Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was veryimportant to the past history of our country. He helped to abolish slavery inthis country and kept the American Union from splitting apart during the CivilWar. At 22, he moved to New Salem, Illinois. With his gift for swappingstories and making friends, he became quite popular and was elected to theIllinois legislature in 1834. In his spare time, he taught himself law andbecame a lawyer.
In 1847, he was elected to the U. S. Congress, but returned tohis law practice until 1858, when his concern about the spread of slaveryprompted him to return to national politics and run for the U. S. Senate.
Lincoln rose to greatness from a humble beginning. Born in 1809 in alog cabin in Kentucky, Lincoln spent most of his childhood working on the familyfarm. He had less than a year of school but managed to educate himself bystudying and reading books on his own. He believed that slavery and democracy were fundamentally incompatible.
In an 1858 speech, he said: What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty andindependance? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coats, ourarmy and our navy . . . Our defense is in the spirit which prized liberty as theheritage of all men, in all lands everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you haveplanted the seeds of despotism at your own doors.Familiarize yoursCategory: Science
