Abraham Lincoln

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Abraham Lincoln 16th President of the United States (March 4, 1861 to April 15, 1865) Nicknames: “Honest Abe”; “Illinois Rail Splitter” Born: February 12, 1809, in Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky Died: April 15, 1865, at Petersen’s Boarding House in Washington, D.C.

Father: Thomas Lincoln Mother: Nancy Hanks Lincoln Stepmother: Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln Married: Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882), on November 4, 1842 Children: Robert Todd Lincoln (1843-1926); Edward Baker Lincoln (1846-50); William Wallace Lincoln (1850-62); Thomas “Tad” Lincoln (1853-71) Religion: No formal affiliation Education: No formal education Occupation: Lawyer Political Party: Republican Other Government Positions:

• Elected to Illinois State Legislature, 1834
• Member of U.S. House of Representatives, 1847-49

Presidential Salary: $25,000/year

Vice Presidents: Hannibal Hamlin (1861-65); Andrew Johnson (1865) Cabinet:

Secretary of State

William H. Seward (1861-65)

Secretary of the Treasury

Salmon P. Chase (1861-64)

William P. Fessenden (1864-65)

Hugh McCulloch (1865)

Secretary of War

Simon Cameron (1861-62)

Edwin M. Stanton (1862-65)

Attorney General

Edward Bates (1861-64)

James Speed (1864-65)

Postmaster General

Montgomery Blair (1861-64)

William Dennison (1864-65)

Secretary of the Navy

Gideon Welles (1861-65)

Secretary of the Interior

Caleb B. Smith (1861-63)

John P. Usher (1863-65)

Supreme Court Appointments:

Chief Justice

Salmon Portland Chase (1864-73)

Associate Justice

Noah Haynes Swayne (1862-81)

Samuel Freeman Miller (1862-90)

David Davis (1862-77)

Stephen Johnson Field (1863-97)

Notable Events:

• 1861-1865
  • The Civil War
• 1863
  • President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, freeing all slaves in the states that had seceded and that were not yet under Northern control.

Internet Biographies:

Abraham Lincoln — from The Presidents of the United States of America

Compiled by the White House.

Abraham Lincoln — from American Presidents: Life Portraits — C-SPAN

Biographical information, trivia, key events, video, and other reference materials. Website created to accompany C-SPAN’s 20th Anniversary Television Series, American Presidents: Life Portraits.

Abraham Lincoln — from U.S. Presidents

From the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, in addition to information on the Presidents themselves, they have first lady and cabinet member biographies, listings of presidential staff and advisers, and timelines detailing significant events in the lives of each administration.

Abraham Lincoln — from History Place

History of Abraham Lincoln in a timeline format with photographs. Hypertext links add more detail to the issues of the time.

On Abraham Lincoln — from the Secular Web

This detailed biographical narrative written by Robert Green Ingersoll in 1894.

Historical Documents:

First Inaugural Address (1861)

Second Inaugural Address (1865)

Lyceum Address (1838)

House Divided Speech (1858)

Lincoln’s Autobiography (1860)

Cooper Union Address (1860)

Farewell Address (1861)

Addresses to the New Jersey State Senate and General Assembly (1861)

Address in Independence Hall (1861)

Proclamation Calling Militia and Convening Congress (1861)

Proclamation of Blockade Against Southern Ports (1861)

Letter to Horace Greeley (1862)

Meditation on the Divine Will (1862)

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

Thanksgiving Proclamation (1863)

Gettysburg Address (1863)

Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863)

The Writings of Abraham Lincoln

Other Internet Resources:

Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination

Created by Roger Norton, a retired American History teacher, this site provides information on the assassination, as well as profiles of Booth and the other co-conspirators in Lincoln’s death. There are other unusual facts here on the assassination.

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site

Tourist information on the 116.5-acre park that commemorates the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. Located in Hogenville, Kentucky.

Assassination of President Lincoln And the Trial of the Assassins

This site illustrates and presents a 50 page paper of Brigadier-General Henry L. Burnett’s memories of the Lincoln Assassination Trial at which he served as special judge advocate. The paper was discovered in a file on Gen. Burnett in the library at Goshen NY, the town in which Gen. Burnett lived at the end of his life. Created by Mary S. Van Deusen.

Ford’s Theater

The Washington, D.C. theater where Lincoln was shot. This site by the National Park Service contains history, virtual tours, tourist information and a list of related web sites.

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial

Tourist information for this Lincoln City, Indiana site where Lincoln spent fourteen years of his life growing up.

Lincoln Home National Historic Site

Visitors information on the only home Lincoln ever owned. Located in Springfield, Illinois.

Lincoln Log Cabin

Located near Charleston, Illinois. Tourist information and history of the cabin can be found here.

Lincoln Memorial

Tribute to the 16th President of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C. From the National Park Service.

Lincoln Tomb State Historical Site

The burial site of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln and three of their four children. A virtual tour, as well as tourist information, can be found on this site.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate Site

While running for the U.S. Senate in 1856, Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas debated seven times throughout the state of Illinois. Here are the locations that those debates took place.

Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices State Historic Site

The only one of three law offices of Lincoln’s still standing. Tourist information on this Springfield, Illinois site also available.

Mount Rushmore

Located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the faces of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt stand 60 feet tall.

Petersen’s Boarding House

The house where Lincoln died.

Points of Interest:

• Lincoln was the first president to die by assassination.
• Abraham Lincoln was shot while watching a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The same play was also running at the McVerick Theatre in Chicago on May 18, 1860, the day Lincoln was nominated for president in that city.
• The contents of his pockets on the night of his assassination weren’t revealed until February 12, 1976. They contained two pairs of spectacles, a chamois lens cleaner, an ivory and silver pocketknife, a large white Irish linen handkerchief, slightly used, with “A. Lincoln” embroidered in red, a gold quartz watch fob without a watch, a new silk-lined, leather wallet containing a pencil, a Confederate five-dollar bill, and news clippings of unrest in the Confederate army, emancipation in Missouri, the Union party platform of 1864, and an article on the presidency by John Bright.
• At 6 foot, 4 inches, Lincoln was the tallest president.
• Abe Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died when the family dairy cow ate White Snakeroot and she drank the milk.
• Lincoln had a wart on his right cheek, a scar on his thumb from an ax accident, and a scar over his right eye from a fight with a gang of thieves.
• Mrs. Lincoln’s brother, half-brothers, and brothers-in-law fought in the Confederate Army.
• Lincoln was the only president to receive a patent, for a device for lifting boats over shoals.
• He was the first president to wear a beard.
• During the Civil War, telegraph wires were strung to follow the action on the battlefield. But there was no telegraph office in the White House, so Lincoln went across the street to the War Department to get the news.
• He was the first president to be photographed at his inauguration. John Wilkes Booth (his assassin) can be seen standing close to Lincoln in the picture.
• Lincoln and his wife held seances in the White House. They had great interest in psychic phenomena.
• His son, Robert, who was in Washington when his father was killed, was also on the scene when Garfield was shot in 1881 and McKinley was assassinated in 1901.
• Abraham Lincoln was the first president to be born outside of the original thirteen colonies.
• Lincoln loved the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Previous President: James Buchanan | Next President: Andrew Johnson

©1996-2008. Robert S. Summers. All rights reserved.