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Abraham Lincoln sprang to the presidency from extremely humble and tragic roots. His father, Thomas, and his mother, Nancy, were both illiterate. When Abraham was young, he had a sister who died as an infant and a brother who died as a boy. When Abraham was nine years old, his mother tragically died, leaving him in the care of only his father, who, within the year of his wife’s death, remarried a widow, Sarah Bush Johnston. Sarah was extremely kind to Lincoln and encouraged his developing love of reading, giving him three books, a treasure of immeasurable value to a boy who loved to read in a place where books were scarce (nps.gov). Because of the financial state of the family, Lincoln was forced to self-educate, and in 1836, Lincoln had educated himself so well that he was eligible to become a lawyer. The very same year, Lincoln moved to Springfield, Illinois, and became a lawyer, working for John T. Stuart (White, pp. 71, 79,108). Lincoln was such a gifted attorney, that only ten years after entering the field, he was elected into the United States Congress. However, in 1849, he left congress in the hope that he would receive an appointment from the Taylor administration because of his tireless promotion of the election. He was, however, denied any position, and returned to his law firm where he worked with great fervor (Lamb, Swain, pp. 3-10). Lincoln worked tirelessly as a lawyer until he ran for the presidency in 1858. After losing the election to his rival, Stephen Douglas, he decided to run again in 1860. Lincoln won the 1860 election. As a result of him being elected, and his open support of black rights, the Southern states seceded from the Union, leaving Lincoln with one of the hardest presidencies in American history (Neil, pp. 132-133). Because of his humble beginnings, Abraham Lincoln had every excuse to be an extremely proud man. However, in order to do what was best for the American people; Abraham Lincoln often had to swallow his pride in order to