1809 – 1865
From a log cabin to the White House — the president who ended slavery.
Born: 12 February 1809, Kentucky | Known for: Ending slavery, saving the USA | Famous words: “Whatever you are, be a good one.”
Abraham Lincoln was born on 12 February 1809 in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky, America. His family was poor; his mother died when he was nine. He went to school for less than one year in his whole life — everything else he taught himself, borrowing books and reading by firelight. He worked as a boatman, shopkeeper, postmaster, and rail-splitter before teaching himself law.
Lincoln's road was paved with defeats. His business failed. The woman he loved died young. He lost election after election — for state legislature, for Congress, for Senate, even for Vice President. Most people would have quit. Lincoln kept going. In 1860, the man who had lost so many times was elected the 16th President of the United States.
As soon as he became president, the country split — southern states left because they wanted to keep slavery, and a terrible civil war began. Lincoln held the nation together through its darkest four years. In 1863 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring enslaved people free, and pushed the 13th Amendment that ended slavery forever. His two-minute Gettysburg Address — 'government of the people, by the people, for the people' — became the most famous speech in American history. Days after winning the war, he was shot and killed. He gave his life so that a nation could be reborn without slavery.
Lincoln was famously funny and famously sad. He told jokes and stories that made cabinet meetings roar with laughter — and he battled deep depression his whole life, which he fought with humour and work. He kept important papers inside his tall stovepipe hat. He pardoned soldiers sentenced for falling asleep on duty, saying a boy who fights bravely deserves better than a firing squad for being tired. When his generals won, he gave them credit; when they lost, he took the blame publicly. That mix of strength and gentleness is why Americans simply call him 'Honest Abe'.
Photo: Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons