Scroll
to Top



Abraham Lincoln

Sixteenth President of the United States
Born in 1809 - Died in 1865


Abraham Lincoln<BR>
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky to Thomas and Nancy Lincoln. The family moved to Indiana and 8 year old Abe helped his father build another log house. A year later his mother died and the house was very empty. His father remarried and in addition to his sister Sarah, who was 3 years older, there were now 3 more children in the family.

Lincoln had less than a year of schooling. Books were scarce and so was paper. He worked his arithmetic problems on a board and cleaned the board with a knife so he could use it again.

The family owned a Bible and he spent many hours reading it. He would copy parts of it in order to memorize it. Sometimes he would walk for miles to borrow a book. One of his favorite books was "The Life of George Washington".

By the time he was 17, he knew he wanted to be a lawyer. He would walk 17 miles to the county courthouse in order to watch the lawyers work. He sat in the back of the courtroom and watched them as they shook their fists and became red in the face. Then he would go home and think about what he had seen.

When he was 21 years old he moved to Illinois and spent a year laboring on a farm. It is said that he and his fellow-laborer split 3,000 rails in that year 1830. He also managed a flat-boat on the Ohio River

Every time he got a new job he would try to work on a skill which would help him when he became a lawyer. When he was a shopkeeper he tried to be honest and fair. Once he
shortchanged* a woman by 6 cents, and he followed her home so he could give the money back to her.

When he was a postmaster, he tried to learn how to get along with people well.

When he was a surveyor;* a person who measured land, he tried to always be accurate in his measurements.

He still wanted to be a lawyer. He would go without sleep in order to study. He would borrow books from a neighbor in the evening, read them by the light of the fireplace, and take them back in the morning. In 1836 he passed the test and became a lawyer. It was during this time he was he was elected to the Illinois legislature.* by the Whig party. He became good at debating and public speaking. He had many debates with John Calhoun regarding the tariff question. They spoke before large audiences, sometimes as long as four hours.

picture2
Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas participated in several debates concerning the question of slavery. They had a previous encounter at the State Fair in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln would lose the senate race, but would win over Douglas in the 1860 presidential race.

Once a woman wrote an article containing some ridiculing remarks about General James Shields. The editor spoke to Lincoln about it and Lincoln said, "Tell him I wrote it." That's what he did and Shield challenged Lincoln to a duel with Lincoln's choice of weapons. On the appointed day Lincoln arrived with a sword in one hand and a hatchet in the other. A man, John J. Hardin, stopped the fight before it started. The event possibly changed the course of the nation's history.

He was inaugurated* president in March of 1861. Five weeks later the Civil War began. It was a fight about slavery. Lincoln wanted the United States to remain one nation. It was in danger of being divided into two nations; the North and the South.

picture3
In his 1860 inaugural address, he said: "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so."

Two years later, President Lincoln wrote: "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union (Letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862)."

He quoted from the Bible, " A house divided against itself cannot stand." He was able to realize both of his goals. In 1863 he issued the Emancipation* Proclamation freeing the slaves in the Southern states, and the country was able to remain a united nation. Eventually all the slaves in the United States became free.

We get an insight into the life of Abraham Lincoln when we read an article which appeared in an Athens, Ohio newspaper June 8, 1860.

On April 14, 1865 President Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln were attending a play at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. While there he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, an actor with extremist views concerning politics and slavery. There had been a conspiracy by Booth and his cohorts to not only kill the president, but also William Henry Seward, and Andrew Johnson, the vice-president. The attack on Seward failed and the one on Johnson was never carried out. The president, after being shot, was carried to a house across the street from the theater and died nine hours later. Booth was killed by one of the men trying to apprehend him.

Of all the presidents, Abraham Lincoln is the one in whom there is the greatest continuing interest. School children study him, historians debate his life and legacy, and people collect memorabilia about him.

This biography by Patsy Stevens, a retired teacher, was written in 2001.

Vietnamese translation of this article.

Portuguese translation of this article.

Spanish translation of this article.


Take the online test




A frequent question:
"Who wrote this biography
and when was it written?"
Look on this Reference Citations Chart.

Activities

Online ActivitiesPrintable Activities
Take the Online Test for this Biography Print Test for this Biography
Online Jigsaw Puzzle Print Study Sheet
Online Crossword Puzzle Print Crossword Puzzle
  Print Word Search
Online Word Scramble Print Word Scramble
  Print Coloring
Online Jeopardy Print Alphabetical
Online Who Am I? Print Word Match
Guess the Word Print Worksheet



View a slideshow about Abraham Lincoln

Play an Online Game at Quia

Biography Slideshows

Dictionary

From Word Central's Student Dictionary
by Merriam - Webster

(Pronunciation note: the schwa sound is shown by ə)

surveyor
Pronunciation: sər-'vA-ər
Function: noun
: one that surveys;
especially : one whose occupation is surveying land...

shortchange
Pronunciation: -'chAnj
Function: verb
1 : to give less than the correct amount of change to
2 : to give less than expected : CHEAT ...

legislature
Pronunciation: 'lej-ə-"slA-chər
Function: noun
: an organized body of persons having the authority to make laws...

inauguration, inaugurate
Pronunciation: in-'o-g(y)ə-"rAt
Function: verb
1 : to introduce into office with suitable ceremonies : such as to inaugurate a president
2 : to celebrate the opening of as inaugurate a new gym

emancipation, emancipate
Pronunciation: i-'man(t)-sə-"pAt
Function: verb
: to free from someone else's control or power; especially : to free from slavery...


Research Links

Abraham Lincoln
Portraits of Presidents and First Ladies

American Civil War
written accounts from Eye Witness to History

Portraits of Abraham Lincoln
Library of Congress

Abraham Lincoln Research Site

Abraham Lincoln Online

Timeline of Abraham Lincoln's life
from The History Place

The Gettysburg Address
photographs and text

Words as Politics at Gettysburg (audio)
Engines of Our Ingenuity.

Abraham Lincoln Assassination
photos from Old-Picture.com

Abraham Lincoln
from Hero History

Poem by Rosemary Benet
written about Nancy Hanks, Abe's mother.

Civil War and Reconstruction
at Kid Info

Abraham Lincoln Printables

Presidential Coloring Pages

Abraham Lincoln
online play by John Drinkwater

Abolition of Slavery
video lesson
(Click on the topics "Interactive Media Files", be sure volume is turned up.)

The Civil War
video lesson
(Click on the topics "Interactive Media Files" )

Ramifications of the Civil War
video lesson
(Click on the topics "Interactive Media Files" )

Abraham Lincoln
online movie produced in 1930, 1 hour 24 minutes

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln Lesson Plan
Lesson Snips.com
(You must register to access lessons.)

American Civil War Lesson Plan
Lesson Snips.com

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates Lesson Plan
Lesson Snips.com

A Story About Abraham Lincoln
The Lincoln Readers Book 4

Abraham Lincoln Powerpoint
(look in the "Famous People" section)

Abraham Lincoln
from Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography 1888

At biography.com search for Abraham Lincoln.
Scroll the panel for the "Video & Audio Results".




Videos





Books
Search:
Press "Go" to search for books about Abraham Lincoln.
Library

A LIBRARY OF
ONLINE BOOKS and BOOK PREVIEWS


Order the following books from Amazon.

Abraham Lincoln
by BreAnn Rumsch (selected pages) Order here

Abraham Lincoln: Lawyer, President, Emancipator
by Pamela Hill Nettleton (selected pages) Order here

Abraham Lincoln
by Cassie Mayer (selected pages) Order here

Abraham Lincoln, Photo-illustrated Biographies
by T. M. Usel (selected pages) Order here

Abraham Lincoln
by Lola M. Schaefer, Gail Saunders-Smith (selected pages) Order here

Abraham Lincoln
by Lora Polack Oberle (selected pages) Order here

Abraham Lincoln
by Kekla Magoon (selected pages) Order here

Abraham Lincoln (Presidential Leaders)
by Jeremy Roberts (selected pages) Order here

Abraham Lincoln, Presidents and Their Times
by Billy Aronson (selected pages) Order here

Abraham Lincoln (Pull Ahead Books)
by Sheila Rivera (selected pages) Order here

Abraham Lincoln (Graphic Biography)
by Saddleback Educational Publishing (selected pages) Order here

Abraham Lincoln (Bio Graphics)
by Joe Dunn (selected pages) Order here

Abraham Lincoln (Drama)
by John Drinkwater (selected pages) Order here

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Graphic History)
by Kay Melchisedech Olson, Otha Zackariah Edward Lohse (selected pages) Order here

A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln
by John G. Nicolay (public domain, 1902, full view) Order here

Abraham Lincoln: the true story of a great life
by By William Osborn Stoddard (public domain, 1885, full view)

Abraham Lincoln
by By Wilbur Fisk Gordy (public domain, 1917, full view)

Abraham Lincoln, the Boy and the Man
by By James Morgan (public domain, 1908, full view)

Abraham Lincoln, a Character Sketch
(with pictures) by By Robert Dickinson Sheppard (public domain, 1899, full view)

Quotes and Images From Abraham Lincoln
edited by David Widger

Preview these Amazon books using the links below.

Abraham Lincoln, Friend of the People
by Clara Ingram Judson (selected pages)

Abraham Lincoln, Great American President
by Brenda Haugen (selected pages)

Abraham Lincoln, First Biographies
by Barbara Knox (selected pages)

Abraham Lincoln, From Pioneer to President
by Ellen Blue Phillips (selected pages)

Abraham Lincoln, Life of the Sixteenth President
by Gary Jeffrey, Kate Petty (selected pages)

Abraham Lincoln and His Family, Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney (selected pages)

Abraham Lincoln
by Jean F. Blashfield (selected pages)


Credits and Solutions

The picture of Abraham Lincoln and his fourth son, Tad may be used without permission.
It is in the public domain and was found at the Library of Congress.

Lincoln political cartoons at Wikipedia.

Puzzles on these pages courtesy of
Songs of Praise and Armored Penguin

* Word Match Solution



Page Comments
Most Recent Comments
See more comments about this page
2024-02-12
abe was so cool
cj
2023-03-02
i like this it gave me info :')
marek
2021-04-28
My class loved it. Thank You
Alexander Bahadur
2020-02-04
I really needed to know what had to happen for the emancipation proclamation to be passed but none of those important facts were on here.
Marlie Abner
2018-05-15
if slavery did not end black people would be very sad
casey
2017-01-04
HELLO!!! ABRAHAM LINCON DID SO GOOD!
alex
Leave a Comment View all Comments

This page displayed 796,774 times.

This is a mobile page of Garden of Praise. You are using a desktop computer. Try viewing the mobile pages on your smart phone.