As a youngster, Abe Lincoln wasn’t the sort of fellow you’d think would grow up to become president. Sure, he was a hard worker when he had to be.
But if you gave him a few minutes of free time, he would have his nose in a book. If he wasn’t reading, he probably was delighting a willing audience with a knee-slappingly funny story.
But young Abe was anything but aimless. He had a few deeply held beliefs that he combined with a lot of hard work. That took the self-described “poor, lean, lank” fellow with little formal education from the frontier wilderness to national fame. His sense of justice and his way with words made him a respected lawyer, a great debater, a spellbinding speaker, and a fine writer. Eventually, they made him the 16th president of the United States.
Abraham Lincoln became more than a president. He became one of the most famous and admired people in history. As he led the U.S. through the Civil War—the greatest crisis in its history—he tried to make the country live up to its ideals as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. He truly believed that “all men are created equal” and are entitled to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
For his dedication to those ideals—and for much, much more—Lincoln will never be forgotten.
