It's hard to imagine that the great leaders of history were once boys, but they were.
And it's hard to imagine that some boys will grow up to change history, but they can.
Imagine a very poor boy who lives with his family in one room.
Imagine that he is so thin and tall that his clothes barely fit.
Imagine that his brother dies as a baby, and his mother dies when he is nine.
Imagine this boy going to school only a few times in his life.
Now imagine him becoming the president of the United States.
As impossible as it sounds, that is exactly what happened to Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln was a poor farm boy from Kentucky, born in 1809.
The Lincolns had very little money, and no one imagined that he would be a great leader one day.
Abraham's father, Thomas, was a carpenter and he wanted his son to become a carpenter too.
Abraham obeyed his father and learned how to carve wood, but he hoped for something different.
Abraham's mother taught her children to be cheerful and smart and to work hard.
Abraham loved books, and every day his mother read to him from the Bible.
She taught him that peace is important, unless there is something worth fighting for.
Later, as an adult, Abraham said that his mother taught him how to be a great man.
One day while Abraham was out with a horse, the horse kicked him in the head.
His body lay so still that, at first, people thought he was dead, but he recovered.
Later that same year, his mother died from milk poisoning.
It was such a surprise to the family that they didn't have a funeral until two months later.
Abraham was only nine years old, but he helped his father carve the coffin for his mother.
He remembered that her last words to him and his sister were:
"Be good and kind to your father, to each other, and to the world."
Over the next ten years, there were many more changes in Abraham's family.
His father married a new wife who had three children, and Abraham learned to love them.
Together they moved to a new state called Illinois where Abraham grew into a young man.
When Abraham became an adult, he left home to find his future.
He moved to the town of New Salem where he earned the courageous nickname of Honest Abe by defeating a group of bullies.
The Clary's Grove Boys liked to drink and start fights.
When their leader heard someone say that Abraham was smarter and stronger than any man in town, he challenged Abe to a fight.
Abraham accepted. He was tired of the bullies scaring people in the town.
Both men were good wrestlers and had quick reflexes.
For a while they twisted and clutched at each other.
Then Abe reached over his opponent, grabbed him by the neck, lifted him off the ground, and shook him like a blanket.
Since Abraham was a foot taller than most people, this wasn't hard for him.
The Clary's Grove Boys rushed towards Abe to beat him.
Abe dropped their leader and said, "If you want a fight, boys, I'll give it to you, but you must fight me one at a time."
They were surprised by Abe's courage and honesty and shook hands with him.
There would be many more battles in Abraham Lincoln's life, and each of them was for something he believed was worth fighting for.
As a lawyer, he fought for the life of a friend and proved that he was not guilty.
He fought to represent his state, arguing against the Mexican War, and he won.
He fought to serve as a senator and stood for election nine times, but never received enough votes.
In 1860 he ran for president and was elected.
At the time of his election, the southern and northern states were disagreeing about slavery,
and this discord was leading toward the Civil War.
As the president, Lincoln spoke out against slavery and the war, but when the war began, he fought to restore peace and freedom to his nation.
He made his most famous speech, the Gettysburg Address, to dedicate a grave for soldiers who had died on both sides of the war.
In all of his battles, Lincoln showed respect for the freedom of all people.
In April 1865, while attending a play in Washington, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth,
who still disagreed with Lincoln over the war.
The great president died at the age of 56.
His life can be summed up by a verse from the Bible, his favorite book, which says,
"I have fought the good fight; I have kept the faith; I have finished the race."