With a more or less close study of the biographical data of the 16th US President Abraham Lincoln, it becomes obvious that his official biography is far-fetched and contradictory. Some interesting facts will be given below. However, this does not diminish the merits of Lincoln, who abolished slavery and promoted reforms aimed at improving the lives of the poorest Americans.
Actually, political opponents (and there were a lot of them) failed to defeat “Uncle Abe” during his lifetime. And after the shots of John Booth in the Ford Theater, which ended the life of Abraham Lincoln, the murdered president was turned into a completely fake icon of a man who achieved everything himself. The fact that Lincoln made his way from the bottom, contrary to the rules established by the bosses of big politics, always remains behind the scenes. Every ordinary American should believe that he is not a millionaire or not a president just for a while. The great American success is somewhere ahead, literally beyond the next intersection. And Lincoln's life supposedly proves it.
Abraham Lincoln was allegedly born here
1. According to the official version, Lincoln was born into the family of a poor farmer. The Museum of America's Best President shows the henhouse-sized hut in which Abraham was allegedly born. But he was born in 1809, and his father, who owned hundreds of hectares of land, urban real estate and large herds of livestock, went bankrupt only in 1816.
2. The reason for the ruin of Lincoln Sr. was some kind of legal error. What mistake can deprive a person of such a variety of assets is not clear. But after her, Abraham was determined to become a lawyer.
3. Lincoln, by his own admission, went to school for only one year - further life circumstances interfered. But later he read a lot and was engaged in self-education.
4. Having tried his hand at blacksmithing and trade, Lincoln decided to become the Congressman of Illinois. Voters did not appreciate the eagerness of the 23-year-old young man - Lincoln lost the election.
5. Nevertheless, after three years he still made his way to the Illinois Congress, and a year later he passed the exam for the right to practice law.
Lincoln speaks to Illinois Congress
6. Of the four children born in Lincoln's marriage to Mary Todd, only one survived. Robert Lincoln also made a political career and was at one time a minister.
7. During his tenure as an attorney, Lincoln has participated in over 5,000 cases.
8. Contrary to popular belief, Lincoln was never a fierce fighter against slavery. Rather, he considered slavery an inevitable evil, which must be eliminated gradually and very carefully.
9. The presidential election in 1860 was won by Lincoln thanks to a split in the Democratic camp and due to the votes of the North - some states in the South did not even include his name on the ballot. In the North, there were simply more people living, so "Honest Abe" (Lincoln always scrupulously paid off debts) and moved into the White House.
Inauguration of President Lincoln
10. The southern states left the US even before Lincoln took office - they did not expect anything good from the new president.
11. All the years of the war in the Northern States, no martial law was declared: there was no censorship, elections were held, etc.
12. On the initiative of Lincoln, a law was passed according to which any participant in the war on the side of the North could receive 65 hectares of land free of charge.
13. Slavery in the United States was finally abolished by the 13th amendment to the Constitution. Lincoln first banned slavery in the southern states, and only under pressure from colleagues in the Republican Party took a more radical step.
14. Lincoln's preponderance in his second presidential campaign was overwhelming - the incumbent received more than 90% of the electoral votes.
15. John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln on Good Friday 1865. He managed to escape from the crime scene. Only two weeks later he was found and killed while trying to surrender.
