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ABRAHAM LINCOLNA Good Citizen of the United States

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” – Abraham Lincoln

Abe was born in Kentucky in 1809 to a poor family of farmers. They grew their own food and made their own clothes and tools. The children helped take care of the farm. As a young boy, Abe had to plow the fields, carry water, chop wood, and plant and harvest corn.


The total time Abe spent in school was less than a year. He loved school, but he could only go in the winters because there wasn’t much to do on the farm. Most of what Abe learned he had to teach himself by reading books.

He loved to read and to learn new things. People would often see him working in the fields and reading a book at the same time!


Before Abe decided to become a lawyer, he started a store with a friend of his. They borrowed a lot of money from the bank to start their store. Shortly after the store opened, Abe's friend died. Abe couldn’t keep the store open, but he didn’t have enough money to pay the bank back. Abe worked for 15 years doing lots of different jobs to pay back the bank.

What new information did you learn about from this slide?

What quality do you think was being demonstrated here?

What Do You Think?

Abraham Lincoln has to work hard his whole life. He worked hard to get an education. He worked hard to make an honest living.

How does hard work make you a good citizen?

Hard Work

"I haven't been caught lying yet, and I don't mean to be." – Abraham Lincoln

As a young man, Abraham Lincoln worked as a general store clerk. One evening he was counting the money in the drawers after closing and found that he was a few cents over what should have been in the drawer. When he realized that he had accidentally short-changed a customer earlier that day, Lincoln walked a long distance to return the money to the customer.

On another occasion Lincoln discovered that he had given a woman too little tea for her money. He put what he owed her in a package and personally delivered it to the woman--who never realized that she was not given the proper amount of tea until Lincoln showed up at her doorstep!

"I haven't been caught lying yet, and I don't mean to be." – Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was a great lawyer and helped out a lot of people.

One time where Abe was defending a client in court. He had someone get up to testify that his client was innocent, but the person lied about what happened. Abraham Lincoln was the only one who knew the man testifying had lied so he stood up and said: “Gentlemen, I depended on this witness to clear my client. He has lied. I ask that no attention be paid to his testimony. Let his words be stricken out, if my case fails. I do not wish to win in this way.”

Once a man paid Abe twenty-five dollars for his services, but Lincoln sent him back ten of it, saying he was being too generous.



What Do You Think?

Abraham Lincoln has many nicknames, but the most famous one is “Honest Abe”

How does being honest make you a good citizen?

Honesty

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."

When Abraham Lincoln first became president, a lot of people knew he didn’t like slavery. They thought he would try to make slavery illegal right away. Some states said they would make their own country if he freed the slaves.

Abraham Lincoln knew it was important to keep the country united. So he decided it wasn’t right for him to free the slaves without trying to compromise with the slave owners.


Abe initially proposed to buy slaves from the slave owners to make all people free, but the slave owners did not like this idea. Instead the states with the slave owners broke apart from the United States to form their own country.


Abraham Lincoln knew that unless the United States could stay together, there would always be fighting. So he entered into the Civil War to try to get the states that left to come back. It was a long war, but after 5 years it was over, and the United States were united again.



What Do You Think?

Abraham Lincoln fought to keep the United States together. He wanted peace and unity between all the members of our nation.

How can trying to keep peace and unity make you a good citizen?

Peace and Unity

"If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” – Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln’s parents both thought that slavery was wrong. They didn’t think it was right treat people poorly just because their skin was a different color. So the family moved from the state of Kentucky to another state that made slavery illegal.

Because of this Abraham Lincoln’s first impression of slavery was that it was something to flee from


When Abraham Lincoln became president the Civil War started. The war was between the states that wanted to keep slavery and the states that wanted to make slavery against the law. Abraham Lincoln had hoped to free the slaves peacefully, but he realized that the only way to end slavery would be through war.


After three years of war, on January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This proclamation declared that “all persons held as slaves are and henceforward shall be free.” There was still a lot more Abraham Lincoln had to do to free the slaves, but this was a great start.



What Do You Think?

Abraham Lincoln believed that people should be treated equally. He fought hard to end slavery because he knew it was wrong.

How can treating people equally make you a good citizen?

Equality