Abraham Lincoln Essays (1857 words) - Abraham Lincoln,

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Kentucky. When he was two, the Lincoln's moved a few miles to another farm on the old Cumberland Trail. A year later, his mother gave birth to another boy, Thomas, but he died a few days later. When Lincoln was seven his family moved to Indiana. In 1818, Lincoln's mother died from a deadly disease called the "milk-sick." Then ten years later his sister died and left him with only his father and stepmother. Lincoln traveled to New Salem in April 1831 and settled there the following July. In the fall of 1836 he and Mrs. Bennett Abell had a deal that if she brought her single sister to New Salem he had to promise to marry her. When she arrived he was not to pleased with her because her skin was full of fat. Around seven months later he asked Mrs. Orville Browning to marry him but she said no. Lincoln met his wife to be, Mary Todd, at the grand cotillion in honor of the completion of the new capital building in 1839. They got engaged and a while later he broke off the engagement because she was seeing other men. Around a year later in Springfield on November 4, 1842 Abraham and Mary got married. In 1844, Abraham and his wife were able to purchase their own house in Springfield. It was a one-and-a-half story frame cottage. In May 1843, the Lincoln's had a son and named him Robert, after the addition to the family they made the house a full two story house. Lincoln had three more sons Edward Baker, William Wallace, and Thomas. Edward died at the age of three, the cause of death was either consumption or pulmonary tuberculosis. In 1832 Lincoln announced himself a candidate for the state legislature but he was defeated. Then a year later he was appointed postmaster of New Salem and in the fall he became deputy county surveyor. He really wanted a seat in the Illinois legislature so he ran again and was elected with bipartisan support. Lincoln was very interested in being a lawyer, he would walk fifteen miles just to watch the court cases in Boonville, Indiana. Lincoln got a license to practice law after several hard years of teaching himself. By the early 1850s, the Lincoln-Herndon law office had become a leading Springfield firm. Chairman of the Senate's Committee on Territories, Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois came out with a new congressional act. Lincoln thought the Kansas-Nebraska Act was just wrong. In the summer of 1854 Lincoln decided to campaign for a position in the Illinois State Assembly. In November he won but resigned because he wanted a seat in the United States Senate, where he thought he could make a real difference. He was defeated by Lyman Trumbull but in 1856, Lincoln was helping to create a new political party in Illinois called the Republicans. The new party's first and primary goal was to prevent Democrat James Buchanan from winning the Presidency, it failed. Then two days after Buchanan's inauguration the Supreme Court ruled the Missouri Compromise"unconstitutional" and denied that Negros could never be considered American citizens. On June 16, 1858 the Illinois State Republican Convention nominated Lincoln to run against Stephen Douglas for the United States Senate. The seven Lincoln-Douglas debates during the late summer and fall of 1858 were the highlight of the campaign, in towns all over the state. Ten thousand people attended the opening three-hour debate in Ottawa, Illinois, and there were fifteen thousand at the second in Freeport. Douglas won the Senate race, but the debates launched Lincoln on his own path to presidency. In 1861, on March 4 Lincoln was inaugurated as President. Lincoln's first official act was the appointment of John G. Nicolay as his private secretary. One month after he had taken office he got word that the 6th Massachusetts Infantry was on its way to defend Washington, which had been attacked by a Baltimore mob leaving thirteen people dead. In May of 1861 Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas joined the Confederacy. The first important battle of the war takes place near Manassas along a sluggish creek called Bull Run, 20 miles southwest of Washington. The battle killed 847 people and more than 2,500 were wounded. Lincoln felt for the slaves and tried to do alot to help them out by signing a law giving freedom to slaves who are being used by Confederates to help in the war effort. On February 20, 1862 the Lincoln's eleven-year-old son, Willie died of bilious fever. He