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Today we're going to learn about the American President, Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, was born February 12, 1809,
in Kentucky. His father was a farmer, and his family was very poor, living in a small,
one-room log cabin.
While Lincoln was still very young, his family moved to Indiana, and then again to Illinois.
He only went to school for one year, but he loved books and learning, and taught himself
as much as he could.
When he was 22 years old, Abraham Lincoln left home to work at a general store. It was
there that he got his nickname, "Honest Abe." Once a customer accidentally over paid by
a few pennies, and that night when the store closed, Abraham Lincoln walked for miles to
take the money back.
In 1832 Lincoln ran in an election to become a member of the Illinois State Legislature,
but he lost. After that he served as a Captain in the Army, and then he started working as
a lawyer, and got married. In 1846 he was elected to the US House of Representatives.
In 1860, he ran for President.
It was a difficult time in the United States. The North and the South disagreed on a lot
of things, and it was getting worse. One thing they disagreed on was slavery. The Northern
states did not want any more slavery. The Southern states wanted to keep their slaves.
Abraham Lincoln did not like slavery, either. He was elected President because he had the
support of the Northern states. He had almost no support from the Southern states.
As soon as he became President, southern states began seceding from the Union. That means
they decided they didn't want to be a part of the United States anymore. President Lincoln
was determined to keep the country together, and in 1861 a war started.
It was the Civil War, a terrible, bloody war that lasted four years. On January 1, 1863,
Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, an order that freed all the slaves in the
southern states. A few years later, he helped to pass the 13th amendment to the Constitution,
which made slavery illegal everywhere in the United States.
The Civil War finally ended on April 9, 1865. President Lincoln wanted to put the country
back together, and help the South rebuild. Unfortunately, he did not live to see that happen.
Less than a week after the end of the Civil War, Lincoln and his wife were watching a
play at the Ford Theater in Washington DC when he was shot in the head by a man named
John Wilkes Booth. Abraham Lincoln died the next morning, on April 15, 1865. He was the
first American President to be assassinated.
Abraham Lincoln once said, "I want it said of me by those who knew me best that I always
plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow." He is widely
considered to be one of the greatest presidents in American history. His leadership during
the Civil War and his defense of human liberty make him an American hero. His face is on
pennies and five dollar bills, he was included in Mount Rushmore, and a memorial for him
stands in Washington, DC.
I hope you enjoyed learning about Abraham Lincoln. Goodbye till next time!