Abraham Lincoln A Hero

Cole Peterson
Mr. Vollmer
English 12, A
20 October, 2015
Abraham Lincoln Not everyone is a hero, but anybody can be one. Heroes are rare, they are few and far between. Not every person has the ability to be heroic. A hero is someone who is looked up to, someone who is admired. A hero is respected, and more often than not they possess courage. Heroes are viewed differently from person to person. A local elementary teacher might be considered a hero to some, while a veteran is a hero to others. To me Abraham Lincoln is a hero. Abraham Lincoln was a hard worker, he overcame adversity, and he had a tremendous amount of bravery. Abraham Lincoln is a hero because he supported a just cause, and stood up for the weak and vulnerable. Abraham Lincoln
"His first exposure to the wider world came when, in 1828 and 1831, Lincoln traveled in a flatboat down the Mississippi to New Orleans" (The Presidents, 1996). After years of traveling around Abraham found himself back in Illinois, in the villages of New Salem, and Springfield (Jaffa 1). Lincoln worked several jobs, he even volunteered to fight in the Black Hawk War, yet his duties were limited. Then, in 1832, Abraham Lincoln made his first attempt at being a politician. He ran for the Illinois Legislature, and although he initially failed, he continued his aspirations to be a politician. Two years after his first run, Lincoln was elected into the Illinois House of Representatives (Jaffa 1). Lincoln remained in the House of Representatives for six years, from 1834 until 1840. "Indeed, into the 1850s, Lincoln's main political task remained advocating his own brand of an economic vision that called for the development of the United States through the nurturing of banking, commerce, industry, and transportation, and through the movement from a poor sort of farming toward intensive, scientific agriculture" (The Presidents, 1996). In 1847 Abraham and his family moved to Washington D.C. Here, Lincoln served a term in the The United States House of Representatives. While doing so Lincoln ran into conflict, and because of this his interest in politics diminished. He soon found himself involved with Law, as an attorney. As time
Abraham Lincoln was elected as President on November 6th, 1860. Lincoln was president during the nations greatest internal conflict. Lincoln strongly opposed slavery, which lead to the succession of many slavery infested states. These southern states feared a Republican influenced government (Korn 1). "Lincoln's presidency was devoted to saving the Union, which meant, in his mind, the rededication of the nation to the principles of the Declaration of Independence, and especially to the proposition that all men are created equal" (Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, 2000). By his inauguration, seven American states had withdrawn from the Union and formed a new and liberated government. Lincoln decided it was necessary to assemble an army to fight to protect the Union. With this decision came immense pressure. Lives would be sacrificed, and ultimately victory was uncertain (Korn 1). After four violent years of battle, the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. Slaves all over the southern states were now legally free. On January 1, 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation declared that all slaves in states in Rebellion against the Union "shall be then, thencefoward, and forever free" (Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology). Abraham Lincoln had saved the country from being divided into separate areas, and more importantly he brought justice to those in need of it.