Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States of America, serving from 1860 to 1865 (Wilson, 1). From humble upbringing to becoming the most powerful man in America, "Honest Abe" is known today as a great and influential person whose message resonates in American politics as well as American ethics. Lincoln is almost always voted the best president, or nearly so, among historians (Wilson, 1). He helped mend the rift between the Union and the Confederacy, reuniting and rebuilding America and paving the way for his successors to transform this land of the free and home of the brave into the powerhouse it is today (Fetzer, 310). From his childhood in a log cabin until his tragic death, Abraham Lincoln was a great man whose legend lives on today. Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 to Thomas and Nancy Hawks Lincoln (Fetzer, 311, 312). He had an older sister, Sarah, and a brother, Thomas, who died in infancy (Fetzer, 312). On the farm where Abraham was born, the family spent only two years (Fetzer, 312). They then moved to a farm ten miles away on Knob Creek (Fetzer, 312). It was at Knob Creek that Sarah and Abraham first went to school, learning reading, writing, and arithmetic in a log schoolhouse (Fetzer, 312). However, Abraham had less than a year of formal education (Fetzer, 313). He was primarily self-taught and also wrote his own OVTI textbooks (Fetzer, 313). In 1816 Thomas decided to move the family again (Fetzer, 312). They moved to southwestern Indiana, where Thomas worked to convert 60 acres of forest land into a farm" (Fetzer, 312). In 1818, Nancy Lincoln died of an illness the settlers called the "milk sickness," caused by consumption of milk from cows "that had eaten snake root," a highly toxic herb (Fetzer, 312). even though the war had ended five days earlier (Fetzer, 320). Lincoln's body was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois serious event. There is no doubt that Lincoln's work from his childhood to his presidency laid the foundation for the America we know today Lincoln lives on today on today's U.S. currency, both the one-cent and five-dollar pennies. bill. At the Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln sits on a huge white throne, looking out over the country he helped protect (Fetzer, 328). Lincoln was a great man and his life echoes America's great promise. There is no doubt that Lincoln was truly “Honest Abe”.."