“No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.” – Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was a fairly simple man, and with the hindsight of history, some have judged him unfairly, attempting to hold a 19th-century man to 21st century standards. However, when viewed as a man of his times, what he said and did was revolutionary, and unlike other historical figures, Abraham Lincoln’s story is one that has continued to shine for generations. A man who was born into poverty in a one-room log cabin deep in the Kentucky wilderness rose to become one of the most influential presidents in American history.

Abraham Lincoln was born to Thomas and Nancy Lincoln in that small Kentucky log cabin on 12 February 1809. Frontier life was bitter and back-breaking work. Many did not survive, including Nancy Lincoln who died in 1818 at the relatively young age of only 34. Abraham was not best suited to this sort of life, with his lean, gangly frame, and a strong dislike of physical work, preferring to read and write poetry instead. This attitude led many of those in his life at the time to believed that Lincoln was simply lazy and that he would never amount to much. Abraham Lincoln, though, had other ideas. Far removed from civilization, Lincoln’s formal schooling was likely less than a year in total, so he became a voracious reader, devouring such classics as Pilgrim’s Progress and Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. He also spent many hours studying the Bible. The Lincoln family did not stay in Kentucky, and in 1830 moved to Illinois where in December 1839 Abraham would meet Mary Todd, a well-educated young woman from a large, wealthy slave-holding Kentucky family. They married on 4 November 1842 and the couple went on to have four sons together.

Throughout the first half of the 1800s, the United States was embroiled in a severe political and moral struggle over the issue of slavery. A generation before, the founding fathers had failed to address the issue of slavery as they felt at the time that national unity was far more important, and so they left provisions for addressing the issue of slavery for future politicians to grapple with. Unfortunately, instead, the rural agrarian culture of the South became more reliant on slavery and this led not only to the issue not being resolved, but it became a more entrenched way of life and its continuance was fought for by Southern Democrats both in the House and in the Senate. As new states were being admitted to the Union, the most contentious issue of all was always whether a state would be a free state like Illinois where slavery was illegal or a slave-holding state like Kentucky.

Throughout the 1840s and 1850s, Abraham Lincoln would have a variety of jobs in order to try and bring in some sort of income. At various points, he was a shop owner, the head of a local militia, a fairly successful lawyer, and an unsuccessful politician coming in nearly dead last when he ran for the Illinois General Assembly. However, his fortunes began to change as people noted his quick wit, his towering physical presence, and his homely way of speaking. His recognition grew immensely when he faced off against the well-known debater and orator Stephen Douglas in what became known as the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Lincoln, who had been a nobody, was widely considered to have trounced a supposedly superior debater with his intelligence and wit.

Abraham Lincoln’s growing popularity caused a new political party to back him as their candidate for the presidency with its biggest platform item being the absolute end of slavery. The Republican anti-slavery party quickly gained huge momentum in the North where most of the abolitionists were located. The campaigning was fierce and throughout the country turmoil and unrest were starting to spread due to this ever growing moral cri...