1809
February 12 - Abraham Lincoln was born 1809
1831
July - Abraham Lincoln left his family and arrived in New Salem. He was 22 years old. While in New Salem, he worked as a clerk in one store and became part owner of another store that eventually failed, was a postmaster, and also a surveyor.
1832
April 21 - Abraham Lincoln enlisted in the local militia, the Thirty-First Regiment of Illinois, following the governor's call for troops at the breakout of the Blackhawk War. He served for 51 days but witnessed no action. His fellow militiamen elected him as their captain, an honor he said which gave him "more pleasure than any I have had since."
August - Defeated in a run for a seat in the Illinois General Assembly as a candidate for the Whig Party. He finished eighth in a field of thirteen candidates.
1834
August 4 - Abraham Lincoln was elected to the Illinois General Assembly for the first time, representing Sangamon County as a Whig.
1836
Abraham Lincoln received his license to practice law from the Illinois Supreme Court on September 9, 1836. Lincoln filed his first law suit on October 5, 1836.
1837
April 15 - Abraham Lincoln arrived in Springfield with all of his belongings in two saddlebags. He arranged to share a room with Joshua Speed, a Springfield store owner. He was 28 years old.
April 15 - Abraham Lincoln officially became the junior law partner of John Todd Stuart, Mary Todd Lincoln's cousin.
1838
January 27 – Delivers Lyceum Address
August 6 - Lincoln was re-elected for a third term in the Illinois General Assembly again, as a member of the Whig Party.
1839
September 23 - Lincoln began traveling the Eighth Judicial Circuit. He continued to ride the circuit until his election to the Presidency.
1840
August 3 - Lincoln was re-elected for a fourth term in the Illinois General Assembly.
1842
February 22 – Delivers Temperance Address
1844
Lincoln sets up his own law practice with William H. Herndon as his junior law partner.
1846
August 3 - Abraham Lincoln was elected to a seat in the United States House of Representatives, as part of the Thirtieth Congress, as a candidate of the Whig Party. This was the only United States Congressional seat he ever held.
1847
December 6 - Lincoln takes his seat in the United States House of Representatives.
1849
Lincoln proposes legislation in the United States House of Representatives to begin abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia.
1854
May 30 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed. The passage of this act brought Lincoln back into politics.
October 16 – Lincoln gives his Peoria Address
November 7 - Lincoln was re-elected to the Illinois legislature , but withdrew from office 20 days later to pursue a run for the US Senate, a race he eventually quit. Lincoln dropped out of the race so that the Republican Party would be guaranteed a win for the Senate seat. He directed his support to Lyman Trumbull.
1855
February 8 - Lincoln loses bid for Senate seat.
1858
June 16 - After the Illinois State Republican convention unanimously selects him as their Senate candidate, Lincoln delivers his "House Divided Speech." In 1858, Lincoln made another run for the US Senate, running against Stephen Douglas. The campaign for this seat in 1858 sparked the famous Lincoln-Douglas Debates.
On November 2, 1858, Lincoln lost the Senate race to Stephen Douglas. The Republicans received 125,000 votes and the Democrats received 121,000 votes. However, due to legislative apportionment and thirteen holdover Senators, the Democrats have a majority of Senators in the State Legislature which chooses the next United States Senator from Illinois.
1859
Illinois legislature chooses Douglas for the U.S. Senate over Lincoln by a vote of 54 to 46.
1860
February 27 – Lincoln gives Cooper Institute speech Lincoln was chosen by the Republican National Convention in Chicago to represent the party in the 1860 Presidential election. The nomination was announced on May 18, 1860.
November 6 - Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th  President of the United States defeating Stephen Douglas (Northern Democratic Party), John C. Breckinridge (Southern Democratic Party), and John Bell (Constitutional Unionist Party). His Vice President was Hannibal Hamlin of Maine. Douglas received the second highest popular vote total. Although Lincoln won the presidency with a plurality of the vote, he won the electoral college vote convincingly. If all the electoral votes of his opponents had gone to one of them, Lincoln would still have won the electoral college vote.
December 20 - South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the Union.
1861
February 8 - The Confederate States of America was established.
February 18 - Jefferson Davis was selected as president and Alexander Stephens as vice president.
March 4 - Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the sixteenth President of the United States. Delivers First Inaugural Address.
April 12 - The Civil War began with the attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, by the Confederacy.
1862
September 16-18 - Battle of Antietam. Inconclusive (Union strategic victory.)
September 22 - Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
1863
January 1 - Lincoln issued final Emancipation Proclamation.
July 1 - 3 - Battle of Gettysburg. Union victory.
July 4 - Fall of Vicksburg. Union victory.
November 19 - Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address at the dedication of Gettysburg National Cemetery.
1864
February 22 - The National Union Party (a temporary name for the Republican Party used to spark interest in the notion of a once-again United States) convention in Baltimore nominated to Lincoln for re-election.
September 1 - Union forces took control of the city of Atlanta, Georgia.
November 8 - Lincoln was re-elected to the Presidency defeating General George B. McClellan. Lincoln's Vice President was Andrew Johnson.
1865
March 4 - Lincoln delivered Second Inaugural Address.
April 9 - General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
April 14 - Abraham Lincoln was shot in Ford's Theatre while watching the play Our American Cousin.
April 15 - Abraham Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m. in the Petersen Boarding House. He was 56 years old.