Abraham Lincoln

He may have been the 16th president of the United States, but he did more than just sit in The White House.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in southeast Hardin County, Kentucky, making him the first president born west of the Appalachian Mountains. In the fall of 1816, Abraham and his family left Kentucky for southern Indiana. In 1828, Abraham was hired by a man named James Gentry, the richest in the community. He was to accompany his son Allen to New Orleans in a flatboat with produce. As well, Lincoln witnessed a slave auction on the docks, which made a disturbing, long-lasting impression on Lincoln. This would set the stage for Abraham's views on slavery.

Lincoln became involved in local politics as a supporter of the Whig Party and won election to the Illinois state legislature in 1834. Even though he lost a seat in the Senate during The Lincoln-Douglas debates, he had become nationally recognized. This lead to his election as President of the United States, which he won on November 6, 1860. He opposed the spread of slavery to the territories and had a vision to expand the United States by focusing on commerce and cities. So, on January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which allowed slaves to be free from the Confederate States. The proclamation authorized the recruitment of freed slaves and free blacks as Union soldiers. His party recognized that this proclamation may have no constitutional validity once the war was over, so he passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery.

Sadly, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth and later died in the Petersen House in Washington D.C. on April 14, 1865.

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