History of America - Who was Abrahim Lincoln Part 1

Part 1

It was 1828 when a 19-year-old rural employee...

Arrived in New Orleans for the first time. This was the first time he had seen such a big city.
He was impressed by the magnificent buildings and the large ships anchored on the shore. Then he saw another scene. The scene remained in his mind forever.

He saw that human beings were being bought and sold in the city market.
Humans were for sale like other commodities. Helpless and chained humans were being driven to the ships or coming out of them.

It was so cruel that the time and locations of the human auctions were openly advertised.
Advertisements also informed potential buyers about the exact number of men, women and children for sale.

These ads requested the buyers to purchase slaves with cash. Credit was simply not allowed. The irony was that all of these people were black. White colour had enslaved blacks in America. This young villager was watching humans being sold in the bazaar, He didn't like it, but he couldn't do anything. Because he himself was an ordinary employee of a small boat. Yet he told his partner that if he ever got the chance, he would stop this business.

The 18 years old villager had such a big dream...

But he needed to be the strongest man on earth to fulfil this dream.
And he was successful in the end.

but how?

I am Muhammad and you are reading the first part of DSJ's mini-series, Who Was Abraham Lincoln?

This is the Sangamon River, and this is the beautiful small town of New Salem on its banks.

This is where Abraham Lincoln spent the first six years of his youth. And here he experienced some of the worst failures of his life. But he wasn't a successful person before either. Fate was playing with him all the time. When he was just 9 years old, his mother died of a poisonous herb in her milk. Then his father brought a stepmother for him. He wasn't dissatisfied with his stepmother, but he never had good relations with his father.

Rather, he did not like his father at all. His father also used to mock and beat him. He only knew how to read and write. He also memorized parts of the Bible and Shakespeare's poetry. But he never understood calculations and Math problems. He wasn't even a good-looking person. His face had strange, unpleasant cuts. He could not speak English well, even his accent was awkward. The only notable thing in his personality was his height. He was six feet, four inches tall. His height made him attractive. Then his conversation was also impressive.

So, friends, this is the wooden cabin you see in New Salem...

This is where Abraham Lincoln began his career as a storekeeper. New Salem had about a hundred residents. These residents became his customers. People traveling in the river also stopped there to buy a few things. The store sold candles, small bottles of wine, and some utensils. But Lincoln was unlucky. He had come to New Salem in search of a better career, but he lost his career a few months later. Because the store owner closed the store due to financial losses and fired Lincoln. This was his first failure.

First 9 months in New Salem were a failure for Lincoln, but he still managed a small success. He got the name "Honest Abe". One day a woman bought some stuff from Lincoln's store. When she left, Lincoln realized that weights in the shop were not appropriate. Some were lighter than their actual weight. So Lincoln brought more stuff to that woman's house. This event and many more like it happened. Because of these events, people called Lincoln "Honest Abe".

This popularity encouraged Lincoln to participate in the state elections in 1832. He thought that all the people of New Salem would vote for him. He also expected more votes from nearby areas. So he was confident about his victory in the elections. But it so happened that he lost, despite his good reputation. It was his second failure. But his strong personality was ready to face more failures.

Twenty-three-year-old Lincoln had lost the elections and now he had no money or food. He used his physical strength to earn a living. He became a rail-splitter. Then someone advised him to become a postman and he accepted this job. But that wasn't enough. So, he became a surveyor. Yet this job could not satisfy him.

So, he challenged the wrestling champion of New Salem. But even here he could not win. It is said that he lost deliberately to win the sympathy of the wrestling champion and his friends. And he succeeded in making them his friends. These boys and the wrestling champion became his close friends and supported him politically. But this friendship was worthless for his financial needs. But a partnership was possible.

So, he opened the Barry Lincoln Store with a friend, William Berry. After establishing business, he renewed his political career. He won the state assembly elections in 1834. This was his first success in a life full of failures. But this success still did not solve his financial problem. During the assembly session, he received $3 daily. But that was all. Because of his political activities he was careless about his store.

1835 was the most painful year of his life. First, his store partner and close friend William Berry died. Then the store was closed. The store's debt was $1800. Lincoln repaid his debt in 15 years. He called it a 'national debt' as a joke. But it was Anne Rutledge who gave him a deep personal injury. Ann was a resident of New Salem and Lincoln met her in his store. Anne was so beautiful that Lincoln fell in love with her. But the girl was betrothed to someone else.

According to psychologists, once someone falls in love with someone, then the way back is difficult.
So, Lincoln and Anne met many times in his store and outside it. The talked for hours. They also met on the banks of the river. But a tragedy overtook them soon. Anne Rutledge died of typhoid fever. This board indicates the exact location of the cabin where Lincoln met her for the last time. There was also a banyan tree nearby. Beneath that tree, Lincoln wept bitterly over her death. So, Lincoln faced 3 failures in just one year. One of these failures deeply wounded him. Lincoln visited Anne's grave several times during his lifetime. Two years after the deaths of Anne and William Berry, he packed up.

He said goodbye to his friends in New Salem forever and moved to the nearby town of Springfield.
Anyway, New Salem, the town of his youthful hopes, was coming to an end. The residents expected steamboats to pass through Sangamon River, making the town a trade market. But Sangamon River could not be cleansed. So, it was unfit for steamboats. This small town was deserted within 3 years of Lincoln's departure. Lincoln never returned to New Salem. However, he sometimes visited the grave of Anne Rutledge.

When Lincoln came to Springfield, his world changed. He became a lawyer in Springfield, making good money and slowly paying off his debts. He also loved and married a rich girl named Mary Todd.

From here, he became a member of the US House of Representatives and stayed in Washington for two years. But all of this soon lost its appeal. Because he did not forget the sight of black slaves who were being sold in markets. He wanted to speak out against slavery, but his own party, the Wig Party, did not support him. His voters also disliked him because of his views. So, he was disappointed, and he quit politics. He only focussed on his law practice.

He spent spare time with his family. He totally forgot his father and stepmother. It was possible that Abraham Lincoln would spend his life in obscurity. But as Lincoln was leaving politics, a debate was raging in the United States. people discussed whether black slavery should be abolished or not. The United States in those days was divided into two distinct parts. Economy of the southern states was dependent upon agriculture. People in these states used slaves as workers in their farms. In return, slaves were provided with permanent housing and food. Slaves had no rights.

Therefore, black slaves proved cheaper labourers than white workers. That's why people of the southern states did not want to abolish slavery. But the northern states were experiencing an industrial revolution. Fields were being replaced by factories.

A large number of whites worked in factories, so a middle class was formed. The interest of this class was no longer attached to the field but to the factory. If factory owners were allowed to use slaves in their factories... then it was easy for the factory owners to bring in slave workers. In that case, there was no job for the whites. So, it was both a moral and an economical problem.

As a result, most white people in the northern states wanted to legally abolish slavery throughout the United States. Opposition to slavery intensified in the northern states and support for slavery increased in the south during the 1850s. Eventually, the intensity increased so much that blood began to flow on this issue.
The American Civil War had begun in the 1850s.

Both proponents and opponents of slavery now began to take the lives of each other. References from the Bible were used to support or oppose slavery. These were the circumstances in which Lincoln set aside his advocacy files and joined politics again. There was a crowd in the market and people were listening to the speech of Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas.

Senator Douglas was speaking in favour of slavery. He did not consider blacks to be equal to whites. He was saying that white Americans have the right to decide in every state whether they want to keep black slaves or not.

When Stephen Douglas finished his speech, Lincoln stepped forward.

"Tomorrow I'll tell you how crude Senator Douglas's arguments are,"

He told the crowd.
Now people in Springfield knew Lincoln, so they came to hear his speech the next day. Lincoln spoke for three hours, arguing against slavery. He said that Douglas's argument was only valid if people didn't consider blacks as human beings. He said if black people were human beings, then nobody can decide about keeping them slaves.

Blacks are also human and free. Lincoln's arguments touched the hearts of many. This was followed by a series of speeches by Lincoln against slavery. He became increasingly popular with opponents of slavery.

In those days, Lincoln's old Whig party was about to dissolve and anti-slavery politicians in the United States...

formed a new party called the Republican Party.
Lincoln also joined this new party.

In 1858, he again tried to contest the Senator ship election from his new party platform. He was facing his old rival, Stephen Douglas, in the election. Lincoln decided to defeat his opponent in open debates. With that in mind, he challenged Douglas to a debate. Douglas accepted the challenge. Lincoln and Douglas had 7, three-hour-long discussions in different cities of Illinois. Douglas was a fat person of 5-feet-4-inch height. While Lincoln was slim, and his height was 6-feet-4-inches.

Whenever they came on the stage, people would smile at the difference in their height. People started calling Douglas the Little Giant and Lincoln the Long Abbey. Thousands of people watched their debates while hawkers also earned a lot during these debates. They sold badges bearing the names of Douglas and Lincoln. Large numbers of people were coming to see these famous debates, but secretly another revolution was also at work.

So, my curious fellows, it was a media revolution, Print Journalism.

The telegraph operational during Lincoln's era that spread the news at a much faster pace.
Reporters would write short stories in shorthand and deliver them to the office by telegraph machines.
Printing presses would publish that news. Then trains would take them to every corner of the United States. The camera had also been invented. So reporters also took pictures and published them in newspapers. It was a new thing in the world.

This media spread the news about Lincoln and his debates. Pro-slavery folks read Douglas's words and the anti-slavery activists read Lincoln's with pleasure. People used these arguments in their personal gatherings. Abraham Lincoln lost to Douglas in the senator ship election. But despite the defeat, his name was now a symbol throughout the United States against black slavery. He had become so popular that his name was sometimes mentioned as a potential US presidential candidate.

Obviously, the person who lost a recent election could not imagine being nominated as presidential candidate. But he soon had to imagine this. Because first his home state, Illinois nominated him as a presidential candidate. Then at the National Convention in Chicago, his name was seriously considered for the party nomination. And that was the place where the name of a candidate was to be finalised. This was a new party that needed a candidate to win because they had lost the last presidential election.

Now they wanted to see their president in the White House at all costs. Lincoln's name was discussed at the Chicago convention. Some other candidates were also discussed, but the good thing about Lincoln was that no one was against him. After much discussion, it was agreed that a failed businessman, a failed lover, and a failed senator should be nominated for the US presidency. Abraham Lincoln was not present at the meeting when the nomination was announced.
He was playing handball at home hundreds of miles away.

When the news reached his area, a crowd of congratulators gathered in front of his house.
People were chanting slogans with joy. The Republican nomination was just as challenging as winning an election. Because the Democrats could not field a single agreed candidate. In contrast, the Democrats had two candidates. One was Lincoln's old opponent, Senator Stephen Douglas, and the other was John Bracken Ridge from the Southern States.

This division of the Democrats greatly benefited Lincoln. Elections were held on November 6, 1860. Voting was taking place all over the United States, but interestingly, the southern states did not have the slightest support for Lincoln. Even his name did not appear on the ballot paper.

Even so, when the results came, Lincoln won.

Interestingly, his votes were 300,000 less than the combined votes of the two Democrat candidates.
But obviously, they were divided.

According to the US election formula, Lincoln had won 180 electoral votes in 18 states and was elected the new president. As Lincoln became president, his country tore apart. The southern states that wanted to retain slavery revolted against Lincoln's victory and declared independence. They created a separate country called the Confederate States of America, With a separate flag and assembly, Senator Davis was elected President of the new United States. Time had given Lincoln the biggest challenge in American history even before he was sworn in. But he had to take the oath first to meet this challenge.

To take the oath, first, He had to travel over 1600 miles to reach Washington, D.C. But along that 1600-mile route, there were groups of anti-slavery, anti-Lincoln groups. They threatened to assassinate Lincoln if he did not resign and come to Washington to take the oath. In those days, there were no planes, only steam-engined trains were the mode of transportation. On the way, his mortal enemies were waiting for him with weapons.

Then what happened?

How did Lincoln reach Washington?

How seriously did Abraham Lincoln live up to his promise to end slavery after assuming the presidency?

Or became a victim of expediency?

Why did the media go against him?

And why did Lincoln fire several generals, including his army chief?

What was the decision that made Lincoln one of the greatest leaders in history?

So, guys we'll show you all this but in the second part of Who Was Abrahim Lincoln?