Download - Abraham Lincoln
Abraham LincolnRise to Election
Early Life“It is great folly to attempt to make anything
out of my early life. It can all be condensed into a simple sentence…’the short and simple annals of the poor.’ That’s my life, and that’s all you can make of it.”
- Abe Lincoln
Nancy Hanks Lincoln- mother
Sarah Bush Lincoln- stepmother
Early LifeBorn in KentuckyMoved with his family to Indiana and then
Illinois Went to school for about one yearLearned to read and writeLoved to readEducated himself
Unlucky in love
Abraham Lincoln bids farewell to Ann Rutledge
Mary Owens
Mary Todd
MarriageAbe and Mary were married in 1842 after a
long courtship
Early career1832 enlisted in the Illinois state militia to help
fight the Black Hawk War.Trained and drilled as a CaptainNever saw any action In 1834 at age 25 was elected to the Illinois
state legislature.While in the legislature Lincoln studied to
become a lawyer.
Family Grows
Family Shrinks
Illinois Politics
In 1846 Lincoln served as a member of the House of Representatives as a member of the Whig Party
Republican PartyKansas-Nebraska Act benefitted the South It split NorthernersNortherners who hated it formed the
Republican PartyThe Republican Party was based on one main
goal: Keeping slavery out of new territories.
The Spirit of seventy-six and the spirit of Nebraska, are utter antagonisms…little by little … we have been giving up the old for the new faith. Near eighty years ago we began by declaring that all men are created equal; but now from that beginning we have run down to the other declaration, that for some men to enslave others is a “sacred right of self-government.” These principles cannot stand together…Our republican robe is soiled, and trailed in the dust. Let us repurify it… let us re-adopt it…let us re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, the practices, and policy, which harmonize with it… If we do this, we shall not only save the Union; but we shall have so saved it, as to make, and to keep it, forever worthy of saving.
Abraham Lincoln October 16, 1854, Peoria, Illinois Quoted in Battle Cry of Freedom page 129
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
•1858: Abe Lincoln ran for one of Illinois’ Senate seats•He ran against Stephen Douglas
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Stephen Douglas was a Democrat who wanted to compromise with the South
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Lincoln opposed the expansion of slavery in any way.
Douglas favored letting people decide using Popular Sovereignty
Lincoln-Douglas DebateResults……. Douglas won the election and
became Illinois’ SenatorDouglas’ arguments made him unpopular in
the South.Lincoln was already unpopular in the SouthLincoln is thrust in the national spotlight
Presidential Election of 1860Democrats were dividedSouthern Democrats wanted to protect slavery
in the new territoriesNorthern Democrats (including Douglas)
wanted to stick to Popular Sovereignty
Presidential Election of 1860Republicans nominated Abraham LincolnConstitutional Union party nominated John BellNorthern Democrats nominated Stephen
DouglasSouthern Democrats nominated John
Breckinridge
Southern Reaction to Lincoln’s ElectionSoutherners feared Northern aggressionFeared Northern majority in congress (18 free
states to 15 slave states)Feared that Abraham Lincoln would free all the
slaves.Southern states secede from the union
Secessionthe action of withdrawing formally from
membership of a federation or body, esp. a political state
Secession South Carolina seceded first (even before
Lincoln took office)Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana and Texas follow.
Secession
Fort Sumter
Fort SumterOnce South Carolina secedes from the Union,
Fort Sumter is now a United States fort in the Confederate States of America (enemy territory)
Confederate leaders tell the US Army to surrender Fort Sumter
US Army refuses
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter—April 12, 1861