America at 250 Series
Born in a Kentucky log cabin in 1809, Abraham Lincoln rose from frontier poverty through relentless self-education, reading by firelight and splitting rails to survive. A failed shopkeeper turned country lawyer, he found his voice in Illinois courtrooms and his cause in the fight against slavery’s expansion.
His 1858 debates with Stephen Douglas made him a national figure. Two years later, he won the presidency—and watched the Union shatter before his inauguration.
The Civil War consumed his presidency. He mourned his son Willie’s death in the White House, signed the Emancipation Proclamation on New Year’s Day 1863, and delivered the Gettysburg Address in just two minutes that autumn, redefining American purpose.
Reelected in 1864, he saw Lee surrender at Appomattox in April 1865. Five days later, at Ford’s Theatre, John Wilkes Booth’s bullet struck him down. He died the next morning, a martyr to the union he had saved.
