Vice President: Andrew Johnson Secretary of State: William H. Seward Secretary of the Treasury: Hugh McCulloch Secretary of War: Edwin M. Stanton Attorney General: James Speed Postmaster General: William Dennison Secretary of the Navy: Gideon Welles Secretary of the Interior: John P. Usher
Father: Thomas Lincoln (1778-1851) Mother: Nancy Hanks Lincoln (1784-1818) Stepmother: Sarah Bush Johnston Wife: Mary Todd (1818-1882)
Marriage: November 4, 1842
Children: Robert Todd (1843-1926); Edward Baker (1846-1850); William Wallace (1850-1862); Thomas “Tad” (1853-1871)
Known as the “rail splitter,” Abraham Lincoln hated manual labor.
He was the first president born outside of the original 13 colonies.
He liked being tall (6’4”) and purposefully wore a stovepipe hat to add even more effect to his height.
In February 1860 Abraham Lincoln posed for a picture taken at Mathew Brady’s photographic studio in New York City. Lincoln later credited the photo with being essential in winning him the Republican nomination, an early instance of photography assuming an important role in a presidential campaign.
First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln spent lavishly in refurbishing the White House, including $7,500 for draperies and furniture, $3,195 for a porcelain dining service, $1,500 for glassware, and additional sums for green velvet carpet and fancy matting. She exceeded her congressional budget of $26,000 by $6,000, causing Lincoln to complain about money spent on “flub dubs” while soldiers lacked blankets.
Lincoln invited more entertainers to the presidential residence than any previous chief executive. Among them were Larooqua, an American Indian singer known for her “mellifluous voice,” the Hutchinson family, a singing troupe; and Meda Blanchard, the first opera singer to entertain at the White House.
Lincoln founded the United States Secret Service in 1865, but its original purpose was to investigate the counterfeiting of U. S. currency, not to guard the president.
He was the first president to be assassinated, an event that lent eerie credence to his words: “The death of... [a] president may not be without its use, in reminding us, that we, too, must die. . . . We are not so much roused . . . by the fall of many undistinguished, as that of one. . . well-known name. By the latter, we are forced to muse, and ponder.”
World History
