Read the excerpt from Abraham Lincoln’s "1859 Autobiographical Statement for the Chester County Times." I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was twenty two. At twenty one I came to Illinois, and passed the first year in Illinois-Macon county. Then I got to New-Salem, (at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard county), where I remained a year as a sort of Clerk in a store. Then came the Black-Hawk war; and I was elected a Captain of Volunteers—a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since.

Based on this excerpt, readers can visualize Lincoln as
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