Abraham Lincoln: His Life/The Life of Abraham Lincoln
From sturdy stock, yet lowly station,
Arose the man, whom all the nation
Revered and honored.
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
His Parents
Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States, first saw the light of day in a log cabin in the woods of Kentucky. Little did his parents realize that the tiny child who came to them on the twelfth day of February, 1809, would become the idol of the American people—a man than whom there was none nobler.
His father, Thomas Lincoln, was an easy-going backwoodsman, sturdy in build, a carpenter by trade.
His mother was refined and well educated. Her maiden name was Nancy Hanks, and at the time of her marriage (she was then twenty-three years old) was known for her rare beauty and religious devotion.
1809
On Nolin Creek was born to fame
A sturdy child, his deeds, his name,
Are known in every land.
His Birthplace
On the south bank of Nolin Creek, three miles from what is now Hodgenville, Kentucky, was a little log cabin. About it stretched barren grass and straggly bushes. The land was slightly rolling with scarcely any foliage to break the monotony.
All about was desolate. Just why anyone would select this as a home site is hard to understand. The soil was so "poor" that only with the hardest labor could it be made sufficiently productive to repay the labor of sowing.
Here came Thomas and Nancy Lincoln and here on February 12, 1809, was born a son, Abraham Lincoln.
1813
The woods, the trees, the creek-land,
With flowers and birds—his dreamland—
There early youth was spent.
His Early Youth
When Abraham was four years old, the Lincolns moved to a place on Knob Creek, six miles from Hodgenville.
Their plot of land was larger and more fertile than that on Nolin Creek. Of the two hundred and thirty-eight acres that comprised the new site, Thomas Lincoln cultivated six acres.
The family's wants were few — their meals were frugal and until Abe was seven years old, he led a happy-go-lucky existence. Helping in the fields, strolling through the woods, learning the beauties of nature at nature's threshold.
His early education was such as was gleaned from irregular sessions at the "country school house."
1818
Left motherless at age of nine;
A roving life, hard work were thine,
Yet strong in morals.
His Youth
In the spring of 1816, the family moved to Pigeon Creek, Spencer County, Indiana, where the father built a log cabin.
Two years later Abraham's mother died. A year later his father married again. Abe's new mother soon grew very fond of him and at her insistence his father allowed him to attend school during the winter of 1819. The next winter, too, he spent a few weeks at school.
Most of his early education was obtained at home at night. Here, stretched upon the floor with a book before him, Abraham lay before the fireplace night after night. His favorite books were the Bible, Aesop's Fables and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
During the day he helped his father about the farm, tilling the soil, splitting rails, trapping and hunting.
1819 to 1825
And now come years of earnest toil
To guide the boats—to till the soil—
To work at many trades.
His Early Manhood
The boy grew rapidly. At the age of seventeen he stood six feet and four inches in height. He devoted much of his time to reading, making speeches and in a limited way to writing on the political questions of the day.
At the age of nineteen, Lincoln, then employed by James Gentry, made his first voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The trip was made in a flat boat filled with produce. This was sold at New Orleans.
In 1825 Abraham entered the employ of James Taylor at Anderson's Creek. He was farm hand, ferryman and Jack of all trades.
Lincoln had rapidly grown to be a young man of powerful physique.
1831
A country merchant in a country store
And thus inscribed above the door:—
"Lincoln & Berry."
Business Ventures
In March, 1830, the family moved to Mason County, Illinois, five miles southwest of Decatur.
Lincoln was now twenty-one years old and upon him fell the task of building the new home.
He left the Lincoln family to "strike out for himself." In 1831, together with two companions, he built a boat, loaded it with pork, hogs and corn. This was floated down the Mississippi to New Orleans where it was sold. A short time later Lincoln and a fellow named Berry, under the firm name of Lincoln and Berry, bought out a general store at New Salem. The business was unprofitable and when it was discontinued Lincoln was left with a burden of debts.
1837
Now mark his entrance to the bar,
A rising lawyer with a guiding star
Of noble deeds to do.
Soldier, Postmaster, Legislator
In 1831 the Black Hawk War broke out. The following year Lincoln enlisted in a company recruited at Sangamon, Illinois, and was elected Captain. He obtained excellent military training although his company did not see much of the war.
At the close of the war, Lincoln was appointed postmaster at New Salem. His next vocation was that of surveyor. In 1833 Lincoln made his first political speech and in 1834 was elected to the Legislature. Here he met Stephen A. Douglas of whom we shall hear later.
Re-elected to office, he served continuously for eight years. In 1837 he made his famous "Lightning Rod" speech. The same year Lincoln left New Salem and was entered at the bar, "a full fledged lawyer," at Springfield, Illinois.
1837 to 1846
His fund of stories served him well
And woe to him on whom befell
The shafts of Lincoln's satire.
Lawyer
In 1837, Lincoln entered into a partnership with John T. Stuart of Springfield, and in 1841 the partnership was dissolved, when Lincoln became associated with Stephen T. Logan.
In 1845 a new firm was formed, Lincoln and Herndon, which continued until Lincoln's death. During his many years of active legal service Abraham Lincoln was known for honesty of purpose, his high ideals of integrity and for his conscientious principles.
In his discourses his logic was clear and his argument forcible. His homely wit and great fund of stories won many a case for him.
1846 to 1858
Emancipation was his thought
But no results his efforts brought,
The time was not yet ripe.
Congressman
In 1846 Lincoln was elected to Congress by the Whigs — the only candidate elected by that party in Illinois. He was appointed member of the Committee of Post Offices and Post Roads.
On January 12, 1848, he made a powerful appeal against the declaration of war with Mexico. He introduced a bill into the house to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. This met such violent opposition that it was never brought to vote. On March 4, 1849, his term as Congressman expired.
Nine years later, on June 16, 1858, Lincoln was nominated as the Republican candidate for Senator of Illinois. Opposing him as candidate for the Democratic party was Stephen A. Douglas.
BIRTHPLACE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
His Family
On November 4, 1842, Abraham Lincoln was married to Miss Mary Todd. She was a charming young woman of twenty-five — a Kentuckian by birth, animated, well read, an exceptionally clever conversationalist.
The match was an excellent one. Lincoln made a loyal and indulgent husband. Mrs. Lincoln was an excellent housewife — a true helpmate to a great man.
They had four sons. Only one, Robert Todd Lincoln, grew to manhood. He was Secretary of War during the Garfield and Arthur administrations, and from 1889 to 1893 was Minister to England.
1860
A man of superhuman trait
To guide the tottering Ship of State
The nation well chose Lincoln.
President
Lincoln challenged Douglas to a joint debate and seven meetings were decided upon. Although the campaign was a losing one for Lincoln, the favorable sentiment created by his anti-slavery argument helped elect him to Presidency.
On May 16, 1860, he was nominated as the Republican candidate for Presidency.
The Democratic party split into three divisions, nominating as many candidates, Douglas, Breckinridge and Bell.
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. The vote stood as follows:
Lincoln 1,857,610. Douglas 1,291,254.
Breckinridge 850,022. Bell 646,124.
1861
He showed his depth of wisdom, when
He gathered 'round him those great men
Who formed his cabinet.
His Cabinet
At the inaugural exercises, March 4, 1861, one of the first to offer his congratulations and to pledge his support to Lincoln was his erstwhile opponent, Douglas.
Lincoln's cabinet consisted of Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State; Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury; Simon Cameron, Secretary of War; Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy; Caleb B. Smith, Secretary of the Interior; Edward Bates, Attorney-General; Montgomery Blair, Postmaster-General.
In January, 1862, Cameron withdrew and in his place Edwin M. Stanton, a Democrat, was appointed. Although of different political convictions, he served his chief loyally until the end.
1861
The Southern States were up in arms,
The country seethed in war alarms
When Lincoln entered office.
Secession
When Lincoln came into office he found a disordered government. Six Southern states had seceded and elected Jefferson Davis President. They had taken possession of the United States Treasury at New Orleans, robbing the government of five hundred thousand dollars. Major Anderson had been bottled up at Fort Sumter and a vessel sent to his aid had been fired on by the rebels.
Sedition was rife everywhere. The Southern States had armed troops with guns taken from the government during Buchanan's administration.
On April 14, 1861, Fort Sumter was captured by the Confederates and on the next day President Lincoln called for the enlistment of seventy-five thousand volunteers to defend Washington.
1861
War! Its horrors and its strife
Bade fair to sap the very life
Of our great nation.
War
War! The nation was to know the horrors of armed conflict.
The tramp of armed thousands was heard over the land. Rioting and treachery were rife. The Sixth Massachusetts regiment was mobbed while passing through Baltimore and a large number killed. Troops rushed to Washington.
Thirty thousand men were gathered under the command of General McDowell and on July 21st the battle of Bull Run was fought. It was a terrible defeat for the Union forces. During the eventful years that followed—years when the very life of the nation was threatened, when defeat was followed by defeat and the North was in a state of varying mutiny and in fear of invasion, through all these stern times Lincoln was calm and self-possessed.
1862
"All persons held as slaves are free."
Thus read that wonderful decree
That gave emancipation.
Emancipation Proclamation
The cares that fell upon his shoulders would have overcome any but the strongest of wills. Newspaper censure, dissension in the army, the building of the Merrimac and its victories over the Union vessels, all combined to create a spirit of panic.
Then the Monitor was built and its glorious fight became one of the bright spots in the history of that awful war.
On July 22, 1862, Lincoln presented his Emancipation Proclamation to the senate, and on January 1, 1863, it was returned to him for signature. This document, one of the most wonderful of its kind, was to free all slaves. It was one of the greatest factors in the advance of modern civilization.
1864
Peace spread her wings and all discord
Was silenced. O'er the nation poured
An eon of tranquillity.
Peace
The Republican National Convention unanimously nominated Lincoln for his second term on June 7, 1864. McClellan was nominated by the Democrats.
Lincoln was elected by an overwhelming majority.
The war was rapidly approaching termination. The Southern ports were closely blockaded and on the ninth of April General Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House.
Peace at last spread her wings over the land.
Now came the problem of reconstruction. No man was more capable of handling this difficult problem than was Lincoln, and had he lived, the chaotic condition that existed in the South might have been quickly remedied.
FORD'S THEATRE, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
IN WHICH LINCOLN WAS SHOT
Death
On the evening of April 14, the President, accompanied by his family, attended a performance at Ford's Theatre. Seated in an upper box, enjoying the humor of the play, he little knew of the danger that was lurking nearby.
John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor, had quietly crept into the box, pistol in one hand and a dagger in the other. Suddenly a report rang out. And one of the noblest men that ever lived was lain low.
Abraham Lincoln was carried to a house across the street, surgeons were summoned, but to no avail. At dawn, April 15, his soul passed to the great beyond.
His words, his deeds, the good he wrought,
Will live forever in the thought
Of all eternity.
In Memoriam
Sorrow swept through the land. North and South alike mourned the loss that was theirs.
The funeral service was held in the East Room of the White House.
Lincoln was buried in Springfield, Ill.
We of this later day who read of the lofty aims, the noble thoughts, the unselfish purposes of Abraham Lincoln can let his life inscribe in our thoughts those words of Longfellow:
"Lives of great men, all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time."
LINCOLN READING THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION TO HIS CABINET