THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

	Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky on February12, 1809. His family was very poor.
	Abe loved to learn. He walked many miles to school every day.
	At night he did his homework by the light of the fireplace.
	He became a lawyer. He lived in Illinois. People called him ”Honest Abe.”
	One day, he visited the South. He saw people buying slaves. Abe said, ”It is wrong for people to have salves .Some day all people shall be free.”He wanted to become President of the Unied States.

	Many people in the North said,”Lincoln is right. The slaves should be free.”
	People in the South said, ”Lincoln is wrong. Each state can make its own laws about slaves. We need slaves to grow cotton and tovacco.
	In 1860,Abraham Lincoln won the election. He became the sixteenth President of the United Stares.
	Eleven states did not want to be part of the United States. They formed a new country. They called their county ”The Confederate States of America.”

	But Lincoln said, ”The states must stay united.” A terrible war began between the North and the South. It was called the Civil War. Many people died in this war.
	At last, in 1865,the Civil War ended. The South lost and came back into the union. The slaves were free. Lincoln had saved the country.
	Black people were very happy to be free. The people of the North were happy too. Lincoln planned ways to help the South after the war. He wanted the whole country together again.

	But the people in the South were not happy. Many of them hated Lincoln. JohnWikes Booth was from the South. He was a famous actor. He planned to killLincoln.
	On April 14, 1865, Lincoln went to the theater. JohnWikes Booth had a gun. He shot and killed Lincoln.
	Many people cried for many, many days after Lincoln died. He was the greatest leader they had ever known.