Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) was the sixteenth president of the
United States and a pioneer in abolishing slavery. Lincoln was born
into poverty in Hardin County, Kentucky. As a young man, he fought
in the Black Hawk War, during which he made strong political
connections. In 1834, Lincoln was elected to the Illinois state
legislature as a member of the Whig Party. He then devoted much of
his time to studying law, which eventually led to his single term
in the United States House of Representatives. In 1856, Lincoln
joined the Republican Party, using his position as a platform to
speak against slavery in the Confederacy. Four years later, he was
elected president. The Civil War erupted shortly after. In 1862,
Lincoln delivered his famous Emancipation Proclamation,
successfully freeing slaves in the Confederacy. Lincoln penned many
more speeches and essays, most famously his Gettysburg Address.
John Wilkes Booth, a Confederacy sympathizer, assassinated Lincoln
at the Ford’s Theatre in 1865.