Collection contains material created by and related to Abraham Lincoln, including correspondence, documents, and legal records pertaining to his presidency, the Civil War, and his law practice. Also present are items concerning Lincoln's assassination and the conspirators, his funeral, and legacy.

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809-April 15, 1865), the sixteenth president of the United States, was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, the son of farmers, and was raised primarily in Indiana. The family moved to Illinois in 1830. In 1832, Lincoln served in the Illinois state militia during the Black Hawk War. He was elected to the state legislature in 1834, where he represented the Whig party until 1841. Lincoln studied law and received his license in 1836. In 1837, he moved to Springfield, Illinois and began a law practice with John Todd Stuart; he later formed new legal partnerships with Stephen T. Logan in 1841 and with William H. Herndon in 1844. Lincoln married Mary Todd (1818-1882) in 1842; the couple had four children. In 1846, Lincoln was elected to Congress, serving one term in the U.S. House of Representatives until 1849. He continued to practice law through the 1850s while also returning to the political realm following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act in 1854, which effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and allowed residents of the territories to determine the status of slavery, and which Lincoln opposed. In 1854, he was again elected to the Illinois state legislature, and he helped to form the Republican Party in 1856. Lincoln unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1858 but rose to national prominence with a series of well-publicized political debates with his opponent, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln was elected president in 1860 as a Republican. In April 1861, the Confederate States of America seceded from the U.S. and began the Civil War. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, granting freedom to enslaved persons within the Confederacy. He was reelected president in 1864 with Andrew Johnson as vice-president. The Civil War ended April 9, 1865, following General Robert E. Lee's surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant. On April 14, Lincoln was shot by assassin John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.; he died the following morning at age 56.

18.3 Linear Feet (16 boxes, 8 volumes)

RESTRICTED. Available with curatorial approval. Requires extended retrieval and delivery time.