(((great biograhpy on History Channel))) now
As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. Further, he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause.
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On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy. ...

"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."

Lincoln made extraordinary efforts to attain knowledge while working on a farm, splitting rails for fences, and keeping store at New Salem, Illinois. He was a captain in the Black Hawk War, spent eight years in the Illinois legislature, and rode the circuit of courts for many years.
His law partner said of him, "His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest."

He married Mary Todd, and they had four boys, only one of whom lived to maturity. In 1858 Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas for Senator. He lost the election, but in debating with Douglas he gained a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President in 1860.
As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. Further, he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy.
Lincoln never let the world forget that the Civil War involved an even larger issue. This he stated most movingly in dedicating the military cemetery at Gettysburg:

"that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." ~Lincoln

Lincoln won re-election in 1864, as Union military triumphs heralded an end to the war. In his planning for peace, the President was flexible and generous, encouraging Southerners to lay down their arms and join speedily in reunion. The spirit that guided him was clearly that of his Second Inaugural Address, now inscribed on one wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C.:
"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds.... " ~Lincoln
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On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who somehow thought he was helping the South. The opposite was the result, for with Lincoln's death, the possibility of peace with magnanimity died.

Sixteenth President
1861-1865
Born: February 12, 1809, in Hodgenville, Hardin County, Kentucky
Died: April 15, 1865. Lincoln died the morning after being shot at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth, an actor.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: majik*mind,

aaaaawww my sweet dear grandma (that just passed at 95yrs. old )
lived across the street from where Lincoln studied law in Vadallial , IL ...i heard soooooooooo many stories from her about him and i miss hearing her stories ... ohwell. she got to spend CHRISTmas w/ Jesus so im sure she is happy ....if any of the peeps here in school need an essay to write ...write about Lincoln or how LENNON was not liked by the government ....i did the one about Lincoln one time and got an A ...*

I absolutely love Lincoln! He was one of my favorite presidents. He was so smart....so kind (in my eyes.) No one will ever take his place in history. NO ONE! He had a harsh life, but MAN did he make history. I look up to him, no doubt. May he rest in peace.