Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809. He was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks.
Lincoln attended school sporadically as a child and managed to learn to read and write at an early age by reading newspapers and books that his father had brought home from his law practice. At age nine, Lincoln’s family moved to Indiana where he worked on farms before attending school again at age 16. After completing just two years of formal schooling, Lincoln began working full-time as a farmhand; he later became an assistant to a surveyor before joining the Army during the Black Hawk War of 1832–1833 where he served as a volunteer private for three months before returning home due to illness (malaria).
In 1834, after having established himself as a successful lawyer in Springfield, Illinois (where he met his future wife Mary Todd), Lincoln ran successfully for election as United States Representative from Illinois’ Seventh Congressional District while campaigning against slavery extension into new territories.
Lincoln served as president from 1861 until 1865 during which time he led the United States through its Civil War that ended slavery in America. He also issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared all slaves in rebel states to be free. This proclamation helped to end slavery throughout America by making it illegal for any state or territory to enforce slavery within its borders.
