From 1834 to 1840, Abraham Lincoln occupied a seat in the Illinois state legislature. He also practiced law in Illinois during the 1830s and '40s, and in that time he became one of the state's most renowned lawyers. He first entered national politics in 1847 while serving a single term in Congress.

On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy.

Poverty, farm chores, hard work, and reading by the light of the fireplace dominated young Abe's life until he was seventeen, when he found work on a ferryboat. Enjoying the river, he built a flatboat two years later and ran a load of farm produce down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.

Before becoming the politician we now remember, a young Lincoln worked various jobs as a farmhand, ferryboat operator, store clerk, and surveyor. Lincoln first entered politics at the age of twenty-five, serving as a state legislator in Illinois .