The eldest, Robert Todd, was born in 1843. Edward Baker born in 1846, but died prematurely in 1850 at the age of four. William Wallace was born later that same year that Edward had died. Finally, Thomas was born in 1853. (Whitney 135).
When Lincoln moved to New Salem working as a clerk and postmaster, he took advantage of idle hours to improve his therefore meager education. He read all the books, newspapers, and political tracts that came his way. Because he could read and write, Lincoln was often called on to draw up legal papers for the less literate citizens of New Salem. When Lincoln moved to Springfield in 1834 he began to study law and was admitted to the bar two years later. As a rising young lawyer, Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846, and moved to Washington to serve out his term, where he spoke out against the Mexican War and unsuccessfully attempted to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. In 1849 after his term ended, Lincoln returned to Springfield to resume his career as a lawyer and devoted move time to his family. Again, he encountered numerous business set backs and challenges but he persisted. (Whitney 140). In 1854, he came back to the political arena. One of the first things he did was to oppose the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which threatened to extend slavery to other states. In 1855, he ran for the Senate but was defeated. He ran for the vice presidency position the following year but was also defeated. In 1860, Lincoln's years of hard work paid off when he was elected as the sixteenth President of the United States. But at this time, the states were no longer united. Southern militants were threatening to secede from the union if Lincoln was elected. In December, with the Republican victory final, South Carolina seceded. By February, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had followed. These states joined together to form the Confederate States of America, a self-declared independent nation apart from the United States of America.
