Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1805 to a family in Hodgenville, Kentucky. Abraham Lincoln grew up to be a self educated lawyer in Illinois. He was a whig party leader and a state legislator in the 1830s before he went on to become the United States President in March 1861. He was the United States president in the Civil War. He was re-elected in 1864. His presidency was ended after he was assassinated on April 15th, 1865.