Marquel martin biography of abraham lincoln

Young Lincoln eventually migrated to the small community of New Salem, Illinois, where over a period of years he worked as a shopkeeper, postmaster, and eventually general store owner. It was through working with the public that Lincoln acquired social skills and honed a storytelling talent that made him popular with the locals. Not surprising given his imposing frame, Lincoln was an excellent wrestler and had only one recorded loss—to Hank Thompson in —over a span of 12 years.

A shopkeeper who employed Lincoln in New Salem, Illinois, reportedly arranged bouts for him as a way to promote the business. Lincoln notably beat a local champion named Jack Armstrong and became somewhat of a hero. When the Black Hawk War broke out in between the United States and Native Americans, the volunteers in the area elected Lincoln to be their captain.

As he was starting his political career in the early s, Lincoln decided to become a lawyer. After being admitted to the bar in , he moved to Springfield, Illinois, and began to practice in the John T. Stuart law firm. In , Lincoln partnered with William Herndon in the practice of law. Although the two had different jurisprudent styles, they developed a close professional and personal relationship.

So to supplement his income, he followed the court as it made its rounds on the circuit to the various county seats in Illinois. On November 4, , Lincoln wed Mary Todd , a high-spirited, well-educated woman from a distinguished Kentucky family. Mary and Lincoln met later at a social function and eventually did get married. Before marrying Todd, Lincoln was involved with other potential matches.

Around , he purportedly met and became romantically involved with Anne Rutledge. Before they had a chance to be engaged, a wave of typhoid fever came over New Salem, and Anne died at age Her death was said to have left Lincoln severely depressed. About a year after the death of Rutledge, Lincoln courted Mary Owens. The two saw each other for a few months, and marriage was considered.

But in time, Lincoln called off the match. In , Lincoln began his political career and was elected to the Illinois state legislature as a member of the Whig Party. More than a decade later, from to , he served a single term in the U. House of Representatives. His foray into national politics seemed to be as unremarkable as it was brief.

He was the lone Whig from Illinois, showing party loyalty but finding few political allies. As a congressman, Lincoln used his term in office to speak out against the Mexican-American War and supported Zachary Taylor for president in His criticism of the war made him unpopular back home, and he decided not to run for second term. Instead, he returned to Springfield to practice law.

By the s, the railroad industry was moving west, and Illinois found itself becoming a major hub for various companies. Lincoln served as a lobbyist for the Illinois Central Railroad as its company attorney. Success in several court cases brought other business clients as well, including banks, insurance companies, and manufacturing firms.

Lincoln was an outsider because he had much less experience than other leading candidates such as Steward, Bates and Chase, but after finishing second on the first ballot he went on to become unexpectedly nominated. After a hard-fought, divisive campaign of , Lincoln was elected the first Republican President of the United States. The election of Lincoln as President in , sparked the South to secede from the North.

Southern independence sentiment had been growing for many years, and the election of a president opposed to slavery was the final straw. However, Lincoln resolutely opposed the breakaway of the South, and this led to the American civil war with Lincoln committed to preserving the Union. Lincoln surprised many by including in his cabinet the main rivals from the Republican campaign.

This helped to keep the Republican party together.

Marquel martin biography of abraham lincoln

The Civil War was much more costly than many people anticipated and at times Lincoln appeared to be losing the support of the general population. Lincoln oversaw many of the military aspects of the war and promoted the general Ulysses S Grant to command the northern forces. Initially, the war was primarily about the secession of southern states and the survival of the Union, but as the war progressed, Lincoln increasingly made the issue of ending slavery paramount.

On September 22, , Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared the freedom of slaves within the Confederacy. The Proclamation came into force on January 1, Towards the end of the year, many black regiments were raised to help the Union army. After a difficult opening two years, by , the tide of war started to swing towards the Union forces — helped by the victory at the Battle of Gettysburg in July Lincoln felt able to redefine the goals of the civil war to include the ending of slavery.

Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address November 19, Eventually, after four years of attrition, the Federal forces secured the surrender of the defeated south. The union had been saved and the issue of slavery had been brought to a head. Photographs taken of Lincoln between and reveal how increasingly careworn he became. Lincoln was carried to a boardinghouse across the street from the theater, but he never regained consciousness, and died in the early morning hours of April 15, On April 21, , a train carrying his coffin left Washington, D.

On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men—to lift artificial weights from all shoulders—to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all—to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.

A definitive biography of the 16th U. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States. Your Profile. Email Updates. Read more. American Civil War History. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The Aftermath of the Lincoln Assassination. Lincoln was the first president of the United States to be assassinated.

Lincoln has been remembered as the "Great Emancipator" because he worked to end slavery in the United States. His parents were Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. His family was very poor. His brother died in childhood. They grew up in a small log cabin , with just one room inside. Although slavery was legal in Kentucky at that time, Lincoln's father, who was a religious Baptist , refused to own any slaves.

When Lincoln was seven years old, his family moved to Indiana. Later they moved to Illinois. When he was 21, he worked on a flatboat that carried freight. In , he married Mary Todd. They had four children, but three of them died when they were very young. The nickname "Honest Abe" came from a time when he started a business that failed.

Instead of running away like many people would have, he stayed and worked to pay his debt. Lincoln started his political career in when he ran for the Illinois General Assembly , but he lost the election. When he moved to Springfield in , he began to work as a lawyer. Soon, he became one of the most highly respected lawyers in Illinois.

In , he won a court case Bailey v. He represented a black woman who claimed she had already been freed and could not be sold as a slave. In , he lost a case Matson v. Rutherford representing a slave owner Robert Matson claiming the return of fugitive slaves. After he moved to Illinois, he worked as a shopkeeper and postmaster. He rode the circuit of courts for many years.

After that, he ignored his political career and instead worked as a lawyer. In , in reaction to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act , Lincoln became involved in politics again. He joined the Republican Party , which had recently been formed in opposition to the expansion of slavery. In , he wanted to become senator. He ran for senate against Stephen A.

Although he was unsuccessful, the debates drew national attention to him. Lincoln was chosen as a candidate for the Republican Party , the second candidate to be nominated from the party. He was chosen in for different reasons. Among these reasons was that his views on slavery were less extreme than those of other people who wanted to be candidates.

Lincoln was from what was then one of the Western states and had a bigger chance of winning the election there. Other candidates that were older or more experienced than him had enemies inside the party. Lincoln won the election in and was made the 16th President of the United States. He won with almost no votes in the South. For the first time, a president had won the election because of the large support he got from the states in the North.

He used his tall hat to store papers and documents when he was traveling. Later, four more states Arkansas, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined the Confederacy for a total of eleven. In his whole period as president, he had to rebuild the Union with military force and many bloody battles. He also had to stop the "border states", like Kentucky, Missouri, and Maryland, from leaving the Union and joining the Confederacy.

Lincoln was not a general, and had only been in the army for a short time during the Black Hawk War. His plan was to cut off the South by surrounding it with ships, control the Mississippi River , and take Richmond, the Confederate capital. He often clashed with generals in the field, especially George B. McClellan , and fired generals who lost battles or were not aggressive enough.