Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States

In office

March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865

Vice President Hannibal Hamlin

(1861–1865)

Andrew Johnson

(Mar–Apr. 1865)

Preceded by James Buchanan

Succeeded by Andrew Johnson

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives

from Illinois's 7th district

In office

March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849

Preceded by John Henry

Succeeded by Thomas L. Harris

Member of the
Illinois House of Representatives
from Sangamon County

In office

December 1, 1834 – December 4, 1842

Personal details

Born February 12, 1809

Sinking Spring Farm, Kentucky, U.S.

Died April 15, 1865 (aged 56)

Washington, D.C., U.S.

Cause of death Assassination (gunshot)

Resting place Lincoln Tomb

Political party Whig (before 1854)

Republican (1854–1864)

National Union (1864–1865)

Height 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)[1]

Mary Todd (m. 1842)

Spouse(s)

 Robert
Children
 Edward

 Willie

 Tad

Relatives Thomas Lincoln (father)

Nancy Hanks (mother)

Signature
 Military service

Allegiance United States

Illinois

Branch/service Illinois Militia

Years of service 1832

Rank Captain[a]

Private[a]

Battles/wars American Indian Wars

 Black Hawk War

This article is part of

a series about
Abraham Lincoln

 Views on slavery
 Views on religion
 Electoral history

 Early life and career

 Political career, 1849–1861
 Family
 Health

 Lincoln–Douglas debates
 Cooper Union speech
 Farewell Address

President of the United States

 Presidency

First term

 1st inauguration
o Address
  American Civil War
o The Union
o Emancipation Proclamation
o Ten percent plan
o Gettysburg Address
o 13th Amendment

Second term

 2nd inauguration
o Address
 Reconstruction

Presidential elections

 1860
o Convention
 1864
o Convention

Assassination and legacy

 Assassination
 Funeral
 Historical reputation
 Memorials
 Depictions
 Topical guide
 Bibliography

 v
 t
 e

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American statesman and lawyer who served as
the 16th president of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the
nation through the American Civil War, its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political
crisis.[2][3] He preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the
U.S. economy.
 Born in Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the frontier in a poor family. Self-educated, he became a lawyer, Whig
Party leader, Illinois state legislator and Congressman. In 1849, he left government to resume his law practice,
but angered by the success of Democrats in opening the prairie lands to slavery, reentered politics in 1854. He
became a leader in the new Republican Party and gained national attention in 1858 for debating national
Democratic leader Stephen A. Douglas in the 1858 Illinois Senate campaign. He then ran for President in 1860,
sweeping the North and winning. Southern pro-slavery elements took his win as proof that the North was
rejecting the constitutional rights of Southern states to practice slavery. They began the process of seceding
from the union. To secure its independence, the new Confederate States of America fired on Fort Sumter, one
of the few U.S. forts in the South. Lincoln called up volunteers and militia to suppress the rebellion and restore
the Union.
As the leader of the moderate faction of the Republican Party, Lincoln confronted Radical Republicans, who
demanded harsher treatment of the South; War Democrats, who rallied a large faction of former opponents into
his camp; anti-war Democrats (called Copperheads), who despised him; and irreconcilable secessionists, who
plotted his assassination. Lincoln fought the factions by pitting them against each other, by carefully distributing
political patronage, and by appealing to the American people.[4]:65–87 His Gettysburg Address became an iconic
call for nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. He suspended habeas corpus, and he
averted British intervention by defusing the Trent Affair. Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, including the
selection of generals and the naval blockade that shut down the South's trade. As the war progressed, he
maneuvered to end slavery, issuing the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863; ordering the Army to protect
escaped slaves, encouraging border states to outlaw slavery, and pushing through Congress the Thirteenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution, which outlawed slavery across the country.
Lincoln managed his own re-election campaign. He sought to reconcile his damaged nation by avoiding
retribution against the secessionists. A few days after the Battle of Appomattox Court House, he was shot
by John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer, on April 14, 1865, and died the following day.
Abraham Lincoln is remembered as the United States' martyr hero. He is consistently ranked both by
scholars[5] and the public[6] as among the greatest U.S. presidents.

Contents

 1Family and childhood

o 1.1Early life
o 1.2Mother's death
o 1.3Education
o 1.4Illinois
o 1.5Marriage and children
 2Early career and militia service
 3Illinois state legislature
 4U.S. House of Representatives, 1847–1849
o 4.1Committee assignments
o 4.2Political views
 5Prairie lawyer
 6Republican politics 1854–1860
o 6.1Emergence as Republican leader
o 6.2Lincoln–Douglas debates and Cooper Union speech
o 6.31860 presidential election
 7Presidency
o 7.1Secession and inauguration
o 7.2The Civil War
o 7.3Re-election
o 7.4Reconstruction
o 7.5Other enactments
o 7.6Judicial appointments
o 7.7States admitted to the Union
 o 7.8Assassination
o 7.9Funeral and burial
 8Religious and philosophical beliefs
 9Health
 10Legacy
o 10.1Historical reputation
o 10.2Memory and memorials
 11See also
 12References
o 12.1Footnotes
o 12.2Citations
 13External links
o 13.1Official
o 13.2Organizations
o 13.3Media coverage
o 13.4Other

Family and childhood

Early life
Main article: Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, as the second child of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks
Lincoln, in a one-room log cabin on Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky.[7]:20–22 He was a
descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk, to its
namesake, Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1638. Samuel's grandson and great-grandson began the family's
westward migration, passing through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.[8]:3,4[7]:20 Lincoln's paternal
grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln, moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County,
Kentucky, in the 1780s.[8]:4 Captain Lincoln was killed in an Indian raid in 1786. His children, including eight-
year-old Thomas,[9][10] Abraham's father, witnessed the attack.[7]:21[11]:1–2[12]:12–13 Thomas then worked at odd jobs in
Kentucky and in Tennessee, before settling with members of his family in Hardin County, Kentucky, in the early
1800s.[8]:5[7]:21

Replica of Lincoln's birthplace near Hodgenville, Kentucky.

Lincoln's mother, Nancy, is widely assumed to have been the daughter of Lucy Hanks, although no record
documents this.[13]:79 Thomas and Nancy married on June 12, 1806, in Washington County, and moved
to Elizabethtown, Kentucky.[8]:9 They produced three children: Sarah, born on February 10, 1807; Abraham, on
February 12, 1809; and Thomas, who died in infancy.[8]:9–10
Thomas Lincoln bought or leased farms in Kentucky. Thomas became embroiled in legal disputes, and lost all
but 200 acres (81 ha) of his land in court disputes over property titles.[14]:20 In 1816, the family moved to Indiana,
where the survey process was more reliable and land titles were more secure.[8]:13 Indiana was a "free" (non-
slaveholding) territory, and they settled in an "unbroken forest"[8]:26 in Hurricane Township, Perry County. (Their
land became part of Spencer County, Indiana, when the county was established in 1818.)[8]:16 and 43[13]:3, 5, 16 In
1860, Lincoln noted that the family's move to Indiana was "partly on account of slavery", but mainly due to land
title difficulties.[14]:20[7]:23–24
In Kentucky and Indiana, Thomas worked as a farmer, cabinetmaker, and carpenter.[13]:34, 156 He owned farms,
town lots and livestock, paid taxes, sat on juries, appraised estates, served on country slave patrols, and
guarded prisoners. Thomas and Nancy were members of a Separate Baptists church, which forbade alcohol,
dancing, and slavery.[7]:22–24
Overcoming financial challenges, Thomas eventually obtained clear title to 80 acres (32 ha) of land in what
became known as the Little Pigeon Creek Community.[13]:24, 104

Young Lincoln by Charles Keck at Senn Park, Chicago

Mother's death
On October 5, 1818, Nancy Lincoln died of milk sickness, leaving 11-year-old Sarah in charge of a household
that included her father, 9-year-old Abraham, and Dennis Hanks, Nancy's 19-year-old orphaned cousin.[13]:22–23,
77
Ten years later, on January 20, 1828, Sarah died while giving birth to a stillborn son. Lincoln was very
distraught over his sister's death.[7]:20, 30–33[13]:37
On December 2, 1819, Thomas married Sarah "Sally" Bush Johnston, a widow from Elizabethtown, Kentucky,
with three children of her own.[13]:23, 83 Abraham became close to his stepmother, whom he referred to as
"Mother".[7]:26–27[13]:10 Lincoln disliked the hard labor associated with farm life. He was called lazy for all his
"reading, scribbling, writing, ciphering, writing Poetry, etc.".[15]:31[12]:25, 31, and 47[7]:33His stepmother acknowledged he
did not enjoy "physical labor", but loved to read.[13]:66

Education
Lincoln was largely self-educated. His formal schooling (from travelling teachers) was intermittent, totaling less
than 12 months; however, he was an avid reader and retained a lifelong interest in learning.[13]:10, 33[16]:110 Family,
neighbors, and schoolmates recalled that he read and reread the King James Bible, Aesop's Fables, John
Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Mason Locke Weems's The Life of
Washington, and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, among others.[7]:29–31, 38–43
Teenaged Lincoln took responsibility for chores. He accepted the customary practice that a son give his father
all earnings from work outside the home until age 21.[7]:30–33 Lincoln became adept at using an axe. Tall for his
age, Lincoln was strong and athletic.[8]:134–35 He became known for his strength and audacity after winning a
wrestling match with the renowned leader of a group of ruffians known as "the Clary's Grove boys".[7]:41

Illinois
In early March 1830, partly out of fear of a milk sickness outbreak, several members of the extended Lincoln
family moved west to Illinois, a free state, and settled in Macon County, 10 miles (16 km) west
of Decatur.[7]:36 Historians disagree on who initiated the move; Thomas Lincoln had no obvious reason to do so.
One possibility is that other members of the family, including Dennis Hanks, might not have matched Thomas's
stability and steady income.[13]:38–40
After the family relocated to Illinois, Abraham became increasingly distant from Thomas,[13]:71 in part because of
his father's lack of education, although occasionally lending him money.[7]:28 and 152 In 1831, as Thomas and other
family prepared to move to a new homestead in Coles County, Illinois, Abraham left home.[17]:15–17 He lived
in New Salem for six years.[18]:23–53 Lincoln and some friends took goods by flatboat to New Orleans, where he
witnessed slavery firsthand.[14]:22–23[7]:38

Marriage and children

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

1864 photo of President Lincoln with youngest son, Tad.

Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln, age 28

According to some sources, Lincoln's first romantic interest was Ann Rutledge, whom he met when he first
moved to New Salem; these sources indicate that by 1835, they were in a relationship but not formally
engaged.[19] She died on August 25, 1835, most likely of typhoid fever.[7]:55–58 In the early 1830s, he met Mary
Owens from Kentucky.[7]:67–69[18]:56–57, 69–70
Late in 1836, Lincoln agreed to a match with Owens if she returned to New Salem. Owens arrived in November
1836, and Lincoln courted her for a time; however, they both had second thoughts. On August 16, 1837,
Lincoln wrote Owens a letter suggesting he would not blame her if she ended the relationship. She never
replied.[7]:67
In 1840, Lincoln became engaged to Mary Todd, a daughter of Robert Smith Todd, a wealthy slave-owner
in Lexington, Kentucky.[20]:3 They met in Springfield, Illinois in December 1839[14]:46–48 and were engaged a year
later.[7]:86 A wedding set for January 1, 1841, was canceled at Lincoln's initiative.[14]:46–48[7]:87 They reconciled and
married on November 4, 1842, in the Springfield mansion of Mary's married sister.[14]:50–51 While anxiously
preparing for the nuptials, Lincoln was asked where he was going and replied, "To hell, I suppose."[7]:93 In 1844,
the couple bought a house in Springfield near Lincoln's law office. Mary kept house, often with the help of a
relative or hired servant.[21]:142
He was an affectionate, though often absent, husband and father of four children. Robert Todd Lincoln was
born in 1843 and Edward Baker Lincoln (Eddie) in 1846. Edward died on February 1, 1850, in Springfield,
probably of tuberculosis. "Willie" Lincoln was born on December 21, 1850, and died of a fever on February 20,
1862. The Lincolns' fourth son, Thomas "Tad" Lincoln, was born on April 4, 1853, and died of heart failure at
the age of 18 on July 16, 1871.[12]:179–181, 476 Robert reached adulthood and produced children. The Lincolns' last
descendant, great-grandson Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died in 1985.[22] Lincoln "was remarkably fond of
children",[12]:126 and the Lincolns were not considered to be strict with their own.[21]:120 In fact, Lincoln's law
partner William H. Herndon would grow irritated when Lincoln would bring his children to the law office. Their
father, it seemed, was often too absorbed in his own work to notice his children's behaviour. Herndon
recounted, "I have felt many and many a time that I wanted to wring their little necks, and yet out of respect for
Lincoln I kept my mouth shut. Lincoln did not note what his children were doing or had done."[23]
The deaths of their sons had profound effects on both parents. Abraham suffered from "melancholy", a
condition later referred to as clinical depression.[24] Later in life, Mary struggled with the stresses of losing her
husband and sons, and Robert committed her temporarily to a mental health asylum in 1875. [25]:341
Lincoln's father-in-law and others of the Todd family were either slave owners or slave traders. Lincoln was
close to the Todds, and he and his family occasionally visited them.[26]:440–447
Mary cooked for Lincoln often during his presidency. Raised by a wealthy family, her cooking was simple, but
satisfied Lincoln's tastes, which included imported oysters