Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809-April 15, 1865), known as "Honest Abe" and "The Rail Splitter of the Great Emancipator" was born in Hodgenville, KY to Thomas and Nancy Lincoln in a one-room log cabin built by his father. Growing up on the frontier gave Lincoln certain strengths such as self-reliance, patience and understanding. Survival itself demanded them. No one can tell a completely "true" story of any piece of the past. In the case of Abraham Lincoln, it is difficult to sort out the fact from the legend. There are no contemporary records of his childhood except indirect and relatively insignificant documents such as bills of sale. Both of Lincoln's parents were illiterate, so the tapestry of letters one often finds in educated families is absent. Myth-makers found great material in Lincoln's early years because of the lack of evidence about them and because of the idealizing needs of a country reunited after a terrible civil war. The years of Lincoln's youth and maturity, though better documented, also have been caught up in exaggeration and legend. None of us can remain totally free from the legends of Abraham Lincoln for they are too deeply embedded in the American conscious.
Lincoln, when he had learned to read, absorbed all he could in the way of books and newspapers. Until 1834, Lincoln was too intimidated by his lack of education to study law. In his last term he became minority leader. Sometimes there were special sessions, such as the one in the summer of 1837 to deal with the state's financial panic. During peaceful times he would read. An avid listener as well, he had a certain compulsive quality to understand all he heard in sermons and speeches. On February 27, 1860, at the Cooper Institute in New York City, Lincoln delivered one of his most important speeches before his presidency. It is really futile to speculate what he might have done, but it is not frivolous to guess that he purposely shaped his heroic image to fit a nation longing for unity and greatness. Before the end of 1840 they were engaged and in January 1841, Lincoln broke off the engagement. Lincoln was appointed as the village postmaster on May 7, 1833. Lincoln also unequivocally supported the Illinois Internal Improvement Act. This extended service was not a result of military need but rather that Lincoln had no other work. While in Congress, however, he took positions on three major issues as a representative. When his term ended in May, he reenlisted for twenty more days in the service of Captain Elijah Iles and then in June, he signed on for thirty more days in Captain Jacob M. He came out strongly against the Mexican War; he tried to introduce a bill in Congress to abolish slave trade in Washington D.
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Acceptance Essays
