Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States. Lincoln was born in 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky. Kentucky was a wild country then which was only beginning the process of entering the United States. Lincoln's family led a very rural existence, and beyond basic grammar school, Lincoln never had formal education.

After several years of being a largely self-taught lawyer, Lincoln became interested in politics. He entered the Illinois state legislature in 1834, and was eventually elected to the House of Congress in 1846. After a five year retirement from politics, Lincoln was drawn in to politics again by his indignation with respect to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, drafted by his political opponent Stephen Douglas. From then on, Lincoln made opposition to slavery his key issue. After a famous series of debates in 1858, Lincoln lost the Senatorial election to Douglas, but he defeated Douglas in the 1860 presidential election.

Lincoln's...