Lincoln, Abraham

1809 – Born on the 12th of February. 16th President of the United States of America.

1834-1849 - Member of Illinois state legislature (Whig).1847 - Representative from Illinois (Whig)

1837-1865 - Held private law practice in Springfield, Illinois

1854 - 1856 - candidate for Republican vice-presidential nomination. Publicly argued against Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854

1858 - Unsuccessfully seeking election to Senate , engaged incumbent Stephen Douglas in series of debates (Lincoln-Douglas debates), accepting slavery in states where already practiced but criticizing Douglas' willingness to extend slavery into territories

1861-1865 - 16th president of US (1st Republican president). Oversaw Union during Civil War. Signed Homestead Act 1862 (granting public land to squatters after five years of settlement). Issued Emancipation Proclamation. as symbolic gesture, freed all slaves in secessionist states and regions). After battle of Gettysburg, delivered Gettysburg Address (dedicating Gettysburg battleground as monument to troops killed there)

1865 - Assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while attending play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater. Perennially ranked as one of the two or three greatest presidents.