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Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln: From a log cabin to the White House
Single-room log cabin with a wooden shingle roof and stone chimney, surrounded by trees and a split-rail fence at Knob Creek, Kentucky.
Learn how Abraham Lincoln's frontier childhood and early appetite for reading shaped his character
Debunking pop culture myths about Abraham Lincoln
Learn how reading Shakespeare and the King James Bible helped Abraham Lincoln compose his best-remembered address in American history
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Abraham Lincoln portrait
Abraham Lincoln portrait Abraham Lincoln, oil on canvas by George Healy, 1887; in the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Abraham Lincoln

16th president of the United States
Also known as: Honest Abe, the Great Emancipator, the Rail-Splitter(Show More)
Written by
Richard N. Current
University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History, University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Author of Daniel Webster and the Rise of National Conservatism; The Lincoln Nobody Knows; and others.
Richard N. Current
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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•History

Abraham Lincoln (born February 12, 1809, near Hodgenville, Kentucky, U.S.—died April 15, 1865, Washington, D.C.) was the 16th president of the United States (1861–65), who preserved the Union during the American Civil War and brought about the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. Among American heroes, Lincoln continues to have a unique appeal for his fellow compatriots and also for people of other lands. This charm derives from his remarkable life story—the rise...

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