The 16th President of the United States of America and probably one of the most influential and most famous one Abraham Lincoln, one whose story keeps on motivating a lot of people around the world. Born on the 12th of February 1809 in Hodgenville, Kentucky, United States, Abraham Lincoln also known as ‘Honest Abe’ a nickname given to him, had no idea about the type of life which he had coming for him and that it will change the course of American history and also touch the rest of the world.
The savior of the Union and the emancipator of the slaves, Honest Abe, didn’t have it easy. His life had ups and down. But, he never became too disheartened to call it off. He believed in what he knew how to do and kept on pushing through to become one of the most influential personalities of America and the world.
From coming from a poor background to losing his mother at a very young age and to attaining the highest office in America, Lincoln’s life showed him a lot . He was a voracious reader and never liked the farm work. Thankfully, his stepmother noticed his love for books and this also created a path for him to advance in his career.
When Abraham Lincoln was 23 years young, he lost his job and his bid for the state legislature. Ann Rutledge, who was his first love, whom he loved passionately died when he was 26 years old. All this setbacks didn’t end here. It was just starting for something big. After 3 years of losing Ann, Abraham lost his bid to become a speaker in the House of Representatives.
In 1846, he was elected to Congress, where he drafted the bill to abolish slavery and give the black people their civilian rights to live as a free man/woman with integrity and free like the whites.
In 1848, His bid to become Commissioner of the General Land Office in D.C. was also rejected when he was 39-year old. In 1856, he was defeated for the Vice-president Nomination race. 2 years down the road, he again witnessed a massive failure and he lost his US senator quest.
Of course, Lincoln had it enough and any sane person would doubt his life and dreams but Lincoln was destined to be one of the greatest. Life had other plans for him, and only through his consistently working.
In 1861, Abraham Lincoln became the 16th President of The United States of America, representing the Republican Party.
He issued the emancipation proclamation bill in 1861, and finally, in 1863, slavery was abolished from the soil of the US. When he became the president, he’s father was still a shoe maker and naturally some individuals were still not happy that a shoe maker’s son should become the president. On the first day as Abraham Lincoln entered to give his inaugural speech, just in the middle of the speech, a very wealthy man stood up and had this to say “Mr Lincoln you should not forget that you father used to make shoes for my family and the whole senate laughed of which they thought they had made fun of him. Lincoln looked the man directly in the eye and said, “sir I know that my father use to make shoe for you and your family, and there will be many others here which he also made shoes for and that’s because he was made them the way nobody else did. He was a creator, his shoes were not just shoes, he poured his whole soul to it and so I’m asking you, do you have any complaints? Because I know how to make shoes myself, if you have any complaints I can make you another pair but as far as I know nobody has ever complained about my father’s shoes and that’s because he is a genius, a creator and I am proud of my father.” The whole senate was struck with disbelief, they couldn’t understand what kind of man Abraham Lincoln was, he was very proud of the kind of work his father did and how well he did it, he wasn’t even angry or to think of taking it up with the wealthy man that interrupted him but rather used that opportunity to pass out another kind of message to the whole world.
In 2012 – Steven Spielberg made a film called Lincoln and one of most notable actors ‘Daniel Day-Lewis’ donned the role of The President Lincoln, winning the Oscar.
– Kaku Jiruma Gabriel.
Prince Abubakar Audu university, Anyigba, Kogi state
