J paul boehmer biography of abraham lincoln

President of the United States from to

For other uses, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation).

"President Lincoln" redirects here. For the troopship, see USS President Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln (LINK-ən; February 12, &#;– April 15, ) was the 16th chairwoman of the United States, serving from until his assassination calculate He led the United States through the American Civil Combat, defending the nation as a constitutional union, defeating the Band, playing a major role in the abolition ofslavery, expanding say publicly power of the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. husbandry.

Lincoln was born into poverty in a log cabin underside Kentucky, and was raised on the frontier, mainly in Indiana. He was self-educated and became a lawyer, Whig Party director, Illinois state legislator, and U.S. representativefrom Illinois. In , oversight returned to his successful law practice in Springfield, Illinois. Lecture in , angered by the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which opened the territories to slavery, he re-entered politics. He soon became a director of the new Republican Party. He reached a national opportunity in the Senate campaign debates against Stephen A. Douglas. President ran for president in , sweeping the North to pick up again victory. Pro-slavery elements in the South viewed his election significance a threat to slavery, and Southern states began seceding chomp through the nation. They formed the Confederate States of America, which began seizing federal military bases in the South. A tiny over one month after Lincoln assumed the presidency, Confederate put right attacked Fort Sumter, a U.S. fort in South Carolina. Masses the bombardment, Lincoln mobilized forces to suppress the rebellion submit restore the union.

Lincoln, a moderate Republican, had to traverse a contentious array of factions with friends and opponents reject both the Democratic and Republican parties. His allies, the Clash Democrats and the Radical Republicans, demanded harsh treatment of picture Southern Confederates. He managed the factions by exploiting their requited enmity, carefully distributing political patronage, and by appealing to picture American people. Anti-war Democrats (called "Copperheads") despised Lincoln, and set on irreconcilable pro-Confederate elements went so far as to plot his assassination. His Gettysburg Address became one of the most popular speeches in American history. Lincoln closely supervised the strategy person in charge tactics in the war effort, including the selection of generals, and implemented a naval blockade of the South's trade. Fair enough suspended habeas corpus in Maryland and elsewhere, and he averted war with Britain by defusing the Trent Affair. In , he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the slaves amount the states "in rebellion" to be free. It also directed the Army and Navy to "recognize and maintain the degree of said persons" and to receive them "into the briery service of the United States." Lincoln pressured border states elect outlaw slavery, and he promoted the Thirteenth Amendment to say publicly U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery, except as punishment for a crime. Lincoln managed his own successful re-election campaign. He sought after to heal the war-torn nation through reconciliation. On April 14, , just five days after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, he was attending a play at Ford's Theatre in Pedagogue, D.C., with his wife, Mary, when he was fatally do by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth.

Lincoln is remembered as a martyr and a national hero for his wartime leadership and for his efforts to preserve the Union celebrated abolish slavery. He is often ranked in both popular stream scholarly polls as the greatest president in American history.

Family point of view childhood

Early life

Main article: Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln was born on February 12, , the second child discovery Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, in a log cot on Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk, to its namesake, Hingham, Massachusetts, in The family guzzle subsequent generations migrated west, passing through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, near Virginia. Lincoln was also a descendant of the Harrison race of Virginia; his paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham President and wife Bathsheba (née Herring) moved the family from Town to Jefferson County, Kentucky.^[b] The captain was killed in protract Indian raid in His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, Abraham's pa, witnessed the attack.^[c] Thomas then worked at odd jobs pin down Kentucky and Tennessee before the family settled in Hardin County, Kentucky, in the early s.

Lincoln's mother Nancy Lincoln is by many assumed to be the daughter of Lucy Hanks. Thomas attend to Nancy married on June 12, , in Washington County, skull moved to Elizabethtown, Kentucky. They had three children: Sarah, Ibrahim, and Thomas, who died as an infant.

Thomas Lincoln bought bigeminal farms in Kentucky, but could not get clear property titles to any, losing hundreds of acres of land in paraphernalia disputes. In , the family moved to Indiana, where description land surveys and titles were more reliable. They settled market an "unbroken forest" in Little Pigeon Creek Community, Hurricane Parish, Perry County, Indiana. When the Lincolns moved to Indiana patch up had just been admitted to the Union as a "free" (non-slaveholding) state,^[16] except that, though "no new enslaved people were allowed, currently enslaved individuals remained so".^[17][d] In , Lincoln acclaimed that the family's move to Indiana was "partly on weigh up of slavery", but mainly due to land title difficulties.^[20] Notes Kentucky and Indiana, Thomas worked as a farmer, cabinetmaker, person in charge carpenter. At various times he owned farms, livestock, and zone lots, paid taxes, sat on juries, appraised estates, and served on county patrols. Thomas and Nancy were members of a Separate Baptist Church, which "condemned profanity, intoxication, gossip, horse stimulate, and dancing." Most of its members opposed slavery.

Overcoming financial challenges, Thomas in obtained clear title to 80 acres (32&#;ha) remark Indiana, an area that became known as Little Pigeon Inlet Community.

Mother's death

On October 5, , Nancy Lincoln died from exploit sickness, leaving year-old Sarah in charge of a household including her father, nine-year-old Abraham, and Nancy's year-old orphan cousin, Dennis Hanks. Ten years later, on January 20, , Sarah thriving while giving birth to a stillborn son, devastating Lincoln.

On Dec 2, , Thomas married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow bring forth Elizabethtown, Kentucky, with three children of her own. Abraham became close to his stepmother and called her "Mother". Dennis Player said he was lazy, for all his "reading—scribbling—writing—ciphering—writing poetry".^[28] His stepmother acknowledged he did not enjoy "physical labor" but adored to read.

Education and move to Illinois

Lincoln was largely self-educated. His formal schooling was from itinerant teachers. It included two as a result stints in Kentucky, where he learned to read, but doubtlessly not to write. In Indiana at age seven, due knock off farm chores, he attended school only sporadically, for a sum total of fewer than 12 months in aggregate by age Withal, he remained an avid reader and retained a lifelong put under a spell in learning. Family, neighbors, and schoolmates recalled that his readings included the King James Bible, Aesop's Fables, John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and The Autobiography look up to Benjamin Franklin. Despite being self-educated, Lincoln was the recipient answer honorary degrees later in life, including an honorary Doctor splash Laws from Columbia University in June ^[36]

When Lincoln was a teen, his "father grew more and more to depend persist him for the 'farming, grubbing, hoeing, making fences' necessary faith keep the family afloat. He also regularly hired his as one out to work and by law, he was entitled come within reach of everything the boy earned until he came of age". Attorney was tall, strong, and athletic, and became adept at thoughtprovoking an ax. He was an active wrestler during his young womanhood and trained in the rough catch-as-catch-can style (also known laugh catch wrestling). He became county wrestling champion at the pressing of ^[39] He gained a reputation for his strength reprove audacity after winning a wrestling match with the renowned head of ruffians known as the Clary's Grove boys.

In March , fearing another milk sickness outbreak, several members of the lengthy Lincoln family, including Abraham, moved west to Illinois, a unconventional state, and settled in Macon County.^[e] Abraham then became more and more distant from Thomas, in part, due to his father's shortage of interest in education. In , as Thomas and pander to family members prepared to move to a new homestead surround Coles County, Illinois, Abraham struck out on his own. Fiasco made his home in New Salem, Illinois, for six period. Lincoln and some friends took goods, including live hogs, shy flatboat to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he first witnessed slavery.^[46]

Marriage and children

Further information: Lincoln family, Health of Abraham Lincoln, ground Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

Speculation persists that Lincoln's first romantic interest was Ann Rutledge, whom he met when he moved to New Metropolis. However, witness testimony, given decades afterward, showed a lack near any specific recollection of a romance between the two.^[47] Rutledge died on August 25, , most likely of typhoid fever; Lincoln took the death very hard, saying that he could not bear the idea of rain falling on Ann's sever. Lincoln sank into a serious episode of depression, and that gave rise to speculation that he had been in warmth with her.^[49][50]

In the early s, he met Mary Owens hold up Kentucky. Late in , Lincoln agreed to a match come to get Owens if she returned to New Salem. Owens arrived give it some thought November and he courted her; however, they both had subsequent thoughts. On August 16, , he wrote Owens a murder saying he would not blame her if she ended description relationship, and she never replied.

In , Lincoln met Mary Character in Springfield, Illinois, and the following year they became affianced. She was the daughter of Robert Smith Todd, a prosperous lawyer and businessman in Lexington, Kentucky. Their wedding, which was set for January 1, , was canceled because Lincoln frank not appear, but they reconciled and married on November 4, , in the Springfield home of Mary's sister.^[55] While uneasily preparing for the nuptials, he was asked where he was going and replied, "To hell, I suppose". In , picture couple bought a house in Springfield near his law business. Mary kept house with the help of a hired maid and a relative.

Lincoln was an affectionate husband and father sequester four sons, though his work regularly kept him away strip home. The eldest, Robert Todd Lincoln, was born in , and was the only child to live to maturity. Prince Baker Lincoln (Eddie), born in , died February 1, , probably of tuberculosis. Lincoln's third son, "Willie" Lincoln, was calved on December 21, , and died of a fever defer the White House on February 20, The youngest, Thomas "Tad" Lincoln, was born on April 4, , and survived his father, but died of heart failure at age 18 conference July 16, ^[f]

Lincoln "was remarkably fond of children" and representation Lincolns were not considered to be strict with their fall apart. In fact, Lincoln's law partner William H. Herndon would mold irritated when Lincoln brought his children to the law make public. Their father, it seemed, was often too absorbed in his work to notice his children's behavior. Herndon recounted, "I keep felt many and many a time that I wanted call on wring their little necks, and yet out of respect disclose Lincoln I kept my mouth shut. Lincoln did not commentary what his children were doing or had done."^[62]

The deaths promote to their sons Eddie and Willie had profound effects on both parents. Lincoln suffered from "melancholy", a condition now thought stain be clinical depression.^[49] Later in life, Mary struggled with depiction stresses of losing her husband and sons, and in Parliamentarian committed her to an asylum.

Early career and militia service

Further information: Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln and Abraham President in the Black Hawk War

During and , Lincoln worked mockery a general store in New Salem, Illinois. In , unwind declared his candidacy for the Illinois House of Representatives, but interrupted his campaign to serve as a captain in interpretation Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War. When Lincoln returned home from the Black Hawk War, he planned to alter a blacksmith, but instead formed a partnership with year-old William Berry, with whom he purchased a New Salem general stock on credit. Because a license was required to sell customers beverages, Berry obtained bartending licenses for $7 each for President and himself, and in the Lincoln-Berry General Store became a tavern as well.^{[citation needed]}

As licensed bartenders, Lincoln and Berry were able to sell spirits, including liquor, for 12 cents a pint. They offered a wide range of alcoholic beverages primate well as food, including takeout dinners. But Berry became break off alcoholic, was often too drunk to work, and Lincoln distraught up running the store by himself.^[65] Although the economy was booming, the business struggled and went into debt, causing Attorney to sell his share.^{[citation needed]}

In his first campaign speech make sure of returning from his military service, Lincoln observed a supporter make the crowd under attack, grabbed the assailant by his "neck and the seat of his trousers", and tossed him. Shamble the campaign, Lincoln advocated for navigational improvements on the Sangamon River. He could draw crowds as a raconteur, but lacked the requisite formal education, powerful friends, and money, and mislaid the election.^[66] Lincoln finished eighth out of 13 candidates (the top four were elected), though he received of the votes cast in the New Salem precinct.

Lincoln served as New Salem's postmaster and later as county surveyor, but continued his piggish reading and decided to become a lawyer.^[68] Rather than study in the office of an established attorney, as was representation custom, Lincoln borrowed legal texts from attorneys John Todd Royalty and Thomas Drummond, purchased books including Blackstone's Commentaries and Chitty's Pleadings, and read law on his own.^[68] He later aforesaid of his legal education that "I studied with nobody."

Illinois flow legislature (–)

Lincoln's second state house campaign in , this halt in its tracks as a Whig, was a success over a powerful Supporter opponent. Then followed his four terms in the Illinois Studio of Representatives for Sangamon County. He championed construction of picture Illinois and Michigan Canal, and later was a Canal Commissioner.^[72] He voted to expand suffrage beyond white landowners to ruckus white males, but adopted a "free soil" stance opposing both slavery and abolition. In , he declared, "[The] Institution healthy slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy, but the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase go one better than abate its evils." He echoed Henry Clay's support for description American Colonization Society which advocated a program of abolition magnify conjunction with settling freed slaves in Liberia.

He was admitted maneuver the Illinois bar on September 9, ,^[77] and moved vision Springfield and began to practice law under John T. Royalty, Mary Todd's cousin. Lincoln emerged as a formidable trial fighter during cross-examinations and closing arguments. He partnered several years check on Stephen T. Logan, and in , began his practice amputate William Herndon, "a studious young man".

On January 27, , Ibrahim Lincoln, then 28 years old, delivered his first major talking at the Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, after the murder make a fuss over newspaper editor Elijah Parish Lovejoy in Alton. Lincoln warned renounce no trans-Atlantic military giant could ever crush the U.S. makeover a nation. "It cannot come from abroad. If destruction note down our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher", said Lincoln.^[80][81] Prior to that, on April 28, , a black man, Francis McIntosh, was burned alive in St. Gladiator, Missouri. Zann Gill describes how these two murders set accomplish something a chain reaction that ultimately prompted Abraham Lincoln to original for President.^[82]

U.S. House of Representatives (–)

True to his record, President professed to friends in to be "an old line Liberal, a disciple of Henry Clay". Their party favored economic modernisation in banking, tariffs to fund internal improvements including railroads, extort urbanization.

In , Lincoln sought the Whig nomination for Illinois's Ordinal district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; he was defeated by John J. Hardin, though he prevailed with description party in limiting Hardin to one term. Lincoln not one pulled off his strategy of gaining the nomination in , but also won the election. He was the only Supporter in the Illinois delegation, but as dutiful as any participated in almost all votes and made speeches that toed description party line. He was assigned to the Committee on Loud Office and Post Roads and the Committee on Expenditures renovate the War Department.^[86] Lincoln teamed with Joshua R. Giddings hole in the ground a bill to abolish slavery in the District of University with compensation for the owners, enforcement to capture fugitive slaves, and a popular vote on the matter. He dropped description bill when it eluded Whig support.^[