Abraham Lincoln Research Paper

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Kentucky. When he was only two, the Lincoln's moved to another farm on the Cumberland Trail. About a year later, Abraham's mother had another boy, but he died only a few days later. In 1818, Lincoln's mother died from a disease called the "milk-sick.” about ten years later his sister died from the same disease and left him with just his father and stepmother. Lincoln moved to New Salem in April of 1831. Lincoln met his future wife, Mary Todd, at the grand cotillion that was in honor of the completion of the new capital building in 1839. They got engaged for several months, but Abraham broke off the engagement because Mary had been seeing other men. Around a year later, though, on November 4,1842, Abraham and Mary got married.

In May of 1843, they had a son, Robert. Lincoln also had three more sons, Edward, William, and Thomas. Edward died at the age of three, from tuberculosis.

Lincoln was very intrigued by the practice of law. Every time there was a court case in Boonville, he would walk fifteen miles just to go and see it. In 1850 he got his license to practice law. In the early 1850's Lincoln had created his own law office, the Lincoln-Herndon law office.

On June 16, 1858 the Illinois State Republican Convention asked Lincoln if he would run against Stephen Douglas for the United States Senate. The seven Lincoln-Douglas debates occurred during the summer and fall of 1858. The debates were over slavery. Lincoln's anti-slavery talks made him very disliked by the southern states, and when he ran for president in 1860 that made them even angrier.

Without any votes or support from any southern states, Lincoln still managed to win the 1860 presidential election. This is when the talk of secession from the Union became much more serious. This was one of the causes of the Civil War, because the south did not favor Lincoln at