Lincoln's 200th Birthday is February 12, 2009
The Lincoln Bicentennial celebration runs through 2011
Abraham Lincoln: A Brief Chronology
| 1809 | Born February 12 in log cabin near present-day Hodgenville, Kentucky, second child of farmer and carpenter Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. |
| 1816 | Family moves to Perry County in southwestern Indiana. |
| 1818 | Mother dies. |
| 1819 | Father marries Sarah Bush Johnston. |
| 1828 | Sister Sarah dies. |
| 1830 | Family moves to Macon County, Illinois. |
| 1831 | Lincoln moves to New Salem, village in Sangamon County, Illinois. |
| 1832 | Runs unsuccessfully for House of Representatives, lower chamber of Illinois General Assembly. |
| 1834 | Elected as Whig to first of four terms in the House of Representatives. Begins studying law. |
| 1837 | Moves to Springfield and begins law practice. |
| 1842 | Does not seek reelection to legislature. Marries Mary Todd. |
| 1843 | Son Robert born. |
| 1846 | Son Edward born. Lincoln is elected to Congress. |
| 1847-49 | Serves one term in Congress; does not seek reelection. |
| 1850 | Son Edward dies; son William is born. |
| 1851 | Father dies. |
| 1853 | Son Thomas is born. |
| 1854 | Speaks against the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the antislavery restriction in the Missouri Compromise. |
| 1856 | Helps found Republican Party of Illinois. |
| 1858 | Delivers "House-Divided" speech, June 16. Debates Stephen A. Douglas seven times during unsuccessful campaign for the Senate. |
| 1860 | Delivers Cooper Union address, February 27. Nominated for president by Republican national convention, May 18. Wins presidential election, November 6, defeating three other candidates and receiving 180 of 303 electoral votes. South Carolina becomes first of 11 Southern states to secede, December 20. |
| 1861 | Inaugurated, March 4. Confederates open fire on Fort Sumter, April 12. Lincoln calls forth the militia, orders blockade of Southern ports, and issues first in series of proclamations suspending habeas corpus. |
| 1862 | Son William dies, February 20. Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, September 22. |
| 1863 | Issues Emancipation Proclamation, January 1. Delivers Gettysburg Address, November 19. |
| 1864 | Appoints Ulysses S. Grant general-in-chief of the armies, March 12. Wins reelection, November 8, receiving 212 of 233 electoral votes. |
| 1865 | Inaugurated for second term, March 4. Robert E. Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox, April 9. Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14 and dies the following day. |
Lincoln in American Memory is presented in conjunction with theofficial Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
Made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities "We the People" Initiative.