Offutt hired Lincoln as his clerk and the two men returned to New Salem after they discharged their cargo in New Orleans. Throughout the lengthy debate "Lincoln's political skills were repeatedly tested". Each spring and fall Lincoln traveled the district for nine to ten weeks at a time, netting around $150 for each ten-week circuit. He also challenged the President's claims regarding the Texas boundary and offered Spot Resolutions demanding to know the "spot" on U.S. soil where blood was first spilt. It is on display at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History. [111], Using books borrowed from the law firm of Stuart and Judge Thomas Drummond, Lincoln began to study law in earnest during the first half of 1835. At one point the boat slid onto a dam and was set free only after heroic efforts. Lincoln Alexander served in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. Lincoln met Speed's fiancee while there, and after his return to Springfield. Lincoln Alexander : biography January 21, 1922 – October 19, 2012 Early life Alexander was born in Toronto, Ontario, to Mae Rose, who migrated from Jamaica, and Lincoln Alexander, Sr., a porter on the Canadian Pacific Railway who came to Canada from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. [145], By 1840 Lincoln was drawing $1,000 annually from the law practice, along with his salary as a legislator. Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. president (1861–65), who preserved the Union during the American Civil War and brought about the emancipation of the slaves. [169], Soon after he moved to New Salem, Lincoln met Ann Rutledge. In November 1842, Lincoln married Mary Todd; the couple had four sons. [33] In the Indiana Territory, once a part of the Old Northwest Territory, the federal government owned the territorial land, which had been surveyed into sections to make it easier to describe in land claims. Although Herndon's work is often challenged, historian David Herbert Donald argues that they "have largely shaped current beliefs" about Lincoln's early life in Kentucky, Indiana and his early days in Illinois. [66] In pioneer-era Indiana, where hunting and fishing were typical pursuits, Thomas and Abraham did not appear to have enjoyed them. In preparation for the session Lincoln borrowed $200 from Coleman Smoot, one of the richest men in Sangamon County, and spent $60 of it on his first suit of clothes. On reaching a shallow place, the bellows are filled with air and the vessel, thus buoyed, is expected to float clear. "[147] Lincoln stated, "I love to dig up the question by the roots and hold it up and dry it before the fires of the mind. See Bartelt, p. 63. Oates explained Lincoln's interest in the court proceedings: "A sort of legal buff, he watched transfixed as young country lawyers wooed juries, cross-examined witnesses, delivered impassioned summations. [153] Another close associate was Ward Hill Lamon, an attorney in Danville, Illinois. For example, during the American Civil War the Charleston, South Carolina Mercury described him as having "the dirtiest complexion" and asked "Faugh! Lincoln read Aesop's Fables, the Bible, The Pilgrim's Progress, Robinson Crusoe, and Parson Weems's The Life of Washington, as well as newspapers, hymnals, songbooks, math and spelling books, among others. [176], Lincoln still had conflicted feelings concerning Mary Todd. [43], Lincoln spent 14 of his formative years, or roughly one-quarter of his life, from the age of 7 to 21 in Indiana. "[179] Baker and Lincoln campaigned vigorously throughout March, but Lincoln, believing that Baker had an insurmountable lead, withdrew when the Sangamon County convention was held on March 20. Thomas, Sally, Abraham, and Sally's son, John D. Johnston, went as one family. and Lincoln joined a group of volunteers from New Salem to repel Black Hawk, who was leading a group of 450 warriors along with 1,500 women and children to reclaim traditional tribal lands in Illinois. [154], Unlike other attorneys on the circuit, Lincoln did not supplement his income by engaging in real estate speculation or operating a business or a farm. "[140] He also addressed the issue of slavery in the nation's capital in a different manner from the resolutions, writing that "the Congress of the United States has the power, under the constitution, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia; but that power ought not to be exercised unless at the request of the people of said District. While Congress was in session Lincoln spoke in favor of Taylor on the House floor, and when it adjourned in August, he remained in Washington to assist Whig Executive Committee of Congress in the campaign. Lincoln was selected as a delegate to the district convention which met on May 1 in Pekin. At first they were probably just close friends, but soon they had reached an understanding that they would be married as soon as Ann had completed her studies at the Female Academy in Jacksonville. Davis joined the circuit in 1848 as a judge and would occasionally appoint Lincoln to fill in for him. [101] Once Lincoln began working in the store, he met a rougher crowd of settlers and workers from the surrounding communities, who came into New Salem to purchase supplies or have their corn ground. [87][88] Later studies included Shakespeare's works, poetry, and British and American history. On January 11, 1837, Lincoln made his first major legislative speech supporting the bank and attacking its opponents. New Salem was a small commercial settlement that served several local communities. [15] Tall for his age, Lincoln was strong and athletic as a teenager. [61][62] In 1819 Thomas left Sarah, Abraham, and Dennis Hanks at the farm in Indiana and returned to Kentucky. "[139] Lincoln criticized abolitionists on practical grounds, arguing that "the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than to abate its [slavery's] evils. Although Lincoln lost the fight with Armstrong, he earned the respect of the locals. In a letter written a few days after the wedding, Lincoln wrote, "Nothing new here except my marrying, which to me, is matter of profound wonder. He developed a plain, backwoods style of speaking, which he practiced during his youth by telling stories and sermons to his family, schoolmates and members of the local community. Hanks moved into the Lincoln home after both the Sparrows died of milk sickness the week before Nancy's death. [32][33] In the summer of 1811, the family relocated to Knob Creek farm, now a part of the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, eight miles to the north. [8] Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks were married on June 12, 1806, at the Beech Fork settlement in Washington County, Kentucky. After Daniel died in 1816, Sally and her children remained in Elizabethtown until her marriage to Thomas Lincoln on December 2, 1819. In 1850 the firm was involved in eighteen percent of the cases on the Sangamon County Circuit; by 1853 it had grown to thirty-three percent. However, much of Lincoln's development was still self-taught. [11] The Bostic Lincoln Center in Bostic, North Carolina, also claims that Abraham Lincoln was born in Rutherford County, North Carolina, and argues the case that Nancy Hanks had an illegitimate child while she was working for the Enlow family. Lincoln Alexander, Canada’s first black MP and former Ontario lieutenant governor — known to all as “Linc” — died at the age of 90 on Oct. 19. [69] In 1851, after the move to Illinois, Abraham refused to visit his dying father, and failed to take his own sons to visit their grandparents. [115], Lincoln's first session in the Illinois legislature ran from December 1, 1834, to February 13, 1835. Lincoln, who probably could have had his choice of more established attorneys, was tired of being the junior partner and entered into partnership with William Herndon, who had been reading law in the offices of Logan and Lincoln. Because relocation of the state capital was still the number one issue on the two men's agendas, they made no comment on their votes until the relocation was approved.[138]. One request for a campaign biography came from his friend and fellow Illinois Republican, Jesse W. Fell, in 1859; the other request came from John Locke Scripps, a journalist for the Chicago Press and Tribune. Captain Lincoln bought the Virginia property from his father in 1773. In addition, John Hanks, one of Dennis' cousins, lived in Macon County, Illinois. Lincoln settled in the village of New Salem where he worked as a boatman, store clerk, surveyor, militia soldier during the Black Hawk War and became a lawyer in Illinois. As a young man, Lincoln took a boatload of merchandise down the Mississippi River from New Salem to New Orleans. The proposal would allow the state government to finance the construction with a $500,000 loan. However, the Panic of 1837 effectively destroyed the possibility of more internal improvements in Illinois. Thomas continued legal action in court, but lost the case in August 1816. The law practice had as many clients as it could handle. [15] Later descriptions included Lincoln's dark hair and dark complexion, which were also evident in photographs taken during his tenure as president of the United States. [102], During his first winter in New Salem, Lincoln attended a meeting of the New Salem debating club. [33] Of the 816.5 acres that Thomas held in Kentucky, he lost all but 200 acres in land title disputes. [44] In December 1816, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, their 9-year-old daughter, Sarah, and 7-year-old Abraham moved to Indiana. [59], Tragedy struck the family on October 5, 1818, when Nancy Lincoln died of milk sickness, an illness caused by drinking contaminated milk from cows who fed on Ageratina altissima (white snakeroot). In 1816, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, their nine-year-old daughter Sarah, and seven-year-old Abraham moved to what became Indiana, where they settled in Hurricane Township, Perry County, Indiana. In an 1841 Illinois Supreme Court case, Bailey v. Cromwell, Lincoln successfully prevented the sale of a woman who was alleged to be a slave, making the argument that in Illinois "the presumption of law was ... that every person was free, without regard to color." He was elected president of the United States on November 6, 1860. He owned land and was a respected member of his community, but Hanks had not fared as well. While no one in Washington paid attention to Lincoln, the Democrats orchestrated angry outbursts from across his district, where the war was popular and many had volunteered. His words, "The patent system added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius," are inscribed over the US Commerce Department's north entrance. In this case, Lincoln invoked the right of transit, which allowed slaveholders to take their slaves temporarily into free territory. Among American heroes, Lincoln continues to have a unique appeal for his fellow countrymen and also for people of other lands. In the 1848 presidential election, Lincoln supported war hero Zachary Taylor for the Whig nomination and for president in the general election. Once again, clients were plentiful for the firm, although Lincoln received one-third of the firm's proceeds rather than the even split he had enjoyed with Stuart. [93] Thomas had no obvious reason to leave Indiana. On December 2, 1819, Lincoln's father married Sarah "Sally" Bush Johnston. Lincoln proposed marriage to Sarah in 1841 but was rejected. In 1818 the Indiana General Assembly created Spencer County, Indiana, from portions of Warrick and Perry counties, which included the Lincoln farm. By 1814, Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, had lost most of his land in Kentucky in legal disputes over land titles. She also remembered that he often read the Bible and occasionally attended church services. Lincoln had published an inflammatory letter in the Sangamon Journal, a Springfield newspaper, that poked fun at Shields. In 1834 Lincoln's decision to run for the state legislature for a second time was strongly influenced by his need to satisfy his debts, what he jokingly referred to as his "national debt", and the additional income that would come from a legislative salary. Historian David Herbert Donald wrote that Logan taught him that "there was more to law than common sense and simple equity" and Lincoln's study began to focus on "procedures and precedents. Barret refused to pay the balance on his pledge to the railroad on the grounds that it had changed its originally planned route.