“The best way to predict the future is to create it. ” This quote was said by the 16th President of the United States of America. Abraham Lincoln changed things in the world, he ended the civil war in the United States by freeing slaves and using them as soldiers. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Hodgenville, Hardin, Kentucky County. His parents' names were Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. He had an older sister named Sarah Lincoln. Abraham attended ABC School where he learned his ABCs but not how to read or write. He only went to school for one year because he only learned ABC and 123. Abraham was seven years old and his family moved to Indiana because it was a free state, while Kentucky was not because there was slavery. At the age of nine Abraham's mother died, it was a sad loss for him and his family. His father decided to return to Kentucky. A year later his father married Sarah Bush Johnston. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay When Sarah moved into the house she bought a lot of furniture such as real beds, a table and a chair and it seemed quite interesting to her family too. Abraham liked Sarah very much and she gave him a happy childhood. Abraham knew he didn't want to be a farmer like his father, but he didn't know what to do. At the age of 20 he decided to go out and find out. He was hired to help steer sailboats loaded with supplies down the river. Once the boat hit a dam and made a big hole, Lincoln suddenly had an idea: if he put all the boxes on one side of the boat, it would be high enough that he could tip it over and he did. Denton Offutt, the owner of the boat, was so impressed that he gave Abraham a shop to run in New Salmen. Lincoln quickly became popular and everyone believed that he would never take advantage of anyone even for a few cents. Lincoln later joined a debate club and got involved in politics. He went to loyal court meetings. People thought he was very smart, so they did it and asked him questions. In 1832 his father persuaded him to audition for the Illinois state legislature. Lincoln didn't win but came close to winning. Meanwhile, the New Salmen store went bankrupt and Lincoln lost his job. There was a war between Illinois settlers and Native Americans. Lincoln joined the militia but never fought in any battles. He wanted to run for the state legislature again. He knew he would get support from his friends, but some people thought he was just a normal guy who doesn't know how to be a farmer. So Lincoln showed them that he can farm so that he would gain the farmers' votes and they would vote for him, so this time he won. Lincoln knew that if he wanted to be a better representative he needed to know the law, so he began reading law books. No one considered him law, so he considered himself law. Lincoln had a happy life but was depressed at times throughout his life and no one asked him why. In 1837 Lincoln moved to Springfield, the new state capital. He worked at his friend's law firm where he kept track of documents but wasn't very good at the job. He used to store important documents and letters in his tall stovepipe hat. There wasn't enough room in Springfield for a lawyer to live. Lincoln had to move from city to city like most lawyers. Twice a year a judge visited all the towns that were too small to have their own court. Lincoln joined the group of lawyers who joined the path of the judges, all remained together. Sometimes the streetsthey were so bad they had to walk too much. When they walked through streams and rivers they didn't know how deep it was, so even Lincoln would put his feet in to see how deep it was. Lincoln was a strong supporter of the Whig party. He soon became one of the most prominent members of Illinois. A couple of years later he moved to Springfield and at a party he met this lady named Mary Todd. Mary liked Lincoln, she was from the southern United States at the age of 21. Mary wanted to marry a man who was president. They were married on November 4, 1842. At first they lived in a hotel, but then they bought a house which was very small but was Lincoln's first home. Nine months after the wedding, their first son Robert was born, two years later Edward was born, who died at the age of three. They had a third son named Willie and a fourth son Thomas. After six years in office, Lincoln wanted to do something bigger: he wanted to be the Whig candidate for USH representatives. But the party chose another candidate but worked hard to get his rival elected. He worked very hard, gave speeches but did nothing good. For the next six years Lincoln practiced law in Springfield. What brought Lincoln back was that for a long time in the United States there was debate about whether slavery was legal and where. In 1820 Missouri was a state and slavery was theirs and they could go as far north as they could go. People fought to make it illegal. Lincoln also hated slavery and wanted it to end as well. The man responsible for the Kansas-Nebraska act was Stephen Douglas of Illinois. Lincoln and Douglas had been rivals for years ever since they met. Stephen was famous while Lincoln was still relatively unknown. Lincoln was eager to challenge him. Douglas refused to expect the challenge. Then Lincoln also followed him in an open-air speech where he said that in the United States people can do whatever they want, so that means slavery would be allowed in every state. Lincoln thought that blacks should have the same rights as whites. Lincoln's speech made him famous and he decided to make him a candidate for the Senate. He came very close to winning. There were many problems, but especially slavery. Lincoln challenged Douglas for his Illinois seat: the United States could not be half free and half slave: it was neither illegal nor legal and the country would be destroyed. Once again Lincoln also asked Douglas to discuss whether Douglas should accept. In 1858, seven debates were held in Illinois, the main one being slavery, Lincoln lost the Senate again. Abraham, the presidential candidate in 1860, ran very few campaigns that he did not expect to win. The election news kept coming at 2am, the outcome was certain because Lincoln had more votes than any other candidate. He was an unlikely candidate because he only had one year of school and lost every debate to Douglas and was the sixteenth president of the United States. Nobody in the south liked him because they hated him and in the south almost nobody voted for him. Lincoln told the crowd that he would never allow his country to exist in two. A month later Southern soldiers fired on Union soldiers, the Civil War had begun. Lincoln had no trouble finding people for the war because everyone supported him. The war did not end quickly: soldiers on both sides died in bloody battles, the northern side did not know what to do after winning. Lincoln had never fought in any battle. Lincoln needed an army and also chose General George B. McClellan to turn them into real soldiers. He wasn't very good at fighting battles. Lincoln decided he should use the army for a while. When Willie,.