This episode traces Abraham Lincoln's path from a Kentucky log cabin to the White House. Students will follow his self-taught study of law, his marriage to Mary Todd, his single term in Congress, his return to politics over the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the seven Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, the House Divided speech, and his 1860 election to the presidency on the eve of civil war.

Key Takeaways

• Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in a Kentucky log cabin to Thomas Lincoln, a backwoods farmer and carpenter, and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, who died when Lincoln was nine.

• By age 21 Lincoln had worked as a farm hand, surveyor, postmaster, and store clerk before teaching himself law from Blackstone's Commentaries; he was admitted to the bar in 1836 and served a single term in the US House from 1847 to 1849, where he opposed the Mexican-American War.

• The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, sponsored by Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas, pulled Lincoln back into national politics; he joined the new Republican Party that same year and delivered a major speech against the act in Peoria, Illinois.

• Lincoln and Douglas met in seven debates across Illinois in 1858 in towns like Ottawa, Freeport, and Galesburg, drawing crowds of 10,000 to 15,000 spectators; Lincoln lost the Senate race but gained national prominence.

• Lincoln won the presidency on November 6, 1860 without carrying a single Southern state; less than four weeks after his March 4, 1861 inaugural address, Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter and the country was at war.

Questions & Answers (FAQ):

Q1: Where was Abraham Lincoln born and what was his early life like?

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in a modest log cabin in LaRue County, Kentucky. His father, Thomas Lincoln, was a backwoods farmer and carpenter steeped in Baptist faith. His mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died when Lincoln was nine. As an adult Lincoln credited her with shaping him, saying, 'All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.' In 1816 the family moved to Little Pigeon Creek in Indiana, where young Abraham labored in the woods and on the farm and absorbed the sparse schooling available. He memorized large sections of the Bible and became an avid reader of Shakespeare.

Q2: How did Abraham Lincoln become a lawyer?

Lincoln became a lawyer by self-study. By age 21 he had already worked as a farm hand, surveyor, postmaster, and store clerk. He read legal texts on his own, including Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, the same text that had shaped the legal minds of the founding fathers. He was admitted to the bar in 1836. Most of his practice was civil law and the bulk of his cases involved debt collection. Representing railroad interests became a major source of his income.

Q3: What were the Lincoln-Douglas Debates?

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were seven public debates between Abraham Lincoln and Senator Stephen Douglas across Illinois in 1858, when Lincoln was challenging Douglas for his Senate seat. They were held in Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and Alton, and centered on the question of slavery's expansion into the new territories. Douglas defended popular sovereignty, the idea that settlers in each territory should decide the slavery question themselves. Lincoln framed the conflict in moral terms and argued that the nation could not endure permanently half slave and half free. The debates drew crowds estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 and were reprinted in newspapers across the Midwest, giving Lincoln national prominence even though he lost the Senate race.

Q4: What is Abraham Lincoln's 'House Divided' speech?

The 'House Divided' speech was the address Abraham Lincoln delivered on June 16, 1858 in Springfield, Illinois when he accepted the Republican nomination for the US Senate. Drawing on a verse from the Gospel of Mark, Lincoln declared, 'A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.' The speech framed the conflict over slavery as a fundamental national crisis rather than a local political dispute. It became one of the defining statements of his political career and set the tone for the Lincoln-Douglas Debates that followed.

Q5: How did Lincoln win the 1860 presidential election?

Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election on November 6, 1860 as the Republican nominee without carrying a single Southern state. The Democratic Party had split into Northern and Southern factions over the slavery question, dividing its electoral support. Lincoln won majorities in nearly every Northern state, which provided enough electoral votes to secure the presidency. His election convinced Southern leaders that their political power within the Union was permanently diminishing, and by the time Lincoln delivered his first inaugural address on March 4, 1861, seven Southern states had already seceded and formed the Confederate States of America.

Born in a Kentucky Log Cabin

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809. In his early years his parents raised him in a modest Kentucky log cabin. With so little in his humble beginnings, few could have imagined that he would one day lead the young American Republic through her greatest crisis.

Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, was known for her gentle nature and strong moral influence. She nurtured Lincoln's early love of reading. Nancy Lincoln died when her son was only nine. Years later, as an adult, Lincoln declared, 'All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.' His father, Thomas Lincoln, was a backwoods farmer and carpenter steeped in Baptist faith. In 1816 the Lincolns moved to the forests of Little Pigeon Creek, Indiana, where young Abraham labored in dense woods and on the farm. He absorbed the sparse schooling available, memorized large sections of the Bible, and became an avid reader of Shakespeare.

Self-Taught Lawyer and State Legislator

By the age of 21, Abraham Lincoln had worked as a farm hand, surveyor, postmaster, and store clerk. He made at least one flatboat journey to New Orleans, where he glimpsed the wider world and the institution of slavery firsthand. At 21 he pursued the law. Lincoln studied legal texts by himself, including Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, the text that more than any other had formed the legal minds of the founding fathers. In 1836 Lincoln was admitted to the bar. Most of his law practice was civil law, and the bulk of his cases had to do with debt collection.

A major source of income for him were cases representing railroad interests. Lincoln's first political steps came with his election to the Illinois State Legislature in 1834. In 1842 he wed Mary Todd, the daughter of a wealthy Kentucky lawyer and banker. The Todds owned slaves. Mary, who opposed slavery, had moved to Springfield to live with her sister, Elizabeth Todd Edwards, where she became involved in politics. The Lincolns were married in the Edwards home. They would have four sons, only one of whom, Robert, survived childhood. Lincoln served in the US House of Representatives from 1847 to 1849, where he most notably opposed the Mexican-American War.

Kansas-Nebraska Pulls Lincoln Back to Politics

In 1849 Lincoln returned home to Springfield to continue his legal career. During this time he studied the ancient text Euclid's Elements, where he found a powerful explanation of what it means to logically demonstrate the truth of a proposition.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, sponsored by Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas, would have opened the way to expand the number of slave states. It pulled Lincoln back into national politics. That same year he joined the emerging Republican Party. In October 1854, in a speech in Peoria, Illinois, Lincoln spoke directly against the act: 'My ancient faith teaches me that all men are created equal, and that there can be no moral right in connection with one man's making a slave of another.' The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the violence it unleashed are the subject of our episode on Bleeding Kansas.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates and the House Divided

In 1858, Lincoln ran for senator as the Republican candidate against Stephen Douglas. Seven times Lincoln and Douglas debated. At the heart of their exchanges lay the question that had been roiling the nation for decades: slavery and its expansion into the new territories. Douglas had long championed popular sovereignty, leaving it to the people of each territory to decide whether slavery would exist. In a speech accepting his party's endorsement for the Senate race, Lincoln framed the struggle in stark moral terms: 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.

I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.' The towns of Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and Alton overflowed with spectators. Newspaper reporters captured every word for readers across the Midwest and beyond. Lincoln repeatedly cast Douglas as morally indifferent to slavery, charging that his opponent 'does not consider slavery a moral question. He leaves the people to decide without regard to the wrongs of the enslaved.' Crowds were estimated in the thousands, with some reports as high as 10,000 to 15,000. Many attendees were shipped in via railroad.

Election, Inauguration, and the House Divided Falls Into War

Lincoln lost his senatorial bid, but two years later, in a remarkable turn of political fortune, he secured the Republican presidential nomination. On November 6, 1860 he won the presidency, without carrying a single Southern state. On March 4, 1861 Abraham Lincoln delivered his first inaugural address, pledging not to interfere with slavery where it existed, asserting the illegality of secession, and appealing to 'the better angels of our nature' in an effort to hold the Union together.

Before Inauguration Day, however, seven Southern states had already seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, as we cover in our episode on America's paradox of slavery and freedom. Less than four weeks after Lincoln's inauguration, Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The house divided had fallen headfirst into civil war.