Abraham Lincoln was raised on the frontier, mainly in Indiana, and was born into poverty in a log cabin. He was self-taught and became a lawyer, Whig Party leader, Illinois state politician, and the Senator United States. Illinois congressman. In 1849, he resumed his law business but was troubled by the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which opened up more land to slavery. In 1854, he returned to politics as a leader of the new Republican Party. In 1858, he debated Stephen Douglas in front of a national audience. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln ran for President and won a landslide victory in the North. Southern states began seceding from the Union as pro-slavery factions in the South connected his success with the North’s rejection of their right to practise slavery.
Political Career
In 1832, Lincoln and a partner, Denton Offutt, purchased a general store in New Salem on credit. The company faltered despite the rising economy, and Lincoln eventually sold his part. In March of that year, he entered politics, campaigning for the Illinois General Assembly and advocating for improvements to the Sangamon River’s navigation. As a raconteur, he could draw crowds. Still, he lacked the necessary formal education, influential friends, and financial resources, and he lost the election.
During the Black Hawk War, Lincoln took a break from his campaign to serve as a captain in the Illinois Militia.
Impact Throughout History
Historians such as John Patrick Diggins, Harry V. Jaffa, Vernon Burton, Eric Foner, and Herman J. Belz have emphasised Lincoln’s redefinition of republican values. Beginning in the 1850s, Lincoln dubbed the Declaration of Independence, which emphasised freedom and equality for everyone, the “sheet anchor” of republicanism. He did so at a period when most political debates were focused on the Constitution, which “tolerated slavery.” In his 1860 Cooper Union speech, Lincoln “provided Americans with a theory of history that offers a major contribution to the theory and destiny of republicanism itself,” according to Diggins. He concentrated on the moral basis of republicanism rather than the legality of an argument.
