Abraham Lincoln matured from a young man and private citizen into the President-elect during his 24 years in Springfield, Illinois.  His upbringing in rural Kentucky, southern Indiana and the Illinois prairie shaped him.  In 1831, at 22, Lincoln moved to New Salem, Illinois.  In 1834 he was elected to the first of five terms to the Illinois legislature.  Fellow legislator John Todd Stuart encouraged him to study law.  In 1837, the self-taught lawyer rode into Springfield, Illinois with all his belongings in two saddlebags.

In 1842 he married Mary Todd, and together they raised a family at the corner of Eighth and Jackson Streets.  He built a successful legal practice and was considered one of Illinois’ best courtroom attorneys.  A member of the Whig Party, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846. 
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After serving in Congress, he returned to Springfield and dropped out of politics.  Lincoln’s interest in politics was rekindled in 1854 with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act allowing the spread of slavery to new states, a measure Lincoln vehemently opposed.  The Act’s main supporter was Illinois’ Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln’s long-time political rival. Lincoln joined the newly formed Republican Party and ran against Douglas for the Senate seat in Illinois in 1858.  Although he lost the election, a series of debates between the candidates brought Lincoln national recognition

Initially Lincoln did not consider himself presidential material.  He later changed his mind.  The 1860 Republican Party convention selected him as their candidate.  On November 6, 1860, he was elected president.  Lincoln’s steadfast refusal to allow for the expansion of slavery and his unwavering belief in democracy and freedom of opportunity for all propelled him to the White House and sustained him through four long years of civil war.