literally referring to what Abraham Lincoln (read a few law books he found in a junk barrel, then became a lawyer and later President of The United States and Booker T Washington (learned to read and write as a sailor's) actually did, this term means:

to legally work, or rather legally to nigger, one's way up the social ladder of one's society in one's zeitgeist using nothing but one's own blood, sweat, toil, common sense, education and street-smarts, and not relying on your country's social assistance/welfare system (provided of course you are able bodied and not mentally ill to the point of not being able to work)
son: I don't understand how Abraham Lincoln legally achieved what he did. He was born on a bloody farm.

father: Jordan, just stop blabbering and learn the meaning of the phrase to pull yourself up by your boot straps and you'll do just as well. Now good night.
by Sexydimma July 21, 2012
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literally referring to what Abraham Lincoln (read a few law books he found in a junk barrel, then became a lawyer and later President of The United States and Booker T Washington (learned to read and write as a black apprentice sailor) actually did, this term means:

to legally work, or rather legally to nigger, one's way up the social ladder of one's society in one's zeitgeist using nothing but one's own blood, sweat, toil, common sense, education and street-smarts
son: I don't understand how Abraham Lincoln legally achieved what he did. He was born on a bloody farm.

father: Jordan, just stop blabbering and learn the meaning of the phrase to pull yourself up by your boot straps and you'll do just as well. Now good night.
by Sexydimma May 19, 2012
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