Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Born into poverty in Hardin County Kentucky, Lincoln worked his buns off to get to the top. He lost his mom at a young age, three of his four kids died before reaching adulthood, and his wife was an unstable, schizophrenic, yet he was able to persevere through this all and became the most influential president in American history. Abraham Lincoln was not only kind, gentle, and honest; he was the firm and decisive leader of America during the turmoil and distress caused by the civil war. From his childhood to his early political career, from his family to the Civil War, from his re-election to his assassination, Honest Abe has left a lasting impression on the history books of the United States and around the world.
As a boy, Lincoln lived the hard, farm life. He was born on February 12, 1808 to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. He was not able to attend school due to his work on his family farm. So he taught himself to read by reading books around his house, he was also a talented wrestler but nothing became of his talents. In 1816 his family moved to Perry County Indiana partly because of slavery in Kentucky and also because of difficulty with land deeds. His mother died when he was nine and his dad remarried to Sarah Bush Johnston. Lincoln and his stepmother got along fine but the death of his biological mother made him distant from his father. In 1830 his dad uprooted his family again to Macon County Illinois due to more land title difficulties. After a year Thomas Lincoln was going to move the family again to Coles County Illinois, so Abraham set off on his own at the age of twenty two. He settled in New Salem, Illinois where he worked for a New Salem business man, Denton Offutt. He took goods on a flatboat down the Mississippi river to New Orleans with some friends.
Abraham started into politics at an early age. It began in 1832, at the age of twenty three, young Abraham was elected captain of an Illinois militia company drawn from New Salem during the Black...