Keerti gaekwad kelkar biography of abraham lincoln

This is a brilliant and unprecedented examination of how Lincoln used the power of words to not only build his political career but to keep the country united during the Civil War. A master historian, Eric Foner draws Lincoln and the broader history of the period into perfect balance. We see Lincoln, a pragmatic politician grounded in principle, deftly navigating the dynamic politics of antislavery, secession, and civil war.

As a divided nation plunges into the deepest crisis in its history, Abraham Lincoln boards a train for Washington and his inauguration — an inauguration Southerners have vowed to prevent. Lincoln on the Verge charts these pivotal thirteen days of travel, as Lincoln discovers his power, speaks directly to the public, and sees his country up close.

Drawing on new research, this riveting account reveals the president-elect as a work in progress, showing him on the verge of greatness, as he foils an assassination attempt, forges an unbreakable bond with the American people, and overcomes formidable obstacles in order to take his oath of office. McPherson provides a rare, fresh take on one of the most enigmatic figures in American history.

Tried by War offers a revelatory and timely portrait of leadership during the greatest crisis our nation has ever endured. Suspenseful and inspiring, this is the story of how Lincoln, with almost no previous military experience before entering the White House, assumed the powers associated with the role of Commander in Chief, and through his strategic insight and will to fight changed the course of the war and saved the Union.

But as Douglas L. There were times, in his journey from storekeeper and mill operator to lawyer and member of the Illinois keerti gaekwad kelkar biography of abraham lincoln legislature, when Lincoln lost his nerve and self-confidence — on at least two occasions he became so despondent as to appear suicidal — and when his acute emotional vulnerabilities were exposed.

Aroundhe purportedly met and became romantically involved with Anne Rutledge. Before they had a chance to be engaged, a wave of typhoid fever came over New Salem, and Anne died at age Her death was said to have left Lincoln severely depressed. About a year after the death of Rutledge, Lincoln courted Mary Owens. The two saw each other for a few months, and marriage was considered.

But in time, Lincoln called off the match. InLincoln began his political career and was elected to the Illinois state legislature as a member of the Whig Party. More than a decade later, from tohe served a single term in the U. House of Representatives. His foray into national politics seemed to be as unremarkable as it was brief. He was the lone Whig from Illinois, showing party loyalty but finding few political allies.

As a congressman, Lincoln used his term in office to speak out against the Mexican-American War and supported Zachary Taylor for president in His criticism of the war made him unpopular back home, and he decided not to run for second term. Instead, he returned to Springfield to practice law. By the s, the railroad industry was moving west, and Illinois found itself becoming a major hub for various companies.

Lincoln served as a lobbyist for the Illinois Central Railroad as its company attorney. Success in several court cases brought other business clients as well, including banks, insurance companies, and manufacturing firms. Lincoln also worked in some criminal trials. Lincoln referred to an almanac and proved that the night in question had been too dark for the witness to see anything clearly.

His client was acquitted. As a member of the Illinois state legislature, Lincoln supported the Whig politics of government-sponsored infrastructure and protective tariffs. This political understanding led him to formulate his early views on slavery, not so much as a moral wrong, but as an impediment to economic development. InCongress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Actwhich repealed the Missouri Compromiseallowing individual states and territories to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery.

Lincoln joined the Republican Party in Inthe Supreme Court issued its controversial Dred Scott decision, declaring Black people were not citizens and had no inherent rights. Lincoln decided to challenge sitting U. Senator Stephen Douglas for his seat. Senate campaign against Douglas, he participated in seven debates held in different cities across Illinois.

But the central issue was slavery. Newspapers intensely covered the debates, often times with partisan commentary. In the end, the state legislature elected Douglas, but the exposure vaulted Lincoln into national politics. With his newly enhanced political profile, inpolitical operatives in Illinois organized a campaign to support Lincoln for the presidency.

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Career [ edit ]. Personal life [ edit ]. Film s [ edit ]. Kiah Films Production [ edit ]. Television [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. News 18 Dot Com. Retrieved 23 January Daily India Dot Net. It was during this time that Thomas met Nancy. The Lincolns moved to Elizabethtown, Kentuckyfollowing their marriage. Biographers have rejected numerous rumors about Lincoln's paternity.

According to historian William E. Barton, one of these rumors began circulating in "in various forms in several sections of the South" that Lincoln's biological father was Abraham Enloe, a resident of Rutherford County, North Carolinawho died in that same year. However, Barton dismissed the rumors as "false from beginning to end. Rumors of Lincoln's ethnic and racial heritage were also circulated, especially after he entered national politics.

Citing Chauncey Burr's Catechismwhich references a "pamphlet by a western author adducing evidence", David J. Jacobson has suggested Lincoln was "part Negro", [ 16 ] but the claim is unproven. Lincoln also received mail that called him "a negro" [ 17 ] and a "mulatto". Lincoln was described as "ungainly" and "gawky" as a youth. He was a good wrestler, participated in jumping, throwing, and local footraces, and "was almost always victorious.

His lack of interest in his attire continued as an adult. When Lincoln lived in New Salem, Illinoishe frequently appeared with a single suspender, and no vest or coat. Inthe year after he left Indiana, Lincoln was described as six feet three or four inches tall, weighing pounds, and had a ruddy complexion. William H. Herndon described Lincoln as having "very dark skin"; [ 22 ] his cheeks as "leathery and saffron-colored"; a "sallow" complexion; [ 22 ] and "his hair was dark, almost black".

After him what white man would be President? During his later years, Lincoln was reluctant to discuss his origins. He viewed himself as a self-made man and may have also found it difficult to confront the untimely deaths of his mother and his sister. One request for a campaign biography came from his friend and fellow Illinois Republican, Jesse W.

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. On February 10,Sarah Lincoln was born. Abraham was born at the farm two months after the move, on February 12, Thomas continued legal action in court but lost the case in August This issue, compounded by confusion over previous land grants and purchase agreements, caused continual legal disputes over land ownership in Kentucky.

Lincoln's earliest recollections of his boyhood are from this farm. Years later, after Lincoln became a national political figure, reporters and storytellers often exaggerated his family's poverty and the obscurity of his birth. Lincoln's family circumstances were not unusual for pioneer families at that time. Thomas Lincoln was a farmer, carpenter, and landowner in the Kentucky backcountry.

He had purchased the Sinking Spring Farmwhich comprised Thomas Lincoln leased 30 acres of the acre Knob Creek farm owned by George Lindsey but the family was forced to leave it after others claimed a prior title to the land. By Thomas was frustrated over the lack of security provided by Kentucky courts. He sold the remaining land he held in Kentucky inand began planning a move to Indiana, where the land survey process was more reliable and the ability for an individual to retain land titles was more secure.

In Lincoln stated that the family's move to Indiana in was "partly on account of slavery; but chiefly on account of the difficulty in land titles in Kentucky. As a result, the survey method used in Indiana caused fewer ownership problems and helped Indiana attract new settlers. In addition, when Indiana became a state in Decemberthe state constitution prohibited slavery as well as involuntary servitude.

Although slaves with earlier indentures still resided within the state, illegal slavery ended within the first decade of statehood. Lincoln never joined a religious congregation; [ 41 ] however, his father, mother, sister, and stepmother were all Baptists. Abraham's parents, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, belonged to Little Mount Baptist Church, a Baptist congregation in Kentucky that had split from a larger church in because its members refused to support slavery.

Sally Lincoln recalled in September that her stepson Abraham "had no particular religion" [ 44 ] and did not talk about it much. She also remembered that he often read the Bible and occasionally attended church services. Other family members and friends who knew Lincoln during his youth in Indiana recalled that he would often get up on a stump, gather children, friends, and coworkers around him, and repeat a sermon he had heard the previous week to the amusement of the locals, especially the children.

Lincoln spent 14 of his formative years, or roughly one-quarter of his life, from the age of 7 to 21 in Indiana. The Lincoln property lay on land ceded to the United States government as part of treaties with the PiankeshawShawnee and Delaware people in The move to Indiana had been planned for at least several months. Thomas visited Indiana Territory in mid to select a site and mark his claim, then returned to Kentucky and brought his family to Indiana sometime between November 11 and December 20,about the same time that Indiana became a state.

More recent scholarship on Thomas Lincoln has revised previous characterizations of him as a "shiftless drifter". The move to Indiana established his family in a state that prohibited slavery, and they lived in an area that yielded timber to construct a cabin, adequate soil to grow crops that fed the family, and water access to markets along the Ohio River.

Despite some financial challenges, which involved relinquishing some acreage to pay for debts or to purchase other land, he obtained clear title to 80 keerti gaekwad kelkar biographies of abraham lincoln of land in Spencer County, on June 5, Bybefore the family moved to Illinois, Thomas had acquired twenty acres of land adjacent to his property.

Lincoln, who became skilled with an axe, helped his father clear their Indiana land. Recalling his boyhood in Indiana, Lincoln remarked that from the time of his arrival inhe "was almost constantly handling that most useful instrument. Thomas Lincoln also continued to work as a cabinetmaker and carpenter. The Lincolns and others, many of whom came from Kentucky, settled in what became known the Little Pigeon Creek Community[ 60 ] about one hundred miles from the Lincoln farm at Knob Creek in Kentucky.

By the time Lincoln reached age thirteen, nine families with forty-nine children under the age of seventeen were living within a mile of the Lincoln homestead. Tragedy struck the family on October 5,when Nancy Lincoln died of milk sicknessan illness caused by drinking contaminated milk from cows who fed on Ageratina altissima white snakeroot.

Describing her inLincoln remarked that she was "a good and kind mother" to him. Sally encouraged Lincoln's eagerness to learn and desire to read, and shared her own collection of books with him. Johnston: "Both were good boys, but I must say—both now being dead that Abe was the best boy I ever saw or ever expect to see". She also remembered him as a "moderate" eater, who was not picky about what he ate and enjoyed good health.

Lincoln later admitted that he had shot and killed only a single wild turkey. Apparently, he opposed killing animals, even for food, but occasionally participated in bear hunts, when the bears threatened settlers' farms and communities. In another tragedy struck the Lincoln family. Lincoln's older sister, Sarahwho had married Aaron Grigsby on August 2,died in childbirth on January 20,[ 72 ] when she was almost 21 years old.

Little is known about Nancy Hanks Lincoln or Abraham's sister. Neighbors who were interviewed by William Herndon agreed that they were intelligent, but gave contradictory descriptions of their physical appearances. Herndon had to rely on testimony from a cousin, Dennis Hanks, to get an adequate description of Sarah. Those who knew Lincoln as a teenager later recalled his being deeply distraught by his sister's death, and an active participant in a feud with the Grigsby family that erupted afterwards.

Possibly looking for a diversion from the sorrow of his sister's death, year-old Lincoln made a flatboat trip to New Orleans in the spring of En route to Louisiana, Lincoln and Gentry were attacked by several African American men who attempted to take their cargo, but the two successfully defended their boat and repelled their attackers.

With its considerable slave presence and active slave market, it is probable that Lincoln witnessed a slave auction, and it may have left an indelible impression on him. Congress outlawed the importation of slaves inbut the slave trade continued to flourish within the United States. Whether he actually witnessed a slave auction at that time, or on a later trip to New Orleans, his first visit to the Deep South exposed him to new experiences, including the cultural diversity of New Orleans and a return trip to Indiana aboard a steamboat.

Inwhen responding to a questionnaire sent to former members of Congress, Lincoln described his education as "defective". Lincoln was self-educated. His formal schooling was intermittent, the aggregate of which may have amounted to less than twelve months. He never attended college, but Lincoln retained a lifelong interest in learning. Lincoln continued reading as a means of self-improvement as an adult, studying English grammar in his early twenties and mastering Euclid after he became a member of Congress.

Dennis Hanks, a cousin of Lincoln's mother, Nancy, claimed he gave Lincoln "his first lesson in spelling—reading and writing" and boasted, "I taught Abe to write with a buzzards quill which I killed with a rifle and having made a pen—put Abes keerti gaekwad kelkar biography of abraham lincoln in mind [sic] and moving his fingers by my hand to give him the idea of how to write.

Abraham, aged six, and his sister Sarah began their education in Kentucky, where they attended a subscription school about two miles north of their home on Knob Creek. Classes were held only a few months during the year. The parents of school-aged children paid for the community's schools and its instructors. During Indiana's pioneer era, Lincoln's limited formal schooling was not unusual.

Family, neighbors, and schoolmates of Lincoln's youth recalled that he was an avid reader. His stepmother also acknowledged he did not enjoy "physical labor", but loved to read. Lincoln also first began studying law during this time, his interest in the law having been piqued after being acquitted of a charge of operating a ferryboat without a license.

Lincoln had been using a flatboat he had built to ferry passengers to steamboats on the Ohio River between Indiana and Kentucky when two brothers who operated a ferryboat from the Kentucky side accused him of infringing on their business, and Lincoln was charged with operating a ferryboat without a license. A local justice of the peaceSquire Samuel Pate, ruled in Lincoln's favor.

Lincoln asked numerous questions about law and court procedure. At Pate's invitation, Lincoln returned several times to observe Pate holding court. He subsequently began reading The Revised Statutes of Indiana. As an officer of the law, Turnham was required to keep the book for ready reference and could not loan it, so Lincoln repeatedly visited his home to read it.

Turnham recalled that "he would come to my house and sit and read it. It was the first law book he ever saw. He took particular interest in the historic documents in the book such as the Declaration of Independencethe United States Constitutionand the Constitution of Indiana. In addition, Lincoln attended court sessions in BoonvilleRockportand Princeton.

As well as reading, Lincoln cultivated other skills and interests during his youth in Kentucky and Indiana. 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. By the time he was twenty-one, Lincoln had become "an able and eloquent orator"; [ ] however, some historians have argued his speaking style, figures of speech, and vocabulary remained unrefined, even as he entered national politics.

Inwhen Lincoln was twenty-one years of age, thirteen members of the extended Lincoln family moved to Illinois. Johnston, went as one family. Dennis Hanks and his wife Elizabeth, who was also Abraham's stepsister, and their four children joined the party. Hanks's half-brother, Squire Hall, along with his wife, Matilda Johnston, another of Lincoln's stepsisters, and their son formed the third family group.

Historians disagree on who initiated the move, but it may have been Dennis Hanks rather than Thomas Lincoln. He owned land and was a respected member of his community, but Hanks had not fared as well. Dennis later remarked that Sally refused to part with her daughter, Elizabeth, so Sally may have persuaded Thomas to move to Illinois.

It is generally agreed they crossed the Wabash River at Vincennes, Indiana, into Illinois, and the family settled on a site selected in Macon County, Illinois[ ] 10 miles 16 km west of Decatur. Lincoln, who was twenty-one years old at the time, helped his father build a log cabin and fences, clear 10 acres 40, m 2 of land and put in a crop of corn.

That autumn the entire family fell ill with a feverbut all survived. The early winter of was especially brutal, with many locals calling it the worst they had ever experienced. In Illinois it was known as the "Winter of Deep Snow". In the spring, as the Lincoln family prepared to move to a homestead in Coles County, IllinoisLincoln was ready to strike out on his own.

Although Sally Lincoln and his cousin, Dennis Hanks, maintained that Thomas loved and supported his son, the father-son relationship became strained after the family moved to Illinois.

Keerti gaekwad kelkar biography of abraham lincoln

Historian Rodney O. Davis has argued that the reason for the strain in their relationship was due to Lincoln's success as a lawyer and his marriage to Mary Todd Lincoln, who came from a wealthy, aristocratic family, and the two men no longer related to each other's circumstances in life. Departing from Springfield in late April or early May along the Sangamon Rivertheir boat had difficulty getting past a mill dam 20 miles 32 km northwest of Springfield, near the village of New Salem.

Offutt, who was impressed by New Salem's location and believed that steamboats could navigate the river to the village, made arrangements to rent the mill and open a general store. Offutt hired Lincoln as his clerk and the two men returned to New Salem after they discharged their cargo in New Orleans. When Lincoln returned to New Salem in late Julyhe found a promising community, but it probably never had a population that exceeded a hundred residents.

New Salem was a small commercial settlement that served several local communities. The village had a sawmill, grist mill, blacksmith shop, cooper's shop, wool carding shop, a hat maker, general store, and a tavern spread out over more than a dozen buildings. Offutt did not open his store until September, so Lincoln found temporary work in the interim and was quickly accepted by the townspeople as a hardworking and cooperative young man.

Lincoln's humor, storytelling abilities, and physical strength fit the young, raucous element that included the so-called Clary's Grove boys, and his place among them was cemented after a wrestling match with a local champion, Jack Armstrong. Although Lincoln lost the fight with Armstrong, he earned the respect of the locals. His performance in the club, along with his efficiency in managing the store, sawmill, and gristmill, in addition to his other efforts at self-improvement soon gained the attention of the town's leaders, such as Dr.

In March Lincoln announced his candidacy in a written article that appeared in the Sangamo Journalwhich was published in Springfield. While Lincoln admired Henry Clay and his American Systemthe national political climate was undergoing a change and local Illinois issues were the primary political concerns of the election. Lincoln opposed the development of a local railroad project, but supported improvements in the Sangamon River that would increase its navigability.

Although the two-party political system that pitted Democrats against Whigs had not yet formed, Lincoln would become one of the leading Whigs in the state legislature within the next few years. By the spring ofOffutt's business had failed and Lincoln was out of work. Around this time, the Black Hawk War erupted and Lincoln joined a group of volunteers from New Salem to repel Black Hawkwho was leading a group of warriors along with 1, women and children to reclaim traditional tribal lands in Illinois.

Lincoln was elected as captain of his unit, but he and his men never saw combat. Lincoln later commented in the late s that the selection by his peers was "a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since.