• Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in 1809 near Hodgenville, Kentucky.
• Abraham loved reading and would walk several miles just to borrow a book. .
• In 1836, Lincoln became a lawyer. He first practiced law in Springfield, Illinois.
• Married to Mary Todd and they had four sons.
• In 1846 Lincoln ran for the United States House of Representatives and won.
• While in Washington he became known for his opposition to the Mexican War and to slavery.
• He engaged in a series of debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858, which gained him national recognition. .
• Abraham Lincoln is elected as 16th U.S. president and the first Republican. Receives 180 of 303 possible electoral votes and 40 percent of the popular vote. (Hannibal Hamlin was running mate).
• After Lincoln's election, many southern states, fearing Republican control in the government, seceded from the union.
• After the fall of Fort Sumter, Lincoln raised an army and decided to fight to save the Union from falling apart. .
• On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. This was Lincoln's declaration of freedom for all slaves in the areas of the Confederacy not under Union control.
• Also, on November 19, 1863, Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address which dedicated the battlefield there to the soldiers who had perished.
• Abraham Lincoln is re-elected president, getting 212 of 233 electoral votes and 55 percent of the popular vote. (Andrew Johnson was running mate).
• After the Confederates surrendered to the Union on April 9, 1865, Lincoln suggested he would support black voting rights, which infuriated many.
• Lincoln and his wife Mary see the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater. At about 10:13 p.m., during the third act of the play, John Wilkes Booth shoots the president in the head.