Abraham Lincoln
He held a fractured nation together through civil war and issued the Emancipation Proclamation, fundamentally redefining American freedom.
1809–1865 (age 56)·President of the United States from 1861 to 1865·Birthday: February 12
Biography
Born in a Kentucky log cabin, Abraham Lincoln's path to the presidency was paved by self-education, a sharp legal mind, and a profound belief in the Union. His election in 1860 triggered the secession of Southern states, plunging the country into its bloodiest conflict. As a wartime president, Lincoln expanded executive power, navigated political turmoil, and, with the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, transformed the war's purpose into a fight for human liberty. His Gettysburg Address reframed the struggle as a test of whether a nation 'conceived in Liberty' could endure. Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, just days after the Confederate surrender, cemented his legacy as the martyred savior of the United States and the Great Emancipator, though his vision for a just Reconstruction remained unfulfilled.
#1 When Abraham Was Born
The biggest hits of 1809
Abraham's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1809Born
1814Started school
1822Became a teenager
1825Could drive
1827Could vote
1830Turned 21
1839Turned 30
1849Turned 40
1859Turned 50
1865Died at 56
President: Andrew Johnson
Key Achievements
- Issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, declaring all enslaved people in Confederate-held territory to be free.
- Delivered the Gettysburg Address, a defining articulation of American democracy and the purpose of the Civil War.
- Successfully led the Union to victory in the American Civil War, preserving the United States as a single nation.
- Signed the Homestead Act of 1862, granting public land to settlers and accelerating western expansion.
- Advocated for and signed the Thirteenth Amendment, which permanently abolished slavery nationwide.
Did You Know?
He was a champion wrestler in his youth, reportedly losing only one match out of roughly 300.
Lincoln is the only U.S. president to hold a patent, for a device to buoy boats over shoals.
He established the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Academy of Sciences.
His famous top hat, now in the Smithsonian, served as a portable filing cabinet for important papers.
The first known photograph of a U.S. presidential assassination conspiracy was of Lincoln's funeral procession.
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
