“I have done nothing to make any human being remember that I have lived. Yet what I wish to live for is to connect my name with the events of my day and generation, to link my name with something which will be of interest to my fellow men.”

This was said by one of the greatest statesman the world has ever seen, a personality that inspired us all and a pillar of strength that sets an example for every one of us to follow, Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12^th, 1809, on the Big South Fork of Nolin Creek, Kentucky. He was affectionately also referred to as Abe.  His father, Thomas Lincoln worked as a carpenter when he could. His family belonged to a very poor background and had high values as Abraham’s father used to have a principle that “faraway hills are the greenest”. His family moved to Indiana where they lived in a house made of unhewn logs, floorless and enclosed by only three sides. His mother died two years after moving there due to an illness and apparently lost the will to live being ill-nourished. A year after her death Thomas Lincoln went away and got re-married to his childhood sweetheart, who also happened to be a widow and came back to his old home to Abraham with three kids. Abraham’s stepmother had what his real mother lacked: good health and energy.

His father had disapproved of books, but his stepmother insisted that all children should go to school. The love between his mother and him grew and lasted a lifetime. She said that he was the best son a woman ever had.

Abe went to school and learnt to read and write. He knew enough to correctly spell and pronounce his family name, which was known as Linkern or Linkhorn. He started to read anything and everything that came his way.

By the age of nineteen he “grew to 6 feet two inches and was strong enough to lift and bear a pair of logs” as described by his father.

Abraham was offered a glimpse of the outside world for the first time in 1828, when he was hired to take some farm produce to New Orleans. It was at that time that he actually saw slavery in operation. He studied the condition of Negro slaves. He decided that if ever he got the chance, he would hit slavery and “hit it hard”.

Being the more educated than the others in his district, Abraham was an active participator in political debates and was suggested a career in politics.

Abraham stood as a candidate for the Illinois legislature in 1832 but was defeated.

Speaking of Abraham’s personal life, he had a huge crush on a girl named Ann Rutledge, whom he saw for the first time at a tavern. Ann became ill and died after some time and Abraham went to see her during her last few days – the first and the greatest love of his life. Abraham later got engaged to a certain Mary Owens but the engagement got cancelled after Abraham made it clear to Mary that life with him would not be a life of leisured ease.

In 1838 he was elected to the legislature and again in 1840.

It was during this time that he met Stephen A. Douglas, who was his rival in politics for a quarter of a century, as well as in his love life. Both fell for Mary Todd, a Kentucky girl and a member of the local aristocracy. Mary chose the ill-clad lanky lawyer Lincoln over the dashing Douglas. Mary Todd was snobbish, domineering and madly jealous and quarrels started to creep in between Abraham and Mary. The date of the marriage was set and Lincoln did not show up. After this, Abraham contemplated suicide following an illness and in spite of the misgivings, he and Mary got married in 1842.

In 1846, Abraham was nominated and went to Washington in 1847 to take his seat. The question of slavery was forever at the back of his mind. In 1860, he was nominated as a candidate for the presidency. Lincoln was elected as the 16th president of The United States of America and on 4^th March, 1861, his inauguration took place at Washington. The fear of assassination was already in the air but he confidently stepped forward and in his speech he disavowed any intentions to interfere with slavery, but was firm in its insistence on the inviolability of the Union.

On April 12^th, the South Carolinians bombarded Fort Sumter, where the garrison was at the end of its rations, and the Civil War began. As The South had been the aggressors, The North rose as one man. While ostensibly the war was being fought for the maintenance of the Union, everybody knew that slavery was the essence of it.

The fight continued for a year. In 1865 Abraham had passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of The United States which ended slavery forever.

Lincoln, delighted over the ending of the war, had arranged a theatre party at the Ford’s Theatre to see Laura Keene play in Our American Cousin. Lincoln was warned to be on his guard, but he simply smiled in reply. Little did he know that this carelessness would cost him his life.

During the play, a man approached Lincoln, claiming to bear an important message. He is admitted to the stage box where Lincoln is sitting. He sits down beside him and before anyone knew, he placed a pistol to Lincoln’s ear and pulled the trigger. The assailant managed to escape at that time. Lincoln was taken to a house opposite the theatre but never gained consciousness. At seven o’clock the following morning, he was declared dead. The murderer was John Wilkes Booth who was immediately run down and shot and his body was engulfed in the flames of a barn in which he had attempted to hide.

Abraham said one of the most famous phrases in history, for which he is most remembered for, “A government of the people, by the people, for the people” (The Gettysburg Address).