Born in Kentucky in 1809, Lincoln had moved to Indiana and then Illinois. A person of great ambition, he slowly worked his way up the ladder of life in the American West, becoming a store owner, a captain of militia, and eventually a successful attorney. His marriage to Mary Todd, who came from a prominent Kentucky family, undoubtedly assisted his rise, but some of the stories about the young Lincoln are true. He was honest to a fault and a friend for life.

Lincoln had served a term in the U.S. House of Representatives during the Mexican War, but he really rose to prominence as an astute, middle-of-the-road member of the new Republican Party. In 1858, he challenged Stephen A. Douglas, the author of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, for the open U.S. Senate seat from Illinois.