What was the extent of Abraham Lincoln’s education?
At age fifteen in 1832 Abraham Lincoln’s formal education was complete. [6]The total terms he spent in the schoolhouse did not add up to one year. His formal education began in Kentucky near the Knob Creek farm. At age six Lincoln studied under Zachariah Riney, and it is likely that spelling was the only subject taught. [7] The next term Lincoln studied under Caleb Hazel and the subjects were expanded to include reading, and writing. After the family moved to Indiana in 1816 it seems that Abraham was surpassing his parents, Thomas and Nancy, in the ability to read and write. He attended three more terms in Indiana, and by fifteen frequently read and wrote letters for his neighbors in the Pigeon Creek community. His time in school only gave him the abilities he required to further his own education; he avidly sought out books on grammar, history, mathematics, elocution, and poetry throughout his youth. In 1834 his election to the Illinois state legislature placed Lincoln on the path to
