Happy Birthday Honest Abe
On this day February 12th in 1809 (202 years ago today) Abraham Lincoln was born in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm in what was then southeast Hardin County, Kentucky (now LaRue County). He was the second child to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Lincoln (née Hanks).
Lincoln was raised in a poor family on the western frontier, which moved from Kentucky to Illinois when Abe was very young. He was mostly self-educated and went on to become a soldier in the Indian Wars, a lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, and a one-term member of the United States House of Representatives, but failed in two attempts at a seat in the United States Senate. He was also the father of four children, and husband to the sometimes crazy Mary Todd.
Lincoln was an outspoken opponent of the expansion of slavery in the United States, against which he eloquently advocated in his campaign debates and speeches. He secured the Republican nomination in a closely contested battle and was elected president in 1860. Declarations of secession by Southern slave states led to civil war, which took up almost all of Lincoln's attention and energy, He concentrated on both the military and political dimensions of the war effort, in an attempt to reunify the nation. He exercised unprecedented war powers, including the arrest and detention, without trial, of thousands of suspected secessionists.
Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including future President Ulysses S. Grant. Under his leadership, the Union took control of the border slave states at the start of the war and tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond. Each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded in 1865.
Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and promoted the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. As the leader of the moderate faction of the Republican party, Lincoln came under attack from all sides. Radical Republicans wanted harsher treatment of the South, Democrats desired more compromise, and secessionists saw him as their enemy. Lincoln appealed to the American people with his great ability as an oratoror. His Gettysburg Address of 1863 has become one of the most quoted speeches in history.
At the close of the war, Lincoln held a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to speedily reunite the nation through a policy of generous reconciliation in the face of lingering and bitter divisiveness. He was magnanamous in victory. Just six days after the surrender of the Confederate army at Appomatox, Lincoln became the first President to be assassinated. He was shot and killed by actor John Wilkes Booth while attending a performance of the play "Our American Cousin" at the Ford Theatre in Washington, D.C. on Good Friday in 1865.
Lincoln has consistently been ranked by scholars and historians as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents. He finished first in a poll of the members of this community..
Lincoln was raised in a poor family on the western frontier, which moved from Kentucky to Illinois when Abe was very young. He was mostly self-educated and went on to become a soldier in the Indian Wars, a lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, and a one-term member of the United States House of Representatives, but failed in two attempts at a seat in the United States Senate. He was also the father of four children, and husband to the sometimes crazy Mary Todd.
Lincoln was an outspoken opponent of the expansion of slavery in the United States, against which he eloquently advocated in his campaign debates and speeches. He secured the Republican nomination in a closely contested battle and was elected president in 1860. Declarations of secession by Southern slave states led to civil war, which took up almost all of Lincoln's attention and energy, He concentrated on both the military and political dimensions of the war effort, in an attempt to reunify the nation. He exercised unprecedented war powers, including the arrest and detention, without trial, of thousands of suspected secessionists.
Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including future President Ulysses S. Grant. Under his leadership, the Union took control of the border slave states at the start of the war and tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond. Each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded in 1865.
Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and promoted the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. As the leader of the moderate faction of the Republican party, Lincoln came under attack from all sides. Radical Republicans wanted harsher treatment of the South, Democrats desired more compromise, and secessionists saw him as their enemy. Lincoln appealed to the American people with his great ability as an oratoror. His Gettysburg Address of 1863 has become one of the most quoted speeches in history.
At the close of the war, Lincoln held a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to speedily reunite the nation through a policy of generous reconciliation in the face of lingering and bitter divisiveness. He was magnanamous in victory. Just six days after the surrender of the Confederate army at Appomatox, Lincoln became the first President to be assassinated. He was shot and killed by actor John Wilkes Booth while attending a performance of the play "Our American Cousin" at the Ford Theatre in Washington, D.C. on Good Friday in 1865.
Lincoln has consistently been ranked by scholars and historians as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents. He finished first in a poll of the members of this community..