Download Our American Cousin

Meet Abraham Lincoln
A Quick Pictorial Review of the
16th President of the
United States
Young Abe Lincoln
• Abraham Lincoln was born
February 12, 1809, in a log
cabin in Kentucky.
• The family moved to
southern Indiana when
Lincoln was 7. Lincoln had
gone to school briefly in
Kentucky and did so again in
Indiana. In 1818 his mother
died His father remarried
the next year, when Lincoln
was 10.
Young Abe Lincoln
• Lincoln loved to read and
preferred learning to working
in the fields. This led to a
difficult relationship with his
father who was just the
opposite. Young Abe was
constantly borrowing books
from the neighbors.
• Lincoln read deeply, but not
broadly. He constantly
reread the Bible and
Shakespeare, but not much
else.
His Early Career
• Lincoln, who stood nearly 6’4” and weighed about 180
pounds, moved to Illinois in
his early 20’s and saw brief
service in the Black Hawk
War, was elected to the
Illinois Legislatureas a Whig
in 1834, 1836, 1838, and
1840, where he worked for
internal improvements.
His Early Career
•
He studied law in his spare
time and became a lawyer in
1836. Lincoln grew quite
prosperous from the law,
eventually becoming chief
counsel for the Central
Illinois Railroad, and other
prominent clients.
Mary Todd Lincoln
• Lincoln met Mary Todd in
Springfield, IL, in 1839.
Mary was from a prominent,
wealthy, slave-owning family
in Kentucky. She was
related to John
Breckenridge, who ran for
President against Lincoln in
1860, and in Illinois, she was
courted by Stephen A.
Douglas.
Mary Todd Lincoln
• Mary Todd Lincoln was an
often charming woman, but
she had a severe temper,
and was unstable. She was
a shop-a-holic, and
compulsive spender.
Historians do not know for
sure, but many suspect that
she may have had a mental
illness.
Lincoln’s Children
• The Lincolns had Robert
(1843-1926), Eddie (18461850,) Willie (1850-1862),
and Tad (1853-1871). Tad
is pictured at right.
• Lincoln was a devoted
father, especially to the
younger boys. He was the
first President with small
children in the White House,
and the boys were famous
for their pranks and
escapades.
National Politics
• In 1846 Lincoln ran for the
United States House of
Representatives and won. While
in Washington he became known
for his opposition to the Mexican
War and to slavery. He returned
home after his term and resumed
his law practice more seriously
than ever.
National Politics
• Lincoln's declining interest in
politics was renewed by the
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska
Act in 1854. Having joined the
new Republican Party, he made
an unsuccessful bid for the U.S.
Senate but received some support
for the Republican VicePresidential nomination in 1856.
• He opposed the Dred Scott
decision in 1857. Lincoln engaged
in a series of debates with
Stephen Douglas in 1858. Lincoln
was against the spread of slavery
into the territories but was not an
abolitionist. Douglas won the
Senatorial race, but Lincoln
gained national recognition.
Lincoln As President
• In addition to fighting and
winning the Civil War,
Lincoln was responsible for
the Emancipation
Proclamation, which was the
first step towards ending
slavery in America.
• Also during his Presidency
the Homestead Act became
law, giving people 160 acres
of western land for free
provided that the lived on it
for 5 years, and farmed it.
Lincoln As President
• Lincoln signed the National
Banking Act, and was
President when the first
Federally issued paper
money was circulated.
• Lincoln also was a steadfast
supporter of industry, and
signed the bill chartering and
authorizing the first
transcontinental railroad.
Lincoln As President
• Lincoln believed himself to be a
man of destiny. He saw the Civil
War crisis as his fate, and believed
that it would be his great task on
Earth.
• Lincoln always maintained that
States could not leave the Union,
therefore, they would not have to
“rejoin” the Union post-war. In this
he differed from other so-called
“Radical Republicans” in
Congress.
Lincoln As President
• On April 9, 1865, the Confederate
Army surrendered. . Two days later
Lincoln gave a speech suggesting
that he would support voting rights
for certain blacks. This infuriated a
racist and Southern sympathizer
who was in the audience: the actor
John Wilkes Booth.
• On Good Friday, April 14, 1865,
the Lincolns attended a play
entitled Our American Cousin at
Ford’s Theatre. During the
performance Booth arrived at the
theatre, entered the State Box from
the rear, and shot the President in
the back of his head. Lincoln was
first President to be assassinated.
The Last Known Pictures of
Lincoln
Until Now…