Birth and Early Life of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, in Hardin County, Kentucky (now part of LaRue County). He was the second child of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. His early life was marked by poverty and hard labor, as his family struggled to make a living through farming and manual work. Despite these challenges, Lincoln developed a strong desire for education, often walking miles to borrow books and teach himself to read and write. The frontier environment exposed him to the realities of rural life, shaping his values of self-reliance, perseverance, and empathy. His family faced several hardships, including disputes over land and the death of his mother in 1818. These formative experiences instilled in Lincoln a deep sense of responsibility and moral grounding, which would later influence his leadership, political philosophy, and unwavering commitment to justice and equality in the United States.