Abraham Lincoln Essay, Research Paper

Lincoln

This book report was about the president Abraham Lincoln. He was born Feb 12, 1809. He walked to a log school house every day where he learned to read and write. In 1816 he moved to Little Piegon Creek in Indiana. His mother died of “milk sickness”. His father rode back to Elizabeth Ky., and married a widow named Sarah Johnston.

Abe was for most of his young life a blue collar man. He worked on the farm with his dad and also worked on other peoples farms for extra books and money. He started a life of his own in New Salem. He made a name for himself there. He then enlisted in the Blackhawks, division of the army, and was voted captain of the riflemen.

In 1847 Abe went to Washington D.C. as a representative of Illinois. He was against the Mexican War. After his term was up he went to a law job as a commisoner in The General Land Office. He then went back to politics when he saw that slavery was being extended.

In 1856 he helped to organize the Illinois branch of the new Republican party, a political party formed by people who wanted to stop the spread of slavery. He became the leading Republican in Illinois. When the Republicans nominated John C. Fremont for the presidency of the United States, Lincoln received 110 votes for nomination as vice-president. This brought Lincoln to the attention of the nation.

In 1860 Lincoln was elected president. This created a big problem for the southern states because they thought a republican would not respect thier rights or property. They felt sucession was thier only hope. In Dec. 1860, South Carolina Suceeded. This started the Civil War.

In 1862 Lincoln, after a Union Victory, issued the Emacipation Proclimation. This is general said that all states that were not in the Union were not allowed to have slaves. This is one of the most important messages in the history of the world. He signed it Jan 1st, 1863. Abe was reelected in 1864 even though he thought he was not going to be.

To celebrate the end of the war, Lincoln took Mary and two guests to Ford’s Theatre on the night of April 14. During the third act of the play, ‘Our American Cousin’, John Wilkes Booth, a young actor who was proslavery, crept into the presidential box and shot Lincoln in the head. Booth then leapt onto the stage, and, brandishing a dagger, he escaped. He was shot and killed on April 26 in a Virginia tobacco barn when soldiers and detectives surrounded and set fire to it. He is buried in Springfield Ill. in Oak Ridge Cemetary.