http://www.alplm.org/blog/2011/05/was-lincoln-a-%e2%80%9cself-made-man%e2%80%9d/ Wed, 08 May 2013 04:40:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5 http://www.alplm.org/blog/2011/05/was-lincoln-a-%e2%80%9cself-made-man%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-2516 Richard Amatucci Mon, 02 May 2011 17:22:53 +0000 http://www.alplm.org/blog/?p=693#comment-2516 Yes, Lincoln was a self made man. However, as he acknowledged in his farewell address while leaving Springfield for Washington, D.C., he had help from his friends and the people of Springfield. Althought not acknowledged in that brief speech, Lincoln had help from his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln who taught him the love of the Holy Bible, to his teachers in the blab school in Indiana, who taught him the basics of reading, writing and arithmatic, to friends who secured his position as post master in New Salem and assistant surveyor, to friends who loaned him books to further his education, to a friend who purchased his surveying equipment that was sold at a Sheriff’s sale for his promissory notes that he had signed while a store keeper in New Salem, to Anne Rutledge who gave him inspiration for living, to his friends who elected him Captain in the Blackhawk War, to a Springfield attorney who loaned him books to study the law, to a friend who loaned him money to purchase his frist good suit to go to the state legislature in Vandalia, Illinois, after his first election to the legislature, to friends who promoted him for the Republican Presidential Nomination in 1860, to the American people who stood with him during the Civil War, to the majority of the American soldiers who voted for Lincoln during the 1864 presidential election, and to those Americans who gave their lives so that the Union would be preserved, yes, Lincoln had a little help from his friends.

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