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George Washington 1834 Lincoln was elected to the Illinois State Legislature 1836 Lincoln began to practice law. 1846 Lincoln was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. 1856 Abe Lincoln joined the Republican Party. 1858 Stephan Douglas defeated Lincoln for a U.S. Senate seat. 1860 The Republican Party nominated Lincoln for U.S. President. 1861 Eleven southern states seceded from the Union. 1861 Civil War began.
1862 Willie Lincoln dies at age 11. 1863 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. 1863 Congress enacted laws to draft soldiers. 1864 Lincoln appointed General Ulysses S. Grant Commander of the Union Army. 1865 Congress passed the 13th Amendment that abolishes slavery. 1865 Civil War ended. 1865 Lincoln was assassinated. Books I have read about Lincoln
I most recently read: |
Abraham Lincoln |
President Lincoln was the tallest president.6 ft. 4 inches's tall. How weighed about 180 pounds. ( I just recently found a reference that Lyndon Johnson was also 6' 4" tall.) He enjoyed eating fruit salad and cheese with crackers. Lincoln hated being called Abe. He preferred to go by his last name, Lincoln. Some people called him Mr. President. His wife even called him Mr. Lincoln. President Lincoln had two Vice Presidents Hannibal Hamlin (1861-1865) and Andrew Johnson (1865). Abraham Lincoln patented his floating dry dock on May 22, 1849, patent #6469. He was the only U.S. President to receive a patent. |
The Lincoln-Douglas debates centered upon a Senate seat from Illinois. Lincoln won national prominence, but Douglas got the job.
He would sometimes store his notes in his stove pipe hat.
Abraham Lincoln grew a beard because a little girl wrote him a letter telling him that he would look more handsome with a beard. He was the first U.S. President to have a beard.
Mud Slinging- In the campaign of 1860 his opponents said Abe was homely and an ignoramus.
Called two-faced by a rival, Lincoln responded, "If I had another face, do you think I'd wear this one?"
On his trip to Washington he got to hear Henry Clay give several speeches. He had admired Clay and had read all of his speeches.
On June 20, 1863 Lincoln signed the bill to make West Virginia a state. The state was formed of western Virginia counties that didn't want to be part of the Confederacy.
His son Tad owned a pair of goats. The goats were named Nanny and Nanko. He also had a pet of a turkey that was sent to the Lincoln's for Thanksgiving dinner. He named the turkey Jack. Tad begged for Jack's life and Lincoln gave the turkey a presidential pardon. It is a tradition now for the President to pardon a Turkey just before Thanksgiving.
Lincoln also established Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
Poster from Lincoln's 1864 presidential campaign in New York.
Library of Congress.
(Click for larger image.)
Abraham Lincoln lead the US in the US Civil War, from 1861-1865.
During the Civil War President Lincoln became the first world leader to use the telegraph ("t'mail" as he called it, to stay in touch with his generals in the field.) He was also the first president to receive a transcontinental telegram.
Lincoln appeared at a Senate subcommittee hearing to give assurances that his wife was not a Confederate spy.
There were thirty-six states in the union when Lincoln was president.
Lincoln was ashamed that he let himself be drawn into preparing for a dual. He didn't fight in the dual.
The second child, at the age of 12, became the only child of a president to died in the White House.
Lincoln's most famous speech was the Gettysburg Address. It was given to commemorate the cemetery at Gettysburg after the battle there. The speech was only 720 words long. Here are some interesting facts about the address:
President Lincoln was shot at twice before John Wilkes Booth killed him. Both times were while he was on his way to the Soldier's Home and Lincoln joked about them and ordered that they not be publicized.
Abraham Lincoln was the first President to be assassinated.
He was shot by John Wilkes Booth on Good Friday, April 14, 1865 at the Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. He as watching a play called "Our American Cousin."
John Seward, his Secretary of State was also injured in the attack the same evening, but he survived.
U S. Grant was invited to go to the theater with Lincoln that night but declined the invitation. Grant felt if he was there he might have saved the presidents life.
President Lincoln died on April 15, 1865 in Washington, D.C. He was 56 years and 62 days old. He is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Ill. His body traveled to fourteen cities to lie in state before he was interned.
On November 7, 1876 thieves tried to steal Lincoln's body from his tomb. They wanted to get $200,000 to return the body, but they failed to get his body out of the casket.
In 1909, Lincoln became the first president to have his face on a circulating U.S. Coin (a penny).
Quotes from Abraham Lincoln:
"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."
Lincoln: source Detroit Free Press, May 14, 2012 -Mother's Day
Lincoln on slavery state "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master."
"If I am killed, I can die but once; but to live in constant dread of it, is to die over and over again."
President Lincoln1864
"A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me."
Abraham Lincoln Prairie Years, 1829
" Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties." April 27, 1856. Kalamazoo, MI.
"If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong."
"I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me."
When Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin he said, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war!"
“I cannot fly from my thoughts - My solicitude for this great country follows me where ever I go.” A. Lincoln
Topics
The Presidents of the United States. 22 September 2004: http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/
Davis, Gibbs and Ilus. David A. Johnson. Wackiest White House Pets. New York: Scholastic Press, October 2004
James, Barber and Amy Pastan. Smithsonian Presidents and First Ladies. New York: DK Publishing, 2002
Kane, Joseph Natan. Facts about the Presidents from Washington to Johnson. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1964.
McCullough, Noah, The Essential Book of Presidential Trivia. Random House, USA, 2006
Pine, Joslyn, Presidential Wit and Wisdom: Memorable Quotes from George Washington to Barack Obama . Dover Publications, Mineola, New York, 2009
Huffington Post web site.
Lang, Stephen, The Complete Book of Presidential Trivia, Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, 2011
O'Reilly, Bill, and Dugard, Martin, Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2011
St. George, Judith In the Line of Fire: Presidents' Lives at Stake , Scholastic Inc. New York, 2001
In addition to these books, I have also read and have used information from those listed on my Books About Presidents page.
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This page was last updated on Thursday, May 31, 2018
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