Ticket 9

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is the most famous instance of the claim that Americans
often make, that in their country a man may rise from the lowest to the highest
position in their land, “from log-cabin to White House” – for that is exactly what
Lincoln did.

He was born in 1809, in a small farm in Kentucky, but while Abraham was quite
young, the family moved into the wild forest land of Indiana. Though “Abe” was
young, he was big and strong. At eight years of age an axe was put into his hand
and he worked with the rest of his family at their main task-clearing the land of
trees.

Of education, he had hardly any. There was no public education in Indiana

then, a few teachers got a living from the small fees that they charged, and
Abraham went to one or two of these from time to time and learned to read and
write and do simple arithmetic.”All told,” he once said, “I attended school less than
one year.”

Among the books that he read were A Life of George Washington, Robinson
Crusoe, and The Pilgrim’s Progress, but the only book that he owned in his youth
was the Bible, and its influence is seen in all his speeches and writings.

Answer these questions:

1) When did Abraham Lincoln’s family move and where?

2) What did he have to do from an early age?

3) What kind of school did he attend?

4) What book influenced his speeches?

Presedinte comisie examen