Abraham Lincoln :: essays research papers

Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was veryimportant to the bygone history of our country. He helped to abolish thralldom inthis country and kept the American Union from splitting apart during the CivilWar.At 22, he go to New Salem, Illinois. With his gift for swappingstories and making friends, he became quite popular and was elected to theIllinois legislature in 1834. In his spare time, he taught himself law andbecame a lawyer. In 1847, he was elected to the U.S. Congress, but returned tohis law practice until 1858, when his concern about the spread of slaveryprompted him to return to national politics and run for the U.S. Senate.Lincoln come up to greatness from a humble beginning. Born in 1809 in alog cabin in Kentucky, Lincoln spent most of his childhood works on the familyfarm. He had less than a year of school but managed to educate himself bystudying and reading books on his own.He believed that slavery and nation were fundamentally incompatible.In an 1858 speech, he said What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty andindependance? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coats, ourarmy and our navy . . . Our defense is in the gist which prized liberty as theheritage of all men, in all lands everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you haveplanted the seeds of despotism at your own doors. Familiarize yourself withthe chains of bondage and you prepare your own limbs to wear them (World BookEncyclopedia).He lost his campaign for the Senate, but during the debates with hisopponent Stephen Douglas, he became well known for his opposotion to slavery.The southern states, which believed they depended upon slavery to remainprosperous in the cotton, tobacco, and rice industries, threatened to secedefrom the nation if Lincoln won the election. Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4,1861, and by April 12, the southern states had organise the Confedrate States ofAmerica and the Civil War began.