
Abraham Lincoln
Date of Birth | : | 12 Feb, 1809 |
Date of Death | : | 15 Apr, 1865 |
Place of Birth | : | Larue County, KY |
Profession | : | American Lawyer, Politician |
Nationality | : | American |
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 to 1865, and is regarded as one of America’s greatest heroes due to his roles in guiding the Union through the Civil War and working to emancipate enslaved people. His eloquent support of democracy and insistence that the Union was worth saving embody the ideals of self-government that all nations strive to achieve. In 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves across the Confederacy. Lincoln’s rise from humble beginnings to achieving the highest office in the land is a remarkable story, and his death is equally notably. He was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in 1865, at age 56, as the country was slowly beginning to reunify following the war. Lincoln’s distinctively humane personality and incredible impact on the nation have endowed him with an enduring legacy.
Early Life, Parents, and Education
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, to parents Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln in rural Hodgenville, Kentucky Thomas was a strong and determined pioneer who found a moderate level of prosperity and was well respected in the community. The couple had two other children: Lincoln’s older sister, Sarah, and younger brother, Thomas, who died in infancy. His death wasn’t the only tragedy the family would endure.
In 1817, the Lincolns were forced to move from young Abraham’s Kentucky birthplace to Perry County, Indiana, due to a land dispute. In Indiana, the family “squatted” on public land to scrap out a living in a crude shelter, hunting game and farming a small plot. Lincoln’s father was eventually able to buy the land.
When Lincoln was 9 years old, his 34-year-old mother died of tremetol, more commonly known as milk sickness, on October 5, 1818. The event was devastating to the young boy, who grew more alienated from his father and quietly resented the hard work placed on him at an early age.
Quotes
Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.
When you make it to the top, turn and reach down for the person behind you.
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
If you have never failed you have never lived.
Kindness is the only service that will stand the storm of life and not wash out.
The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
It is a sin to be silent when it is your duty to protest.
How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
If there is anything that links the human to the divine, it is the courage to stand by a principle when everybody else rejects it.