Unlike some influential figures of his time, Abraham Lincoln did not grow up as a child of privilege. Born in a one-room log cabin to humble parents, he completed backbreaking work alongside his father to scrape out a family living.
Lincoln could wield an axe and clear land like no other, but he didn’t enjoy the hard labor of country life. Determined to free himself of his “country bumpkin” upbringing, he set his eye on more prosperous, risky pursuits.
His ambition got him into a big financial jam early on, but the real story is what Lincoln did to get out of it.