Abraham Lincoln Research Paper

On February 12, 1809, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln welcomed their second child, and first son, Abraham into the world. Thomas Lincoln invited neighboring relatives, Tom and Betsy Sparrow, and their adopted son, Dennis Hanks, over to meet the newborn. While holding the crying babe, Dennis exclaimed while handing him to his mother, “Aunt, take him! He’ll never come to much.” Unknown to the young Dennis, Abraham Lincoln would become one of the most remarkable presidents in the history of the United States. Thomas and Nancy Lincoln were complete opposites. On one hand, Thomas was an outgoing, hardworking man who thrived on the company of others and opportunity. On the other hand, Nancy was withdrawn, somber, self-sacrificing, and deeply

Abraham was taught to read and write from the Bible and Dilworth’s speller, and was writing influential essays about his viewpoints from the early age of seven. He was notorious for his desire to learn and was ever hungry for literature of any sort. Including Aesop’s Fables, and ranging from Robinson Crusoe to Shakespeare, and from the Life of Benjamin Franklin to books about law; Lincoln always had a desire to read all that he could. New Salem was an accidental find for a twenty-two year old Abraham Lincoln. He would jokingly tell the other residents of the hamlet that he was, “a piece of floating driftwood,” that was accidentally lodged by the floodwaters of the Sangamon River. However, that little hamlet would be his home for the next six years. Lincoln was hired, along with his cousin, John (Dennis) Hanks, and his step-brother, John D. Johnston, to construct a flatboat and travel and sell wares for Denton Offutt. The three men were to be paid twelve dollars a month, and traveled down the Sangamon river to New Salem, through the Mississippi River to New Orleans to sell their wares, and traversed back up to St. Louis to pay Offutt his money. While in New Orleans, Lincoln was first exposed to the cruel and unjust slave auctions which would later influence his entire

After the Black Hawk War, Lincoln ran for the Illinois General Assembly, but was voted eighth out of thirteen. Not deterred, Lincoln Ran for office once again, and was elected into the Illinois General Assembly for the Sangamon County, which was larger during his time than it is now in the present. Lincoln was re-elected into the Assembly under the Whig party, and was part of a group labeled the “Long Nine,” a group of Whig members elected to represent Sangamon County and were noted for their height. The only notable success from the “Long Nine” group was their success to move the Illinois State Capital from Vandalia to