The life and death of Abraham Lincoln ~ NAIJA MURMUR

Lincoln’s childhood home

This cabin, seen May, 1931, is where Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, parents of Abraham Lincoln, were married by a Methodist Circuit Rider in June 1806. The cabin is now property of the state of Kentucky, and is in Old Fort Harrod State Park at Harrodsburg. (Photo: AP)

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, held the office from March 1861 until April 1865. John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln on April 14, 1865, at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Lincoln was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Kentucky; his family moved to Indiana in 1816, then to Illinois in 1830. Lincoln was elected to the Illinois State Legislature in 1834. He was against slavery. Lincoln was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846; he didn’t seek reelection at the end of his term. He joined the Republican Party, formed mainly in opposition to slavery that was extending through the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. This act allowed voters to decide whether their territory could have slaves or be free. Lincoln fought the Kansas-Nebraska Act in debates.

Young lawyer

Abraham Lincoln as a lawyer in Springfield, Ill., 1837. (Photo: AP)

In May 1860, the Republicans chose Lincoln as their presidential candidate. He won the election and began serving in March 1861. The Confederacy, formed by seven Southern slave states before Lincoln took office, seceded from the Union. He was the president of the United States through the Civil War, which started in April 1861. On Jan 1, 1863, during the Civil War, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that all individuals who were held as slaves “henceforward shall be free.”

Lincoln was reelected in 1865, and on April 9, 1865, the confederacy’s commander of the Army of Virginia, Gen. Robert E. Lee, surrendered to the Union general, Ulysses S. Grant, and the civil war was over. Lincoln was able to end slavery. John Wilkes Booth fatally shot Lincoln on April 14, 1865, at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C., and he died the following morning. (AP)

Early portrait

A circa 1847 photo of Abraham Lincoln,
courtesy of the Chicago Historical Society. (Photo: AP)

Husband and wife

Mary Todd Lincoln with her husband, Abraham Lincoln, in a photograph from the Smithsonian Institute. (Photo: AP)

Senate debate

This painting depicts the Lincoln-Douglas debate between Republican Abraham Lincoln, standing, and Democratic incumbent Stephen A. Douglas during the Illinois senatorial campaign of 1858. (Photo: AP)

Fifth debate

Knox College displays its banner supporting presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln as he speaks before a crowd during his fifth debate with Sen. Stephen A. Douglas in Galesburg, Ill., on Oct. 7, 1858. Artist Victor Perard drew this sketch of Old Main, the central building on the Knox College campus. (Photo: AP)

First presidential inauguration

President Abraham Lincoln stands under cover at center of Capitol steps during his inauguration in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 1861. The scaffolding at upper right is used in construction of the Capitol dome. (Photo: AP)

Father and son

The 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) with his son Thomas. (Photo: Henry Guttmann/Getty Images)

Meeting with the general

President Abraham Lincoln visits with Union Gen. George McClellan at his headquarters in this Oct. 4, 1862, photo. Lincoln removed McClellen from command after the Battle of Antietam for failing to pursue and destroy the Confederate Army, which was under the command of Gen. Robert E. Lee. (Photo: AP)

Antietam

Abraham Lincoln, center, Gen. John Alexander McClernand, right, and Allan Pinkerton in Antietam, Maryland, in October 1862. (Photo: Encyclopaedia Britannica/UIG Via Getty Images)

On the battlefield

President Abraham Lincoln with General George McClellan at his headquarters on the battlefield of Antietam in Maryland. (Photo: MPI/Getty Images)

Emancipation Proclamation

Abraham Lincoln meets with his cabinet to refine the Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862. (Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The end of slavery

President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, in Washington, ending slavery in the U.S. (Photo: AP)

Second inauguration

The scene in front of the Capitol during Lincoln’s second inauguration on March 4, 1865, just six weeks before his assassination. (Photo: AP)

Presidential portrait

A portrait of Abraham Lincoln by photographer Alexander Gardner, taken in 1865, that is now in the Library of Congress. (Photo: Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

Assassinating the president

Depiction of the assassination of the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. (Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Deathbed

The deathbed scene after President Abraham Lincoln was mortally wounded in Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, is shown in this rare picture. The picture shows Mrs. Lincoln kneeling beside the bed and members of the cabinet behind it. This picture was supposed to have been given to a friend by Mrs. Lincoln shortly after the funeral, and then passed down through the family from generation to generation. (Photo: AP)

Lincoln’s coffin

View of President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral, with his coffin being pulled down the street, in 1865. (Photo: Alexander Gardner/Buyenlarge/Getty Images)