Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in a one-room log cabin in the Spring Sinking field, south of Hodgenville in Hardin County, Kentucky. His brothers are Sarah Lincoln Grigsby and Thomas Lincoln, Jr. After the land ownership dispute forced the family to leave, they moved to Knob Creek farm, eight miles north. In 1814 Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, had lost most of his land in Kentucky in a legal dispute over land rights. In 1816 Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, their nine-year-old daughter, Sarah, and seven-year-old Abraham moved to Indiana, where they settled in Hurricane City, Perry County, Indiana. (Their land became part of Spencer County, Indiana, when it was formed in 1818.)
Abraham spent his formative years, from ages 7 to 21, at a family farm in Southern Indiana. As usual on the border, Lincoln received very little formal education, an aggregate that may be less than twelve months old. Lincoln, however, continues to learn by himself from life experiences and through reading and reciting what he has read or heard from others. In 1818, two years after their arrival in Indiana, nine-year-old Lincoln lost his biological mother, Nancy, who died after a brief illness. Thomas returned to Kentucky the following year and married Sarah Bush Johnston. Abraham's new stepmother and three children joined the Lincoln family in Indiana in 1819. The second tragedy struck the family in 1828, when Abraham's sister, Sarah, died in childbirth.
In 1830, twenty-one-year-old Abraham joined his extended family on a trip to Illinois. After helping his father set up a farm in Macon County, Illinois, Lincoln set out on his own. Lincoln worked as a boatman, shop clerk, surveyor, militia soldier, and a lawyer in Illinois. He was elected to the Illinois Legislature in 1834, and re-elected in 1836, 1838, 1840, and 1844. In 1842, Lincoln married Mary Todd; the couple had four sons. In addition to his legal career, Lincoln continued his involvement in politics, serving in the United States House of Representatives of Illinois in 1846. He was elected president of the United States in 1860.
Video Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln
Leluhur
The first known Lincoln ancestor in America was Samuel Lincoln, who migrated from England to Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1638. Samuel's son, Mordecai, remained in Massachusetts, but Samuel's grandson, also named Mordecai, began the western migration of the family. John Lincoln, Samuel's grandson, proceeded westward. Born in New Jersey, John moved to Pennsylvania, then took his family to Virginia. John's son, Captain Abraham Lincoln, who earned the rank for his service in the Virginia militia, is the grandfather and father of the president's future president. Born in Pennsylvania, he moved with his father and other family members to the Virginia Valley of Shenandoah sometime around 1766. The family settled near Linville Creek, in Augusta County, now in Rockingham County, Virginia. Captain Lincoln bought the Virginia property from his father in 1773.
Thomas Lincoln, future president's father, is the son of Captain Lincoln. Thomas was born in Virginia and moved west to Jefferson County, Kentucky, with his father, mother and siblings in the 1780s, when he was about five years old. In 1786, at the age of forty-two, Captain Abraham was killed in an Indian ambush while working in Kentucky. The eight-year-old Thomas witnessed his father's murder and may have been victimized if his brother, Mordecai, did not shoot the assailant. After the death of Captain Lincoln, Thomas's mother moved to Washington County, Kentucky, while Thomas worked at odd jobs in several Kentucky locations. Thomas also spent a year working in Tennessee, before settling with his family members in Hardin County, Kentucky, in the early 1800s.
The identity of Lincoln's maternal grandfather was not clear. In a conversation with William Herndon, Lincoln's legal partner and one of his biographers, the president implied that his grandfather was a "Virginia grower or a big farmer," but did not identify himself. Lincoln felt that it was from an aristocratic grandfather he inherited "his analytical powers, his logic, his mental activity, his ambitions, and all the qualities that set him apart from the other members and the descendants of the Hanks family." Lincoln's grandmother, Lucy Shipley Hanks, migrated to Kentucky, with his daughter, Nancy. The debate continues over whether Lincoln's mother, Nancy, was born out of wedlock. Lucy and Nancy live with Lucy's sister, Rachael Shipley Berry, and her husband, Richard Berry Sr., in Washington County, Kentucky. Nancy is believed to remain with Berry's family after her mother's marriage to Henry Sparrow, which occurred several years after the women arrived in Kentucky. The Berry House is about a mile and a half from the house of Thomas Lincoln's mother; family is a neighbor for seventeen years. That's when Thomas met Nancy. Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks were married on June 12, 1806, at the Beech Fork settlement in Washington County, Kentucky. The Lincoln family moved to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, after their marriage.
Unproven rumors
Biographers rejected many rumors about Lincoln's father. According to historian William E. Barton, one of these rumors began to circulate in 1861 "in various forms in some parts of the South" that Lincoln's biological father was Abraham Enloe, a resident of Rutherford County, North Carolina, who died that same year. However, Barton dismissed the rumor as "wrong from beginning to end." Enloe has publicly denied his relationship with Lincoln, but has reportedly confirmed it personally. The Bostic Lincoln Center in Bostic, North Carolina, also claims that Abraham Lincoln was born in Rutherford County, North Carolina, and argues that Nancy Hanks had illegitimate children when he worked for the Enlow family.
Rumors about Lincoln's ethnic and racial heritage also circulated, especially after he entered national politics. Quoting Chauncey Burr's Catechism , which refers to "pamphlets by western writers who add proof", David J. Jacobson has suggested Lincoln is a "Negro part", but the claim is not proven. Lincoln also received a letter calling him "negro" and "mulatto".
Maps Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln Lincoln Appearance
Lincoln is described as "awkward" and "gawky" as a young man. Tall for his age, Lincoln is strong and athletic as a teenager. He is a good wrestler, participating in jumping, throwing, and local footraces, and "almost always winning." Her stepmother said she did not really care about clothes. Lincoln dressed like an ordinary boy from a poor family, a remote family, with a gap between his shoes, socks, and pants that often show six or more inches of his shin. His lack of interest in personal clothing continues as an adult. When Lincoln lived in New Salem, Illinois, he often appeared with a single suspender, and no vests or coats.
In 1831, the year after he left Indiana, Lincoln was described as six feet three or four inches, weighing 210 pounds, and had reddish skin. Later descriptions include Lincoln's dark hair and dark skin, which is also seen in photographs taken during his tenure as president of the United States. William H. Herndon described Lincoln as having a "very dark skin"; his cheeks are like "rough and saffron-colored"; "pale" skin; and "his hair is dark, almost black". Lincoln describes himself around 1838-39 as "black" and his skin in 1859 as Lincoln's "dark" critics also commented on his appearance. For example, during the American Civil War, Charleston, South Carolina
In the early years (1809-1831)
During his final years, Lincoln was reluctant to discuss his origins. He sees himself as a self-made man, and may also find it difficult to cope with the premature death of his mother and sister. However, around the time of his nomination as a US presidential candidate, Lincoln provided two short biographical sketches in response to two questions that gave a glimpse of youth in Kentucky and Indiana. One request for campaign biography came from his friend and fellow Illinois Republican, Jesse W. Fell, in 1859; other requests came from John Locke Scripps, a journalist for the Chicago Press and Tribune. In Lincoln's response, Scripps, he sums up his early life in a quote from Thomas Gray Elegy Written on Country Churchyard, as "a short and simple history of the poor." Additional details about Lincoln's early life came after his death in 1865, when William Herndon began collecting letters and interviews from Lincoln's friends, family, and acquaintances. Herndon published the material he collected at Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life (1889). Although Herndon's work is often challenged, historian David Herbert Donald argues that they "have formed much of the current belief" about Lincoln's early life in Kentucky, Indiana, and his first days in Illinois.
Early life in Kentucky (1809-1816) Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln became parents of three children during their years in Kentucky. Sarah was born on February 10, 1807; Abraham, on February 12, 1809; and another son, Thomas, who died as a baby.
In 1808, Thomas, Nancy, and their daughter, Sarah, moved from Elizabethtown to the Spring Sinking field, in Nolen Creek, near Mill Hodgen, in Hardin County, Kentucky. (Farm is part of Abraham Lincoln's National Historic Site in LaRue County, Kentucky today.) Abraham was born on a farm in 1809. Due to a land rights dispute, the family stayed in the field just two more years before they were forced to move. Thomas resumed legal action in court, but lost the case in 1815. The Kentucky survey method, which uses a meeting and border system to identify and describe land descriptions, proves unreliable when the natural features of the land change. This issue, coupled with confusion over land grants and previous purchase agreements, led to a continuing legal dispute over land ownership in Kentucky. In 1811, the family moved to Knob Creek farm, now part of Abraham Lincoln's National Historic Site, eight miles to the north. Located in the valley of the Rolling Fork River, it has some of the best farmland in the area. Lincoln's early memory of his childhood came from this farm. In 1815, a prosecutor in another land dispute tried to expel the Lincoln family from the Knob Creek field.
Years later, after Lincoln became a national political figure, journalists and storytellers often exaggerated his family's poverty and obscurity of his birth. The Lincoln family was unusual for a pioneer family at that time. Thomas Lincoln is a farmer, carpenter, and landowner in Kentucky Outback. He had purchased Sinking Spring Farm, made up of 348.5 acres, in December 1808 for $ 200, but lost his money investments and improvements he made to farming in a legal dispute over land rights. Thomas acquired property for Knob Creek farming on 230 acres, but his family was forced to leave him after others claimed his previous title to the land. Of the 816,5 acres held by Thomas in Kentucky, he lost all but 200 acres in land rights dispute. In 1816 Thomas was frustrated at the lack of security provided by the Kentucky court. He sold the remaining land he held in Kentucky in 1814, and began planning to move to Indiana, where the land surveying process was more reliable and a person's ability to defend his land rights safer.
In 1860 Lincoln claimed that the family move to Indiana in 1816 was "partly because of slavery, but mainly because of difficulties in land ownership in Kentucky." Historians support Lincoln's assertion that two main reasons for family migration to Indiana are likely due to problems with obtaining land titles in Kentucky and the problem of slavery. In the Indiana Territory, which used to be part of the Old Northwest Territory, the federal government has territorial land, which has been surveyed into sections to make it easier to explain in land claims. As a result, survey methods used in Indiana cause fewer ownership problems and help Indiana attract new settlers. In addition, when Indiana became a state in 1816, the state constitution prohibited slavery and forced servitude. Although slaves with previous indentures still live in the state, illegal enslavement ends in the first decade of statehood.
Initial religious convictions
Lincoln never joined the religious congregation; However, his father, mother, sister, and stepmother are all Baptists. The parents of Abraham, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, were members of the Church of the Little Mount Baptist, a Baptist congregation in Kentucky who had seceded from the larger church in 1808 because its members refused to support slavery. Through their membership in this anti-slavery church, Thomas and Nancy present Abraham and Sarah to anti-slavery sentiments at a very young age. After settling in Indiana, Lincoln's parents resumed their Baptist church membership, joining the Great Pigeon Baptist Church in 1823. When the Lincoln family left Indiana to Illinois in 1830, Thomas and his second wife, Sally, became a well-earned member in Little Pigeon. The Baptist Church.
Sally Lincoln remembered in 1865 that his stepson, Abraham, "had no religion" and did not talk much about it. He also remembers that he often reads the Bible and occasionally attends church services. Matilda Johnston Hall Moore, Lincoln's half-brother, explained in an interview in 1865 how Lincoln would read the Bible to his brothers and join them in hymns after his parents went to church. Family members and other friends who knew Lincoln during his youth in Indiana remembered that he often woke up on a stump, gathered his children, friends and co-workers around him, and repeated the sermon he had heard the previous week for the entertainment of the locals , especially children.
Indiana years (1816-1830)
Lincoln spent his formative fourteen years, or roughly a quarter of his life, from ages seven to twenty-one in Indiana. In 1816, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, their nine-year-old daughter, Sarah, and seven-year-old Abraham moved to Indiana. They settled on the ground in "unbroken forests" in Hurricane City, Perry County, Indiana. The Lincoln property lay on the ground handed over to the United States government as part of an agreement with the Piankeshaw and Delaware people in 1804. In 1818 the Indiana General Assembly created Spencer County, Indiana, from parts of the Warrick and Perry counties, which included Lincoln farm.
The move to Indiana has been planned for at least several months. Thomas visited the Indiana Territory in 1816 to select a site and mark his claim, then returned to Kentucky and took his family to Indiana between November 11 and December 20, 1816, roughly at the same time when Indiana became a state. However, Thomas Lincoln did not begin the formal process of buying 160 acres of land until October 15, 1817, when he filed a claim at the land office in Vincennes, Indiana, for properties identified as "southwest quarter of Section 32, Town 4 South, Range 5 West".
The more recent scholarship on Thomas Lincoln has revised his previous characterization as a "drifter shift". Documentary evidence shows he was a pioneer farmer of his day. The move to Indiana forms his family in a country that prohibits slavery, and they live in wood-producing areas to build cabins, enough land to grow crops that feed families, and water access to markets along the Ohio River. Thomas had horses and cattle, paid taxes, obtained farmland, served the county when needed, and retained his position in the local Baptist church. Although there were some financial challenges, involving releasing some land to repay debt or buying another land, it acquired a clear right to 80 acres of land in Spencer County, on June 5, 1827. In 1830, before the family moved to Illinois, Thomas had obtained twenty acres of land adjacent to his property.
Abraham, who became skilled with an ax, helped his father clean up their land in Indiana. Remembering his teenage years in Indiana, Lincoln said that since his arrival in 1816, he "almost always handled the most useful instruments." After the land was cleared, the family kept pigs and corn on their farm, which was typical for the Indiana settlers at that time. Thomas Lincoln also continues to work as a cabinet maker and carpenter. Within a year of family arrivals in Indiana, Thomas has claimed rights to 160 acres of Indiana land and paid $ 80, a quarter of his total purchase price of $ 320. The Lincolns and others, many of them from Kentucky, settled in a place known to the Community Little Pigeon Creek, about a hundred miles from Lincoln's farm at Knob Creek in Kentucky. By the time Abraham had reached the age of thirteen, nine families with forty-nine children under the age of seventeen lived within a mile of Lincoln's homestead.
Tragedy struck the family on October 5, 1818, when Nancy Lincoln died of a dairy illness, a disease caused by drinking milk contaminated from cows fed on Ageratina altissima (white snakeroot). Abraham was nine years old; his sister, Sarah, was eleven years old. After Nancy's death, her household was made up of Thomas, age forty; Sarah, Abraham, and Dennis Friend Hanks, a nine-year-old cousin of Nancy Lincoln who is an orphan. In 1819 Thomas left Sarah, Abraham, and Dennis Hanks on a farm in Indiana and returned to Kentucky. On December 2, 1819, Lincoln's father married Sarah "Sally" Bush Johnston. a widow with three children from Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Abe, ten, was quickly tied up with her new stepmother, who raised two of her young stepchildren as stepchildren. Describing him in 1860, Lincoln said that he was "a good and good mother" to him.
Sally encourages Lincoln's desire to learn and the desire to read, and shares his own collection of books. Years later he compared Lincoln to his own son John D. Johnston: "Both are good boys, but I must say - both are now dead that Abe is the best boy I've ever seen or expected to see. " In an interview with William Herndon after Lincoln's death in 1865, Sally Lincoln described his stepdaughter as a dedicated and kind person, especially in animals and children, and cooperative and non-complaining. She also remembers him as a "moderate" eater, who is not picky about what he eats, and enjoys good health. In Indiana at the time of the pioneers, where hunting and fishing were typical activities, Thomas and Abraham did not seem to enjoy it. Abraham later admitted that he had shot and killed only a wild turkey. Apparently, he opposes killing animals, even for food, but occasionally participates in bear hunts, when bears threaten farms and settler communities.
In 1828 another tragedy struck the Lincoln family. Lincoln's sister Sarah, who married Aaron Grigsby on August 2, 1826, died in childbirth on January 20, 1828, when she was twenty-one years old. Little is known about Nancy Hanks Lincoln or Abraham's sister. Neighbors interviewed by William Herndon agree that they are smart, but provide conflicting descriptions of their physical appearance. Lincoln spoke very little of her. Herndon had to rely on the testimony of his cousin, Dennis Hanks, to get an adequate picture of Sarah. Those who knew Lincoln as a teenager then recalled he was very discouraged by the death of his sister, and an active participant in hostilities with the Grigsby family that erupted thereafter.
First trip to New Orleans (1828)
Perhaps seeking a diversion from the sadness of his sister's death, the nineteen-year-old Abraham traveled on a flatboat trip to New Orleans in the spring of 1828. Lincoln and Allen Gentry, the son of James Gentry, local shopkeepers near the Lincoln Family, began their journey along the Ohio River at Gentry's Landing, near Rockport, Indiana. On the way to Louisiana, Lincoln and Gentry were attacked by several African American men who were trying to pick up their cargo, but both managed to defend their boat and beat their assailants. Upon their arrival in New Orleans, they sold their goods, owned by Gentry's father, then scoured the city. With the presence of his large slave and active slave market, it is possible that Lincoln witnessed the slave auction, and it may leave an indelible impression on him. (Congress prohibited the importation of slaves in 1808, but the slave trade continued to flourish in the United States.) How much New Orleans Lincoln views or experiences is open to speculation. Whether he actually witnessed a slave auction at the time, or on his next trip to New Orleans, his first visit to Deep South exposed him to a new experience, including the cultural diversity of New Orleans and a trip back to Indiana on a steamboat.
Education
In 1858, when responding to a questionnaire sent to former members of Congress, Lincoln described his education as "flawed". In 1860, shortly after his candidacy for the US president, Lincoln apologized and regretted his limited formal education. Lincoln is self-educated. Formal education is intermittent, an aggregate that may amount to less than twelve months. He never went to college, but Lincoln retained a lifetime interest in learning. In an interview in September 1865 with William Herndon, Lincoln's stepmother described Abraham as a child who diligently reads constantly, listens attentively to others, and has a deep interest in learning. Lincoln continued reading as a means of self-improvement as an adult, learning English grammar in his early twenties and mastering Euclid after he became a member of Congress.
Dennis Hanks, Lincoln's cousin, Nancy, states that he gave Lincoln "his first lesson in spelling - reading and writing" and boasting, "I taught Abe to write with the quills I killed with a rifle and had put pen - Abes in mind [sic] and move his fingers in my hand to give him an idea of ​​how to write. "Hanks, who is ten years older than Lincoln and" just a little educated ", probably helped Lincoln with his studies when he was very young, but Lincoln soon advanced beyond Hanks' ability as a teacher.
Abraham, age six, and his sister Sarah started their education in Kentucky, where they attended a school of subscriptions about two miles north of their home in Knob Creek. Classes are held only a few months throughout the year. In 1816, when they arrived in Indiana, there were no schools in the area, so Abraham and his sister continued their studies at home until the first school at Little Pigeon Creek was founded around 1819, "about a mile and a quarter south of the Lincoln Farm. "In the 1820s, educational opportunities for pioneering children, including Lincoln, were minimal. Parents of school-aged children pay for community schools and instructors. During the Indiana pioneer era, Lincoln's limited formal school was unusual. Lincoln is taught by a traveling teacher at blab school, which is a school for younger students, and is paid for by the parents of the students. Because school resources are scarce, much of child education is informal and takes place outside the classroom boundaries.
Lincoln's family, neighbors, and schoolmates remembered that he was an avid reader. Lincoln read Aesop's Fables, The Bible, The Pilgrim's Progress, Robinson Crusoe, and Parson Weems's The Life of Washington , as well as newspapers, hymns, songbooks, and math and spelling books, among others. Subsequent research includes the works of Shakespeare, poetry, and English and American history. Although Lincoln is very tall (6 feet 3.75 inches (1,9241 m)) and strong, he spends so much time reading that some neighbors think he is lazy for all "reading, scribbling, writing, encoding, writing Poetry, etc. "and must do so to avoid heavy manual labor. Her stepmother also admits she does not enjoy "physical labor", but loves to read. "He (Lincoln) read so much - so diligently - too [k] so little physical exercise - so exhausting in his studies," that years later, when Lincoln lived in Illinois, Henry McHenry recalled, "that he became thin and friend -the best friend is afraid that he's going to craze himself. "
In addition to reading, Lincoln developed skills and other interests during his youth in Kentucky and Indiana. He developed a simple style of speech, which he practiced during his youth by telling stories and sermons to his family, schoolmates, and members of the local community. By the time he was twenty-one years old, Lincoln had become "an accomplished and eloquent orator"; However, some historians argue that his speech, speech, and vocabulary remained unrefined, even as he entered national politics. Move_to_Illinois_ (1830) "> Move to Illinois (1830)
In 1830, when Lincoln was twenty-one years old, thirteen extended Lincoln family members moved to Illinois. Thomas, Sally, Abraham, and Sally's son, John D. Johnston, went as a family. Dennis Hanks and his wife, Elizabeth, who is also Abraham's half-brother, and their four children join the party. Hanks' half-sister, Squire Hall, with his wife, Matilda Johnston, another half-brother of Lincoln, and their son formed a third family group. Historians disagree on who initiated the movement, but perhaps Dennis Hanks rather than Thomas Lincoln. Thomas has no obvious reason to leave Indiana. He owns the land and is a respected member of his community, but Hanks is also not the same fate. In addition, John Hanks, one of Dennis's cousins, lives in Macon County, Illinois. Dennis later said that Sally refused to part with his daughter, Elizabeth, so Sally might have persuaded Thomas to move to Illinois.
The Lincoln-Hanks-Hall family left Indiana in early March 1830. It was generally agreed they crossed the Wabash River in Vincennes, Indiana, to Illinois, and the family settled in a selected location in Macon County, Illinois, 10 miles (16 km) west Decatur. Lincoln, who was twenty-one years old at the time, helped his father build a log cabin and fence, cleared a 10-acre (40,000 m 2 ) field, and planted corn. That fall the whole family fell ill with fever, but all survived. The early winter of 1831 was brutal, with many locals calling it the worst they had ever experienced. (In Illinois it is known as "The Deep Winter of Snow".) In the spring, when the Lincoln family prepares to move to a homestead in Coles County, Illinois, Abraham is ready to attack himself. Thomas and Sally moved to Coles County, and remained in Illinois for the rest of their lives.
Though Sally Lincoln and her cousin Dennis Hanks stated that Thomas loved and supported his son, father-son relationships became strained after the family moved to Illinois. Perhaps Thomas did not fully appreciate his son's ambitions, while Abraham never knew Thomas's early struggle. In 1851, after moving to Illinois, Abraham refused to visit his dying father, and failed to bring his own son to visit their grandparents. Historian Rodney O. Davis argues that the reason for the tension in their relationship is that Lincoln's success as a lawyer and his marriage to Mary Todd Lincoln, who came from a wealthy aristocratic family, and the two men are no longer in touch with each other. other circumstances in life.
Another trip to New Orleans (1831)
Lincoln, with John Johnson and John Hanks, accepted an offer from Denton Offutt to meet in Springfield, Illinois, and brought a cargo load to New Orleans in 1831. Departing from Springfield in late April or early May along the Sangamon River, a factory dam 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Springfield, near the village of New Salem. Offutt, who was impressed by the New Salem location and believed that steamers could navigate the river into the village, made arrangements to rent a factory and open a general store. Offutt hired Lincoln as his scribe and the two men returned to New Salem after they had emptied their cargo in New Orleans.
New Salem (1831-1837)
Lincoln Lincoln lives in New Salem, Illinois When Lincoln returned to New Salem at the end of July 1831, he found a promising community, but probably never had a population that exceeded a hundred inhabitants. New Salem is a small commercial settlement serving several local communities. The village has sawmills, mill mills, blacksmith shops, cooperative stores, wool shop, hat makers, general stores and taverns spread over more than a dozen buildings. Offutt did not open his store until September, so Lincoln got temporary temporary jobs and was quickly accepted by city dwellers as hardworking and cooperative youth. As soon as Lincoln began working at the store, he met with a crowd of settlers and workers from nearby communities, who came to New Salem to buy their corn supplies or soil. Lincoln's joy, storytelling, and physical strength matched the young, hoarse element that included Clary's Grove children, and his place between them was cemented after a wrestling match with local champion Jack Armstrong. Although Lincoln lost the battle with Armstrong, he gained the respect of the locals.
During his first winter in New Salem, Lincoln attended a New Salem debating club meeting. His performances at the club, along with efficiency in store management, sawmill and gristmill, in addition to other efforts on self-improvement soon received the attention of city leaders, such as Dr. John Allen, Mentor Graham, and James Rutledge. The men encouraged Lincoln to enter politics, feeling that he was able to support the interests of their community. In March 1832 Lincoln announced his candidacy in a written article appearing in the Sangamo Journal, published in Springfield. While Lincoln admires Henry Clay and his American System, the national political climate is undergoing change and Illinois local issues are a major political issue of elections. Lincoln opposed the development of the local railroad project, but supported the improvements in the Sangamon River that would enhance its navigational capabilities. Although the two-party political system that pitted the Democrats against Whigs has not yet formed, Lincoln will be one of the leading Whigs in the state legislature in the next few years.
In the spring of 1832, Offutt's business had failed and Lincoln could not work. Around this time, the Black Hawk War erupted and Lincoln joined a group of volunteers from New Salem to drive Black Hawk, who led a group of 450 soldiers along with 1,500 women and children to reclaim traditional tribal land in Illinois. Lincoln was elected captain of his unit, but he and his men never saw the battle. Lincoln later commented In the late 1850s that selection by his colleagues was "a success that gave me more pleasure than I have ever since." Lincoln returned to central Illinois after months serving the militia to campaign in Sangamon County before the August 6 legislative elections. When the votes were counted, Lincoln completed eight of the thirteen candidates. Only four top candidates were elected, but Lincoln managed to secure 277 votes from 300 votes cast in New Salem.
Without a job, Lincoln and William F. Berry, members of the Lincoln militia company during the Black Hawk War, bought one of three public stores in New Salem. The two men signed a personal note to buy a business and then bought another store inventory, but their company failed. In 1833, New Salem was no longer a growing community; The Sangamon River proved to be inadequate for commercial transport and no roads or railways allowed easy access to other markets. In January, Berry applied for a liquor license, but additional revenue was not enough to save the business. With the closing of the Lincoln-Berry store, Lincoln is again unemployed and will soon leave New Salem. However, in May 1833, with the help of friends who were interested in guarding him in New Salem, Lincoln got the appointment of President Andrew Jackson as the postal New Salem post, a position he held for three years. During this time, Lincoln earned between $ 150 and $ 175 as a postmaster, barely enough to be considered a full-time source of income. Another friend helped Lincoln get an appointment as assistant state surveyor John Calhoun, a politician appointed by the Democratic Party. Lincoln has no experience in surveying, but he relies on two loan copies of his work and is able to teach himself the practical application of survey techniques as well as the trigonometric basis of the process. Her earnings proved sufficient to meet her daily expenses, but notes from her partnership with Berry will mature.
Politics and laws
In 1834, Lincoln's decision to run for the state legislature for the second time was strongly influenced by his need to satisfy his debt, what he jokingly referred to as his "national debt", and the additional income to come from the legislative pay. Lincoln is currently a member of the Whig party. His campaign strategy ruled out discussions on national issues and concentrated on travel across the district and greeted voters. The leading Whig candidate in the district was Springfield attorney John Todd Stuart, known to Lincoln from his militia service during the Black Hawk War. Local democrats, who worried about Stuart over Lincoln, offered to withdraw their two candidates from the thirteen field, in which only the top four voters to be elected, to support Lincoln. Stuart, confident of his own victory, told Lincoln to go ahead and receive Democratic support. On 4 August Lincoln polled 1,376 votes, the second highest number of votes in the race, and won one of four seats in the election, as did Stuart. Lincoln was re-elected to the state legislature in 1836, 1838, and 1840.
Stuart, Lincoln's future wife cousin, Mary Todd, was impressed with Lincoln and encouraged him to study law. Lincoln may be familiar with the courtroom from an early age. While his family was still in Kentucky, his father was often involved with archiving land, serving juries, and attending sheriff's sales, and then, Lincoln might have been aware of his father's legal problems. When the family moved to Indiana, Lincoln lived within 15 miles (24 km) of the three county courthouses. Attracted by the opportunity to hear a good oral presentation, Lincoln, as did many others on the border, attended the court session as a spectator. The practice continued when he moved to New Salem. Realizing how often lawyers refer to them, Lincoln makes a point of reading and studying the Revised Statutes of Indiana, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States.
Using books borrowed from Stuart law firm and Judge Thomas Drummond, Lincoln began studying law sincerely during the first half of 1835. Lincoln did not attend law school, and stated: "I study without anyone." As part of his training, he read copies of Blackstone Comments , Chitty Initiation , Greenleaf Proof and Joseph Story's Equity Jurisprudence I. In February 1836, Lincoln quit his job as a surveyor, and in March 1836, took the first step toward becoming a practicing lawyer when he applied to the scribe of the Sangamon County Court to register as a good and moral person. After passing an oral exam by a practicing attorney panel, Lincoln received his legal license on 9 September 1836. In April 1837 he was enrolled to practice in Illinois Supreme Court, and moved to Springfield, where he established a partnership with Stuart..
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Illinois Illinois Legislative (1834-1842)
Lincoln's first session at the Illinois legislature lasted from December 1, 1834, until February 13, 1835. In preparation for this session, Lincoln borrowed $ 200 from Coleman Smoot, one of the richest men in Sangamon County, and spent $ 60 on his first outfit. clothes. As the second youngest legislator in this term, and one of the first thirty-six participants, Lincoln was primarily an observer, but his colleagues immediately recognized his mastery of "technical language law" and asked him to draft the law for them.
When Lincoln announced his offer to be reelected in June 1836, he discussed the controversial issue of extended suffrage. Democrats advocate universal suffrage for white males residing in the country for at least six months. They hope to bring Irish immigrants, who are interested in the country because of the canal projects, to the voice roll as Democrats. Lincoln supports the traditional Whig position that voting should be restricted to property owners.
Lincoln was re-elected on 1 August 1836, as the top voter in the Sangamon delegation. The delegation of two senators and seven representatives was nicknamed "Long Nine" because everything was above average. Despite being the second youngest of the group, Lincoln was seen as leader of the group and leader of the Whig minority floor. The main agenda of Long Nine is the relocation of the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield and a strong internal improvement program for the state. Lincoln's influence in the legislature and his party continued to grow with re-election for the next two terms in 1838 and 1840. In the 1838-1839 legislative session, Lincoln served on at least fourteen committees and worked behind the scenes to manage the program of the minority Whig.
While serving as state legislator, Illinois Auditor James Shields challenged Lincoln to a duel. Lincoln has published an inflammatory letter in the Sangamon Journal, Springfield newspaper, which makes fun of Shields. Lincoln's future wife, Mary Todd, and his close friends, continued writing letters about Shields without Lincoln's knowledge. Shields is offended by the article and demands "satisfaction". The incident escalated to a two-party meeting at Sunflower Island in Missouri, near Alton, Illinois, to participate in a duel, which is illegal in Illinois. Lincoln is responsible for the article and accepted. Lincoln chose the cavalry broadswords as a dueling weapon because Shields was known as a great sniper. Just prior to engaging in battle, Lincoln showed his physical superiority (his long arm range) easily cutting off the branch above Shields head. Seconds they intervene and convince people to stop hostilities on the grounds that Lincoln did not write the letters.
Internal enhancements
The Illinois Governor called for a special legislative session during the winter of 1835-1836 to fund what is known as the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which links the Illinois and Chicago rivers and connects Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. The proposal would allow the state government to finance the construction with a $ 500,000 loan. Lincoln chose to support the commitments, which passed 28-27.
Lincoln has always supported Henry Clay's vision of the American System, which sees a prosperous America supported by well-developed road, canal, and railway networks. Lincoln prefers to raise funds for these projects through the sale of public lands by the federal government to eliminate interest costs; otherwise, private capital must bear its own cost. Fearing that Illinois would fall behind other countries in economic development, Lincoln shifted its position to allow the state to provide the necessary support for private developers.
In the next session, a newly elected legislator, Stephen A. Douglas, went further and proposed a $ 10 million state loan program, which Lincoln supported. However, Panic of 1837 effectively destroys the possibility of internal improvements in Illinois. The state becomes "littered with unfinished roads and partially dug channels"; the value of state bonds fell; and the state debt interest is eight times its total income. The state government takes forty years to pay off this debt.
Lincoln has some ideas to save the internal improvement program. First, he proposed that the state buy public land at a discount from the federal government and then sell it to new settlers with luck, but the federal government rejected the idea. Furthermore, he proposes a land tax that will pass more than the tax burden to the most valuable landowners, but the majority of legislators are unwilling to do further state funds for internal improvement projects. The state financial depression continued until 1839.
The selection of Springfield as the state capital
In the 1830s Illinois welcomed more immigrants, many from New York and New England, which tended to move to the northern and central parts of the country. Vandalia, which is located in the more stagnant south, looks less suitable as a state government center. On the other hand, Springfield, in Sangamon County, "is strategically located in central Illinois" and has grown "in population and refinement".
Those opposed to relocating the state government to Springfield first attempted to undermine the influence of the delegation of Sangamon County by dividing the area into two new districts, but Lincoln was instrumental in the first amendment and subsequently murdered this proposal in its own committee. Throughout the long debate "Lincoln's political skills were repeatedly tested". He finally succeeded when the legislature accepted his proposal that the chosen city would be asked to contribute $ 50,000 and 2 acres (8,100 m 2 ) land for the construction of a new state House building - only Springfield could comfortably meet the financial demands this. The final act was filed twice, but Lincoln raised it by finding acceptable amendments to attract additional support, including allowing for a review in the next session. When another location was rejected, Springfield was chosen by 46 to 37 margin votes on February 28, 1837. Under the review effort Lincoln's leadership was defeated in session 1838-1839. Orville Browning, who later became a close friend of Lincoln and a believer, guided the law through the Illinois Senate, and the move became effective in 1839.
Illinois State Bank
Lincoln, like Henry Clay, likes federal control over the state banking system, but President Jackson has effectively killed the United States Bank in 1835. In the same year Lincoln crossed the party line to vote with the pro-bank Democrats in chartering the State of Illinois. As he did in an internal improvement debate, Lincoln looked for the best available alternative. According to the Lincoln historian and biographer, Richard Carwardine, Lincoln feels:
Well-regulated banks will provide strong and elastic currencies, protect the public against extreme recipes from hard-working on the one hand and paper-inflation actors on the other; it will be a safe place for public funds and provide the credit mechanism needed to sustain the country's improvement; it will put an end to excessive lending money.
Opponents of state banks began an investigation designed to close banks in the 1836-1837 legislative sessions. On January 11, 1837, Lincoln made the first major legislative speech in favor of the bank and attacked his opponents. He condemned "a lawless and carcocratic spirit... who was already abroad in this country, and spread quickly and fearfully, to overthrow any institution, or even the moral principle, where people and property to date have found security. "Blaming the opposition completely on the political class, Lincoln called politicians" at least one long step removed from honest people, "Lincoln commented:
I made a decisive statement, and without fear of contradiction, that no one, who does not hold office, or does not want it, ever finds Bank's faults. It has doubled the price of their agricultural products, and filled their pockets with a medium of sound circulation, and they are all happy with the operation.
Westerners in the Jacksonian Era were generally skeptical of all banks, and this was compounded after Panic of 1837, when Illinois Bank suspended specie payments. Lincoln still defends the bank, but it is too strongly associated with a failed credit system that causes currency devaluation and loan foreclosures to generate much political support.
In 1839 the Democrats led another investigation of the state bank, with Lincoln as the Whig representative on the investigative committee. Lincoln was instrumental in the committee's conclusion that the suspension of specie payments was linked to uncontrollable economic conditions rather than "any organic flaws of the institution itself." However, the law enabling the suspension of specie payments is set to expire at the end of December 1840, and Democrats want to delay without further extension. In an attempt to avoid a quorum in postponement, Lincoln and several others jumped out of the window of the first story, but the Speakers counted it as a gift and "the bank had been killed." In 1841 Lincoln was less supportive of state banks, although he would continue to address the country that supported him. He concluded, "If there is a constant battle against the State Institution... the sooner it ends, the better."
Abolitionism
In the 1830s, slave nations began to notice the growth of anti-slavery rhetoric in the North. Their anger focused on the abolitionists, whom they accuse of waging a slave uprising by spreading the "burner pamphlets" of slaves. When the southern legislature passed a resolution calling for the suppression of abolitionist society, they often received good responses from their northern counterparts. In January 1837 the Illinois legislature passed a resolution stating that they "strongly disapproved of the establishment of a society of abolition", that "property in slaves is sacred to slave-owning States by the Federal Government, and that they can not be usurped." rights without their consent ", and that" the General Government can not abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, contrary to the wishes of the district. "The balloting in the Illinois Senate is 18 to 0, and 77 to 6 in the House, with Lincoln and Dan Stone, also from Sangamon County, voting in opposition.Because the relocation of the nation's capital is still the number one problem on two men's agendas, they do not comment on their voices until the relocation is approved.
On March 3, with another legislative priority behind him, Lincoln lodged a formal written protest to the legislature stating that "the institution of slavery was founded on the basis of injustice and bad policies." Lincoln criticized the abolitionist for practical reasons, arguing that "the enforcement of the doctrine of abolition tends to increase more than to alleviate evil [slavery]." He also discussed the issue of slavery in the nation's capital in a different way from the resolution, writing that "the United States Congress has the power, under the constitution, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, but that force should not be exercised except at the request of people from District. "Lincoln biographer Benjamin P. Thomas commented on the importance of Lincoln's actions:
Thus, at the age of twenty-eight, Lincoln made public recognition of his dislike of slavery, basing his position on a moral basis when he characterized the institution as injustice with evil, while recognizing the sanctity of Southern rights. In 1860, in his autobiography, he claimed that the protest "briefly defined his position on the problem of slavery, and as far as it goes, it is the same as now."
Lyceum Lincoln Address
Lincoln's Address to Young Men Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois on January 27, 1838, entitled "The Perpetuation of the Political Institutions". In this speech, Lincoln described the danger of slavery in the United States, an institution he believed would undermine the federal government.
Prairie Lawyer
Partnership with Stuart and Logan
In 1837, since the start of a legal partnership with Stuart, Lincoln handled the majority of corporate clients, while Stuart was primarily concerned with politics and elections to the United States House of Representatives. Legal practice has many clients that can be handled. Most cost five dollars, with general costs ranging between two and a half dollars and ten dollars. Lincoln quickly realized that he had the same abilities and effectiveness as most of the other lawyers, whether they were self-taught like Lincoln or had studied with more experienced lawyers. After Stuart was elected to Congress in November 1839, Lincoln undertook his own training. Lincoln, like Stuart, considers his legal career only a catalyst for his political ambitions.
In 1840 Lincoln withdrew $ 1,000 a year from legal practice, along with his salary as a legislator. However, when Stuart was re-elected to Congress, Lincoln was no longer satisfied to carry the whole load. In April 1841, he established a new partnership with Stephen T. Logan. Logan was nine years older than Lincoln, a prominent lawyer in Sangamon County, and a former lawyer in Kentucky before moving to Illinois. Logan sees Lincoln as a complement to his practice, recognizing that Lincoln's effectiveness with the jury is superior to himself in that field. Once again, clients abound for the company, though Lincoln receives a third of the company's results rather than split even he enjoys with Stuart.
Lincoln's relationship with Logan is a learning experience. He absorbs from Logan some of the better legal points and the importance of research and preparation of correct and detailed cases. Logan's exact and precise written appeal, and Lincoln used them as his model. However, much of Lincoln's development is still self-taught. Historian David Herbert Donald writes that Logan taught him that "there is more law than common sense and simple equity" and Lincoln's study begins to focus on "procedures and precedents." Lincoln had not studied law books, but he spent "night after night at the Supreme Court Library, figuring out precedents applied to the cases he was working on." Lincoln stated, "I like to dig up the question from its roots and lift it up and dry it in front of the fire of the mind." His written brief, particularly important in the cases of Illinois Supreme Court, is drafted in great detail with a precedent noting that it often returns to the origins of English common law. Lincoln's growing skills became evident as his appearance before the Supreme Court increased and would serve him well in his political career. By the time he left for Washington in 1861, Lincoln had appeared more than three hundred times before this trial. Lincoln biographer Stephen B. Oates wrote, "This is where he earned his reputation as a lawyer lawyer, proficient in careful preparation and convincing argument."
Lincoln and Herndon
Lincoln's partnership with Logan was dissolved in the fall of 1844, when Logan established a partnership with his son. Lincoln, who could possibly have a more established lawyer choice, was tired of being a junior partner and had a partnership with William Herndon, who had read the law at the offices of Logan and Lincoln. Herndon, like Lincoln, was an active Whig, but the party in Illinois at that time was divided into two factions. Lincoln connected with the older "silk casting" element of the party through his marriage to Mary Todd; Herndon is one of the younger and more populist party leaders. The Lincoln-Herndon partnership continued through the presidential election of Lincoln, and Lincoln remained a recording partner until his death.
Prior to his partnership with Herndon, Lincoln did not regularly attend court in neighboring communities. This changed when Lincoln became one of the most active customers on the circuit until 1854, disconnected only by his two-year stint in Congress. The Eighth Circuit covers 11,000 square miles (28,000 km 2 ). Every spring and fall, Lincoln travels to the district for nine to ten weeks at a time, capturing about $ 150 for every ten weeks of the circuit. On the street, lawyers and judges live in cheap hotels, with two lawyers into bed; six or eight men into a room.
Lincoln's reputation for integrity and fairness on the circuit caused him to be in great demand both from local clients and lawyers who needed help. It was during his time to ride the circuit that he took one of his lasting nicknames, "Honest Abe". The clients he represents, the people he drives together, and the lawyers he meets along the way become some of Lincoln's most loyal political supporters. One is David Davis, a Whig fellow who, like Lincoln, promotes nationalist economic programs and opposes slavery without actually being abolitionist. Davis joined the circuit in 1848 as a judge and sometimes appointed Lincoln to replace him. They travel on the circuit for eleven years, and Lincoln will eventually appoint him to the United States Supreme Court. Another close associate is Ward Hill Lamon, a lawyer in Danville, Illinois. Lamon, the only local lawyer with whom Lincoln had a formal employment agreement, accompanied Lincoln to Washington in 1861.
Load and case income
Unlike other lawyers on the circuit, Lincoln does not supplement his income by engaging in real estate speculation or running a business or farm. His income in general is what he earns from legal practice. In the 1840s it reached $ 1,500 to $ 2,500 a year, rising to $ 3,000 in the early 1850s, and $ 5,000 in the mid-1850s.
The criminal law is the smallest part of Lincoln and the Herndon case work. In 1850, the company was involved in eighteen percent of cases in the Sangamon County Circuit; in 1853 it was thirty-three percent. Coming back from his tenure at the US House of Representatives, Lincoln rejected a partnership offer at Chicago law firm. Based on the volume of cases, Lincoln "is undoubtedly one of the leading lawyers in central Illinois." Lincoln is also in great demand in federal court. He received important followers from various cases in the North District Court of the United States in Chicago.
Lincoln was involved in at least two cases involving slavery. In the case of Illinois Supreme Court 1841, Bailey v. Cromwell, Lincoln succeeded in preventing the sale of a woman suspected of being a slave, arguing that in Illinois "the law's presumption.. that everyone is free, regardless of color." In 1847 Abraham Lincoln defended Robert Matson, a slave owner who tried to take back his escaped slaves. Matson took a slave from a Kentucky plantation to work on the land he owned in Illinois. The slaves are represented by Orlando Ficklin, Usher Linder, and Charles H. Constable. The slaves escaped because they believed that once they were in Illinois they were free, because the Northwest Ordinance banned slavery in territories including Illinois. In this case, Lincoln called for transit rights, allowing slave owners to take their slaves temporarily into free territory. Lincoln also stressed that Matson did not intend to have permanent slaves permanently in Illinois. Even with these arguments, the judges in Coles County ruled against Lincoln and the slaves were released. Donald noted, "Both the Matson case and the Cromwell case must be taken as an indication of Lincoln's view of slavery: his business is law, not morality." The right of transit is a legal theory recognized by some free states that a slave owner can take slaves into a free state and retain ownership as long as the intention is not to settle permanently in a free country.
Trains became an important economic force in Illinois in the 1850s. As they expand they create many legal issues concerning "charter and franchise, issues relating to the right-of-way, issues of evaluation and taxation, issues related to general operator duties and passenger rights, problems of mergers, consolidation, and receivership." Lincoln and other lawyers will soon discover that railroad litigation is the main source of income. Like the slave cases, Lincoln sometimes would represent the railroad tracks and sometimes he would represent their enemies. He has no legal or political agenda that is reflected in his client's choice. Herndon calls Lincoln "a pure and full case lawyer."
In one famous case in 1851, Lincoln represented Alton and Sangamon Railroad in a dispute with James A. Barret, a shareholder. Barret refused to pay his balance on his pledge to the railroad on the grounds that it had changed the route originally planned. Lincoln argues that as a legal matter, a company is not bound by its original charter when the charter can be changed in the public interest. Lincoln also argues that the new route proposed by Alton and Sangamon is superior and cheaper, and therefore, the company has the right to sue Barret for his outstanding payments. Lincoln won the case and the Illinois Supreme Court decision was finally cited by other US courts.
Lincoln's most important civil case is the landmark Hurd v. Rock Island Bridge Company , also known as Effie Afton case . The western expansion of the West, backed by Lincoln, is seen as an economic threat to the river trade, which flows north-to-south, especially along the Mississippi River. In 1856 an ua ship
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