Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, to Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln. In 1812, his mother died. His father married Sarah Bush Johnston in 1819.
In 1831, after moving to Macon County, Illinois, at the age of twelve, he moved out of town to New Orleans, only to return to Illinois and settle in New Salem.
Abraham studied law during his careers as shopkeeper, postmaster, surveyor, and many other jobs. He became a lawyer in 1836 and gained partnerships with John T. Stuart, Stephen T. Logan, and William Herndon. He was said to have briefly courted Ann Rutledge before her death, but in 1842, he married Mary Todd. They had four children, but only one lived to adulthood.
In 1860, Lincoln was nominated by the Republican party to be thier presidential candidate. His running mates were John C. Breckenridge, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglas. On March 4, 1861, Lincoln took oath to the office as the sixteenth President of the United States of America.
During the time Abraham Lincoln was President, he contributed greatly to the United States. He passed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves, and the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery. He gained the support of the Democrats and the border states at the same time. He also took great military leadership. which helped lead to the Union's victory .
After reelection, on the night of April 14, 1865, at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C., John Wilkes Booth shot the president in the back of the head. Lincoln died the next day.
