Greyson Tillman4/28/2014Pd 3Abraham Lincoln and the American DreamIf you've ever had a five-dollar bill, or even just a dime, then you know who President Abraham Lincoln is. Because of our rapidly evolving and constantly changing world, not many people know what was so extraordinary about President Abraham Lincoln. But how did this political thinker shape the concept of the American dream? Well he had many visions and goals for America during the Civil War. The nickname he was given was "Honest Abe". His major accomplishments were uniting and maintaining the union, as well as making sure people of different races received equal opportunities, which helped shape the concept of the American Dream. President Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809. He grew up on frontier farms in Kentucky and Indiana. Unlike most children today, as a child President Lincoln really wanted to get an education, and surprisingly, his father discouraged him. His biological mother would however support President Lincoln's interest. She died when he was nine, but his stepmother supported President Lincoln and kept him in education. Because President Lincoln was like this as a child, he tells us as the reader that he is already preparing for something greater in the future, contributing to the American Dream. A year later, President Lincoln and his family moved to New Salem, Illinois. , where he found work as a shop assistant. With this he further educated himself by having access to even more books. Then Lincoln served in the Black Hawk War, a war caused by a disturbance of land loss and corruption. It was fought between the Sauk Indian tribe, paired with the Mesquakie, or Fox tribe as the French called it, against the white settlers. Lincoln…half of paper…dents Lincoln's famous speeches, the Gettysburg Address would have affected everyone in the nation. This led to the beginning of the American Dream when he said, “Four-seven years ago our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the principle that all men are created equal.” This last part, “all men are created equal,” would carry America and all its years forward. President Abraham Lincoln was then able to preserve the union and reunite both the Northern and Southern states. In this way, he had to lead his people during the Civil War and inspired the entire nation with his Gettysburg Address. People need to understand that by standing up for what he believed in, racial equality, he contributed to the American dream by spreading industrialism and making sure everyone had a job of all races..