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Remembering Lincoln

Spanish Translation

Brenda Iasevoli

On February 12, Americans will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. All across the nation, there will be celebrations to honor the life of the great President.

Two hundred years after his birth, Abraham Lincoln still captures our imagination. He is the bearded man in the stovepipe hat, the face on the penny and the five-dollar bill. But who is the man behind the image? Why does he still matter?

"Abraham Lincoln lived a great American story," Harold Holzer, a leading expert on Lincoln, told TFK. "He showed that any young person in this country, regardless of where he starts or how poor he is, can rise to the highest opportunities."

Born in a Log Cabin

Lincoln was born in Kentucky on February 12, 1809 (see "Lincoln's Life"). His parents were poor farmers. Young Abe's mother and father were uneducated. Lincoln attended school for no more than a year. But he read every chance he got. He did not go to law school. Instead, he studied on his own and earned a law license.

In 1858, Lincoln ran for the U.S. Senate. He spoke against slavery. Lincoln did not win the Senate seat, but his words impressed voters. Two years later, he was elected the 16th President of the United States. He promised to keep slavery out of new states in the West. "If slavery is not wrong," he said, "nothing is wrong."

North vs South

People in the South depended on slaves to work on farms. Southerners saw Lincoln's election as a threat to their way of life. Within months, seven states broke away from the Union. They formed the Confederate States of America. Later, four more states joined the Confederacy.

Lincoln was determined to keep the U.S. together. In his first speech as President, he said, "We are not enemies, but friends." He said that he did not intend to outlaw existing slavery. But on April 12, 1861, the long and bloody Civil War between the North and South began.

Two years later, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. "If ever my name goes into history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it," Lincoln said.

"Free, free, free," an ex-slave told a Washington newspaper, after the Proclamation. "Oh how good it is to be free, and to know that what I earn is mine and that no man can ever say he owns my body or my soul."

A Nobel Idea Lives On

In his Inaugural Address, President Obama told Americans, "The time has come...to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness." Lincoln would have agreed.

Lincoln's Life

Abraham Lincoln was a farm boy who grew up to become President. He led the United States during the Civil War.

1809
On February 12, Abraham Lincoln is born in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky.

1816
The Lincoln family moves to a farm in southern Indiana.

1837
Lincoln moves to Springfield, Illinois, and begins practicing law.

1842
He marries Mary Todd. They eventually have four children: Robert, Eddie, Willie and Tad.

1847
Lincoln is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

1858
While running for the U.S. Senate against Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln debates Douglas seven times, opposing slavery. Lincoln loses the race, but gains national attention.

1860
Lincoln is elected the 16th President. Within months, seven Southern states secede, or break away, from the Union. They form the Confederacy, and are later joined by four more states.

1861
On April 12, Confederates open fire on Fort Sumter, in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War begins.

1863
On January 1, Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation. It frees the slaves in seceding states. From July 1-3, Union and Confederate soldiers battle in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. On November 19, Lincoln goes to the battlefield and gives his most famous speech, the Gettysburg Address.

1864
Lincoln is re-elected President.

1865
The Civil War ends on April 9. Five days later, Lincoln is shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth while watching a play at Ford's Theater, in Washington, D.C. On December 6, the 13th Amendment is passed. It permanently outlaws slavery.

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