Historical Context: Understanding Lincoln
Americans often admire Lincoln as a self-made man leaving behind the farms of his childhood and quickly beginning a remarkable and impressive career in both politics and law. The ultimate success of Lincoln’s self-made image was in his rapid rise upward in society and the ultimate success he made for himself along the way. Lincoln was know as the “Railsplitter,” but as he entered the presidency at the age of 51 he would later become known as the “Great Emancipator” and his legend would live on well into the twenty-first century. Lincoln remains an iconic legend in American history, known as a man who was able to triumph over inherited adversity he continues to captivate historians.
The timeline below lends insight into Lincoln's early life. His story from poverty and deprivation to high national esteem continues to fascinate Americans. Joshua Speed, a long-time friend of Abraham Lincoln recalled, "Now, for me to have lived to see such a man rise from point to point, and from place to place, filling all the places to which he was called with honor and distinction, until he reached the presidency, filling the presidential chair in the most trying time that any ruler ever had, seems to me more like fiction than fact. None but a genius like his could have accomplished so much; and none but a government like ours could produce such a man. It gave the young eagle scope for his wings; he tried it, and soared to the top!" (Incidents in the early life of A. Lincoln, Joshua Speed) |
Lincoln: Self-Made or Self-Invented? |
The question of whether or not Lincoln was truly self-made or whether he projected this image upon society is often debated among historians. Lincoln himself lends insight into this image along with one of the best descriptions of his early years in his own Autobiographical Sketch (1859). Below is Lincoln's autobiographical sketch along with an example of a close reading essay that lends insight into whether or not Lincoln was truly self-made.
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Close Reading
Secondary Sources from Historians:
Kenneth J. Winkle: "Abraham Lincoln: Self-Made Man"
Erika Nunamaker: Lincoln's Pursuit of "Egalitarian Refinement": Evidence from His Mahogany Sofa
Erika Nunamaker: Lincoln's Pursuit of "Egalitarian Refinement": Evidence from His Mahogany Sofa