Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky. He was the son of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, a slave. Also, he had an older sister named Sarah who died when she was a little girl. In 1830, he moved to Illinois with his parents and sister Elizabeth. His father died there in 1851.
Abraham Lincoln became the 16th President of the United States in 1861. He was elected on November 6th, 1860 and took office on March 4th, 1861. Lincoln ran as a member of the Whig Party even though he had previously been a member of the Democratic Party.
He was a lawyer who practiced law for several years before being elected to public office. Lincoln served in the Illinois State Legislature from 1834 to 1842 while living in Springfield, Illinois which is where he first met Stephen Douglas who would later become his opponent during the U.S presidential election of 1860 when they both ran against each other for president (they lost out on being elected).
In 1846 he was elected to U.S Congress where he served until 1848 when he decided not to run again because he didn’t want his term shortened by Congress.
