Lincoln (president)

Abraham Lincoln
President Abraham Lincoln in November 1863
16th President of the United States
In office March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865
Vice President	Hannibal Hamlin (1861–1865) Andrew Johnson (1865)
Preceded by	James Buchanan
Succeeded by	Andrew Johnson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 7th district
In office March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849
Preceded by	John Henry
Succeeded by	Thomas L. Harris
Member of the Illinois House of Representatives
In office 1834–1842
Personal details
Born	(1809-02-12)February 12, 1809 Sinking Spring Farm, near Hodgenville, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	April 15, 1865(1865-04-15) (aged 56) Petersen House, Washington, D.C., U.S.
Cause of death	Assassination
Resting place	Lincoln Tomb, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois, U.S.
Political party	Whig (1834–1854) Republican (1854–1865)
Other political affiliations	National Union (1864–1865)
Height	6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Spouse(s)	Mary Todd (m. 1842)
Children	Robert Lincoln Edward Lincoln Willie Lincoln Tad Lincoln
Parents	Thomas Lincoln Nancy Hanks
Profession	Lawyer, politician
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America  State of Illinois
Service/branch	Illinois Militia
Years of service	3 months (April 21, 1832 – July 10, 1832)
Rank	Captain (April 21, 1832 – May 27, 1832) Private (May 28, 1832 – July 10, 1832) OBS:. Discharged from his command and re-enlisted as a Private.
Battles/wars	Black Hawk War

Abraham Lincoln (/ˈeɪbrəhæm ˈlɪŋkən/; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, paved the way to the abolition of slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy.

Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the western frontier in Kentucky and Indiana. Largely self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, and was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, in which he served for eight years. Elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846, Lincoln promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks, tariffs, and railroads. Because he had originally agreed not to run for a second term in Congress, and because his opposition to the Mexican–American War was unpopular among Illinois voters, Lincoln returned to Springfield and resumed his successful law practice. Reentering politics in 1854, he became a leader in building the new Republican Party, which had a statewide majority in Illinois. In 1858, while taking part in a series of highly publicized debates with his opponent and rival, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln spoke out against the expansion of slavery, but lost the U.S. Senate race to Douglas. In 1860, Lincoln secured the Republican Party presidential nomination as a moderate from a swing state, by being the second choice of a grand majority of convention delegates whose first choices, due to factionalism, could not garner enough votes to win. Though he gained very little support in the slaveholding states of the South, he swept the North and was elected president in 1860.