I never thought that my life would turn out the way that it did. I grew up in a relatively normal fashion. I was born in a small Kentucky town on February 12, 1809. I had a mother, father, and an older sister like many boys my age did. Like I said, my life didn't seem special or important. Little did I know, I would make a decision that impacted the world forever. Oh, I guess I should give you my name before we go any further. I go by Abe, but you probably know me as Abraham Lincoln.

I didn't go to school for very long when I was young, and I ended up working odd and end jobs as a young adult. I worked in a general store for a while, and even owned my own shop. I met a lot of people and they seemed to like me for some reason.This would come in handy down the road.

$1.50 please.

The older I became, the more I noticed the injustices of the United States. I saw that if you were not white, you were not treated fairly-sometimes not even humanely. African Americans were enslaved. They had little to no rights in this nation, and this realization bothered me to my core. I became an outspoken abolitionist. I wished to do away with slavery.

Somehow, my popularity with the people escalated over the years. I no longer worked in a general store. I worked as a lawyer for a while. I also ran for Senate and lost. It would be my next job that set me up to change our nation. In 1860, I decided to run for president, and I won the election. Of course I knew that this was an important job, but I still did not realize the lasting impact that my decisions in office would have on our country.

Let's just say that my election did not please everyone. The Southern states were so angry because they knew that I was against slavery. They wanted to keep their slaves so that they could continue running their plantations. They did not believe that African Americans should have equal rights. The southern states decided to secede, or leave the United States! The Civil War broke out between the North and the South. That was rough, but I knew slavery was wrong. I wanted my country to come back together, but I also wanted to end slavery.

Of course, the Civil War had a huge impact on the United States, but one decision that I made during the war changed our country forever. On January 1, 1863, I issued the Emancipation Proclamation. My proclamation freed all slaves in the United States forever. To this day, there is no slavery in our great country, the United States of America. Growing up as your average country boy, I never would have imagined that I would be the person to end slavery and change the world forever, but I am so glad I was.