Lincoln

ABRAHAM, (lin kun,) 16th Pres. of the U. States, was B. in Hard in co., Fig.446. HORSE-SHOE-CRAB. Ky., 1809. Reared in an (Limulus polyp hem us.) humble condition of life, he received but little education, and that little was due to his own intelligence and perseverance. He first took apart in public affairs by serving as captain in the Black Hawk War. In 1832 he unsucce fully, and, two years later, succe fully, ran for the Legislature of his State. Reëlected in 1838, he became the recognized leader of the Whig party, and was its candidate for the speakership of the House-a position he lost by one vote only. In the meantime he had become a succe ful practitioner at the bar, establishing himself in busine at Springfield, Ill. In 1846, he was returned by his party to Congre , and there became aman of mark by his unswerving advocacy of the abolition of slavery. In 1851 he was selected as Republican candidate for the senator ship of Illinois, and ran ac lose contest with Judge Douglas, the succe ful nominee of the Democrats. So high, by this time, had become L.'s reputation, that in 1860 (Nov. 6) he was elected President of the U. States. His tenure of that exalted office involved a period of events, the most momentous in American history. No sooner had he been returned to the chair of the chief magistracy, than the S. States of the Union carried out into action their long threatened attempt to secede from the National Confederation. The long, sanguinary, and disastrous war which followed severely tested Mr. L.'s integrity as a citizen and capability as a ruler. But he proved equal to the crisis. For, after finding all other means abortive, he broke the back of the so-called Southern Confederacy by the i uing of his ever memorable decree of Emancipation of the Negro, Sept. 22, 1862-one of the grandest of recorded human acts, and one which marks an epoch in the annals of history. The later events of his public career are familiar to all-how his moral courage, unfaltering determination, magnanimity, and sterling honesty sustained him, and through him his country, to the last. He restored the National authority, and sacrificed his life in its accomplishment; dying of wounds inflicted by the hand of an a a in, while witne ing a performance at Ford's Theatre, Washington, April 15, 1865. a city of England,C. of an E. maritime co. of same name, is situated on the With am, 47 m. N.Ε. of Derby. Its cathedral is an elegant specimen of Gothic architecture. Pop. 26,762. [s. 546]