In Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America, William Gienapp has written a great and accurate biography of one of the most controversial presidents in the history of the United States. The book doesn't go in-depth about Lincoln, but it gives a nice oversight of Lincoln during the Civil War, but it briefly covers his early life and his life as a young man. Gienapp shows us the growth of Lincoln as a man, and as the president of the divided United States of America, the book gives us an account of Lincoln's ascension to the legend he is today in American history.
The first chapter, promptly titled "A Son of the Frontier", covers Abraham Lincoln's childhood and his life in a pioneer family lifestyle. It talks briefly about his parent's meeting and his ancestry, then talks about his birth. Abraham Lincoln, named after his grandfather, was born in Kentucky in 1809 to Thomas and Nancy Hanks. During his childhood and early youth, the family would move several times, first to Indiana and later to Illinois. Lincoln learned at a very early age that slavery was wrong and referred to himself as 'naturally antislavery". Lincoln's mother died when Lincoln was still a boy and the year afterward Thomas remarried to Sarah Bush Johnston. Lincoln always regretted the fact that he didn't have a lot of learning opportunities as a kid; he was a guy that loved to learn but didn't have any good schools around him and only attended a formal class "no more than a year". Lincoln was actually abused for his studying and reading by his father, who disapproved of it because it caused Lincoln to neglect his work. It seems like his education made him a spectacle because people would flock to him to hear him talk and listen to his educated speeches. Lincoln started working on the river and sailing on flatboats to New Orleans, and this is when he knew that he wanted to be different from his father and have a better life. He sailed to New Salem, Illinois, and quickly made friends and began to start his new life. Lincoln did a little military time there, becoming a Captain in his volunteer unit. In March 1832, he tried to run for the state legislature, but he was unsuccessful, and once again Abraham Lincoln was looking for a livelihood. He thought about learning how to blacksmith or taking up studying trade; however, he ended up becoming partners with a guy in a local store. The store didn't last long, and he sold out to his partner, and later became the postmaster of the village but that didn't pay him enough. In 1834, Lincoln ran for state legislature again, this time, he won though as a Whig but received bipartisan support. He met a woman named Mary Owens in 1833, and they would start a relationship in 1836, which he hoped she would end but when he didn't he proposed to her. She turned him down, but he wanted her more now, that's when he suspected that he might be in love with Mary Owens.
In December of 1836, Lincoln was named the Whigs' floor leader, and a couple of mon...
