A Life Journey Of Abraham Lincoln

Life was hard on the frontier for Abraham Lincoln, yet he took it so well. Seeing his mother die helped him become a strong and compassionate young man. He had a passion for learning and studied as much as he could. Whenever his family moved, until he was 22, Abraham moved with them, and helped out with the hard work.

Abraham Lincoln was born to Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln in a small wood cabin on February 12, 1809. He had a sister, who was two years older than him, and a brother, Thomas, who died at birth. They lived in Sinking Spring Farm in Kentucky for seven years, then moved to Indiana for a few reasons. Thomas [hated] slavery, and Kentucky joined the Union as a slave state. The land in Sinking Spring Farm was losing fertility drastically every year, property titles and lines were fought over, and Thomas didn’t have the money to keep up with all the losses of his land. Two years after moving to Indiana, Nancy Hanks [had] brucellosis, which is a disease made by drinking infected cow’s milk. Nancy died when Abraham was nine. Within a year of his wife’s death, Thomas married another woman, Sarah Bush Johnson, who had three of her own children, but Abraham loved her just as he had his first mother.

Lincoln never had a full education as a child, though he loved to learn. He studied in a school room for a week here and there, a month, sometimes. In all his formal education, it did not amount to more than a year, total. He most often picked up books and newspapers and practiced what he read. He was fascinated with certain types of fairy tales, some poetry, and a biography about George Washington. He never went to college, yet from his love of learning, he wrote some of the most famous pieces of literature in America.

When he was 21 years old, his father moved his family to Illinois. Abraham was 6 feet 4 inches tall and muscular, especially in his arms, as he helped his father cut down many trees for their cabins over the years. After helping his father cut more wood for their new cabin in Illinois, Lincoln started a small business and kept the earnings. He stayed with his father a year after the move to Illinois, then moved to New Salem to start his own life.

Abraham experienced many deaths in his family, which helped him understand life as a young child. His education was poor, but he studied and learned from books and newspapers. Finally, when he was 22 years old, he moved out of his family’s cabin and lived by himself in New Salem.

Lincoln was a well known judge, and he traveled within his circuit to help people and plead their cases as they [came up]. He partnered up with some men during his lawyer-ness but really worked well with one and stayed with him. “Riding the circuit” was something Abraham liked to do, and he was paid more than most judges.

Lincoln lived in New Salem for six years as a storekeeper, then moved to Springfield to practice law when the general store failed, and besides, New Salem didn’t have many opportunities for a budding lawyer. He was very interested in law, so he read Commentaries on the Laws of England by William Blackstone.

He partnered up with a few men before staying partnered with William H. Hernden, who was 10 years younger than Abe. It seems as if they had no arguments about money, for when either of them were paid, they split the money in half. He traveled the prairie, helping small cases with smaller fees, but he loved his work. He could conduct simple cases for not as educated judges, yet contract a complex and wonderful case for an experienced judge. When he was convinced his client was in the right, he argued strongly, but whenever he realized his client was wrong, he was less convincing in his speech.

Illinois was split up into “circuits,” and Abraham loved “riding the circuit,” which meant he rode from town to town helping people settle disputes. Whenever he judged cases, he rode in a horse buggy to that town. He even tried to have the [arguers] settle their cases out of court, which meant less pay for him. Nevertheless, he [got] an annual amount of $1,200 to $1,500, which was $500 more than usual circuit lawyers.

As a well paid judge, Abraham stayed with William Hernden as a partner with lawyer-ing. He had the ability to make different complexities of cases and argued very well. Abraham liked visiting the cities within his circuit and pleading cases to different kinds of judges.

Abraham’s marriage to Mary Todd resulted in four children; all but one died young. Most of them died tragic deaths, but one, Robert, lived to be very old.

In 1842, when he was 33 years old, Abraham proposed and married Mary Ann Todd who was 23 years old, making her Mary Todd Lincoln. They had a total of four children, all of whom were boys; Robert, born in 1843; Edward, 1846; William, 1850; and Tad, 1853.

Sadly, the Lincoln family has had a tragic family history; Edward died at age four from thyroid cancer on 1850, and his mother grieved terribly. When William was a mere 13 years old, in 1862, he too died, but of a different disease: typhoid, a disease [gotten] by drinking poisoned water. On 1871, Tad Lincoln died of pneumonia when he was 18 years old.

Robert Todd Lincoln was the only child to live older than 18. He lived to be 82 years old, dying in 1926. He left one child, Abraham Lincoln II, who married but died leaving no children. Because of that, the Lincoln family name is now not in circulation.

Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln bore four children whom of three who died tragic deaths. Robert Lincoln, the only son to outlive his brothers, was 82 when he died.

Lincoln got a lot of experience with politics during his years in Congress, but he wasn’t popular enough to stay in Congress though he wanted to, so he went back to being a lawyer and was one of the most famous in Illinois, speaking in front of distinguished judges. In 1860, he ran for president and won.

After many years of being a lawyer, Lincoln decided to be in the Illinois legislature. He served four terms in it, then wanted to be a congressman. He got 6,000 of the 11,000 total votes, and served in Congress in 1847. He and his fellow Whigs blamed President James K. Polk for the Mexican-American War. He had wanted to gain fame during being in Congress, but he was unpopular, but helped vote Whig Zachary Taylor for president in 1848.

He wanted to go back into Congress after his term was up, but his unpopularity in Congress made him return back to being a lawyer in Springfield and helped him study even harder than he had before. He became more famous than last lawyer time, and appeared in more courts and served more cases. He was soon recognized as one of Illinois’ leading lawyers.

But, as chance would have it, he got back into politics again because of Senator Stephen Douglas who was trying to make slavery a choice for whoever wanted it. Lincoln and many others hated the idea of slavery, so Lincoln tried to rebuke the bill, and had a long debate lasting months, with Douglas. Sadly, the way the cities were set up are that people voting for Douglas had the majority vote, so Lincoln lost.

Deciding to run for president in 1860, he travelled the United States and gave speeches to try to help people understand what he stood for. Ballot by ballot, he gained popularity and votes against his three opponents. But Abraham didn’t try to convince the Americans he was the best man for the job once he was done campaigning. Instead, he rested in his home in Springfield with his wife and three children. Once the results were in, it was easy to see: Abraham Lincoln won the election by an astounding 180 electoral votes versus 72, 39, and 12 for his opponents.

Abraham went from being a lawyer to a congressman but sadly he was unpopular to be re-voted in, so he decided to be a lawyer again. He was very popular then, and got a lot of pay from that job. Then after a debate with the U.S. Senate Douglas, he was talked into running for president, which he won.