Lincoln is the capital of the U.S. state of
Nebraska. The University of Nebraska
was founded in the city in 1869.
Farmers from the surrounding area sell
their grain in Lincoln. Factories in the
city make processed foods, motorcycles,
rubber products, electronics, and medicines.
Many people in Lincoln work for
the government or in insurance, health
care, or education.
The city was founded in 1856. It was
named Lancaster in 1859. In 1867
Nebraska became a U.S. state with the
city as its capital. The city was renamed
Lincoln in honor of former U.S. president
Abraham Lincoln. In the 1870s
Lincoln became a center of railroad
transportation.
One of Lincoln’s most famous residents
was the politician William Jennings
Bryan. He lived in the city in the late
1800s and early 1900s. Bryan ran for
U.S. president three times.
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Nebraska
Lincoln,
Abraham
Historians see Abraham Lincoln, the
16th president of the United States, as
one of the country’s greatest leaders.
During the American CivilWar Lincoln
promised to save the Union. Known as
the Great Emancipator, he also ended
slavery in the United States.
Early Life
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log
cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky, on
February 12, 1809. His parents, Thomas
and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, were pioneer
farmers. In 1816 the family moved to
Indiana. After Abe’s mother died, his
father married Sarah Bush Johnston. In
all, Abe went to school for less than a
year.
In 1830 Lincoln moved to New Salem,
Illinois. He tried several jobs and began
to study law books. After becoming a
lawyer in 1836, he moved to Springfield,
Illinois. In 1842 Lincoln married
Mary Todd. They had four sons.
Lincoln is home to Nebraska’s state Capitol.
The building was completed in 1932.
154 Lincoln BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Political Career
In 1834 Lincoln was elected to the Illinois
legislature. He was reelected three
times. In 1847 he entered the U.S.
House of Representatives. In 1849 he
returned to his law practice.
The issue of slavery brought Lincoln
back to politics. In 1856 Lincoln helped
to organize the Illinois branch of the
new Republican Party. Republicans
wanted to stop the spread of slavery. In
1858 Lincoln challenged the Democrat
Stephen A. Douglas for a seat in the
U.S. Senate. The two candidates took
part in several debates on slavery. Douglas
won the election, but the debates
made Lincoln famous.
Presidency and CivilWar
Lincoln ran for president in 1860 and
won. The Southern states feared that a
Republican president would abolish
slavery. They decided to secede from, or
leave, the Union. South Carolina
seceded in December 1860. By the time
Lincoln took office in March 1861 six
more Southern states had seceded. The
Southern states organized a separate
government, the Confederate States of
America. The CivilWar began in April
1861, when Confederate troops fired on
February 12, April 12, January 1, November 19, April 9, April 14,
1809 1860 1861 1863 1863 1865 1865
Lincoln is
born near
Hodgenville,
Kentucky.
Lincoln is
elected
president.
The Civil War
begins.
Lincoln
signs the
Emancipation
Proclamation.
Lincoln gives
the Gettysburg
Address.
The Civil War
ends.
Lincoln is shot;
he dies the next
morning.
T I M E L I N E
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of
the United States.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Lincoln, Abraham 155
Fort Sumter, a Union fort in South
Carolina.
Lincoln’s main goal in the war was to
save the Union. However, he knew he
had to settle the slavery question in
order for the United States to survive. In
1862 Lincoln promised freedom for
slaves in any Confederate state that did
not return to the Union that year. When
the South paid no attention, Lincoln
freed those slaves with the Emancipation
Proclamation on January 1, 1863.
In November 1863 Lincoln delivered a
speech—called the Gettysburg
Address—at a battlefield in Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania. He promised to save the
United States’s “government of the
people, by the people, for the people.”
End of theWar and
Assassination
In 1864 Lincoln was elected to a second
term as president. On April 9, 1865,
General Robert E. Lee surrendered his
Confederate army to Union leader General
Ulysses S. Grant. To celebrate the
end of the war, Lincoln went to Ford’s
Theatre inWashington, D.C., on the
night of April 14. During the play John
Wilkes Booth, a young actor and slavery
supporter, shot Lincoln in the head.
Lincoln died the next morning. Vice
President Andrew Johnson became
president.
#More to explore
American CivilWar • Confederate
States of America • Emancipation
Proclamation • Johnson, Andrew
• Pioneer Life • Slavery • United States
Lincoln-Douglas
Debates
In the 1858 election for U.S. senator
from the state of Illinois, the candidates
were Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A.
Douglas. They met seven times to
debate, or discuss, important topics. The
main topic was whether slavery should
be allowed in new states forming to the
West.
Douglas was the Democratic Party candidate.
He was running for reelection.
He had sponsored the Kansas-Nebraska
Act of 1854. This law made slavery possible
in places where it had been banned
since 1820.
