Abraham Lincoln: from Kentucky to the District of Columbia, with some important milestones in between.
Created by lincoln on Jun 3, 2008
Last updated: 03/11/10 at 09:00 PM
President William Howard Taft was the principal speaker at the dedication of the Lincoln memorial building in Hodgenville, Kentucky. About Lincoln's deftness at delivering emancipation, Taft said: "Those who wished slavery abolished felt toward Mr. Lincoln a greater degree of hatred and contempt during the two years of his administration than even the rebels themselves. Brooking no delay, accepting every excuse as a mere pretext, they pounced upon Mr. Lincoln with emphatic dununciation and bitter attack, but he knew better than they what was necessary before he tood the step of emancipation they were pressing."
Statue of Abrahm Lincoln, by San Francisco sculptor Pietro Mezzara, is unveiled in Union Square. It is the first statue of Lincoln to be erected in the United States.
http://everythinglincoln.com/articles/MezzaraStatue.html
Lincoln never regains consciousness after being shot the night before, and dies at 7:22am. Edwin Stanton says, "Now he belongs to the angels," which later turns into "Now he belongs to the ages."
During the performance of "Our American Cousin," actor John Wilkes Booth (not in the play) stands immediately behind Lincoln and shoots him in the head.
"...With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
http://everythinglincoln.com/articles/secondinaugural.html
Lincoln sets aside the last Thursday in November for Thanksgiving.
"Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do, hereby, appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day, which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens wherever they may then be as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to Almighty God the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe."
http://everythinglincoln.com/articles/thanksgivingproclamation.html
"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live..."
http://everythinglincoln.com/articles/gettysburgaddress.html
Lincoln is inaugurated President of the United States.
Lincoln is elected 16th president of the United States.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand" is a Biblical quotation from Matthew 12:25.
http://everythinglincoln.com/articles/housedivided1.html
Lincoln is defeated as a candidate for the US Senate
In a speech at Peoria, Illinois, Lincoln explains the Missouri Compromise.
"...In 1812 Louisiana came into the Union as a slave state, without controversy. In 1818 or '19, Missouri showed signs of a wish to come in with slavery. This was resisted by northern members of Congress; and thus began the first great slavery agitation of the nation. This controversy lasted several months, and became very angry and exciting; the House of Representatives voting steadily for the prohibition of slavery in Missouri, and the Senate voting as steadily against it. Threats of breaking up the Union were freely made; and the ablest public men of the day became seriously alarmed. At length a compromise was made..."
http://everythinglincoln.com/articles/missouricompromise.html
Thomas Lincoln born; is named after Lincoln's father. Lincoln calls him "Tad" or "Taddie" because he reminds him of a tadpole.
http://everythinglincoln.com/articles/TadLincoln.html
Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, dies.
William Wallace Lincoln born. Lincoln calls him "Willie."
Eddy is the first of three of Lincoln's sons who will die before they reach adulthood.
Lincoln takes a seat in the Thirtieth Congress of the United States.
Lincoln is elected as a representative to Congress.
Edward Baker Lincoln is born. Lincoln calls him Eddy (sometimes spelled Eddie).
Robert Todd Lincoln is born. Lincoln calls him Bobby.
Lincoln marries highly-educated socialite Mary Todd at Springfield.
Lincoln enters a law partnership with Stephen T. Logan
Lincoln forms a law partnership with John T. Stuart.
Lincoln moves from New Salem to Springfield, Illinois.
Lincoln is elected to the Illinois State Legislature for the first time.
Lincoln is appointed Postmaster at New Salem.
Lincoln is defeated as a candidate for the Illinois State Legislature.
Lincoln is elected captain of his company during his first volunteer enlistment in the Black Hawk War. "Then came the Black Hawk War, and I was elected a captain of volunteers--a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since."
Lincoln moves with his family from Indiana to Illinois.
Now 21, Lincoln is no longer required by law to work for his father.
Thomas Lincoln marries Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow.
Update Sources