It seems that Lincoln was probably happy. He was doing an important job, and he had a family that loved him. He never had a lot of money, but he seems as if he was content with his life. In this, he was different than Cory. He would not have chosen to end his life the way Cory did, because he was content, and because he had important responsibilities. Maybe Cory was unhappy because his life was empty, and he did not have important responsibilities, and that would be a big difference between Cory and Lincoln. Lincoln was a success and he worked hard. Cory did not have to work, and he did not seem to have anything to motivate him or make him proud. Lincoln did, and so he had a reason for living, while Cory did not. Lincoln worked hard his entire life, and never made a lot of money, even when he was the president. That is another difference between Lincoln and Cory. Lincoln always had to work, and he knew what it was like to be poor. He probably would have stopped and talked to the poor people who watched him walk by, while Cory walked by without really understanding them or their lives. Cory would say "good morning," but Lincoln was one of them, a "common" man who had worked hard to attain greatness. He wanted to lead them, while Cory did not have those ambitions. He could have helped them, but he chose not to. Lincoln became president because he wanted to help the people, but Cory seems not to have cared. Instead of killing...

He could have done a lot of things with his life and money, but he did not.
That is the biggest difference between Cory and Lincoln. Lincoln was strong, and wanted to help other people, while Cory was weak and did not do anything important with his life, even though he had the opportunity. Compared to Lincoln, Cory's life was foolish and wasted. He did not accomplish greatness, even though he could have if he had tried to. Lincoln had many obstacles, but he rose above them and became president. Thus, the lives of the two men show that money does not assure greatness, and being poor does not guarantee you will never be influential or powerful. You have to work hard to gain power, and Lincoln did that. Cory gave up, and that seems like something Lincoln would never do. He would not give up on the slaves, he would not give up on the American people, and he would not give up on the war, even when it seemed like the South was winning. Lincoln never would have ended his own life, he was too strong for that, and that is the biggest difference between him and Richard Cory. In many other ways, they were alike, however, and their deaths were both sad in their own way.

References

Robinson, Edward Arlington. "Richard Cory."

Browne, Francis Fisher. The Every-Day Life of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, NE: University…