Young Abe: From Log Cabin to White House | 5-Minute Videos

if the best of America could be embodied in one man that man would be Abraham Lincoln the 16th president of the United States born on February 12 1809 Lincoln lived his early years in a log cabin with a dirt floor he described his childhood and Adolescence in Kentucky and later Indiana in Bleak terms as the backside of this world his father Thomas Lincoln didn't see much practical value in formal education and his son received almost none but young Lincoln's instincts pointed in an entirely different direction he devoured every book he could get his hands on and aided by a near photographic memory he retained everything he read his goal was always what he called Improvement at age 19 now six feet four inches tall and all hard angles he worked on flat boats carrying cargo down the Mississippi River finally settling as a store clerk in New Salem Illinois there Lincoln quickly established a reputation for Good Humor scrupulous honesty and a fierce determination to make the most of himself In 1832 following a stint in the state militia he decided to pursue a legal career like many lawyers he was drawn to politics in 1834 he won election to the state legislature Lincoln endorsed the tenets of the Whig party which had been organized by Senator Henry Clay as a breakaway from the dominant Democratic Party clay and the Whigs supported policies which would build National Commercial infrastructure like roads and canals create a National Bank to stimulate investment and expansion into the west and build tariffs around struggling American Industries to protect them from foreign competition for many Northern figs like Lincoln slavery was also an issue and in 1837 Lincoln made his first public statement against slavery condemning it as founded on Injustice and bad policy in 1846 Lincoln was elected to congress to represent the newly created Seventh District in Central Illinois what he hoped would be the start of a career in National politics quickly fizzled Lincoln criticized President James Polk a Democrat for goading Mexico into war it was a principled but unpopular stance and cost him re-election he returned to Illinois in 1849 at the end of his solitary term to devote himself to his law practice it quickly established himself as one of the top attorneys in the state his ability to master the facts of a case no matter how complex and then weave those facts into a coherent narrative always leavened by his inexhaustible supply of funny stories made him irresistible to juries but in 1854 he was pulled back into Politics the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act which would open the door to the expansion of slavery into the new territories west of the Mississippi River aroused him he said as he had never been before in 1856 Lincoln found a new political home with a new anti-slavery party the Republicans running as a republican for the first time he contested the U.S Senate seat held by Illinois's favorite Democratic son Stephen Douglas who had authored the Kansas Nebraska Act what was supposed to be an easy win for Douglas turned into a hard-fought campaign in seven open-air debates across the state sometimes before as many as fifteen thousand people the two men hammered each other over the slavery issue Lincoln narrowly lost the election but one wide recognition as a rising star his star burned even brighter after he gave a speech at Cooper Union in New York City there he articulated how the original intent of the founders had been for the steady elimination of slavery the time had now come to act on that intent when the Republican National Convention met in Chicago in May 1860 it was assumed that William Seward a prominent senator from New York would be the party nominee but Lincoln to the Delight of the Hometown Illinois crowd slipped past him on the third ballot the Democrats in contrast could not unite behind one candidate they splintered into two factions a moderate one led by Lincoln's old Nemesis Stephen Douglas and a radical pro-slavery one led by John Breckenridge of Kentucky Lincoln's victory was thus assured on Election Day November 6 1860 Lincoln received only 39 percent of the popular vote but 59 of the Electoral College the southern states however refused to accept this outcome the Civil War the country had avoided for six decades through one compromise after another could be avoided no longer the heavy burden of leading the nation through that war would fall on the broad shoulders of a man about whom few knew anything but who many would soon come to Revere I'm Alan gelso author of Abraham Lincoln Redeemer president for Prager University thank you for watching this video to keep prageru videos free please consider making a tax deductible donation