Abraham+Lincoln

[|“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”] These were the words of our beloved 16th president who served from 1861 to 1865.
 * [|Abraham Lincoln]**
 * [[image:alincoln.gif width="183" height="213" caption="Abraham Lincoln"]] ||
 * Abraham Lincoln ||

Abraham Lincoln was born on Feb. 12, 1809, in a log cabin in Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky to Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Abraham had an older sister, Sarah, and a younger brother, Thomas, who died in infancy. In 1816 the Lincolns moved to Indiana. In 1830 the Lincolns left Indiana for Illinois.

Lincoln ran unsuccessfully for the Illinois legislature in 1832. Two years later he was elected to the lower house for the first of four successive terms (until 1841) as a Whig. As a Whig, Lincoln supported the Second Bank of the United States, the Illinois State Bank.

Encouraged by Whig legislator John Todd Stuart, Lincoln became a lawyer in 1836, and in 1837 he moved to Springfield, where he became Stuart's law partner. As a lawyer he and his partners had appeared in the supreme court over 400 times. He courted and married Mary Todd. They had four sons: Robert Todd, Edward Baker, William Wallace, and Thomas "Tad", Mary Todd Lincoln was a Presbyterian, but her husband was never a church member.

Abraham Lincoln was the president of our country from 1861-1865. During this time he was fighting against the issue of slavery. Just before he was elected, South Carolina and six of the southern states (later a total of 11 had dropped out) seceded from the union, and had already formed the confederate states. For this Lincoln wrote the Inaugural Address. This, Lincoln hoped, would convince people that the Union could not be broken. He wanted a peaceful solution, but was ready to fight rather than seeing the nation divided permanently. However, on April 12 southerners opened fire and the war began. This war was known as the Civil War. The war lasted from 1860-1865, and was the bloodiest war in the History of the United States. When the war was over, all was not yet well. Everything had been destroyed, and needed rebuilding.

Abraham Lincoln guided his country through the most devastating experience in its national history--the CIVIL WAR. He is considered by many historians to have been the greatest American president. He died in April 15 1865, he had been assassinated. After the end of the Civil War a man by the name of John Wilkes Booth who was an actor and a confederate spy wanted to kidnap Lincoln to free some Confederate prisoners. After Lincoln made a speech which promoted voting rights for black people John Wilkes Booth was angry so then he planned to assassinate Lincoln. Lincoln had only one bodyguard named Ward Hill Lamon and during the play he wandered around. John Wilkes Booth snuck up behind Lincoln and then waited for the funniest line in the performance. When everyone started laughing he shot Lincoln and then jumped on the stage and shouted “Sic semper tyrannis!” and that is Latin for “Thus always to tyrants” A twelve day manhunt happened and he was eventually shot and died of his wounds.