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In December 1816, the Lincolns packed their belongings and moved about 100 miles (160 kilometers) to southwestern Indiana. They spent that winter in a rough shelter with an open side. A forest full of wild game surrounded their lonely new home. Lincoln later remembered shooting a turkey, watching for bears, and listening at night to the "panther's scream." In the spring, Abraham, now 8 years old, began to help his father in the hard daily labor of pioneering. They had to clear the land of trees, plant crops, build a permanent cabin, and split rails for fences. Lincoln became skillful in the use of the ax but never cared much for hunting and fishing. He acquired no love for the life of a farmer. It seemed to be all heavy toil with small reward. The saddest days of Lincoln's childhood came in 1818, when his mother died and was buried in the nearby forest. A year later Thomas Lincoln married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow with three children of her own. Between the boy and his stepmother there grew a bond of deep affection, and she lived to see him become president.Much of Lincoln's learning was the practical kind that boys picked up from their work and play in a backwoods community. Lincoln attended school, in his own words, "by littles"--that is, only occasionally and for just a few weeks at a time. But he soon knew more than either of his parents about reading, writing, and arithmetic. School was probably what was known as a "blab school." Pupils studied their lessons aloud, and the noise could be heard some distance away. Lincoln later said that his total schooling did not amount to more than one year. But he read whatever he could lay his hands on. At home there was the Bible, and he walked long distances to borrow books like Robinson Crusoe, Aesop's Fables, and Weems's Life of Washington. In the process, Lincoln not only educated himself but became a master of the English language. He married Mary Edwards November 4, 1842. He had 4 boys- Robert Todd-1843, Eddie-1846, Willie-1850, and Tad-1853. Eddie his son, not yet 4, became ill and died on February 1, 1850. Lincoln was a great writer and speaker and used great sayings that we still use today! Lincoln's two things he wanted to accomplish were to save his country from dismemberment & ruin. Secondly to free his country from the great crime of slavery!Heroes are people who are strong willed, heroic, brave, loyal, proud, faithful, kind, helpful, caring, honorable, respected, dedicated, hard working, selfless, and so much more. Lincoln shows great examples of all these things! He made such an impact on so many lives in so many ways. Lincoln is someone who everyone in the world will always know for his great deeds and his wonderful attitude towards everything! "I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume VI, "Proclamation of Thanksgiving" (October 3, 1863), p. 497. Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Lincoln's Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country." Lincoln's Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862.
"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861. "Death does not make a hero....their life does!. Abraham Lincoln is my second favorite hero next to Jesus Christ. Though there are countless heroes from yesterday his example is the second greatest of eternity. To me he represents a true Legacy in the journey of life. A person that has made the difference in the world as we know.
"Father Abraham," or "Uncle Abe," as he had come to be known--like the reigning elder of the American family, albeit a dysfunctional one--had proven his appeal to his "children" just a few months before in hard numbers, handily winning re-election, and earning four out of every five votes cast by the federal soldiers risking their lives in the field. Just days before he lost his life here, Lincoln entered the devastated Confederate capital of Richmond, not to act the conquering hero, it should be noted, but to visibly, personally "bind up the nation's wounds." He was greeted with such impassioned reverence by liberated slaves that, overcome with emotion, Lincoln had to beg them to kneel not to him, but only to God. He drew bitter criticism that day merely for placing his hand on a black man's shoulder in public. "It was the great deliverer meeting the delivered," marveled an eyewitness. Lincoln "heard the Thanksgivings" that day for himself. He knew what he had become. He was the president of the United States from 1861-1865 during the Civil War. He led the Union to war in order to prevent the Southern States from seceding from the United States. This shows heroism, braveness, and loyality to his country. It shows that he is proud and faithful to be an American!
He issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, abolishing slavery in states that rebelled against the United States. His doing this shows examples of caring, honorable, respected, and dedicated. Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theater, Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865. He had so many incredible accomplishments and sacrifices in his short lifetime that show that he was a hard working and selfless leader and hero. I think he is a definite hero in our world. |
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a rude log cabin near present-day Hodgenville, Kentucky. His parents, who already had a little daughter named Sarah, were hardworking, uneducated pioneers. They probably saw nothing unusual about their son, except that he grew unusually fast. Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, was a man of ordinary abilities whose ambition apparently did not extend beyond owning a good farm. Like many western settlers, he tended to believe that there were better opportunities somewhere over the horizon. Of Abraham's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, little is known. She and her two small children experienced the usual hardships and few pleasures of pioneer life. She must have left a mark upon Abraham's character, but the nature of her influence is lost to history. Lincoln was always known for being really ambitious. He could also be moody and melancholy-tormented by long and frequent bouts of depression. Lincoln was also a humorous man-famous for his rollicking stories. Grown up, he was 6'4", lean in flesh, and had darkhair. Lincoln had an older sister by 2 years, her name was Sarah. Abraham was named after his pioneer grandfather.Young Lincoln was born in... Hodegenville, Kentucky, on February 12, 1809 in a cabin with 1 window, 1 door, 1 chimney, & a hard- packed floor of dirt. He was a poor farm boy, he grew up swinging an ax on frontier homesteads in Kentucky, Indiana, & Illinois. As Abraham grew up, he worked many different places and moved all around. He had many jobs at all different ages & he was always changing his ideas.His family and his goals . Lincoln was a great writer and speaker and used great sayings that we still use today! Lincoln's two things he wanted to accomplish were to save his country from dismemberment & ruin. Secondly to free his country from the great crime of slavery!Heroes are people who are strong willed, heroic, brave, loyal, proud, faithful, kind, helpful, caring, honorable, respected, dedicated, hard working, selfless, and so much more. Lincoln shows great examples of all these things! He made such an impact on so many lives in so many ways. Lincoln is someone who everyone in the world will always know for his great deeds and his wonderful attitude towards everything! 
Lincoln is known best... as the Great Emancipator, the man who freed the slaves. Lincoln was a great writer and speaker and used great sayings that we still use today! Lincoln's two things he wanted to accomplish were to save his country from dismemberment & ruin. Secondly to free his country from the great crime of slavery!Heroes are people who are strong willed, heroic, brave, loyal, proud, faithful, kind, helpful, caring, honorable, respected, dedicated, hard working, selfless, and so much more. Lincoln shows great examples of all these things! He made such an impact on so many lives in so many ways. Lincoln is someone who everyone in the world will always know for his great deeds and his wonderful attitude towards everything! 
He signed the Homestead Act in 1862, which awarded 65 hectares (160 acres) to settlers who agreed to farm the land for five years. This shows that he was kind and helpful to people.