| DATE | BRIEF DESCRIPTION |
| 1809 | Born February 12 in Kentucky, the son of pioneer farmers. |
| 1832 | Captain of his company in the Black Hawk War. |
| 1834-1841 | Whig member of the Illinois State Legislature. |
| 1836 | Admitted to the Bar. |
| 1837 | Protests against State Legislature's resolutions supporting slavery. |
| 1846 | Elected to Congress, where he serves one term (1847-1849). |
| 1854 | Opposes Senator Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Act allowing settlers there the right to keep slaves. |
| 1856 | Campaigns for newly formed Republican Party. |
| 1858 | Senatorial candidate against Douglas. |
| 1860 | Nominated as Republican presidential candidate on a platform of slavery restriction. Wins election. Seven southern States, led by South Carolina, secede from the Union and form the Confederate States of America (1861). |
| 1861 | Confederate attack on Fort Sumter begins the Civil War. |
| 1863 | Issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves held in Confederate regions. Delivers the Gettysburg Address ("government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth"). |
| 1864 | Re-elected as president. Anti-slavery Amendment added to the Constitution. |
| 1865 | Announces support for limited black suffrage. Assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, April 14. |
