3100 S.

Viking Court
Independence, MO 64057
January 29, 2005

The Honorable John E. Potter

Postmaster General
United States Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza, S.W.
Washington, D. C. 20260 – 1000

Dear Postmaster Potter:

Abraham Lincoln is a very great man, who has done many great things
for our country. On Sunday, February 12, 1809 in a log cabin near
Hodgenville, Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln was born. He had an older sister
named Sarah, and Abraham’s parents, Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, were
pioneers and frontiersmen, both from Virginia and of poor family
backgrounds. Abraham loved to read and walked miles to borrow books from
neighbors. Lincoln’s father thought that reading was a waste of time and
required Abraham to do the much needed farm work like split logs into fence
poles, plant crops like corn and pumpkins and kill wild animals like turkey for
food. Abraham was never happy about killing the animals. Because Abraham
was a hard worker, he only attended school for less than one year and during
this time was considered to be a quiet and polite student. But, somehow
Abraham Lincoln found the time to read while taking a break from his chores
and learned on his own without going to school.
Each year Lincoln grew taller and stronger and stood nearly 6’4”
weighing 180 pounds. After moving away from his family and working many
jobs in 1832, Abraham Lincoln ran for the Illinois state legislature, which is
the branch of government that makes laws, but lost. He then served as a
soldier, was part owner of a general store and acted as the local postmaster.
He enjoyed talking with people and discussing politics and was considered to
be an honest and friendly man. Abraham ran for the state legislature again
in 1834 and won. However, he only earned three dollars a day as a legislator
and needed another way to earn money. Abraham decided to become a
lawyer he borrowed law books that he studied when he had spare time. He
passed the test to become a lawyer when he was 28. He shared a law office
with John T. Stuart in Illinois. Abraham was hired by many people and took
all sorts of cases. He met Mary Todd during this time and they married in
1842. She was from a wealthy southern family who did not think she should
marry Abraham Lincoln.
In 1847, after being elected to Congress, Abraham Lincoln moved his
family to Washington, D. C. After two years in office, they moved back to
Springfield, Illinois where Lincoln returned to being a lawyer. In 1858,
Lincoln unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate but became well known for
the speeches he made about slavery. The people of the Northern United
States were against slavery and thought that Abraham Lincoln would be a
good leader for the country. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was chosen to run
for the presidency of the United States and was elected as the 16th
president. Right away, eleven southern states broke away from the union
believing they would be forced to give up their slaves. Voter’s in South
Carolina who called for the secession from the Union formed militia and
began to seize U.S. government properties. Fort Sumter was protected by a
small force and refused to surrender to the southern opponents. On April
11, 1861, the newly formed southern Confederate States fired cannons on
Fort Sumter starting the Civil War.
As a young boy, Abraham Lincoln disliked killing animals for his family’s
food. As president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln hoped to avoid
war. But with the surrender of Fort Sumter, he was forced to raise an army
in order to keep America from breaking apart. Many people thought the war
would end quickly because there were more people living in the North and
more factories where cannons, guns, trains and warships were manufactured.
But this was not true. The southern states stayed strong and took physical
action on the northern states. Abraham Lincoln would not surrender. He
believed that the union must be saved. Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, which would free all slaves in the South and encouraged
congress to pass a law allowing black men to serve in the Union military.
These new forces collided on the Battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
the sight of the largest battle ever in North America. Many southern
soldiers were wounded, killed or captured at Gettysburg and Confederate
General Robert E Lee was forced accept a major defeat.
The Civil War lasted for over four years during Lincoln’s presidency.
Thousands of Americans died, millions of slaves earned their freedom and
the country would remain united. Within days of Lee’s surrender and the
war’s end, Abraham Lincoln was shot in the back of the head while attending
a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. John Wilkes Booth was an actor
who believed that the South should win the Civil War, and devised a plan to
kill the president. John Wilkes Booth was found ten days after the
assassination and killed by government soldiers. America lost its first
president to assassination. Abraham Lincoln died on April 15th, 1865 at the
age of 56.
Because Lincoln freed the slaves and raised an army to prevent the
South’s secession from the Union, he has come to be known as the “savior” of
our country. If he had not done this, we would be two separate countries.

Sincerely,

Ian Bailey