Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War, its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Hodgenville, Kentucky. He was the second child of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and he had one sister, Sarah. Thomas was a carpenter and farmer, while Nancy was a homemaker. The family later moved to Kentucky, Indiana, and then to Illinois. One of Lincoln's earliest memories was of witnessing his father's bloody fight with a Native American.

Lincoln was mostly self-educated, reading whatever he could find on a variety of topics. He was particularly interested in history and politics. Lincoln grew up to be a tall and lanky man, with a good sense of humor. He was an excellent debater and was known for his honesty.

Lincoln began his political career in 1832, when he was elected to the Illinois state legislature. He served four terms in the legislature and then ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, but he was not elected. He did, however, gain national attention for his debates with senator Stephen A. Douglas.

In 1860, Lincoln was elected president of the United States. He was inaugurated on March 4, 1861. One of his first actions as president was to call for 75,000 volunteers to serve in the Union army. The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a U.S. military installation in South Carolina. Lincoln served as commander-in-chief of the Union army during the war.

On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in the Confederate states. The proclamation was a major turning point in the war, and it helped to ensure that the Union would win.

In 1865, the Union army defeated the Confederacy, and the Civil War came to an end. On April 9, 1865, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. This effectively ended the war.

Just five days later, on April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. He died the next morning. Lincoln's assassination was a shock to the nation. He was the first U.S. president to be assassinated, and his death came at a time when the country was still healing from the wounds of the Civil War.