SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The birthday of Abraham Lincoln, who served as the 16th President of the United States and was known as “The Great Emancipator,” is Sunday, Feb. 12.
According to History.com, Lincoln was born and raised in Hodgenville, Kentucky to an impoverished family. Because he did not attend school for long, he practiced reading to improve his cognitive abilities.
Prior to becoming a politician, Lincoln lived in Illinois, and was skilled in a multitude of trades including stints as a postmaster, surveyor and shopkeeper, according to History.com.
As his political career took off, he served in the Illinois legislature and Congress. He then added "lawyer" to his expanding resume.
In September 1841, Lincoln dueled a political opponent, James Shields, on Bloody Island in the Mississippi River near St. Louis. The men called a truce before coming to blows with cavalry broadswords.
Lincoln made his bid for the highest seat in the land in 1860 as a moderate in the new Republican Party.
According to History.com, Lincoln attempted to provide slaveholders reassurance that they could keep their slaves and he did not intend to end slavery in their jurisdiction.
However, Lincoln did agree it should be abolished but he would rather keep the Union intact over freeing slaves at the time, according to History.com.
The powder keg of the Civil War began in 1861.
Once the war was underway, Lincoln gave up on trying to reassure slave owners that they could keep their slaves and moved toward abolishing the institution in 1863, which is when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
“The document freed enslaved people in the Confederate states but did not address the legality of slavery in Missouri, Kansas, or Arkansas among others," according to History.com.
Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered, effectively ending the war.
He is remembered as the Great Emancipator, though he initially wavered on the issue of slavery.
He was the tallest president at 6-foot-4.
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