the family had never known. She demanded that the cabin be made habitable. She also insisted that Abraham be put in school thus he began attending Andrew Crawford's School at the age of fifteen. He attended school until 1826.
             In 1828, he made his first trip to New Orleans as a boatman making eight dollars a month. It was on this trip that Lincoln observed the abominations of the slave trade to the City of New Orleans. It depressed him. "If I ever get a chance to hit slavery, I'll hit it hard" he stated. In 1832 the Black Hawk War broke out and he enlisted. He was without military experience, but became captain by popular election. His leadership was not brilliant, they did no fighting and were all discharged. Lincoln was still popular among the soldiers and it was suggested that he should run for State Legislature, and at the young age of twenty three he ran in his first election. Lincoln claimed a victory when all the voting was over. From the beginning, Lincoln jumped right in to politics. In 1836, Lincoln wrote a protest to extreme action legislature had taken on the slavery issue. In the protest, Lincoln stated that Congress had no power under the Constitution to interfere with the institution of slavery in the different states. Even after this protest in 1838, Lincoln was elected to another term in legislature. He was also the party's unanimous vote for speaker, but with a democrat majority he simply became the minority leader.
             In 1839, he became engaged to Mary Todd of Lexington, Kentucky and married in November, 1842. In 1837, Lincoln became licensed to practice law. With fellow partner John T. Stuart, the firm of Stuart & Lincoln was opened. He remained part of the state legislature, but also followed his other passion of law. In 1844, Lincoln became the presidential candidate for the election on the Whig ticket, but lost. Instead, in 1846 he was nominated and elected to Congr...