Abraham Lincoln

His career was rather successful.

Abraham Lincoln was born on 12 February 1809 near Hodgenville, Kentucky. He was brought up in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. His parents were poor pioneers and Lincoln was largely self-educated. In 1836, he qualified as a lawyer and went to work in a law practice in Springfield, Illinois. He 1 ______________ the state legislature from 1834 to 1842 and in 1846 was elected to Congress, representing the Whig Party for a term. In 1856, he joined the new Republican Party and in 1860 he was asked to run as their presidential candidate.

His political viewpoints were pretty unusual.

Abraham Lincoln, byname Honest Abe, the Rail-Splitter, or the Great Emancipator, (born February 12, 1809, near Hodgenville, Kentucky, U.S.—died April 15, 1865, Washington, D.C.), became the person who preserved the Union during the American Civil War and brought about 2_________________ in the United States.

His childhood was full of hardships.

Lincoln was born in a backwoods cabin 3 miles (5 km) south of Hodgenville, Kentucky, and was taken to a farm in the neighbouring valley of Knob Creek when he was two years old. His earliest memories were of this home and, in particular, of a flash flood that once 3.___________________the corn and pumpkin seeds he had helped his father plant. His father, Thomas Lincoln, was the descendant of a weaver’s apprentice who had migrated from England to Massachusetts in 1637.

His experience of frontier time was connected with need.

Abraham helped to clear the fields and to take care of the crops but early acquired 4.________________ hunting and fishing. In afteryears he recalled the “panther’s scream,” the bears that “preyed on the swine,” and the poverty of Indiana frontier life, which was “pretty pinching at times.”

His adolescence was spent in poverty and without mother's care.

The unhappiest period of his boyhood followed the death of his mother in the autumn of 1818. As a ragged nine-year-old, he saw her buried in the forest, then 5.______________________ without the warmth of a mother’s love.

Good education was not affordable to him.

His stepmother doubtless encouraged Lincoln’s taste for reading, yet the original source of his desire to learn remains something of a mystery. Both his parents were almost completely illiterate, and he himself received little formal education. He once said that, as a boy, he had gone to school “by littles”—a little now and a little then—and his entire schooling amounted to no more than 6_________________His neighbours later recalled how he used to trudge for miles to borrow a book. According to his own statement, however, his early surroundings provided “absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. 

His reading preferences were few.

 According to his own statement, however, his early surroundings provided “absolutely nothing 7._________________________Of course, when I came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three; but that was all.” Apparently the young Lincoln did not read a large number of books but thoroughly absorbed the few that he did read. These included Parson Weems’s Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington (with its story of the little hatchet and the cherry tree), Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, and Aesop’s Fables. From his earliest days he must have had some familiarity with the Bible, for it doubtless was the only book his family owned.

His talents were unusual.

In March 1830 the Lincoln family undertook a second migration, this time to Illinois, with Lincoln himself driving the team of oxen. Having just reached the age of 21, he was about to begin life on his own. Six feet four inches tall, he was rawboned and lanky but muscular and physically powerful. He was 8.____________________ the skill and strength with which he could wield an ax. He spoke with a backwoods twang and walked in the long-striding, flat-footed, cautious manner of a plowman. Good-natured though somewhat moody, talented as a mimic and storyteller, he readily attracted friends. But he was yet to demonstrate whatever other abilities he possessed.

He tried different jobs in his life.

After his arrival in Illinois, having no desire to be a farmer, Lincoln tried his hand at a variety of occupations. As a rail-splitter, he helped to clear and fence his father’s new farm. As a flatboatman, he made a voyage down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, Louisiana. (This was his second visit to that city, his first having been made in 1828, while he still lived in Indiana.) Upon his return to Illinois he settled in New Salem, a village of about 25 families on the Sangamon River. There he worked from time to time as storekeeper, postmaster, and surveyor. With the coming of the Black Hawk War (1832), he 9______________________a volunteer and was elected captain of his company. Afterward he joked that he had seen no “live, fighting Indians” during the war but had had “a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes.” Meanwhile, aspiring to be a legislator, he was defeated in his first try and then repeatedly reelected to the state assembly. He considered blacksmithing as a trade but finally decided in favour of the law. Already having taught himself grammar and mathematics, he began to study law books. In 1836, having passed the bar examination, he began to practice law.

Prairie lawyer

The next year he moved to Springfield, Illinois, the new state capital, which offered many more opportunities for a lawyer than New Salem did. Within a few years of his relocation to Springfield, Lincoln was earning $1,200 to $1,500 annually, at a time when the governor of the state 10_______________________$1,200 and circuit judges only $750. He had to work hard. To keep himself busy, he found it necessary not only to practice in the capital but also to follow the court as it made the rounds of its circuit.

Stature ( зріст)

Abraham Lincoln is well known for his very characteristic and recognizable appearance. Photos and facts about Lincoln tell us that he was an extremely tall man with a thin build.

While records say that his father was only 5 foot 10 inches, Abraham Lincoln grew to the rather astounding height of 6 foot 5 inches, a height that was exceptionally tall in his time in the 1800s but is still considered very tall today. Lincoln had shrunk to about 6 foot 4 inches at the time of his death, which is typical as humans age.

Interestingly, his height was often deceiving. He did not appear tall 11_______________ Since he had an average torso and very long legs, he was as tall as the average man when sitting down. His height appeared even taller because he liked to wear a stovepipe hat, often using the hat to carry and store things, like notes and letters.

He was the tallest president.

His first marriage was not very happy .

Lincoln was well respected as a youth and as an adult. Even though he owned several farms as an adult, he was not rich. He was very poor when he was courting Mary Todd. He proposed after a year and her family 12/__________________ .

He married Mary Todd in 1842 and they lived in Springfield, Illinois near his law office. He and Mary had four children: Robert, Edward, William and Thomas. Only one of them, Robert, lived to adulthood.

Religion

Lincoln grew up in a highly religious Baptist family. Although Lincoln never joined any established church, he considered himself a Christian. He attended Protestant church services with Mary Todd Lincoln and his children. During his years as president, he and Mary Todd Lincoln attended New York Avenue Presbyterian Church.

He was considered to be a very spiritual man. He seemed to believe in 13. __________________________, believing that what is meant to be, will be. He also believed in God. After receiving a Bible from some former Maryland slaves he said

In regard to this great book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man...But for it we could not know right from wrong.

Social Accomplishments

Lincoln is cherished in American history as an impressive historical figure who overcame great odds. He is one of the most revered former presidents, and his accomplishments, social policies, skills 14 ___________________________ are historically vital.

Political Accomplishments

He signed the Morrill Act of 1862 which aided in the establishment of agricultural and technical colleges in each state.

He issued the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order, on January 1, 1863 as a war measure during the Civil War to give freedom to the slaves in the states where the anti-slavery rebellion had been subdued and to allow ex-slaves to fight in the Civil War on the side of the Union.

He helped create a national banking system which resulted in a standardized currency and 15. _____________________ The acts, called the National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864, established the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

He signed the Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862 and 1864, bills that chartered the first transcontinental railroad to be constructed from the San Francisco Bay to the end of the existing U.S. railroad at Council Bluffs, Iowa.

He kept fighting under extreme pressure during the Civil War until the Confederacy was defeated.

Personal Accomplishments

Lincoln was always fascinated with machines. He made a device that would keep ships buoyant over shallow areas of water called shoals. The patent number was 6469 and was issued on May 22, 1849. No president has held a patent since Lincoln.

He is ranked by most around the world as one of the greatest presidents of the United States.

He 16. ____________________-- with less than 12 months of formal education.

He was a successful attorney with a large practice.

Assassination

Lincoln's second term as president was cut short when John Wilkes Booth, a member of a well known theatrical family, shot Lincoln in Ford's Theater.

On April 14, 1865, Lincoln attended a performance of "Our American Cousin" at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. During the play, Booth entered the balcony box and shot President Lincoln in the back of the head with a pistol.

The audience at the play thought the shot was part of the show for a brief period of time, until they heard Lincoln’s wife scream hysterically as she sat by her husband who was slumped over in his chair.

After the shot was fired, Booth jumped down the eleven feet to the stage and exited from the back of the theatre. 17 _____________________, with places to hide, food and remounts waiting on the trail back to the South.

The shot was true and the president died from the wound on April 15, 1865 at 7:22 a.m.

Abraham Lincoln was the first President of the United States to be killed while in office.

During his assassination, Lincoln’s bodyguard was absent

The President’s security, John Parker, 18________________________It was the same place that John Wilkes Booth was drinking.

No one knows where Parker was when Lincoln was killed.

John Wilkes Booth

Booth was a confirmed Confederate sympathizer. He was an outspoken critic of the Lincoln administration and 19 __________________________.Booth abhorred the abolition of slavery in the United States following the War and was infuriated by Lincoln’s proposal to give the right to vote to the recently freed slaves.

Interesting Facts

Lincoln was the first president not to be born in one of the original colonies.

Lincoln was both witty and clever.

He got the nickname "Honest Abe" because he did actually say once that he could not tell a lie.

When Lincoln was a small child, he was kicked in the head by a horse, and it was thought that he was dead for several days.

He suffered from migraine headaches and depression and would sometimes spend days in bed.

He was skilled with an axe and at wrestling.

He 20___________________________

National Holiday

Many of the states that had previously observed separate days to honor George Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays created a joint holiday called 21 ___________________________ which is observed on the third Monday of February.

Lincoln's birthday is still a legal holiday in eight U.S. states on February 12th each year:

Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial was built to 22 ________________ It is located in the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Speeches and Quotes

Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address, one of the most quoted speeches in history, was given on November 19, 1863. He stated in the Gettysburg Address that he wanted 23________________________

Guess the fact

• The Lincoln family ate at the White House dinner table with their cat.

• Lincoln sometimes kept important documents 24______________________

• Lincoln was taller (at six feet four inches) than any other president.