US President1809–1865

    Abraham Lincoln

    The Frontier Self-Made Man Who Saved a Nation

    Born on 12 February 1809 at Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln had less than a year of formal schooling, taught himself law and became the sixteenth President of the United States — leading the Union through the Civil War, issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and pressing for the Thirteenth Amendment that abolished slavery.

    • 18 min listen
    • 16th US President
    • Civil War leader
    • Emancipator
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    Abraham Lincoln’s full 18 min audio biography, The Frontier Self-Made Man Who Saved a Nation, is available on Lyfestori for iOS. Listen to a free preview below.

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    A life in brief

    Abraham Lincoln: life and timeline.

    He was born in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky, lost his mother to milk sickness at nine, and had less than a year of schooling in his life. Abraham Lincoln taught himself from borrowed books, failed as a storekeeper in New Salem, and read Blackstone until he could practise law. The Kansas-Nebraska Act pulled him back into politics in 1854. Six years later he was President of a country already splitting apart, and he spent four years of civil war holding it together.

    1. 1809

      Born in a Kentucky cabin

      Born 12 February at Sinking Spring Farm, in what is now LaRue County, Kentucky, to Thomas Lincoln, a farmer and carpenter, and Nancy Hanks Lincoln.

    2. 1818

      His mother dies

      Two years after the family crosses into Indiana, Nancy Hanks Lincoln dies of milk sickness, a poisoning from cows that had eaten white snakeroot. Abraham is nine. His father remarries the widow Sarah Bush Johnston, who encourages his reading.

    3. 1831

      New Salem

      Having left his family in Illinois, he settles in New Salem. He clerks, co-owns a store that fails and leaves him with what he called his "national debt", and serves as postmaster and deputy surveyor.

    4. 1832

      Captain in the Black Hawk War

      His militia company elects him captain. He later said few things in his life gave him more pleasure.

    5. 1834

      Elected to the legislature

      Wins the first of four consecutive terms in the Illinois House of Representatives and, encouraged by John T. Stuart, begins reading law.

    6. 1837

      Lawyer in Springfield

      Now admitted to the bar, he moves to Springfield in April with his belongings in two saddlebags. He builds a practice riding the Eighth Judicial Circuit.

    7. 1842

      Marries Mary Todd

      Marries Mary Todd of Lexington, Kentucky, on 4 November after a broken engagement. They have four sons; only Robert outlives both parents.

    8. 1858

      The Lincoln–Douglas debates

      Challenges Stephen Douglas for his Senate seat in seven debates across Illinois. He loses the seat but becomes a national figure.

    9. 1860

      Elected President

      A speech at Cooper Union in February impresses New York, and in May he takes the Republican nomination from William Seward. He wins a four-way election in November.

    10. 1861

      War begins

      Seven states have seceded by his inauguration on 4 March. Confederate guns fire on Fort Sumter on 12 April.

    11. 1863

      Emancipation Proclamation

      Takes effect on 1 January, declaring free the enslaved people in areas still in rebellion. In November he delivers the Gettysburg Address.

    12. 1865

      Assassinated

      Shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre on 14 April, five days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox. He dies the next morning in the Petersen House across the street. The Thirteenth Amendment is ratified in December.

    Major achievements

    Abraham Lincoln: major achievements.

    • 01

      Preserving the Union

      He took office with seven states already gone and led the North through four years of civil war, growing into the role of commander-in-chief with almost no military experience and replacing generals who would not fight.

    • 02

      The Emancipation Proclamation

      Drafted in summer 1862 and issued after Antietam, it took effect on 1 January 1863 and made the end of slavery a stated aim of the war. Nearly two hundred thousand Black soldiers and sailors served in the Union forces.

    • 03

      The Thirteenth Amendment

      In the last months of the war he pressed Congress to pass the amendment abolishing slavery throughout the United States. It was ratified in December 1865, eight months after his death.

    • 04

      Self-taught statesman

      With less than a year of formal schooling, he taught himself grammar, surveying and law from borrowed books and became one of the finest writers and debaters in American public life.

    • 05

      Speeches that outlived the war

      The Cooper Union address, the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural — about seven hundred words — are still studied for how much argument and moral weight they fit into plain language.

    Turning points

    Abraham Lincoln: defining moments.

    • 1818

      Losing his mother

      Nancy Hanks Lincoln died of milk sickness when Abraham was nine, and family tradition holds that he helped prepare her coffin. His stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston, arrived a year later and backed the bookish boy. She later said he was the best boy she ever saw.

    • 1854

      The Kansas-Nebraska Act

      After a single term in Congress he had gone back to his law practice. Stephen Douglas's act reopened the western territories to slavery, and Lincoln saw it as a betrayal of the country's founding principles. He returned to front-rank politics with a new intensity.

    • 1862

      Deciding on emancipation

      Early in the war he said his paramount purpose was to save the Union. By July 1862 he had drafted the Emancipation Proclamation and read it to his cabinet, holding it back on Seward's advice until a victory. Antietam gave him one in September.

    • August 1864

      The blind memorandum

      With Grant stalled before Petersburg and the North exhausted, Lincoln wrote that his administration would probably not be re-elected and had his cabinet sign the folded memo unread. Atlanta fell on 2 September, and in November he won with about 55 per cent of the popular vote.

    We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.

    First Inaugural Address, 4 March 1861

    What you’ll take away

    Lessons from Abraham Lincoln’s life.

    1. 01

      Schooling is not the same as education

      He had less than a year in a classroom and called his education "defective". He made up for it by walking miles to borrow books and rehearsing legal arguments aloud until his reasoning was sharper than that of men with every advantage.

    2. 02

      Failure was not the verdict

      A failed store, a lost Senate race and periods of depression so severe that friends worried for him all came before the presidency. He kept going on the ambition he described to Joshua Speed: to do something for his fellow man.

    3. 03

      Convictions can grow

      His views on slavery and race moved slowly, shaped by a racist era. But he moved from limiting slavery's spread to emancipation, the Thirteenth Amendment and, in his last speech, support for limited Black suffrage.

    4. 04

      Plan for losing, then keep working

      In August 1864 he wrote down that he expected to lose the election and sealed it away. He did not change course to win — he prepared for defeat and kept fighting the war on the terms he believed in.

    FAQ

    Frequently asked questions about Abraham Lincoln.

    Did Abraham Lincoln have a middle name?

    No. His full name was simply Abraham Lincoln. He was named after his paternal grandfather, Captain Abraham Lincoln, who was killed by Native Americans in Kentucky in 1786.

    Where was Abraham Lincoln born?

    At Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, in what is now LaRue County, Kentucky, on 12 February 1809. He was born in a one-room log cabin, and the family moved to Indiana when he was seven.

    Did Abraham Lincoln go to college?

    No. He had less than a year of formal schooling in total, spread across short terms at frontier schools. He taught himself law from borrowed books, including Blackstone's Commentaries, and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1836.

    How did Abraham Lincoln's mother die?

    Of milk sickness, in October 1818. The illness came from drinking milk from cows that had eaten white snakeroot, and there was no treatment for it on the frontier. Abraham was nine.

    How did Abraham Lincoln die?

    He was assassinated. John Wilkes Booth shot him in the back of the head at Ford's Theatre in Washington on the night of 14 April 1865, and he died at 7.22 the next morning in the Petersen House across the street, without regaining consciousness.

    Why did Abraham Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclamation?

    To weaken the Confederacy and make the end of slavery a goal of the war. It freed enslaved people only in areas still in rebellion, but it allowed Black men to enlist and pushed the Union towards the Thirteenth Amendment.

    Was Abraham Lincoln a Republican or a Democrat?

    A Republican. He began his career as a Whig, joined the new Republican Party in the mid-1850s over the spread of slavery, and was its first president.

    Who was Abraham Lincoln's wife?

    Mary Todd Lincoln. She came from a prominent family in Lexington, Kentucky, and they married in Springfield on 4 November 1842. They had four sons — Robert, Edward, William and Thomas (Tad).

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