Compare & Contrast: Lincoln and Jfk

Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin on February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky. Much of his childhood was a struggle; his mother dying when he was just ten years old, and with his father being a frontiersman, money was scarce. He had to strive for a comfortable living, and he spent his days working on a farm and keeping a store. Education was also something of limited resources, but because of his hunger for knowledge, he was able to read, write, and cipher. Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846 where he played part of the Illinois legislature for eight years, and for many years he also rode the circuit of courts. "His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest," stated one of his law partners. He ran for the position of senator in 1858, his competitor being Stephen A. Douglas. Though he lost the election, his debates against Douglas gave him national recognition. In one debate he expressed his opinion that the nation would either be all slavery or all free, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." In 1860, Lincoln ran for president against Northern Democrat Douglas, Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell. He defeated the three, declaring him the sixteenth president of the United States of America.
Lincoln was a Republican who was directly concerned with Civil Rights. He was not an abolitionist, but was determined to prevent slavery from spreading to states in which it previously didn't exist. He built a strong national party out of the Republicans and brought many northern democrats to the Union. However, South Carolina was particularly against Lincoln as a leader, and because he was elected and because of their stubborn pride, they seceded from the Union. Following their secession was Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana; this all being before his inaugural address. In act against this, Lincoln sent provisions to Fort Sumter, which was conspicuously located in South