Abraham Lincoln: Exhaustive Biographical and Presidential Study Notes

Early Life and Formative Challenges near Hodgenville and Little Pigeon Creek

Abraham Lincoln, who would become the sixteenth President of the United States, was born near Hodgenville, Kentucky, on February $12, 1809$. His family, the Lincolns, lived in poverty, and as a young boy, Lincoln spent his earliest years providing labor to assist his father with basic chores. However, legal disputes over land ownership eventually forced the family to relocate, leaving Kentucky behind. In $1816$, the family moved to what has been described as the "untamed wilderness" of Little Pigeon Creek, Indiana. Tragic circumstances followed in $1818$, when Lincoln was only $9$ years old; his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died of "milk sickness," a condition contracted from drinking milk from cows that had consumed poisonous white snakeroot. For approximately one year following her death, the household was in a state of shambles as Abraham and his sister raised themselves while their father, Thomas, was gone for months at a time. Eventually, Thomas married a woman in Kentucky, allowing the family to begin rebuilding their lives. Lincoln received very little formal education but was known to read voraciously whenever he was not working on his father's farm. A childhood friend famously recalled Lincoln's "manic" intellect and the sight of him with red eyes and wild hair as he pored over books late into the night.

Adolescence, Independence, and the Migration to Illinois

By the time Abraham Lincoln was a teenager, he had grown to a height of nearly $6\,feet\,4\,inches$; while thin, he was considered incredibly strong. In $1828$, at the age of $19$, he accompanied a flatboat down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, Louisiana, which served as his first visit to a large city, after which he walked back home. In $1830$, just as he turned $21$, he assisted his family in their final move, trekking from Indiana to the muddy prairies of Illinois. After helping his father construct a new cabin and splitting enough rails to fence in $10\,acres$ of land, Lincoln finally struck out on his own. He arrived in the tiny village of New Salem in $1831$, famously describing his status at the time as "a piece of floating driftwood" with no money and no clear plan. In New Salem, Lincoln co-owned a general store for several years before selling his stake and enlisting as a militia captain to defend Illinois in the Black Hawk Indian War of $1832$. Following the war, he turned his attention to the study of law and campaigned for a seat in the Illinois State Legislature. Although he was not elected in his first attempt, Lincoln persevered and won the position in $1834$, serving as a Whig.

Family Life and the Start of a Political Career

During his time practicing as a lawyer in Springfield, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln met Mary Todd. The two were married in $1842$, despite the objections of her family. Together they had four sons, though only one survived to reach adulthood. A deep sadness reportedly blanketed the Lincoln family, which occasionally descended into outright madness. Lincoln, a self-described "prairie lawyer," focused on his all-embracing law practice in the early $1850s$ following a single term in Congress that lasted from $1847$ to $1849$. In $1856$, he joined the new Republican party and became a part of the ongoing national argument over sectionalism. His anti-slavery beliefs rendered him extremely unpopular with Southerners, and they were enraged by his nomination for President in $1860$. On November $6, 1860$, Lincoln won the presidential election without receiving the support of a single Southern state. While talks of secession (breaking away from the United States) had been discussed since the $1830s$, the tone became serious following the election. While the Civil War was not entirely caused by Lincoln's election, it was one of the primary reasons for the outbreak of war the following year. Lincoln viewed it as his sacred duty as President to preserve the Union at all costs. His first inaugural address was an appeal to the rebellious states, seven of which had until January $1, 1863$, after the Union already seceded, to come back and rejoin the nation. His first draft of that speech ended with the ominous question: "Shall it be peace, or the sword?"

Leadership During the Civil War

The American Civil War began with the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter, South Carolina, on April $12, 1861$. Fort Sumter, located in the Charleston Harbour, was a Union outpost situated in Confederate territory. After learning that the fort was running low on food, Lincoln sent supplies to reinforce the soldiers; however, the Southern Navy blocked the supply convoy and fired the first shot of the war. Union defenders surrendered after a battle that lasted $34\text{-hours}$. Throughout the war, Lincoln struggled to find capable generals to lead his armies. As the commander-in-chief, he legally held the highest rank in the armed forces and was heavily involved in strategic planning, weapons testing, and the management of officer promotions and demotions. He did not issue his famous Emancipation Proclamation victory at the Battle of Antietam until January $1, 1863$. This proclamation changed the tenor of the war, making it, from the Northern perspective, a fight to both preserve the Union and end slavery. In $1864$, Lincoln ran for re-election, though he initially feared he would lose. It was only in the final months of the campaign that the work of Ulysses S. Grant, the quiet general then in command of all Union armies, began to bear fruit. A string of heartening military victories contributed significantly to Lincoln's successful re-election. In his second inauguration speech on March $4, 1865$, he stated his goal was "lasting peace among ourselves," calling for "malice towards none" and "charity for all." The war ended only one month later.

Legislative Achievements and Administrative Legacy

The Lincoln administration accomplished significant goals beyond managing the Civil War. The Revenue Act of $1862$ established the first income tax in the United States, primarily to cover the costs of total war. The Morrill Act of $1862$ established the basis for the state university system in the country, while the Homestead Act, also passed in $1862$, encouraged the settlement of the West by offering $160\,acres$ of free land to settlers. Additionally, Lincoln created the Department of Agriculture and formally instituted the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln

Less than one week after the Confederate surrender, on April $14, 1865$, Abraham Lincoln was attending a play titled "Our American Cousin" at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. During the performance, he was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. After leaping from the presidential box and breaking his leg on the stage, Booth fled Washington, D.C. on horseback, crossing the Navy Yard Bridge into Maryland under cover of night. Booth spent $12$ days as a fugitive, hiding in thickets and safe houses during one of the largest manhunts in American history. The pursuit trailed him across the Potomac River and into Virginia, finally ending at a tobacco barn on the Garrett farm. Union soldiers cornered the assassin and set the building ablaze to force his surrender; Booth was fatally shot during the encounter.