Abraham Lincoln
(1809–65)

Abraham LincolnAnecdote 1...

During the Civil War Lincoln had occasion at an official reception to refer to the Southerners as erring human beings rather than as enemies to be exterminated. An elderly lady, a fiery patriot, rebuked him for speaking kindly of his enemies when he ought to be thinking of destroying them. "Why, madam," said Lincoln, "do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"

Anecdote 2...

In 1858 the Illinois legislature elected Stephen A. Douglas senator instead of Lincoln. A sympathetic friend asked Lincoln how he felt. "Like the boy who stubbed his toe; I am too big to cry and too badly hurt to laugh."

View photos

View some photographs of Lincoln from the Library of Congress Civil War Collection.


Quote-worthy...

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. —Abraham Lincoln

 

Biographical Note...

U.S. Statesman; 16th President of the United States [1861-65]. Born in a log cabin, Lincoln was a self-educated man. An opponent of slavery, he was elected president on an antislavery ticket, an election that precipitated the secession of the Southern states and the Civil War.


More Information...

READ a brief biography of Abraham Lincoln, illustrated with charming drawings by the first grade students at Berwick Academy. Look through the Abraham Lincoln Civil War Photograph Archives.