![‘Manhunt’ Finale Breakdown: Tobias Menzies on How They Pulled Off [Spoiler]’s Death and Building a Bromance With Abe Lincoln](https://s.yimg.com/fz/api/res/1.2/o5Vg6R8yYCHB2XlwPe9aiA--~C/YXBwaWQ9c3JjaGRkO2ZpPWZpbGw7aD0zODQ7cT04MDtzbT0xO3c9NTEy/https://media.zenfs.com/en/aol_variety_168/ef54cc5f8a80dda7962d12561581be9e "‘Manhunt’ Finale Breakdown: Tobias Menzies on How They Pulled Off [Spoiler]’s Death and Building a Bromance With Abe Lincoln")
Ulysses S. Grant
Search results
Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln ( / ˈlɪŋkən / LING-kən; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman, who served as the 16th president of the United States, from 1861 until his assassination in 1865.
- April 15, 1865 (aged 56), Washington, D.C., U.S.
- James Buchanan
- February 12, 1809, Sinking Spring Farm, Kentucky, U.S.
- Andrew Johnson
- Overview
- Life
- Childhood and youth
Abraham Lincoln was a member of the Whig Party and later a Republican. He believed that the government’s job was to do what a community of people could not do for themselves. One of his greatest preoccupations as a political thinker was the issue of self-governance and the promise and problems that could arise from it. The choice by some to allow the expansion of slavery was one such problem and was central to the American Civil War. Although opposed to slavery from the outset of his political career, Lincoln would not make its abolition a mainstay of his policy until several years into the war.
Republican Party
Learn the history of the Republican Party.
How did Abraham Lincoln get into politics?
From 1834 to 1840, Abraham Lincoln occupied a seat in the Illinois state legislature. He also practiced law in Illinois during the 1830s and ’40s, and in that time he became one of the state’s most renowned lawyers. He first entered national politics in 1847 while serving a single term in Congress. In 1858 he made a bid for the Senate in a much-publicized race which he ultimately lost but which transformed him into a nationally recognized political figure. In 1860 he was nominated at the Republican National Convention to be the party’s presidential candidate, and he embarked on a presidential campaign that he would win.
Read more below: Life: Early political career
Lincoln was born in a backwoods cabin 3 miles (5 km) south of Hodgenville, Kentucky, and was taken to a farm in the neighbouring valley of Knob Creek when he was two years old. His earliest memories were of this home and, in particular, of a flash flood that once washed away the corn and pumpkin seeds he had helped his father plant. His father, Tho...
In December 1816, faced with a lawsuit challenging the title to his Kentucky farm, Thomas Lincoln moved with his family to southwestern Indiana. There, as a squatter on public land, he hastily put up a “half-faced camp”—a crude structure of logs and boughs with one side open to the weather—in which the family took shelter behind a blazing fire. Soon he built a permanent cabin, and later he bought the land on which it stood. Abraham helped to clear the fields and to take care of the crops but early acquired a dislike for hunting and fishing. In afteryears he recalled the “panther’s scream,” the bears that “preyed on the swine,” and the poverty of Indiana frontier life, which was “pretty pinching at times.” The unhappiest period of his boyhood followed the death of his mother in the autumn of 1818. As a ragged nine-year-old, he saw her buried in the forest, then faced a winter without the warmth of a mother’s love. Fortunately, before the onset of a second winter, Thomas Lincoln brought home from Kentucky a new wife for himself, a new mother for the children. Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln, a widow with two girls and a boy of her own, had energy and affection to spare. She ran the household with an even hand, treating both sets of children as if she had borne them all; but she became especially fond of Abraham, and he of her. He afterward referred to her as his “angel mother.”
Britannica Quiz
American Civil War Quiz
His stepmother doubtless encouraged Lincoln’s taste for reading, yet the original source of his desire to learn remains something of a mystery. Both his parents were almost completely illiterate, and he himself received little formal education. He once said that, as a boy, he had gone to school “by littles”—a little now and a little then—and his entire schooling amounted to no more than one year’s attendance. His neighbours later recalled how he used to trudge for miles to borrow a book. According to his own statement, however, his early surroundings provided “absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three; but that was all.” Apparently the young Lincoln did not read a large number of books but thoroughly absorbed the few that he did read. These included Parson Weems’s Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington (with its story of the little hatchet and the cherry tree), Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, and Aesop’s Fables. From his earliest days he must have had some familiarity with the Bible, for it doubtless was the only book his family owned.
In March 1830 the Lincoln family undertook a second migration, this time to Illinois, with Lincoln himself driving the team of oxen. Having just reached the age of 21, he was about to begin life on his own. Six feet four inches tall, he was rawboned and lanky but muscular and physically powerful. He was especially noted for the skill and strength with which he could wield an ax. He spoke with a backwoods twang and walked in the long-striding, flat-footed, cautious manner of a plowman. Good-natured though somewhat moody, talented as a mimic and storyteller, he readily attracted friends. But he was yet to demonstrate whatever other abilities he possessed.
Students save 67%! Learn more about our special academic rate today.
Oct 29, 2009 · Learn about the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States who led the country through the Civil War and abolished slavery. Explore his childhood, political career, speeches, assassination and more.
Other articles from history.com
Jul 14, 2023 · Learn about the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States who preserved the Union during the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Explore his early years, political career, speeches, assassination and more.
Learn about the life and achievements of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States who issued the Emancipation Proclamation and led the nation through the Civil War. Find out how he became a lawyer, a politician, and a martyr for the Union cause.
People also ask
Where can I find a biography of Abraham Lincoln?
Where did Abraham Lincoln grow up?
When did Abraham Lincoln become president?
Who was Abraham Lincoln?
Learn about the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States who led the nation through the Civil War. Explore his early years, political career, emancipation proclamation, assassination and more.
The presidency of Abraham Lincoln began on March 4, 1861, when Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th president of the United States, and ended upon his assassination and death on April 15, 1865, 42 days into his second term. Lincoln was the first member of the recently established Republican Party elected to the presidency.
