Abraham Lincoln

“I AM A SLOW WAL KER, BUT I NEVER WALK

BACK.”

―  ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS BORN NEAR
HODGENVILLE, KENTUCKY, ON FEBRUARY 12, 1809.

He was the second child

of Thomas Lincoln and 
Nancy Hanks Lincoln

(US Postcard Showing The

House where Lincoln was Born.)
Lincoln’s father was a farmer and also worked as carpenter.
His father started moving from one part to another due to land disputes
and finally settled in 1816 to Indiana, a free,
non-slaveholding territory, where they settled in
an unbroken forest. Family was quite poor and
his father had to switch jobs.
WHEREAS HIS MOTHER , NANCY LINCOLN DIED IN 1818 , WHEN LINCOLN WAS JUST
9 YEARS OLD. ON DECEMBER 2, 1819, LINCOLN'S FATHER MARRIED SARAH "SALLY”
BUSH JOHNSTON, A WIDOW FROM ELIZABETHTOWN, KENTUCKY, WITH THREE
CHILDREN OF HER OWN.LINCOLN WAS VERY CLOSE TO HIS STEPMOTHER.
Lincoln liked reading and was mainly self educated.

Lincoln became
independent at the age of 22(1831) and settled in New Salem for next 6 years.
He worked as a shopkeeper, postmaster and eventually general store owner and
he was called ‘Honest Abe’ .

Lincoln was very tall and had a good physique.

 Lincoln’s EarlyCareer
- In 1834 Abraham Lincoln began his political career and was elected to the lllinois
state legislature as a member of the Whig Party.

- He also started practicing law and became a lawyer, was admitted to the lllinois bar
in 1836.

- For the next few years, he worked there as a lawyer and serving
clients ranging from individual residents of small towns to national
railroad lines.
In 1844, Abraham Lincoln partnered with William Herndon in the practice of law.
At that time in the US , Slavery
was the legal institution of
enslaving human beings,
primarily of Africans and
African Americans, that existed
in the United States of America
from its founding in 1776 .

(Sketch showing Slave trading)

Black people were slaves and were traded as Property.

But Slavery was NOT Legal in whole of America.

Northern states were free states where slavery was abolished and there
Were no SLAVES.
They were basically called as “Free States”

But in southern states slavery wasn’t abolished and still existed.

These states were called “Slave States”
 Lincoln was morally opposed to slavery and politically opposed to any
expansion of it.

Abraham Lincoln's position on slavery in the United States is one

of the most discussed aspects of his life.

Lincoln often expressed moral opposition to slavery in public and private.

"I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong,“

he stated in a now-famous quote.

However, the question of what to do about it and how to end it, given that it was so firmly
embedded in the nation's constitutional framework and in the economy of much of the country,
was complex and politically challenging. In addition, there was the unanswered question,
which Lincoln had to deal with, of what would become of the four million slaves
when they were set free, and how they would be provided for in a society
that had long rejected them, or looked down on their very presence.
 In 1858 , Lincoln ran for US Senate from Illinois, up against Stephen Douglas.

The two candidates had a series of debates,total 7 (also known as The Great Debates of 1858).

These debates made national headlines all over the country through media(newspapers),
And this led to the recognition of Lincoln all over the country.

For Lincoln, these debates were an opportunity to raise both his national profile
and the burgeoning Republican Party

The debates focused on slavery specifically

Despite Republican party getting more votes , Lincoln was
unable to win the senate race.

Douglas was re-elected by the legislature 54–46,

even though Republican candidates for the state
legislature together received 24,094 more votes
than candidates supporting Douglas .

However, the widespread media coverage of the

debates greatly raised Lincoln's national profile,
making him a viable candidate for nomination as
the Republican candidate in the upcoming 1860
presidential election.