Young Abraham Lincoln Grasps His Opportunity to Learn Arithmetic

• In Event: 60.034 - Historical Antecedents of Current Trends

Abstract

Between 1815 and 1826 a young Abraham Lincoln attended five or six schools—two in Kentucky and three or four in Spencer County, Indiana. Stories abound about his school years in Indiana, and this paper focuses on the magnitude of his achievements in arithmetic at that time. Years later, as a presidential candidate, Lincoln judged his schoolmasters, and the quality of education he received at school, harshly. Yet, given the circumstances which surrounded him, his academic achievements at school, especially in arithmetic, were impressive. Abraham followed the traditional abbaco arithmetic curriculum—transplanted from Europe to North America—and the theoretical base for the study derives from the abbaco tradition. Potential “weaknesses” in Abraham’s school mathematics education are identified.

Authors

• Nerida F. Ellerton, Illinois State University

• McKenzie A. Clements, Illinois State University