Abraham Lincoln, a historical figure in history By: Jacob Ryan Hopkins

Thesis Statement “Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America, and changed our country for forever.”

Life Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in November 1809(Honest Abe). He worked as a frontiersmen form early age to young adult. (Whitehouse.gov) He then moved to Illinois and owned and ran his own store. (Whitehouse.gov)

Historical Background During Abraham Lincoln’s life representation wanted to be equal between slave states and free states.(Wikipedia) A man by the name of Henry Clay was known as the great compromiser because he settled disputes between which states would be free or slave.(Smithsonian)

Contribution Lincoln has many contributions but his greatest his that he Freed the Slaves(Wiki). His legacy was that he reunited the Union and his famous speech “The Gettysburg Address”. He left behind his legacy for others to follow in times of crisis.(Honest Abe) He also followed guides in the constitution which should be a role model for future presidents to follow(Wikipedia)

Obstacles Lincoln had to overcome many difficult obstacles as a president. He had to figure out how to defeat the south in order to reunite the union. Another problem was that his was getting discriminated from the south because the south needed slaves(Whitehouse.gov) People were also mad because he did not punish the south when he reunited the union, he focused on what was more important which was reuniting the union. Unfortunately he had to pay the price of death due to his discrimination.(Honest Abe)

Significance The most important thing he did in his life was free African Americans of slavery, and make them citizens.(whitehouse.gov) If not for Abraham Lincoln we could still be two different countries or something else. And after the civil war he reconstructed the union in a way that the south wouldn't be punished he focused on something more important.(The Civil War) He was a very intelligent man his military strategy was very well thought out and planned he called it the “Anaconda” plan. He spilt the CSA into two parts and cut off their shipping route and his planned worked out very well.(Wikipedia) For all his life he worked very hard for things and he took his political career very seriously knowing the fate of the union was on the line. “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.” -Abraham Lincoln. This was an example of Lincoln's determination to end slavery and reform the union. (The Civil War)

Bibliography “Abraham Lincoln”, Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org, 4-8-13 “The Civil War”, Smithsonian, James McPherson, www.smithsonian.com , January 2009, 4-8-13 Key, James, “Abraham Lincoln, Honest Abe”, New York, 1998(BOOK) “16. Abraham Lincoln”, www.whitehouse.gov, 4-9-13