Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, two uneducated farmers, in a one-room log cabin on the 348-acre Sinking Spring Farm, in southeast Hardin County, Kentucky (now part of LaRue County), making him the first president born outside the original thirteen colonies. Lincoln's ancestor Samuel Lincoln had arrived in Hingham, Massachusetts from England in the 17th century, but his descendants had gradually moved west, from Pennsylvania to Virginia and then westward to the frontier.

For some time, Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, had been a respected citizen of the Kentucky backcountry. He had purchased the Sinking Spring Farm in December 1808 for $200 cash ($2,689.00 today)and assumption of a debt. The family belonged to a Hardshell Baptist church, although Abraham himself never joined their church, or any other church for that matter.

In 1816 the Lincoln family became impoverished, losing their land through court action, and was forced to make a new start in Perry County, Indiana. Lincoln later noted that this move was "partly on account of slavery," and partly because of difficulties with land deeds in Kentucky.

When Lincoln was nine, his mother, then 34 years old, died of milk sickness. Soon afterwards, his father remarried to Sarah Bush Johnston. Lincoln and his stepmother were close; he called her "Mother" for the rest of his life, but he was increasingly distant from his father.

In 1830, after more economic and land-title difficulties in Indiana, the family settled on public land in Macon County, Illinois. The following winter was desolate and especially brutal, and the family considered moving back to Indiana. The following year, when his father relocated the family to a new homestead in Coles County, Illinois, 22-year-old Lincoln struck out on his own, canoeing down the Sangamon River to the village of New Salem in Sangamon County.Later that year, hired by New Salem businessman Denton Offutt and accompanied by friends, he took goods from New Salem to New Orleans via flatboat on the Sangamon, Illinois and Mississippi rivers.

Lincoln's formal education consisted of about 18 months of schooling, but he was largely self-educated and an avid reader. He was also a talented local wrestler and skilled with an axe.Lincoln avoided hunting and fishing because he did not like killing animals, even for food. At 6 foot 4 inches, he was unusually tall, as well as strong.

Lincoln's father, Thomas Lincoln, was uneducated and illiterate; however, he was extremely talented in the art of storytelling and entertaining friends. Thomas would regularly host friendly gatherings at his house, which would usually consist of Thomas telling stories all night causing a hilarious uproar from his audience. Stealthily, young Abraham would stay up and listen to his father telling stories, trying to memorize them himself. Occasionally, when Abraham could not understand a certain story or part of one, he would repeat it over and over again in his mind until he finally understood. He, then, would spend countless hours coming up with a way to put the stories into terms his friends could easily understand. The next day, Abraham would repeat these stories to his friends, mimicking his father. This early practice helped prepare Abraham for the many important speeches he would have to give late in his life.