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Abe Lincoln, rail splitter, whiskey seller, born 200 years ago tomorrow.

Unread postPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:57 pm
by cowdery
Abraham Lincoln, who was born 200 years ago tomorrow, was an abolitionist and most abolitionists were prohibitionists too.

But Lincoln, who was also a masterful politician, had it both ways on alcohol.

As a young man, he had been a licensed whiskey retailer, first as a hired clerk, then as a business owner, in the tiny frontier hamlet of New Salem, Illinois. The stores all failed and left him burdened with debt, so he found a government job, studied law, and got into politics.

My birthday tribute to Lincoln is here.

Below are two pictures from New Salem, which has been recreated as a historic site. They call the first one the Lincoln-Berry Store, but the second one seems more like it.