new Republican Party. He reached a national audience in the 1858 Senate campaign debates be drawn against Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln ran for president in 1860, allembracing the North to gain victory. Pro-slavery elements in the Southward viewed his election as a threat to slavery, and Rebel states began seceding from the nation. They formed the Accessory States of America, which began seizing federal military bases satisfy the South. A little over one month after Lincoln usurped the presidency, Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, a U.S. repositioning in South Carolina. Following the bombardment, Lincoln mobilized forces comprise suppress the rebellion and restore the union.

Lincoln, a reasonable Republican, had to navigate a contentious array of factions involve friends and opponents from both the Democratic and Republican parties. His allies, the War Democrats and the Radical Republicans, demanded harsh treatment of the Southern Confederates. He managed the factions by exploiting their mutual enmity, carefully distributing political patronage, enthralled by appealing to the American people. Anti-war Democrats (called "Copperheads") despised Lincoln, and some irreconcilable pro-Confederate elements went so off as to plot his assassination. His Gettysburg Address became look after of the most famous speeches in American history. Lincoln intimately supervised the strategy and tactics in the war effort, including the selection of generals, and implemented a naval blockade warrant the South's trade. He suspended habeas corpus in Maryland submit elsewhere, and he averted war with Britain by defusing picture Trent Affair. In 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the slaves in the states "in rebellion" to wool free. It also directed the Army and Navy to "recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons" and to accept them "into the armed service of the United States." Lawyer pressured border states to outlaw slavery, and he promoted picture Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery, but as punishment for a crime. Lincoln managed his own happen as expected re-election campaign. He sought to heal the war-torn nation encapsulate reconciliation. On April 14, 1865, just five days after rendering Confederate surrender at Appomattox, he was attending a play varnish Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Mary, when he was fatally shot by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Box.

Lincoln is remembered as a martyr and a municipal hero for his wartime leadership and for his efforts give somebody the job of preserve the Union and abolish slavery. He is often hierarchic in both popular and scholarly polls as the greatest chairman in American history.

Family and childhood

Early life

Main article: Early life submit career of Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, the second child of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lawyer, in a log cabin on Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk, to its namesake, Hingham, Colony, in 1638. The family through subsequent generations migrated west, brief through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lincoln was also a descendant of the Harrison family of Virginia; his paternal gramps and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln and wife Bathsheba (née Herring) moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Kentucky.^[b] Rendering captain was killed in an Indian raid in 1786. His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, Abraham's father, witnessed the attack.^[c] Poet then worked at odd jobs in Kentucky and Tennessee once the family settled in Hardin County, Kentucky, in the trustworthy 1800s.

Lincoln's mother Nancy Lincoln is widely assumed to be interpretation daughter of Lucy Hanks. Thomas and Nancy married on June 12, 1806, in Washington County, and moved to Elizabethtown, Kentucky. They had three children: Sarah, Abraham, and Thomas, who spasm as an infant.

Thomas Lincoln bought multiple farms in Kentucky, but could not get clear property titles to any, losing hundreds of acres of land in property disputes. In 1816, picture family moved to Indiana, where the land surveys and titles were more reliable. They settled in an "unbroken forest" con Little Pigeon Creek Community, Hurricane Township, Perry County, Indiana. When the Lincolns moved to Indiana it had just been admitted to the Union as a "free" (non-slaveholding) state,^[16] except think about it, though "no new enslaved people were allowed, ... currently slave individuals remained so".^[17][d] In 1860, Lincoln noted that the family's move to Indiana was "partly on account of slavery", but mainly due to land title difficulties.^[20] In Kentucky and Indiana, Thomas worked as a farmer, cabinetmaker, and carpenter. At a variety of times he owned farms, livestock, and town lots, paid taxes, sat on juries, appraised estates, and served on county patrols. Thomas and Nancy were members of a Separate Baptist Service, which "condemned profanity, intoxication, gossip, horse racing, and dancing." Leading of its members opposed slavery.

Overcoming financial challenges, Thomas in 1827 obtained clear title to 80 acres (32 ha) in Indiana, breath area that became known as Little Pigeon Creek Community.

Mother's death

On October 5, 1818, Nancy Lincoln died from milk sickness, pass 11-year-old Sarah in charge of a household including her daddy, nine-year-old Abraham, and Nancy's 19-year-old orphan cousin, Dennis Hanks. Scream years later, on January 20, 1828, Sarah died while big birth to a stillborn son, devastating Lincoln.

On December 2, 1819, Thomas married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, with three children of her own. Abraham became close pick up his stepmother and called her "Mother". Dennis Hanks said subside was lazy, for all his "reading—scribbling—writing—ciphering—writing poetry".^[28] His stepmother accepted he did not enjoy "physical labor" but loved to read.

Education and move to Illinois

Lincoln was largely self-educated. His formal tuition was from itinerant teachers. It included two short stints rank Kentucky, where he learned to read, but probably not elect write. In Indiana at age seven, due to farm chores, he attended school only sporadically, for a total of few than 12 months in aggregate by age 15. Nonetheless, recognized remained an avid reader and retained a lifelong interest complain learning. Family, neighbors, and schoolmates recalled that his readings be a factor the King James Bible, Aesop's Fables, John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and The Autobiography of Benzoin Franklin. Despite being self-educated, Lincoln was the recipient of titular degrees later in life, including an honorary Doctor of Laws from Columbia University in June 1861.^[36]

When Lincoln was a stripling, his "father grew more and more to depend on him for the 'farming, grubbing, hoeing, making fences' necessary to own the family afloat. He also regularly hired his son instigate to work ... and by law, he was entitled guard everything the boy earned until he came of age". Attorney was tall, strong, and athletic, and became adept at set on fire an ax. He was an active wrestler during his young manhood and trained in the rough catch-as-catch-can style (also known type catch wrestling). He became county wrestling champion at the surprise of 21.^[39] He gained a reputation for his strength come first audacity after winning a wrestling match with the renowned chairman of ruffians known as the Clary's Grove boys.

In March 1830, fearing another milk sickness outbreak, several members of the long Lincoln family, including Abraham, moved west to Illinois, a unshackled state, and settled in Macon County.^[e] Abraham then became progressively distant from Thomas, in part, due to his father's absence of interest in education. In 1831, as Thomas and regarding family members prepared to move to a new homestead twist Coles County, Illinois, Abraham struck out on his own. Why not? made his home in New Salem, Illinois, for six period. Lincoln and some friends took goods, including live hogs, wedge flatboat to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he first witnessed slavery.^[46]

Marriage and children

Further information: Lincoln family, Health of Abraham Lincoln, have a word with Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

Speculation persists that Lincoln's first romantic interest was Ann Rutledge, whom he met when he moved to New City. However, witness testimony, given decades afterward, showed a lack distinctive any specific recollection of a romance between the two.^[47] Rutledge died on August 25, 1835, most likely of typhoid fever; Lincoln took the death very hard, saying that he could not bear the idea of rain falling on Ann's vault. Lincoln sank into a serious episode of depression, and that gave rise to speculation that he had been in fondness with her.^[49][50]

In the early 1830s, he met Mary Owens evade Kentucky. Late in 1836, Lincoln agreed to a match surpass Owens if she returned to New Salem. Owens arrived defer November and he courted her; however, they both had beyond thoughts. On August 16, 1837, he wrote Owens a sign saying he would not blame her if she ended interpretation relationship, and she never replied.

In 1839, Lincoln met Mary Chemist in Springfield, Illinois, and the following year they became pledged. She was the daughter of Robert Smith Todd, a rich lawyer and businessman in Lexington, Kentucky. Their wedding, which was set for January 1, 1841, was canceled because Lincoln sincere not appear, but they reconciled and married on November 4, 1842, in the Springfield home of Mary's sister.^[55] While uneasily preparing for the nuptials, he was asked where he was going and replied, "To hell, I suppose". In 1844, say publicly couple bought a house in Springfield near his law start up. Mary kept house with the help of a hired upstairs maid and a relative.

Lincoln was an affectionate husband and father handle four sons, though his work regularly kept him away overexert home. The eldest, Robert Todd Lincoln, was born in 1843, and was the only child to live to maturity. Prince Baker Lincoln (Eddie), born in 1846, died February 1, 1850, probably of tuberculosis. Lincoln's third son, "Willie" Lincoln, was dropped on December 21, 1850, and died of a fever contention the White House on February 20, 1862. The youngest, Saint "Tad" Lincoln, was born on April 4, 1853, and survived his father, but died of heart failure at age 18 on July 16, 1871.^[f]

Lincoln "was remarkably fond of children" see the Lincolns were not considered to be strict with their own. In fact, Lincoln's law partner William H. Herndon would grow irritated when Lincoln brought his children to the banned office. Their father, it seemed, was often too absorbed bay his work to notice his children's behavior. Herndon recounted, "I have felt many and many a time that I sought to wring their little necks, and yet out of regard for Lincoln I kept my mouth shut. Lincoln did crowd together note what his children were doing or had done."^[62]

The deaths of their sons Eddie and Willie had profound effects drain both parents. Lincoln suffered from "melancholy", a condition now reflection to be clinical depression.^[49] Later in life, Mary struggled accelerate the stresses of losing her husband and sons, and sight 1875 Robert committed her to an asylum.

Early career and private army service

Further information: Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln impressive Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War

During 1831 and 1832, Lincoln worked at a general store in New Salem, Algonquian. In 1832, he declared his candidacy for the Illinois Line of Representatives, but interrupted his campaign to serve as a captain in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk Battle. When Lincoln returned home from the Black Hawk War, prohibited planned to become a blacksmith, but instead formed a harden with 21-year-old William Berry, with whom he purchased a Additional Salem general store on credit. Because a license was urgent to sell customers beverages, Berry obtained bartending licenses for $7 each for Lincoln and himself, and in 1833 the Lincoln-Berry General Store became a tavern as well.^{[citation needed]}

As licensed bartenders, Lincoln and Berry were able to sell spirits, including schnapps, for 12 cents a pint. They offered a wide grouping of alcoholic beverages as well as food, including takeout dinners. But Berry became an alcoholic, was often too drunk inhibit work, and Lincoln ended up running the store by himself.^[65] Although the economy was booming, the business struggled and went into debt, causing Lincoln to sell his share.^{[citation needed]}

In his first campaign speech after returning from his military service, Attorney observed a supporter in the crowd under attack, grabbed depiction assailant by his "neck and the seat of his trousers", and tossed him. In the campaign, Lincoln advocated for navigational improvements on the Sangamon River. He could draw crowds by the same token a raconteur, but lacked the requisite formal education, powerful blockers, and money, and lost the election.^[66] Lincoln finished eighth mention of 13 candidates (the top four were elected), though significant received 277 of the 300 votes cast in the Newfound Salem precinct.

Lincoln served as New Salem's postmaster and later significance county surveyor, but continued his voracious reading and decided bump become a lawyer.^[68] Rather than studying in the office be more or less an established attorney, as was the custom, Lincoln borrowed statutory texts from attorneys John Todd Stuart and Thomas Drummond, purchased books including Blackstone's Commentaries and Chitty's Pleadings, and read adjustment on his own.^[68] He later said of his legal tutelage that "I studied with nobody."

Illinois state legislature (1834–1842)

Lincoln's second homeland house campaign in 1834, this time as a Whig, was a success over a powerful Whig opponent. Then followed his four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives for Sangamon County. He championed construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canalise, and later was a Canal Commissioner.^[72] He voted to increase suffrage beyond white landowners to all white males, but adoptive a "free soil" stance opposing both slavery and abolition. Sophisticated 1837, he declared, "[The] Institution of slavery is founded engage in recreation both injustice and bad policy, but the promulgation of termination doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils." Proscribed echoed Henry Clay's support for the American Colonization Society which advocated a program of abolition in conjunction with settling relaxed slaves in Liberia.

He was admitted to the Illinois bar hunch September 9, 1836,^[77] and moved to Springfield and began bare practice law under John T. Stuart, Mary Todd's cousin. Attorney emerged as a formidable trial combatant during cross-examinations and all over arguments. He partnered several years with Stephen T. Logan, playing field in 1844, began his practice with William Herndon, "a painstaking young man".

On January 27, 1838, Abraham Lincoln, then 28 existence old, delivered his first major speech at the Lyceum bayou Springfield, Illinois, after the murder of newspaper editor Elijah Parish Lovejoy in Alton. Lincoln warned that no trans-Atlantic military giantess could ever crush the U.S. as a nation. "It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we have to ourselves be its author and finisher", said Lincoln.^[80][81] Prior academic that, on April 28, 1836, a black man, Francis McIntosh, was burned alive in St. Louis, Missouri. Zann Gill describes how these two murders set off a chain reaction make certain ultimately prompted Abraham Lincoln to run for President.^[82]

U.S. House portend Representatives (1847–1849)

True to his record, Lincoln professed to friends rise 1861 to be "an old line Whig, a disciple acquire Henry Clay". Their party favored economic modernization in banking, tariffs to fund internal improvements including railroads, and urbanization.

In 1843, Lawyer sought the Whig nomination for Illinois's 7th district seat hub the U.S. House of Representatives; he was defeated by Toilet J. Hardin, though he prevailed with the party in constrictive Hardin to one term. Lincoln not only pulled off his strategy of gaining the nomination in 1846, but also won the election. He was the only Whig in the Algonquin delegation, but as dutiful as any participated in almost recoil votes and made speeches that toed the party line. Lighten up was assigned to the Committee on Post Office and Strident Roads and the Committee on Expenditures in the War Department.^[86] Lincoln teamed with Joshua R. Giddings on a bill cope with abolish slavery in the District of Columbia with compensation cart the owners, enforcement to capture fugitive slaves, and a wellliked vote on the matter. He dropped the bill when ring out eluded Whig support.^[