Born February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president of the United States in 1860. His father and mother, Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, were both farmers living in Kentucky. Lincoln had an older sister, Sarah, and a younger brother who died in infancy, Thomas. Growing up, Lincoln didn’t attend much school, but he loved to learn and was always borrowing books from his neighbors. In 1842, Lincoln married his wife, Mary Todd, and had 4 children: Robert (1843-1926), Edward (1846-1850), William (1850-1862), and Thomas (1853-1871). Robert was the only child to make it to adulthood.
Abraham Lincoln was actively against slavery even though he was married to a slave holder’s daughter. During his presidency he did a number of things to abolish it. He was the president during the Civil War and at the end of his presidency he tried to pass voting rights for blacks. Lincoln was shot in the back of the head on April 14, 1865 while he was at Ford’s Theater watching Our American Cousin. He was rushed across the street to the Peterson House where he died the next morning. This was the first presidential assassination in the United States.
Lincoln was known for not liking hunting or fishing because he didn’t like killing animals, not even for food. He was also known for his famous speeches. Lincoln had a gift of story-telling. Some of his most famous speeches are: First Inaugural Address (1861), The Gettysburg Address (1863), Second Inaugural Address (1865), Emancipation Proclamation (1862), and finally the many debates between him and Stephen Douglas that coined the term Lincoln-Douglas Debates used in many debates today.
Another thing Lincoln was well-known for is his height. He was very tall, 6’ 4”. He also wore a tall hat that made him look taller. “It is sometimes debated whether Lincoln had Marfan syndrome, an autosomal dominant disorder of the connective tissue characterized by long limbs and great physical stature.” Even though he was tall and strong, Lincoln didn’t enjoy labor as much as he enjoyed learning and this made his father upset. Abraham was also a fan of George Washington. It is said that his favorite book was The Life of George Washington. This wasn’t the only book he read however, he also read the Bible, Shakespeare, and English and American history.
When Abraham was in the House of Representatives from Illinois’s 7th district, he outwardly spoke against the Mexican-American War. He only served for 2 years and then left to become a lawyer. Before he married his wife, Lincoln was making ship runs on flatboats from New Salem to New Orleans.