Biography of Abraham Lincoln for Kids: Meet the American President for Kids - FreeSchool

You're watching FreeSchool! Today we're going to learn about the

American

President

,

Abraham

Lincoln

.

Abraham

Lincoln

, the sixteenth

president

of the United States, was born February 12, 1809, in Kentucky. His father was a farmer, and his family was very poor, living in a small, one-room log cabin. While

Lincoln

was still very young, his family moved to Indiana, and then again to Illinois. He only went to school for one year, but he loved books and learning, and taught himself as much as

he could. When he was 22 years old,

Abraham

Lincoln

left home to work at a general store. It was there that he got his nickname, "Honest Abe." Once a customer accidentally over paid by a few pennies, and that night when the store closed,

Abraham

Lincoln

walked for miles to take the money back. In 1832

Lincoln

ran in an election to become a member of the Illinois State Legislature, but he lost. After that he served as a Captain in the Army, and then he started working as a lawyer, and

got married. In 1846 he was elected to the US House of Representatives. In 1860, he ran for

President

. It was a difficult time in the United States. The North and the South disagreed on a lot of things, and it was getting worse. One thing they disagreed on was slavery. The Northern states did not want any more slavery. The Southern states wanted to keep their slaves.

Abraham

Lincoln

did not like slavery, either. He was elected

President

because he had the support of the Northern states. He had

almost no support from the Southern states. As soon as he became

President

, southern states began seceding from the Union. That means they decided they didn't want to be a part of the United States anymore.

President

Lincoln

was determined to keep the country together, and in 1861 a war started. It was the Civil War, a terrible, bloody war that lasted four years. On January 1, 1863,

Abraham

Lincoln

signed the Emancipation Proclamation, an order that freed all the slaves in the southern

states. A few years later, he helped to pass the 13th amendment to the Constitution, which made slavery illegal everywhere in the United States. The Civil War finally ended on April 9, 1865.

President

Lincoln

wanted to put the country back together, and help the South rebuild. Unfortunately, he did not live to see that happen. Less than a week after the end of the Civil War,

Lincoln

and his wife were watching a play at the Ford Theater in Washington DC when he was shot in the head by a man named

John Wilkes Booth.

Abraham

Lincoln

died the next morning, on April 15, 1865. He was the first

American

President

to be assassinated.

Abraham

Lincoln

once said, "I want it said of me by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow." He is widely considered to be one of the greatest

president

s in

American

history. His leadership during the Civil War and his defense of human liberty make him an

American

hero. His face is

on pennies and five dollar bills, he was included in Mount Rushmore, and a memorial for him stands in Washington, DC. I hope you enjoyed learning about

Abraham

Lincoln

. Goodbye till next time!