Abraham Lincoln's Life and Presidency

Abraham Lincoln's life before the Presidency was not that of an average person. With losing his mother at a young age, lacking formal education as he worked to support his family and with his father, facing lawsuit challenges that would eventually force his family to migrate multiple times. This would not seem like a successful path to becoming the sixteenth President of the United States. Throughout his younger years, Abraham Lincoln would try an assortment of occupations, volunteered for the Black Hawk War (1832) and then eventually finding that law was his true passion (Current, 2020).

He later became a supporter of the Whig Party, which then propelled his desire for politics and law.

With his upbringing, understanding of what hard work was and a determination like no other he was able to realign his course to success. Among his drive, confidence and work ethic, he was able to teach himself grammar and mathematics, but more impressive he was a self-taught lawyer, who would ultimately pass the written examination and start practicing law.

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During his career, he quickly gained a reputation being one of the best lawyers in the nation, as well as a reputation for being honest, diligent and smart. Abraham Lincoln's speaking ability was one of his strongest attributes that would ultimately direct his sights towards the political spectrum.

The next few years would be playing a much larger role in Abraham Lincoln's path to the presidency. He would go on winning an election for a seat in House of Representatives for the Whig party in 1846, but he would only serve one term due to unpopularity views of his stance and the Mexican American War.

During his term, he would also make it known for the first time he opposes slavery (Brooks, 2018). This would ultimately lead him back to Springfield Illinois where he would resume practicing law.

During Abraham Lincoln's time practicing law, he never lost his true desire for politics. About five years later, he would find himself in the political spotlight yet again. This time he would be campaigning for a seat within the Senate, which would result in a loss. The following year he would campaign for a seat in Senate, resulting in a second loss in a row. Throughout his second campaign, he would have multiple debates that would eventually make his name known across the country and Republican Party. Though he lost the election, he had won the hearts of many Americans through his speeches.

Leading into the early 1860's Abraham Lincoln would continue to address the public with inspiring speeches, resulting in the nomination for President at the Republican National Convention (Brooks, 2018). Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States on November 6th, 1860. He would win against the same man that he had lost to in the race for Senate, Stephen Douglas. He would be the 16th President to serve, but the first to serve when the country was almost at its worst in history. The electoral votes split almost in half amongst the Northern and Southern states of the country, parallel to how the states viewed slavery. This would also be the tipping point where the Southern states wanted to secede from the Union (Levy, 2019).

The Civil War would begin shortly after President Lincoln took office, leaving him with some major obstacles to overcome. He reluctantly took on the issue of slavery, as his primary focus at the time was to save the union. The Civil War would continue for four more years, where he would finally sway towards the idea of freeing all slaves. Until then he would have only signed one act that abolished slavery within the District of Columbia. During the Civil War President Lincoln would go on to sign and issue the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves.