The Life and Writings of Abraham Lincoln (29 page)

1806
JUNE
12. Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks are married near Beechland, Washington Co., Ky. They then settle in Elizabethtown, Hardin Co.

1807
FEBRUARY
10. Their first child, Sarah Lincoln, is born.

1808
MAY.
They move to Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Ky.

1809
FEBRUARY
12. Abraham Lincoln is born there.

        
MARCH
4. James Madison is inaugurated President, succeeding Thomas Jefferson.

1811 Some time during this year the Lincoln family moves to a farm on Knob Creek. Lincoln attends the ABC schools in the neighborhood for a short period.

1813
MARCH
4. James Madison is inaugurated for a second term.

1816
DECEMBER
(
circa
). The Lincoln family moves to Southern Indiana and builds an open-faced camp near Gentryville in what is now Spencer Co.

1817
MARCH
4. James Monroe is inaugurated.

1818
OCTOBER
5. Nancy Hanks Lincoln dies.

         
WINTER.
Abraham and his sister Sarah go to school.

         
DECEMBER
13. Mary Todd, who is to become Abraham Lincoln’s wife, is born in Lexington, Ky.

1819
DECEMBER
2. Thomas Lincoln marries a widow, Sarah Bush Johnston, in Elizabethtown, Ky. and takes her and her three children to his home in Indiana.

1820
MARCH
8. The Missouri Compromise is adopted, forbidding slavery in the territories north of 36° 30’.

1821
MARCH
4. James Monroe is inaugurated for a second term.

1825
MARCH
4. John Quincy Adams is inaugurated.

1826
AUGUST
2. Sarah Lincoln, Abraham’s elder sister, marries Aaron Grigsby.

1828
JANUARY
20. Sarah Lincoln Grigsby dies in childbirth.

        
APRIL TO JUNE.
Abraham Lincoln is hired by James Gentry to make a flatboat trip down the Mississippi to New Orleans.

1829
MARCH
4. Andrew Jackson is inaugurated.

1830
MARCH.
The Lincoln family moves from Indiana to Illinois. They settle near Decatur.

1831
JANUARY
1. William Lloyd Garrison issues the first number of
The Liberator
, an anti-slavery newspaper.

         
MARCH.
Lincoln goes down the Sangamon River in a canoe with John Hanks. They land four miles from Springfield, where they build a flatboat for Denton Offut for a voyage to New Orleans. On
APRIL
19 the boat is stranded on a milldam at New Salem, but Lincoln succeeds in getting it across and continues toward New Orleans.

         
JUNE.
Lincoln returns from New Orleans by steamboat to St. Louis and walks to Decatur, Ill.

         
JULY.
Lincoln goes to New Salem to become a storekeeper for Denton Offut.

         
AUGUST
21. A slave insurrection, led by Nat Turner, breaks out in Virginia and is put down after much bloodshed.

1832
JANUARY
6. Garrison founds the New England Anti-Slavery Society, the first in America.

         
SPRING.
Offut’s store having failed, Lincoln decides to run for the State Legislature on the Whig ticket and issues his first campaign address on
MARCH
9.

         
APRIL
6. The Indian Chief, Black Hawk, enters Illinois with five hundred warriors.

         
APRIL
21. Lincoln enrolls in the army for the Black Hawk War, and is elected Captain of his company, He is mustered out on
JULY
16 without having seen any actual fighting.

         
AUGUST
6. Lincoln is defeated in the campaign for the
Legislature, although his own precinct votes 277 to 7 for him.

1832
AUTUMN.
In partnership with William Berry, Lincoln takes over the stock of another store.

1833
MARCH
4. Andrew Jackson is inaugurated for a second term.

         
SPRING.
The Lincoln-Berry store fails. Berry dies later (
JANUARY
10, 1835), leaving Lincoln saddled with a debt of $1100.

         
MAY
7. Lincoln is made Postmaster of New Salem, his first Federal office.

1834
SUMMER.
Lincoln runs again for the State Legislature and on
AUGUST
4 is elected. In
DECEMBER
he leaves Springfield for Vandalia to take his seat. There he meets Stephen A. Douglas for the first time.

1835
FEBRUARY
13. The session ended, Lincoln returns to New Salem.

         It is during this year that the love affair between Lincoln and Ann Rutledge is supposed to have culminated in an engagement. In
AUGUST
, she becomes ill with fever, and on
AUGUST
25, she dies.

1836
MARCH
2. Texas declares its independence of Mexico. On
MARCH
6 the Alamo falls. In april, the Mexican Army under Santa Anna is defeated and he is taken prisoner.

         
JUNE
13. Lincoln announces his candidacy for re-election to the Legislature.

         
AUGUST
1. Mary Owens first arrives in New Salem and Lincoln begins to court her. On this same day, Lincoln is again elected to the Legislature with the highest votes of all the candidates in Sangamon Co.

         
SEPTEMBER
9. Lincoln applies for a license to practice law.

         
DECEMBER
5. The Legislature convenes at Vandalia.

1837
FEBRUARY
28. In a vote in the Legislature, Springfield is chosen as the state capital. Lincoln plays a prominent part in making this move.

         
MARCH
1. The Supreme Court of Illinois grants Lincoln a certificate of admission to the bar.

         
MARCH
4. Martin Van Buren is inaugurated.

         
MARCH
15. The Legislature adjourns, and Lincoln returns to New Salem.

         
APRIL
12. Lincoln arranges to become the law partner of John T. Stuart.

         
APRIL
15. Lincoln leaves New Salem and takes up residence in Springfield where he rooms with Joshua Speed.

         
AUGUST
16. Lincoln writes to Mary Owens giving her an opportunity to end the rather tepid romance between them.

         
SUMMER.
Mary Todd visits Springfield, but Lincoln does not meet her. Lincoln is re-elected to the State Legislature.

         
NOVEMBER
7. Elijah Lovejoy, abolitionist editor, is killed at Alton, Illinois, by a pro-slavery mob.

1838
JANUARY
27. Lincoln speaks before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield on the subject: “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions.”

1839
JUNE
20. The state officers are officially ordered to move from Vandalia to Springfield—the new state capital.

         
AUTUMN.
Mary Todd returns to Springfield and Lincoln meets her for the first time.

         
DECEMBER
9. The Legislature begins its initial session at Springfield.

1840 Lincoln plays a prominent part in the Whig political campaign this year. He is elected for the fourth and last time to the State Legislature which convenes on
NOVEMBER
23rd.

1840 During this year—probably in the latter part of it—he becomes engaged to Mary Todd.

1841
JANUARY
1. “The fatal first of January.” Lincoln breaks off (or attempts to break off) his engagement to Mary Todd. According to Herndon, he was to have been married to her on this day. On this day also, Speed sells his store, and, a few months later moves to Louisville, Ky.

         
MARCH
4. William Henry Harrison is inaugurated.

         
APRIL
4. Harrison dies, and John Tyler becomes President.

         
APRIL
14. The Lincoln-Stuart law partnership is dissolved, and Lincoln becomes a partner of Stephen T. Logan.

         
AUGUST.
Lincoln visits Speed in Louisville.

1842.
SPRING
and
SUMMER.
Lincoln has a long and intimate correspondence with Joshua Speed on the general subject of matrimony.

         
LATE SUMMER.
Lincoln again meets Mary Todd and they write a series of letters for the
Sangamon Journal
lampooning a rival Democratic politician, James Shields.

         
SEPTEMBER
17. Lincoln is challenged to a duel by Shields.

         
SEPTEMBER
22. Lincoln and Shields go to Alton to fight, but the duel is called off at the last moment.

         
NOVEMBER
4. Lincoln is married to Mary Todd. They go to live at the Globe Tavern in Springfield.

1843
AUGUST
1. A son, Robert Todd Lincoln, is born to the Lincolns while they are still living at the Globe Tavern. Shortly after this they move to 214 South 4th Street.

1844
MAY.
The Lincolns move into their final home at 8th and Jackson Streets, Springfield.

         
AUTUMN.
The Lincoln-Logan partnership is dissolved. William H. Herndon’s association with Lincoln begins at this time, although Herndon has not yet been admitted to the bar.

         
AUTUMN.
Lincoln is made a Presidential elector on the Whig ticket for Henry Clay. During the campaign he returns to Indiana to speak and addresses his old friends at Gentryville.

         
DECEMBER
9. Herndon is admitted to the bar and becomes Lincoln’s partner.

1845
MARCH
4. James K. Polk is inaugurated.

         
DECEMBER
22. Texas is annexed by the United States.

1846
MARCH
10. A second son, Edward Baker, is born to Lincoln.

        
APRIL
18. Lincoln sends an example of his poetry to Andrew Johnston, a friend who also aspires to write poetry.

        
MAY
1. The Whig Convention in Petersburg, Illinois, nominates Lincoln for the United States Congress.

        
MAY
8. Battles take place between United States and Mexican forces at Palo Alto, and, on
MAY
9, at Resaca de la Palma.

        
AUGUST
3. Lincoln is elected to Congress.

        
AUGUST
8. The Wilmot Proviso, forbidding slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico, is passed in the House.

        
AUGUST
10. The Wilmot Proviso is held up in the Senate at the end of a session which is permitted to expire without the final passage of the Proviso or of a $2,000,000 war-supplies bill.

        
SEPTEMBER
6. Lincoln again corresponds with Andrew Johnston, sending him another example of his poetry.

1847
JULY
1. Lincoln leaves Springfield to visit Chicago for the first time. He attends the River and Harbor Convention there on
JULY
5–7.

1847
OCTOBER
25. The Lincoln family leaves Springfield for Kentucky en route to Washington.

        
NOVEMBER
25. The Lincolns leave Lexington to proceed to Washington, where they arrive on
DECEMBER
2.

        
DECEMBER
6. The House of Representatives convenes, and Lincoln is seated for the first time.

        
DECEMBER
22. Lincoln offers a series of resolutions in the House, asking the President whether the “spot” on which American blood was first spilled in the war with Mexico was on United States or Mexican territory.

1848
JANUARY
12. Lincoln attacks President Polk’s war policy during a speech in the House of Representatives.

        
FEBRUARY
2. A treaty between the United States and Mexico is signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican War.

        
JUNE
7–9. Lincoln attends the Whig National Convention in Philadelphia where he supports Zachary Taylor for the Presidential nomination.

        
JULY
4. Lincoln is present at the great ceremony of the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington monument.

        
AUGUST
14. Congress adjourns.

        
SEPTEMBER
9. Lincoln leaves Washington for a speaking tour in New England in behalf of Zachary Taylor, Whig nominee for President. He visits Worcester, New Bedford, Boston, Lowell, Dorchester, Chelsea, Dedham, Cambridge and Taunton.

        
SEPTEMBER
22. Lincoln and Seward speak on the same platform at a Whig mass meeting at Tremont Temple, Boston.

        
SEPTEMBER
23. Lincoln returns to Springfield where he arrives on
OCTOBER
10 to find that his constituents are
disgusted with his attack on the administration’s handling of the Mexican War.

1848
LATE NOVEMBER.
Lincoln leaves Springfield for Washington where he arrives on
DECEMBER
7.

1849
JANUARY
13. Lincoln attempts to introduce a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia with provision for compensation to owners.

        
MARCH
4. The House adjourns early on Sunday morning. Lincoln’s term as Congressman expires.

        
MARCH
5. Lincoln attends Zachary Taylor’s inauguration and goes to the inaugural ball during the evening.

        
MARCH
7. The United States Supreme Court admits Lincoln to practice before it. About two weeks later he leaves Washington and returns to Springfield where he arrives on
MARCH
31.