Abraham Lincoln

People of the United States regard Abraham Lincoln as one of the greatest leaders in the history of their country.

The origins of Abraham Lincoln were humble. He was born in 1809 in the American state of Kentucky. The place where he was born on the American frontier, an undeveloped area with difficult living conditions. Lincoln was born into a family of poor farmers. Lincoln himself had to do manual labour on the family farm until he was a young man of 22 years. When it was possible, the family sent him to a local school. During whole his life, however, he had less than one year of formal education. Nevertheless, through natural ability, determination, and study at home, he became one of the most learned men in the world of his time.

In 1831, at the age of 22, Lincoln left the family farm to make a life of his own. Success did not come quickly or easily. For a short time he was a soldier. Then he ran for political office and lost. Next he tried business and failed so badly that it took him 17 years to repay his debts. After his unfortunate experience with business, he decided to study law at home, and he became a successful lawyer.

In 1834 he ran for political office again. This time he was elected to the legislature of the state of Illinois. In 1846 Lincoln first ran for national office as a candidate for the House of Representatives of the USA. He won the election and served in Congress from 1847 to 1849, but his party did not renominate him for the second term. In 1854 Lincoln ran for the United States Senate, but he was unsuccessful. In 1856 he was proposed as a candidate for the US Presidency, but did not receive the party nomination. In 1860 the Republican Party chose him as its nominee for the United States Presidency. By that time he was famous because of his position against slavery. He won the election, and was the first President from the young Republican Party.

Lincoln became President of the United States at the moment of the nation’s greatest crisis, when national unity was threatened because of divided opinion on the question of slavery between the southern states and the rest of the country. Despite the best efforts of Lincoln to preserve peace, war came: Civil War, in which brothers fought brothers, the war that nearly destroyed the nation.

By the end of his presidency slavery had been abolished forever in the nation.

When peace came on April 9, 1865, a new happier life seemed to have begun for him and for the nation. But for Lincoln that new life did not last long. On April 14, 1865, he was shot by an assassin while sitting in a theatre with his wife. The next day he was dead - only six days after the peace.

His body was sent by train for burial in the state of Illinois. At all hours of the day and night, in all kinds of weather, millions of Americans across the country stood along the rail-road tracks, waiting to pay their last respects to the man who had led them so well and who would live forever in their hearts.

Ex. 12. Retell Abraham Lincoln’s life omitting minor facts. You may use the items of Ex. 10.

Ex. 13. Compare the lives of Lincoln and Jefferson.

1. Whose career and life seem to be more successful and why?

2. What crucial points of their lives can we point out?

3. Can we oppose the political careers and lives of these two prominent people?

Ex. 14. Here is a so-called ‘curriculum vitae’, one of the papers you will have to prepare while looking for an employment. Study it carefully focusing on the structure and the order of items.

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