Introducing Mr. Lincoln

"I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families--second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks.... My father ... removed from Kentucky to ... Indiana, in my eighth year.... It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up.... Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher ... but that was all."

Abraham Lincoln sketched his early life with those words. He was born in a one room log cabin and the first President born outside of the original thirteen colonies. Lincoln attended eighteen months of education and was largely self-educated. As an adult he stood 6 foot 4 inches tall and was talented as a wrestler and skilled with the axe. Along with George Washington and Franklin Delano Roosevelt he is considered one of the three greatest Presidents of the United States. This month I hope to give a brief introduction of the life of Abraham Lincoln. During the following months of 2009 we shall flesh out this framework and give a more complete view of this complex individual.

He worked on a flatboat carrying goods to New Orleans and later elected captain of an Illinois militia during the Black Hawk War in 1832. He ran a store in New Salem and regaled his customers with stories and jokes. He discovered law, studied and was admitted to the Bar in 1937. Lincoln became a successful lawyer in Springfield and was known for his cross examinations and closing arguments.

He was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives and became a prominent Whig leader during his four terms. The Whigs of that era favored modernization and economic development (roads, canals, etc.) The Party did have deep divisions regarding slavery and Lincoln was inclined to the anti-slavery wing of the Party. As early as 1837 he stated that the institution of slavery was “founded on both injustice and bad policy.”

Lincoln also assisted with the development of the Republican Party which the anti-slavery expansionist. They did not want slavery in new States and believed the institution of slavery would slowly pass away as the United States expanded. This was assured by the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which created a boundary into which slavery was not to enter. The Republicans came into power with the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1960 and presided over the Civil War and Reconstruction. The election also was the last insult to the South and some of those States began to secede from the Union.

The Civil War tested Lincoln and all Americans to a view of one Federal Union or separate State’s Rights. The first battle was at Fort Sumter in the early morning hours of April 12, 1861 and ended with the surrender of Robert E. Lee to Ulysses Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. During the war Lincoln’s priorities were twofold: to ensure that Washington, D.C. was well defended; and to conduct an aggressive war effort in the hope of ending the war quickly and appeasing the Northern public and press. Unfortunately the war went on for much longer than either side could have believed.

Abraham Lincoln’s last public address was given April 11, 1865 and promoted civil rights to slaves of the seceded States. As you can imagine this did not set well with many including a certain pro-Southern actor. John Wilkes Booth made the decision to kill Lincoln rather than simply kidnapping him. On Good Friday, April 14, 2008, Lincoln was assassinated while attending a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. Abraham Lincoln lingered throughout the night and died at 7:22:10 a.m. April 15, 1865.

Our 16th President leaves a legacy of the classical values of honesty and integrity, as well as respect for individual and minority rights, and human freedom in general. Lincoln has been memorialized in many ways: cities and towns named after him, from statues to legal tender and statues to cars. To commemorate his upcoming 200th birthday in February 2009, Congress established the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and mandated the Commission to renew the American appreciation of Lincoln's legacy.