
Student Article
Abraham Lincoln: From Log Cabin to Legendary Leader

Proclamation (noun): An official public announcement.
Confederacy (noun): The group of Southern states that left the U.S. during the Civil War.
Emancipation (noun): The act of freeing someone from slavery.
Reconstruction (noun): The time after the Civil War when the U.S. tried to rebuild.
Orator (noun): Someone skilled at public speaking.
Born in 1809 in rural Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln came from humble beginnings. He lost his mother at a young age and grew up working with his father on farms in Indiana and Illinois. Despite minimal formal education, Lincoln had a hunger for learning.
From farm boy to lawyer and politician
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a small log cabin in Kentucky. His early life was filled with hardship — he lost his mother at age nine and worked hard on the family farm. But Lincoln had a sharp mind and taught himself to read. He loved books and memorized works like Shakespeare and the Bible.
As he grew older, he decided he wanted more than farm life. Lincoln became a lawyer in Illinois and started a career in politics. He was known for being honest, earning the nickname “Honest Abe.” He was tall — 6 feet, 4 inches tall — and often wore a stovepipe hat, which made him look even taller.
Leading the nation through a divided country
Lincoln became president in 1861, just as the country was splitting apart over slavery. Eleven Southern states left the Union and formed the Confederacy. Lincoln believed the United States must stay together. He led the North, also called the Union, during the Civil War and worked hard to defeat the South.
In 1863, he gave the famous Gettysburg Address, calling for “a new birth of freedom.” That same year, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all enslaved people in the Confederate States. In 1865, the 13th Amendment ended slavery across the country.
Sadly, just days after the war ended, Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre and died the next morning. People all over the country mourned the president who had saved the nation.
© Jonny Wilkes / www.historyextra.com
Proclamation (noun): An official public announcement.
Confederacy (noun): The group of Southern states that left the U.S. during the Civil War.
Emancipation (noun): The act of freeing someone from slavery.
Reconstruction (noun): The time after the Civil War when the U.S. tried to rebuild.
Orator (noun): Someone skilled at public speaking.