Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Abraham Lincoln was the United States’ 16th President in 1861, and is best remembered for his role in ending slavery in the United States. During his presidency, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in the Confederate states were to be set free in 1863. Lincoln warned the South in his Inaugural Address: “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you…. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it.” Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809 to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks and spent much of his early life working on the family farm. He was largely self-educated, and his passion for reading and learning helped him to become a successful lawyer and politician.