Passage One Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States, was born in Kentucky in 1809, and died in Washington in 1865, the day after he had been shot by a Southern sympathizer. He is classed with Washington in greatness of deeds, but is nearer to the heart of all Americans because he sprang from the ranks of the common people, and rose from the log hut of birth to the White House. Because his family were pioneers in the newly settled West, he had practically no regular education, but he held firmly to his purpose to secure knowledge in every possible way. Stories are told of how he walked miles to secure a book and how he studied by the light of the fire at night after a hard day at farm work. After a hard struggle as clerk, village postmaster, and surveyor, he succeeded in passing the bar examinations, and became a lawyer in Springfield, Illinois. In 1846, he was elected to Congress. In 1858, he might have gained his place in the United States Senate had he not taken his stand against slavery in the famous debates which he entered with Stephen A. Douglas. These debates spread his fame throughout the country and led the way for his election to the presidency in 1860. Very shortly after his election, certain Southern states broke away from the Union, and the Civil War broke out. This strengthened Lincoln in his resolve to free the slaves and on January 1, 1863, he declared the Emancipation Proclamation. His second inaugural (就职) speech gave his plan for building up the peace of the nation, but he did not live to accomplish his desire. Many comparisons have been made of Washington and Lincoln. Each was in the highest sense a providential(神的) man raised up for his era, and filled with those outstanding qualities that enabled him to do the great work of the hour.