Abraham Lincoln: A Life
1. Abraham Lincoln’s family background:
Lincoln’s father, Thomas, was born in Virginia in 1778. His family had lived in that colony for several generations. Thomas’s father Abraham was killed in a dispute with a neighbor when Thomas was only seven years old. In order to support the family, Thomas’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, took in boarders. When Thomas was nine years old, Nancy married a man named Thomas Sparrow. The following year, Nancy gave birth to a daughter named Sarah.
In 1786, Nancy and her new husband decided to move west to Kentucky. They settled on 350 acres of land in Hardin County. Kentucky had only recently been admitted to the United States as a state. At the time, it was known as the “dark and bloody ground” because of the fierce battles that had been fought there between Native Americans and white settlers.
Thomas Lincoln grew up quickly on the Kentucky frontier. He learned how to farm and how to hunt and trap animals for their fur. In 1793, when he was fifteen years old, Thomas met a young woman named Nancy Hanks. The two were married the following year. Nancy was eighteen years old at the time of her marriage; Thomas was twenty-six.
Over the next seventeen years, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln had three children together: Sarah, Abraham, and Thomas Jr. All three children were born in Kentucky.
2. Abraham Lincoln’s early childhood life:
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a one-room log cabin on Nolin Creek in Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky. (Nowadays, the cabin site is part of Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park.) He was named after his paternal grandfather.
Lincoln’s parents were both uneducated farmers who could not read or write; however, his mother Nancy had strong religious convictions and instilled them in her children. Lincoln later recalled that his earliest memory was of his mother teaching him to read using the Bible as their text book.
When Lincoln was seven years old, his family moved from Kentucky to Spencer County, Indiana (now part of Perry County). The Lincolns made the trip by flatboat down the Ohio River to their new home in the wilderness. It was a journey of more than 500 miles and took them nearly two months to complete.
Life on the Indiana frontier was even more difficult than it had been in Kentucky. There were no roads or bridges and few settlers living nearby for help or protection from Native Americans. The Lincolns built a log cabin similar to the one they had left behind in Kentucky; however, they did not have any furniture except for three homemade chairs and a crude wooden bedstead.
Lincoln spent much of his childhood working alongside his father on their farm; however, he also found time to play with other boys his age. He loved to go swimming and fishing in nearby creeks and ponds. He also enjoyed telling stories and making up songs and rhymes. Abe later recalled that he did not attend school regularly until he was eleven years old; however, he continued reading on his own whenever he could find something interesting to read…
3. Abraham Lincoln’s profession and education:
In 1816, when he was seven years old, Lincoln’s family moved from Kentucky to Spencer County, Indiana (now part of Perry County). The Lincolns made the trip by flatboat down the Ohio River to their new home in the wilderness. It was a journey of more than 500 miles and took them nearly two months to complete.
Life on the Indiana frontier was even more difficult than it had been in Kentucky. There were no roads or bridges and few settlers living nearby for help or protection from Native Americans. The Lincolns built a log cabin similar to the one they had left behind in Kentucky; however, they did not have any furniture except for three homemade chairs and a crude wooden bedstead.
Lincoln spent much of his childhood working alongside his father on their farm; however, he also found time to play with other boys his age. He loved to go swimming and fishing in nearby creeks and ponds. He also enjoyed telling stories and making up songs and rhymes. Abe later recalled that he did not attend school regularly until he was eleven years old; however, he continued reading on his own whenever he could find something interesting to read. By the time he was nineteen years old, Lincoln had become an avid reader and had acquired a wide range of knowledge about history, literature, and science…
4. Abraham Lincoln’s marriage:
In 1842, at the age of thirty-three, Lincoln married a young woman named Mary Todd. The couple had met three years earlier at a dance in Springfield, Illinois. At the time of their marriage, Mary was twenty-four years old and Lincoln was still relatively unknown outside of his hometown…
5. Abraham Lincoln’s political involvement:
In 1854, Lincoln became increasingly involved in politics when he joined the newly formed Republican Party. The following year, he gave a series of speeches opposing the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which would have allowed slavery to spread into new territories…
6. Abraham Lincoln’s death:
On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, an actor who opposed the president’s policies. Lincoln died the following day. He was fifty-six years old…
FAQ
Cite this assignment
More Related papers
- The case of Mr. Charles Dempsey: robbery, violence and causing bodily harm
- The Importance of Early Detection and Treatment of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis
- The Marketing Plan for the New Business Park in Kochi, Kerala
- Wood's Need for Speed: Reducing the Time Required for Each Task in the Goods Delivery Process
- The Need for Change at Ganong Bros during Its Critical Financial Time