HPC Portrayals

ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809-1865)

by Dennis Boggs

From the time that Abraham Lincoln learned to read, his thirst for knowledge was never-ending. He once said, “The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read yet.” He was well aware that to get ahead in life, one needed all the knowledge that one could get, and with that in mind, he immersed himself in the written word.

Lincoln was self-taught in every aspect of his life. He went from being a backwoods farm-boy to becoming a well-read man of the world, even though he had been exposed to very little. He told a friend, “My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it.” At 21 years of age, Lincoln left his family and he very seldom looked back. He moved to New Salem, Illinois in 1831 and began a journey that would take him to places he had only dreamed of, and as his world grew, so did he. He started a business, enlisted in the militia, became involved in politics, and began to study the law.

On April 15, 1837, at the age of 28, Lincoln moved to Springfield, Illinois. Little did he know that this would exactly mark the halfway point of his life, and that the second half of Lincoln’s life would play a significant role in shaping our nation’s history. He became a husband, a father, and a congressman. A friend to almost everyone he met, in 1860 he was elected the 16th President of the United States, at a time when our country was being torn apart.

Less than a month after Lincoln was elected President, the state of South Carolina claimed to have seceded from the Union, and the nation was plunged into four long years of numerous bloody battles, now known as the American Civil War. This war would affect almost every family in America. Like our seventh President, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln believed that the Union was perpetual and could never be dissolved. He also believed in the truths written in the Declaration of Independence, such as “all men are created equal.” Lincoln knew that to survive as a nation, we needed to show the rest of the world that we were willing to do whatever it took to live up to that truth. Thus, upon his shoulders not only rested the future of our nation, but as Lincoln saw it, the future of all mankind.

Throughout the four long years of tremendous bloodshed, Lincoln never once lost faith in the spirit of America. What kept him going was not “what America was” or “what America had been,” but it was rather what he knew “America could be.” He was always willing to die for this belief, and ultimately he did. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, leaving a nation in much grief and sorrow.

DENNIS BOGGS

Dennis Boggs travels all over the nation bringing Abraham Lincoln’s story to life for audiences of all ages. With his extensive theatrical background, Mr. Boggs was first introduced to playing the role of President Lincoln for a production group in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. Afterwards, he felt a deep need for continuing to research and study this historical figure. After reading countless books and papers, he gained an even deeper passion for portraying the 16th President, and now, as a fulltime career for over a decade, he has been presenting Abraham Lincoln through his program entitled “Meet Mr. Lincoln.” Mr. Boggs travels from coast to coast presenting President Lincoln for schools, colleges and universities, libraries, museums, Chautauqua programs, national reenactments, civic groups, fund raisers, as well as many other special events. His credits include documentaries for the History Channel, Being Lincoln and Looking forLincoln, as well as being prominently featured on several PBS programming stations. He has appeared on the world famous stage of the Grand Ole Opry and has also presented many programs for the National Park Service including The Carl Sandburg National Historic Site, The Jimmy Carter National Historic Site, The Cumberland Gap Park, The Port Columbus Civil War Naval Museum, and the Andersonville National Historic Site. He has presented programs for the Washington, D.C. Historical Society and was also awarded First Place in The National Abraham Lincoln Look Alike & Oratorical Competition. He has even had the honor and privilege of presenting President Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Dennis and his wife Molly live in their hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. To learn more about Dennis Boggs visit www.meetmrlincoln.com.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Came from the humblest beginnings and rose to the highest office in the land with less than one year of formal education
Hired-hand, store clerk, postmaster, surveyor, a captain in the Black Hawk Indian
War, legislator, lawyer, congressman
The only President of the United States to patent an invention
A man of peace caught up in a time of war
A man of great humor brought to great sadness by the deaths of more than 600,000 Americans
Saved a nation and freed a people
On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, he became the first American President to lose his life to an assassin.

Lincoln’s administration brought us several visionary laws:

The Morrill Act gave federal lands to the states so that they might create land grant colleges or universities in each state.
The Pacific Highway Act brought about a transcontinental railroad.
The Homestead Act opened up the West for settlement.
The words “In God We Trust” were placed on our coinage.

QUOTES BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN

“Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.”

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”

“Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new at all.”

TIMELINE
1809	Born in Hardin County, Kentucky on February 12
1816	Lincoln family moves to Spencer County, Indiana.
1818	Lincoln’s mother (Nancy Hanks Lincoln) dies of milk sickness on October 5
1819	Thomas Lincoln marries Sarah Bush Johnston, who becomes Abe’s stepmother on December 2
1828	Abe’s sister (Sarah Lincoln Grigsby) dies giving childbirth on January 20. Abe takes first flatboat excursion to New Orleans; while there he witnessed a slave auction for the first time
1830	Lincoln family leaves Indiana and moves to Illinois.
1831	Abe makes his second flatboat trip to New Orleans. Upon return, moves out to live on his own in New Salem, Illinois
1832	Becomes candidate for Illinois General Assembly, but loses election Enlists in the Black Hawk Indian War
1834	Elected to the Illinois General Assembly August 4 – and would serve two more terms Begins to study Law
1837	Moves to Springfield, Illinois and becomes established as law partner of John T. Stuart
1842	Marries Mary Todd on November 4 Purchases a home in Springfield, Illinois
1843	First child, Robert Todd Lincoln, is born on August 1
1846	Second child, Edward (“Eddie”) Baker Lincoln, is born on March 10 Nominated to be the Whig candidate for U.S. Congress on May 1 Elected to the House of Representatives on August 3
1849	Leaves politics and returns to Springfield, Illinois to practice law
1850	Second son, Edward Baker Lincoln, dies on February 1 Earns the nickname “Honest Abe” Third child, William (“Willie”) Wallace Lincoln, is born on December 21
1853	Fourth (and last) child, Thomas (“Tad”) Lincoln, is born on April 4
1854	Re-enters politics opposing the Kansas-Nebraska Act
1856	Assists in organizing the new Republican Party of Illinois
1858	Nominated to be Republican Senator from Illinois against Democratic Candidate, Stephen A. Douglass. Gives “House Divided” speech and engages Douglass in seven debates in the following months, but fails to win the election.
1860	Elected 16th President of the United States – the first Republican to hold that position South Carolina claims that it has seceded from the Union and is followed by ten other southern states, forming what they called the Confederate States of America
1861	Leaves Springfield, Illinois for Washington, D.C. on February 11 Delivers his First Inaugural Address on March 4 Confederate artillery opens fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, marking the start of the American Civil War on April 12
1862	Third son, William Wallace Lincoln, dies at age 11 on February 20 Signs an act that would abolish slavery in the District of Columbia Issues a preliminary version of the Emancipation Proclamation – the beginning of freeing the slaves
1863	On January 1 issues the final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation allowing the freedom of all slaves in territories held by Confederates Confederate defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, marking the turning point of the war Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg Address at a ceremony dedicating the battlefield as a National Cemetery
1864	Appoints Ulysses S. Grant as General-in-Chief of the Federal Armies on March 12 Nominated for a second term as President on June 8 Reelected as President of the United States on November 8
1865	Delivers his Second Inaugural Address on March 4 General Robert E. Lee surrenders his army to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9 Lincoln makes his last public speech on April 11 Attends the play “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater on April 14 with his wife, Mary. Around 10:30 p.m. in the third act, John Wilkes Booth shoots the President in the head and escapes. President Lincoln is taken across the street to a small boarding house and never regains consciousness. President Abraham Lincoln dies at 7:22 a.m. on April 15

RECOMMENDED READING

Flood, Charles. 1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History. Simon and Schuster, 2009.

Goodwin, Doris. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Simon and Schuster, 2005.

Holzer, Harold. Lincoln: President-Elect. Simon and Schuster, 2008.

Leidner, Gordon. Lincoln on God and Country. White Mane Publishing, 2000.

McClintock, Russell. Lincoln and the Decision for War: the Northern Response to Secession.

The University of North Carolina Press, 2008.

Prokopowicz, Gerald. Did Lincoln Own Slaves and Other Frequently Asked Questions About Abraham Lincoln. Vintage Books, 2008.

White, Ronald. A. Lincoln: A Biography. Random House Publishing Group, 2009.