Abraham Lincoln: he brought freedom to the slaves, and held the Union together during the Civil War. His profound and poetic speeches are famous around the world, evidence of the greatness of American’s most beloved leader.
But did you know that the sixteenth president of the United States was also a backwoods hillbilly from America’s western frontier, with a Kentucky accent so thick you could cut it? Or that he liked wrestling matches, dirty jokes, and had a reputation for telling hilarious, R-rated stories that weren’t suitable for mixed company?
From his childhood working as a virtual slave for an abusive father, to sailing a river raft to New Orleans, to the Illinois General Assembly, Congress, and the White House, the story of Abraham Lincoln’s life is the story of America. He mourned the deaths of almost everyone he loved, endured marriage to a wife whose mental health issues made her a domestic abuser, and lost more elections than he won. But Abraham Lincoln believed in one thing above all: that everyone deserved a fair shot at the American dream.
Why did John Wilkes Booth really shoot Abraham Lincoln? The truth is as shocking now as it was in 1865.
