Story of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was born on 12 February 1809 on a farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. His parents were Thomas and Nancy Lincoln. They had 3 children, Sarah, Abraham and Thomas. However Thomas died in infancy. When Abraham was 7 his father moved to southwestern Indiana. However his mother died in 1818. Before the end of the year his father married a widow named Sarah Bush Johnston who had 3 children of her own. Abraham had little schooling but he did learn to read and write and he was an avid reader.
In 1830 his father moved the family to Illinois. In 1831 Abraham settled in New Salem and he tried a variety of jobs. He became a storekeeper but the business failed. He became a postmaster then a surveyor. In 1834 he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. He studied the law to become a lawyer and he began to practice in 1836. He was also re-elected in 1836 and again in 1838 and 1840. Meanwhile he moved to Springfield in 1837. In 1842 he married a woman named Mary Todd. The couple had 4 sons.
Lincoln was a successful lawyer and in 1847-1849 he served in the US House of Representatives. In 1856 Lincoln became a Republican. In 1858 he stood for election as a senator but lost to a man named Douglas. Nevertheless in 1860 Lincoln became the Republican nomination for president. He duly won the presidential election in November 1860. In the months after the election some southern states ceded from the union. Civil war began shortly afterwards.