Introduction
This paper examines the life of Abraham Lincoln (the late), who became the sixteenth president of the United States of America. The paper will focus on his family background early childhood life, his profession, and education, marriage, political involvement, and death. This paper will also discuss the various environments and situations in which Abraham Lincoln passed through. These will entail discussing the cultural, social, economic, and political factors during and after his childhood. He was also involved in community activities in which he participated in development issues, as a lawyer, he championed the rights of his peers and other citizens, especially the Negro slaves.
Biography: Abraham Lincoln
The story of Abraham Lincoln sounds great and unbelievable. Having been born in a poor background and the difficulties in life he faced, it is hard to believe that Abraham Lincoln could make it to be one of the most talked-about public figures in the United States of America and the world as a whole. He was a man with a stand and believed in the material and logical demonstration. This was the reason he never believed in the doctrines of Christianity.
Family background
Abraham Lincoln’s parents were Nancy Hanks who was the mother and Thomas Lincoln, the father. He had siblings who were his elder sister named Sarah and his younger brother who unfortunately died at an infant age. Both Nancy Hank and Thomas Lincoln had greatly influenced the life of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln grew in poverty because his parents could not afford it beyond the basics. The father never went to a school and his sibling and he never went to a formal school too. The father was a carpenter who continuously migrated deep west due to slavery. He never wanted to stay where there was slavery. Samuel Lincoln was the grandfather to would be President of the United States of American. He was the first American ancestor of the Lincolns family. He came from England during the period of great migration which took place in the year 1637. The family of Lincoln kept on moving to the west with every succeeding generation (Holland, 1866). In 1786 Samuel Lincoln was unfortunately short dead by an Indian-American who was a native of America by then. The shooting took place when his children watched, by that time Thomas Lincoln, the father to future president of America, was only six year of age. It is recorded that the young Thomas cried over the body of his dead father (Arnold, 2008). Mordecai was Samuel’s brother. The pain of seeing his dead father prompted him to pursue his father’s killer and killed him in revenge (Holland, 1866).
After Thomas’ father had died his life took a twist and he started facing challenges in life. It is argued that his mother’s relatives were there to assist him whenever possible. He later became independent and started living on his own; he fended for himself. Thomas never had any formal education from his childhood until he became an adult. He learnt carpentry, a skill he used to fend for himself. He managed to buy land and also started his own family before moving further west (Arnold, 2008).
His childhood and adult life
Abraham Lincoln was born on 12th February 1809 in Hodgenville, Kentucky, United States of America; it is argued that he was born in a log cabin. Abraham Lincoln inherited the name of his paternal grandfather and had no middle name. From childhood, Abraham Lincoln hated slavery with a passion (Holland, 1866). This is attributed to the fact that his parents belonged to a Baptist church which denounced slavery in its doctrines; however, it is argued that Abraham never had the same religious beliefs like his father’s. In 1816, when Abraham Lincoln was only seven years old, Thomas moved his family to a place now known as Spencer County located in Indiana. When Abraham reached age nine his mother Nancy passed on. The father soon married another wife who Abraham still came to like the same way he liked his real mother, the step-mother was a widow named Sarah Bush Johnson.
In the year 1830, Thomas moved his family again, this time to Illinois where his son Abraham helped him in building a new log cabin. They also spent time clearing new land and growing crops. There was a year when all the family members were ill. That might have been a very difficult moment the family members went through. After they all recovered Abraham Lincoln showed his intention to start living alone and taking care of himself. He later left his step-mother and father and started living on his own.
Abraham Lincoln hated slavery because it was a repression against the unfortunate human race. He could not imagine that a man would treat his fellow men inhumanely. His life as regards to slavery completely took a new dimension after he witnessed the auctioning of slaves while he was nineteen years old; at that time he was traveling to New Orleans. He was strongly concerned with truth, fairness, and honesty. It was due to his father’s sentiments against slavery that the whole family moved to Indiana where slavery was forbidden.
On November 4, 1842 Abraham Lincoln got married to Miss Mary Todd. Abraham Lincoln and Mary met each other at the dance organized in Mary’s sister’s home. After they met they courted for a certain period of time then Lincoln doubted his love for Mary. He later called off their planned wedding. After about 18 months of no communication between them, it is said that his friends worked hard and succeeded in bringing them back together. They then resorted to dating clandestinely. They married within a notice of only one day. The couples had four sons: the first born came in August 1843, the second child was born in 1846, third one came in 1850 and later died in the White House in 1862, then the last born came in 1853. Robert Todd, the first born, was later to be given an appointment by President Garfield as the Secretary of War (Heffner, 2002). Contrary to Abraham Lincoln, his wife was well educated and spoke French with high competence. She was very ambitious and also proud of herself. She supported slavery but remained loving to her husband. She died at 64 years in 1882 in her sister’s home in Illinois.
Education
Abraham Lincoln did not have proper formal education, however, he had a very strong desire to learn and improve himself intellectually. His favorite books were the bible and the novel of Shakespeare. He embarked on self education and was able to learn more like a person who went through full formal schooling. It is estimated that Abraham’s schooling did not cover more than a year. He might have gone to a formal school for only about eighteen years. He never became a student of any college; after he became independent of his father at the age of 23years he started learning English grammar.
Abraham is described to have learned in small bits since he never had an opportunity to attend formal schooling. He learnt under about five schoolmasters in different times. During those learning periods he never stayed for more than two months with either of those masters. Under the schoolmasters, Abraham mainly learnt writing, spelling, reading, and ciphering. When they moved to Indiana Abraham attended school at ages eleven, fourteen and seventeen. He had written that he loved to acquire knowledge but there was entirely nothing to bring excitement for education. This was because there were not so many qualified teachers who could give proper formal education.
With no formal education and little learning, anybody in Abraham’s situation would have given up the academic life and quest for education, but Abraham Lincoln never relented on his quest for knowledge and a career. When he was seventeen years old he decided he wanted to become a lawyer. From then onwards he concentrated on activities that would enable him realize the dream of becoming a lawyer some day. He acted like a lawyer every time he had an opportunity to interact with different kinds of people. For instance, he leant how to deal with people leniently when he was a postmaster, as a shopkeeper he ensured honesty and tried to be as accurate as possible during his time as a surveyor.
He would stay up late in the night reading. In the evening he would ask his friends to loan him books which he read next to the fire place, where there was light, he would then return the books back to his friends the next day in the morning. He passed law exams in 1836 and therefore, qualified to become a lawyer. He was later admitted to become an advocate
Religious affiliation
Abraham Lincoln was a Christian by birth. His father’s family members were members of a Baptist church then found in Kentucky, Indiana. It is reported that the Bible was Abraham’s most preferred book; he read it most of the time and quoted from it many times. When he was president he congregated in New York Avenue Church of Presbyterian located in Washington. Though Lincoln attended the church services he never shared in the common Christian beliefs, it was believed that his religious beliefs were not orthodox although he was concerned with his life after death (Chicago Public Library, 1909).
Political life and death of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln developed a lot of interest in politics. He started by working as a postmaster with New Salem situated in Illinois. He later became a legislature and then ascended to the United States House of Representatives. The first time he ran for state legislature was in 1832; he never succeeded to capture the seat after several attempts. He succeeded to win the legislative post in 1834 (Abraham Lincoln Online, 2010). He reached his political peak when he became the 16th president of the United States of American (Stefoff, 1989). In 1846 Lincoln won a seat in the House of Representatives though in those moments he never was an influential figure in the House of Representatives. Abraham Lincoln’s hatred to slavery became even stronger when he entered politics.
During his time as president, Abraham Lincoln managed to abolish slave trade in the United States of America. He served as the president of the United States for two terms. The president was assassinated in 1865 when he went out with his wife to watch a comedy. That was after his secretary of war had warned him not to venture out at night fearing a possible assassination attempt, which came to be a reality. His bodyguard had gone for a drinking spree; that gave the assassin a chance to fatally shoot the president. He was aged 56 at the time of his assassination (Stefoff, 1989).
Conclusion
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president in the United States of America. He was born on 12th February, 1809 in Hodgenville, Kentucky. His parents were Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hank. The grandfather was Samuel Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was named after his grandfather and was never given a middle name. The grandfather immigrated into the United States from England during the period of great migration. He therefore became the first ancestor of the Lincoln family in America. In 1786 Thomas Lincoln and his elder brother Mordecai watched a native Indian-American shoots their father to death. In retaliation, Mordecai pursued his father’s assassin and shot him to death. That marked a turning point in the life of Thomas Lincoln. Much is not said about Mordecai yet it is recorded that Thomas Lincoln underwent lots of challenges. However, it is said that he got necessary assistance from his mother’s sisters.
When Thomas Lincoln became of age, he trained in carpentry and started supporting himself. He bought land and started his own family. He never had a formal schooling the whole of his life, a situation that prevented him from getting into any kind of formal employment. He later moved his family further to west. After sometimes Thomas Lincoln moved the family again to Spencer, Indiana and settled there for sometimes and finally migrated to Illinois where Abraham Lincoln helped him build a new log cabin. Thomas Lincoln’s family members were Christians and were members of a Baptist church. Even though Abraham Lincoln was a Christian like his father, he never trusted the church doctrines. He purely believed in what had sense demonstrations; what he could subject to logic and reason and not what enlisted emotional feelings.
Abraham Lincoln hated slavery from the times he was young to the times of his reign as the president of the United States of America. In fact, he declared an emancipation of all slaves in the United States and abolished slavery. His hatred for slavery was attributed to the fact that his father’s family belonged to the Baptist church which in its doctrines denounced slavery. When Abraham was nine years old his mother died. The father later married a widow who never had problems with Abraham, in fact it is said Abraham equally liked her. Abraham later separated from his father and step mother to start living alone. In 1842, Abraham Lincoln got married to Mary Todd. They met at a party organized in Mary’s sister’s home in Illinois; they then courted for some times before getting married. They were blessed with four children who were all boys.
Abraham Lincoln never had a formal schooling and never attended any college. He learnt English grammar, reading, writing, ciphering and little of mathematics. His favorite books were the bible and Shakespeare (Young Foundations, 2008). Even though he never went to school, Abraham Lincoln was determined to become a lawyer. He borrowed books from friends, read them at night and returned them in the morning. After reading enough he sat for law exams and passed. He was later admitted to the bar and became an advocate.
He also got interested in politics. He faced many failures during elections but he never gave up until he succeeded. He later became the president of the United States of America. He was assassinated in 1865 at the age of 56 when he went to watch comedy at night together with his wife.
Reference
Abraham Lincoln Online. (2010). Abraham Lincoln Political Career Timeline. Web.
Arnold, I. (2008). The Life of Abraham Lincoln. Digital Scanning Inc. ISBN 1582187592, 9781582187594.
“Chicago Public Library”. (1909). List of books and magazine articles on Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States….The Chicago Public Library.
Heffner, R. (2002). A documentary history of the United States. A Signet book. Signet Classic. ISBN 0451207483, 9780451207487.
Holland, G. (1866). Life of Abraham Lincoln. American Culture Series, Politics & Law collection. The University of California.
Stefoff, R. (1989). Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States. Presidents of the United States. Garrett Educational Corp. ISBN 0944483143, 9780944483145.
Young Foundations. (2008). Abraham Lincoln. Web.