Essay on Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln Essay

Abraham Lincoln, the most fabvourite of all Presidents of the US, was born at Kentucky, USA on 12 February, 1809 of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy. His mother died when he was hardly nine years old. His father married again. His stepmother encouraged him in his early studies. Standing at 6’4″, he thought that he looked horrible. He did not get regular education at school: what he learnt in his intermittent schooling was how to read and write and do occasional sums. The incident that changed his mentality was when he saw the poor Negroes being sold and purchased no better than animals. He had vowed to himself that he would work towards abolishing slavery.

Abraham led by example. He led an austere life. He arrived at Salem at the age of twenty-two and became a clerk. He also set up a business but failed. He then joined as a surveyor of the county and then a postmaster. He became a legislator with the Illinois Legislature at an early age of twenty-five, and it was at this stage that he envisaged to realise his dreams of ridding the country of all evils prevailing at that time.

He married for the first time in 1833, but his wife died. He remarried in 1842. He was still a poor man but the couple led a resolute and spirited life. In 1840, he won election to the Illinois House of Representatives for the fourth time. He continued to shuttle between politics and his law practice. In 1854, he was once again elected to the Illinois legislature, but he declined to become a candidate for the US Senate, though he was defeated in 1855. He became the President of the US in 1860 when he won about 39% of the popular votes and more than 60% of the electoral votes.

He had to face problems as the Civil War started in 1861 and the Union met disasters in many areas including the Battle of Bull Run. The following year he proposed compensated emancipation for the slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in the rebelling areas, took effect on 01 January, 1863. He was re-elected in the Presidential election the following year. In that era of Civil War, it was in 1865 that he promised the people that the seceded states would join the Union. Due to his massive efforts, the Civil War seemed to end sooner than later.

On 14 April, 1865, he was attending at Ford’s Theatre playing Our American Cousin. He was shot there at 10.15 p.m. He breathed his last the following day at 7.22 am. Thus, the US and the world lost a statesman who cared for democracy.

He gave a new definition to democracy when he declared, “For the people, of the people, by the people.” The following words were found scribbled on a note in his office which profoundly express his feelings about democracy, “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”

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