Frontier Life The year after his mother’s death was bitterly sad for Abraham His sister Sarah took care of him and did the household chores A year later his father remarried His new wife was a loving woman Sarah Sally Bush Johnston Lincoln Sally was a widow with three children With books among her possessions a rare luxury then she brought some sophistication to the frontier cabin She became a kind and good mother to Abraham and his sister and the boy always called his stepmother Mama With few schools and teachers on the frontier education was hard to come by Farming and chores took up nearly every day of every season Altogether Abraham attended one year of school off and on between the ages of eleven and fifteen His education was uninspiring but Somehow I could read write and solve basic math problems Lincoln later said Learning to read opened Sarah Sally Bush Johnston married Thomas Lincoln on December 2 1819 She was a kind stepmother to Abraham 12
Farmwork and chores kept Abraham from attending school for a formal education He taught himself mostly by reading books up a world of self-education for Abraham An avid reader he was deeply curious and developed his natural skill for language and he loved to tell stories and jokes Sally encouraged Abraham in his love of learning though his father was not supportive Later Abraham would say that no son could love a mother more than he loved Sally When Abraham was seventeen he lost another person he loved when his sister Sarah died during pregnancy Entering Politics In 1830 the Lincolns moved from Indiana to Illinois enticed by reports of good soil Illinois residents had voted to outlaw slavery eight years earlier Some people objected to slavery on the grounds that it was morally wrong to enslave other human beings Others objected that slavery created unfair competition for work Slaveholders received the benefit of unpaid slave labor for example while free laborers had to be self-sufficient 13
By this time Abraham had grown tall 6 feet 4 inches 1 9 meters and strong He was ambitious intelligent and knew he could be more than a poor farmer When he was twenty-one Lincoln left home to live in New Salem outside Springfield Illinois There he ran a general store and later borrowed money to buy his own store The community welcomed this friendly newcomer and his funny stories He won Abraham decided to leave the farm and pursue politics and the law instead of farming a reputation for being honest and helpful and he continued educating himself by borrowing books on a wide range of subjects and going to political meetings Just twenty-three years old Lincoln ran in 1832 for his first political position to serve in the state legislature He presented himself as a common workingman with humor and good sense If elected I will be thankful he said in a speech If beaten I can do as I have been doing work for a living The young politician was in favor of large-scale projects to improve the state’s infrastructure such as building bridges and railroads He also supported a national banking system because the United States did not yet have a standard form of paper money Individual banks printed their own currency and negotiated loans on their own terms Settlers such as 14
Thomas Lincoln had lived and worked without banks They often bartered trading their work for goods instead of money But Lincoln knew that big expensive projects needed a standardized financial system Soon after his decision to run for office the Black Hawk War May August 1832 broke out Lincoln joined the Illinois militia a group of volunteer soldiers He planned to be back in time for the August elections To his surprise his company of militiamen elected him their captain which he later said was a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since He served for three months and though he never fought his service boosted his self-confidence Members of the Sauk and Fox American Indian nations flee from the Battle of Bad Axe during the Black Hawk War in 1832 15
