Intermediate Reading Exercise

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Hodgenville, Kentucky, USA. His parents were Thomas Lincoln, a farmer, and Nancy Hanks. His family was very poor. Abraham had one brother and one sister. His brother died in childhood. They grew up in a small log cabin house, with just one room inside.

Although slavery was legal in Kentucky at that time, Lincoln's father, who was a religious Baptist, refused to own any slaves. When Lincoln was seven years old, his family moved to Indiana, and later to Illinois. In his childhood he helped his father on the farm, but when he was 22 years old he left home and moved to New Salem, Illinois, where he worked in a general store. Later, he said that he had gone to school for just one year, but that was enough to learn how to read, write, and do simple math.

In 1842, he married Mary Todd Lincoln. They had four children, but three of them died when they were very young. Abraham Lincoln was sometimes called Abe Lincoln or "Honest Abe" after he ran miles to give a costumer the right amount of change. The nickname "Honest Abe" came from a time when he started a business that failed. Instead of running away like many people would have, he stayed and worked to pay off his debt.

He has also been called the "Great Emancipator" because of his work to end slavery in the United States. In 1863, he declared that all slaves held in the rebellious Confederate States were free. He also sponsored the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Ratified in 1865, nine months after his assassination, that amendment completely outlawed slavery in the United States.