Abraham Lincoln
...ties” (212). During the debates, Lincoln centered on the extension of slavery into free territory. He could have talked about other subjects of major importance, but he and the Illinois voters, felt that the major concern of the country was the condition of the institution of slavery (Donald 225). Lincoln referred to the Dred Scott Decision, and stated that slavery is “a moral, social, and political evil.” He also had a high, penetrating voice that reached large audiences. The debates helped Lincoln more than they helped Douglas. Lincoln began traveling far, speaking daily at meetings. The state of Illinois was divided into districts where elections were held. Stephen A. Douglas was reelected and defeated Lincoln. Despite his defeat, Lincoln became the leading Republican in Illinois and was being talked about as a candidate for president. He was disappointed, but told his followers that he would never give up, even after, “one hundred defeats” (Donald 229). Lincoln indeed, was made nationally famous due to the debates (Heckman 8). In early 1860, people were starting a Lincoln-for-president movement. Lincoln wanted to prove to his followers that he would keep striving for what he felt was right. To improve his popularity, he made more than 175 speeches. One, was an address at Cooper Union in New York City on February 27th. The speech concerned the Founding Fathers and slavery. Again, Lincoln spoke about slavery. He ended with the famous plea, “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it” (Elliot 51). That speech helped Lincoln to secure the presidential nomination. Another address by Lincoln in New England made a strong impression on Eastern Republicans. By the end of the speaking tour of New England, Lincoln became a leading candidate for president (Delbanco 165). Prior to the debates, Lincoln was a stranger in the national political scheme. However, preceding the debates, his political career excelled dramatically. By the time the Republican National Convention was held on May 16, 1860, Lincoln was well-known by the delegates. They awarded him with the presidential nomination. Lincoln’s followers nicknamed him “the Railsplitter.” His views on slavery became a little more moderate, but intense. His humble background aroused voters. All his popular votes came from the North. Lincoln won the presidential election of 1860, easily. “It was the wit and wisdom of Abraham Lincoln that first won him the hearts of the people. Prior to his election as president in 1860 he never held a higher post than that of a one-term Illinois congressman. But people trusted Lincoln instinctively because he seemed wiser than other men, and they liked him because he was funnier than other men” (Ayres IX). Becoming president was Lincoln’s most astonishing accomplishment. Lincoln said farewell to his Springfield companions, and took the oath of office on March 4, 1861, and became the sixteenth President of the United States. During his first term, Lincoln had many great achievements. Some highlights included, building the national army, strengthening the home front, and keeping a check with foreign relations. He issued a policy to free the slaves in the Confederate territories, the Emancipation Proclamation, and having a unusual life in the White House. His first term ended, but he was reelected in 1864. During his second term, Lincoln, became a master politician, made tough decisions to save the union in the Civil War, and when the war ceased, he reunited the nation. “Lincoln was the president who argued that government has a responsibility “to do for the people what…they can not…do at all, or do so well, for themselves” (Cuomo XXIV). His biggest accomplishments while as president, were issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and saving the union from total secession. In summation, Abraham Lincoln had a firm stand on slavery. However, he was not an abolitionist. Lincoln did not want to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, nor the slave trade among slave states (Fehrenbacher, Lincoln, 1859-1865 191). Lincoln’s political position took a drastic turnaround after the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Former Governor of New York, Mario Cuomo said, “I enjoy joking with people today that I’ve always admired Lincoln because he’s reassuring to politicians like me. He was himself a big, homely-looking politician from a poor family who started off by losing a few elections, yet in the end succeeded brilliantly” (XXIV). Once the Lincoln-Douglas debates concluded, Abraham Lincoln was known all over the state of Illinois, and then known throughout the nation. He was one of the greatest orators and debaters in American history. “With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently he who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions” (Phillips 38). The above quotation was part of Lincoln’s remarks in the first Lincoln-Douglas debate at Ottawa on August 21, 1858. Also, Lincoln was one of the best extemporaneous debaters of all time (Phillips 145). Lincoln listened to what the people wanted, which gained him popularity and respect. During the debates, he was always confident, mostly because he stood up for what he believed was right. Even if Lincoln’s ideas were of the minority, he would not back down. These verbal skills benefited him throughout his political career. Besides national interest, Lincoln received worldwide appeal. This tall, honest politician was now known across the globe. The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 marked a turning point in Abraham Lincoln’s political career, and lead to his popularity among the United States. Finally, without the debates, a great leader, Lincoln, would never have been produced. “Abraham Lincoln was a great writer and a great orator as well as a great leader” (Ayres IX). Abraham Lincoln started his political career as a nobody, but in the end was greatly admired. Lincoln warned the South in his Inaugural Address: "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you.... You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it." Lincoln thought secession illegal, and was willing to use force to defend Federal law and the Union. When Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter and forced its surrender, he called on the states for 75,000 volunteers. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy but four remained within the Union. The Civil War had begun. The son of a Kentucky frontiersman, Lincoln had to struggle for a living and for learning. Five months before receiving his party's nomination for President, he sketched his life: President Bush Biography Vice President Cheney Biography Laura Bush Biography Lynne Cheney Biography "I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families--second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks.... My father ... removed from Kentucky to ... Indiana, in my eighth year.... It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up.... Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher ... but that was all." Lincoln made extraordinary efforts to attain knowledge while working on a farm, splitting rails for fences, and keeping store at New Salem, Illinois. He was a captain in the Black Hawk War, spent eight years in the Illinois legislature, and rode the circuit of courts for many years. His law partner said of him, "His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest." He married Mary Todd, and they had four boys, only one of whom lived to maturity. In 1858 Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas for Senator. He lost the election, but in debating with Douglas he gained a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President in 1860. As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. Further, he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy. Lincoln never let the world forget that the Civil War involved an even larger issue. This he stated most movingly in dedicating the military cemetery at Gettysburg: "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Lincoln won re-election in 1864, as Union military triumphs heralded an end to the war. In his planning for peace, the President was flexible and generous, encouraging Southerners to lay down their arms and join speedily in reunion. The spirit that guided him was clearly that of his Second Inaugural Address, now inscribed on one wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C.: "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds.... " On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who somehow thought he was helping the South. The opposite was the result, for with Lincoln's death, the possibility of peace with magnanimity died. On April, 14 1865 President Abraham Lincoln was shot while watching a performance of An American Cousin at Ford’s Theater. President Lincoln died the next morning. The person who had killed Lincoln was John Wilkes Booth. A few days before he was killed, Lincoln had told his spouse about a dream he had, he saw a president shrouded on a catafalque in the east room of the White House. Even after this dream he attended An American Cousin at Ford’s Theater. John Wilkes Booth thought the president was determined to destroy the constitution, set aside the rights reserved to the states, crush civil liberties, and restore monarchy. He saw the confederacy was the only means to of upholding the values of the founding fathers. He devoted much of late 1864 and early 1865 to a series of plots to abduct Lincoln and use his capture to nullify the Union’s war aims. Every scheme ending in frustration. After Lee had surrendered to the Army of the Potomac, in the second week of April, he saw that only the most desperate measures offered any hope of salvaging the Southern Cause. Shortly before he went into the theater, he stopped at tavern for a drink. While in the bar an acquaintance jokingly remarked that "he would never be as great as his father," Booth replied by saying "When I leave the stage, I will be the most talked about man in America." The Atlanta Campaign of 1864 In the spring of 1864, Gen. W. T. Sherman concentrated the Union armies of G. H. Thomas, J. B. McPherson, and J. M. Schofield around Chattanooga. On May 6 he began to move along the railroad from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Sherman had two objectives, one was to destroy the army of General J. E. Johnston and the other was to capture Atlanta. Johnston realizing that he was outnumbered started to retreat south. Sherman tried a direct assault on Johnston’s forces and was repulsed. Johnston had retreated back to the south bank of the Chattahoochee river. On July 17, John Bell Hood replaced Johnston as General. He tried to continue with Johnston’s plan, but failed to stop the advance of Union troops. He retired to Atlanta, which Sherman soon had under bombardment. On September 1 Hood abandoned Atlanta, the next day Sherman moved in and burned it. The Maryland Invasion A year after the confederate defeat at Gettysburg. Robert E. Lee planned to invade the North again like he did in the campaigns of Antietam and Gettysburg. He hoped that this would be enough to get Grant to detach part of his army to protect Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington City, or to have Grant attach fortifications and risk heavy lose. Miscellaneous Fort Pillow Massacre: An incident that took place in Fort Pillow, Tennessee, April 12, 1864. Confederate troops commanded by General N. B. Forrest, stormed and captured Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River. The garrison of black soldiers and Tennessee Unionist held out beyond all possible hope. The joint committee on the Conduct of War investigated and charged that the Confederates indiscriminately slaughtered more than 300 black soldiers. General Sherman was ordered to investigate, but his report was never published. Battle of Franklin: November 30, 1864, a Civil War engagement in which the Confederate forces were defeated. After abandoning Atlanta, General Hood reorganized the Confederate army at Lovejoy’s Station. His hope was too cut off Sherman’s lines of communication. Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. (Lincoln) Abraham Lincoln was a true American hero. He brought this country through a time of succession and rebellion, through his thoughtful planning, tyranny like leadership, and amiable individuality. He, with a half a nation of armed forces, liberated the slaves and united a nation. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a log cabin on a farm in Hardin country, Kentucky. He was the son of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and was named after his grandfather (Lincoln). Thomas Lincoln was a carpenter and farmer. Both of Abraham's parents were members of a Baptist congregation, which had separated from another church due to the disagreement of slavery. (needy pg 121) He as a young child spent a lot of the day doing one of two things; reading books, or doing household tasks. In 1816, when Abraham was 7, he moved with his family to Indiana. There his mother died in 1818 of a milk sickness, a disease obtained from drinking the milk of cows, which had grazed on poisonous white snakeroot. This devastated Abe "God bless my mother. All that I am and ever hope to be, I owe to her." (Lincoln) When he was 15 years old he often worked as a hired hand on other farms. While he plowed or split fence rails, he usually had book tucked in his shirt to read while on his lunch breaks. Once a farmer loaned him The Life of George Washington, by Parson Weems, and Abe accidentally left it in the rain. To pay for the damage, Abe shucked corn for him for three days. Throughout his life Abraham Lincoln made every effort to do be fair, hence he came to be know as "Honest Abe". This fairness that he learned in his child hood would stay with him the rest of his life. Using his skill as a speaker and Ethics on slavery Abraham and his running mate Hannibal Hamlin ran for the presidential seat for the Republican Party in 1860. They set out on a long campaign, of mostly northern states, sometimes they were the only ones traveling. They spoke many places such as Illinois, Missouri and many others. This devoted work paid off as Lincoln was appointed the 16th president of the United States of America November 6, 1860. (Norton) After the election was over the president and his wife moved to the white house. Right before he left, though he received a letter from a 11 year old girl. "My father has just home from the fair and brought home your picture and Mr. Hamlin's. I am a little girl only 11 years old, but want you should be President of the United States very much so I hope you wont think me very bold to write to such a great man as you are. Have you any little girls about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter." (Bedell, letter to Lincoln) This letter made him grow out his beard, which she said that his face was to skinny. He found this to be the look for him and he kept it Intel his assassination. Before Mr. Lincoln and his wife could get to the white house a first wave of secession occurred. On December 20, 1860 and in tell February 1, 1861 the following states seceded, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. They seceded because they said that they feared the kind of government that Abraham Lincoln and the republican party would bring. Then following the inauguration of Lincoln, the second wave began on April 17 with the secession of Virginia. This wave was continued by Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina. Abraham hated the secession, a month into it he had a group called the Zouies lead by his friend Elmer Ellsworth march into Alexandria were he could see a flying confederate flag from a high tower. The Zouies took the flag down that Lincoln hated however his friend Elmer was killed in this process. As a hero Abraham Lincoln took to the war effort as soon as possible. He rounded up a army of nearly 70,000 men, and defend against a attack on union soil from general of the southern army, Irvin McDowell. The battle sent the union troops back across the border to Washington. This being the first battle of the civil war called "bull run" Abraham Lincoln was unhappy at this, he had appointed general McDowell which had not been a good choice. Aware of the threat of a drawn out war and the army's need for organization and training, Lincoln replaced McDowell with General George B. McClellan and sent a blockade around the south. From Lincolns first day in the white house, he faced the irreconcilable conflict between slavery and abolition. (Ben Wittenberg) He realized that if he were to abolish slavery flat out the 4 remaining states would secede. The union would have to have the four states to win the war. He passed many subtle laws that would lead up to his emancipation proclamation. Lincoln's domestic policies included support for the Homestead Act. This act allowed poor people in the East to obtain land in the West. Also, Lincoln signed legislation entitled the National Banking Act, which established a national currency and provided for the creation of a network of national banks. In addition, he signed tariff legislation that offered protection to American industry and signed a bill that chartered the first transcontinental railroad. All of these things made helped win the civil war. (Norton) Lincolns most famous Speech, the Gettysburg Address, Showed just how much he cared about this country. He gave it at Gettysburg after the bloody battle was done. He recited it to hundreds of union soldiers who just completed the fight and were cheered up by this speech. A odd thing about it was that it was about three to four and a half minutes long. This might not seem odd but for Lincolns speech's this was as short as they come. he was know for his long speech's That is probably one of the reasons Lincolns Gettysburg Address is so popular. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. The proclamation declared, "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." (Lincoln, emancipation proclamation.) This was a major step for Lincoln in the war against slavery, by it he helped many of the slaves in states like Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and others, to break away from the slave owners and rebel. It also let the union troops have a reason to fight, they from that point on fought for freedom and to help the slaves in the slave states. The act also let black soldiers fight for the union side in the war. As perversely they were not aloud to do so. Although, the emancipation Proclamation was limited, it only applied to the slave states excluding the 4 slave union states. This was a try for Lincoln to help keep the 4 union slave states within the union. If they would have lost them the war would have turned out differently, the south might have won. Also, the emancipation proclamation didn't actually free anyone, as the south was not going to obey any of the union rules that they appointed. They would have to win the war to get the confederate sates to follow, by that point the law could just be changed to abolish slavery outright. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America. He Was said to Free the slaves he was a great American hero to us all. Not only was he the greatest president to ever live but he was a man that united a broken country Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln On the stormy morning of Sunday, February 12, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, wife of Thomas, gave birth to a boy. He was born on a bed of poles covered with corn husks. The baby was named Abraham after his grandfather. In 1811 the Lincolns moved to a farm on Knob Creek which was also near Hodgenville. In 1811 or 1812, Abraham's younger brother, Thomas, died in infancy. Abraham spent a short amount of time in a log schoolhouse. He began to learn his ABC's from a teacher named Zachariah Riney. He attended school with his sister, Sarah. Late in 1816 the Lincoln family moved to southern Indiana and settled near present day Gentryville. A cabin was constructed near Little Pigeon Creek. It measured 16 X 18 feet, and it had one window. Abraham's mother, Nancy, passed away on October 5th, 1818, she died of milk sickness. In1819, Abraham would barrow books from his neighbors to read. In 1821 Abraham attended school taught by James Swaney for about 4 months. Also in 1824 Abraham attended school taught by Azel Dorsey. In 1827 Abraham's sister, Sarah died giving birth to her son. In 1831, Lincoln decided to leave his family and go off on his own. In July he moved to New Salem, Illinois, where he boarded at Rutledge's tavern and became acquainted with the owner's daughter, Ann. New Salem was a frontier village consisting of one long street on a bluff over the Sangamon River. On August 6th, 1832 Lincoln was defeated while running for the Illinois State Legislature. Lincoln began to operate a general store in New Salem along with William F. Berry. Again, In 1834, Lincoln ran for the Illinois State Legislature, but this time he was elected. During the summer, John T. Stuart advised Lincoln to study law. On December 1 he took his seat in state government in Vandalia. In 1837 Lincoln, 28, was admitted to the Illinois Bar on March 1, and he moved to Springfield on April 15. He became a law partner of John Stuart and lived with Joshua Speed. Lincoln now had income from a law practice as well as a state legislator. November 4,1842 Lincoln married Mary Todd. The first son of the Lincolns, Robert Todd, was born August 1, 1843 at the Globe Tavern. In 1844 Abraham and Mary purchased a home from Dr. Dresser in Springfield for $1500. It was located at the corner of Eighth and Jackson. The family moved in on May 2nd. In 1849 Lincoln failed in his attempt to be appointed commissioner of the General Land Office, and he returned to a full time law practice in Springfield as his term in the House of Representatives had expired on March 4th. On March 7th he was admitted to practice law before the United States Supreme Court. In 1850 Lincoln's son, "Eddie," died on February 1. His third son, William Wallace was born on December 21st. The fourth and last son of the Lincolns, Thomas, was born on April 4th, 1853. In 1858 Lincoln was nominated by the Republicans to run for the U.S. Senate against Stephen Douglas. He gave his famous "House Divided" speech. The Old State Capitol in Springfield where Lincoln gave the House Divided speech. During the summer, Lincoln and Douglas engaged in a series of 7 debates throughout Illinois. On November 2nd Douglas won the election. On May 18th, 1860 Lincoln was nominated for President at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. On November 6th Lincoln was elected President over 3 opponents (Stephen Douglas, John Breckinridge, and John Bell) winning 39% of the popular vote but nearly 60% of the electoral vote. On January 1st, 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in the rebelling areas, took effect. On March 3rd Lincoln approved the first draft law in U.S. history. In early July the Union won two major battles at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. In 1864 Lincoln nominated Ulysses S. Grant as the first full lieutenant general since George Washington. Grant assumed his role as General-in-Chief of Union armies. Lincoln received the Republican nomination on June 8th to run for a 2nd term as President. Andrew Johnson was his Vice-presidential running mate. On November 8th he easily defeated Democrat George B. McClellan in the Presidential election. The Lincolns attended the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater on April 14th, and Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at about 10:15 P.M. The President died the next morning at 7:22 A.M. He was 56 years old at the time of his death. Andrew Johnson took the oath of office as the 17th President on April 15th. On April 21st a nine car funeral train that included 300 dignitaries left Washington, DC and began a nearly 1700 mile journey back to Springfield. In the afternoon of May 4th, Lincoln's body was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, guided his country through the most devastating experience in its national history-the Civil War. He is considered by many historians to have been the greatest American president. Early Life Lincoln was born on Feb. 12, 1809, in a log cabin in Hardin County, Ky. Indians had killed his grandfather. This tragedy left his father, Thomas Lincoln, a wandering laboring boy, who grew up without education. Thomas became a skilled carpenter and purchased three farms in Kentucky before the Lincolns left the state. Little is known about Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Abraham had an older sister, Sarah, and a younger brother, Thomas, who died at infancy. In 1816 the Lincolns moved to Indiana. Land ownership was more secure in Indiana because the Land Ordinance of 1785 provided for surveys by the federal government, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 forbade slavery in the area. Lincoln's parents belonged to a faction of the Baptist church that disapproved of slavery. Indiana was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. The Lincolns' life near Little Pigeon Creek, in Perry County, was not easy. Lincoln was raised to farm work and recalled life in the forest as a fight with trees and logs and grubs. Lincoln later remembered, he attended some schools, but for less than a year altogether. He remembered, "I could read, write, and cipher to the Rule of Three; but that was all." Lincoln's mother died in 1818, and the following year his father married a Kentucky widow, Sarah Bush Johnston. She was a good and kind mother. In later years Lincoln could recall memories of his childhood home. His sister died in childbirth the same year. In 1830 the Lincolns left Indiana for Illinois. Abraham made a flatboat trip to New Orleans, and in 1831 he left home for New Salem, in Sangamon County near Springfield. In New Salem, Lincoln tried various occupations and served briefly in the Black Hawk War. Election to the Presidency In February 1860, Lincoln made his first major political appearance in the Northeast when he addressed a rally at the Cooper Union in New York. He was now sufficiently well known to be a presidential candidate. At the Republican national convention in Chicago in May, William H. Seward was the leading candidate. Seward, however, had qualities that made him undesirable in the critical states the Republicans had lost in 1856: Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, and New Jersey. As a result Lincoln won the nomination by being the second choice of the majority. He went on to win the presidential election, defeating the Northern Democrat Douglas, the Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, and the Constitutional Union candidate John Bell. Lincoln selected a strong cabinet that included all of his major rivals for the Republican nomination: Seward as secretary of state, Salmon P. Chase as secretary of the treasury, and Edward Bates as attorney general. By the time of Lincoln's inauguration in March 1861, seven states had seceded from the Union. His conciliatory inaugural address had no effect on the South, and, against the advice of a majority of his cabinet, Lincoln decided to send provisions to Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. The fort was a symbol of federal authority--conspicuous in the state that had led secession, South Carolina--and it would soon have had to be evacuated for lack of supplies. On Apr. 12, 1861, South Carolina fired on the fort, and the Civil War began. The Civil War As a commander in chief Lincoln was soon noted for vigorous measures, sometimes at odds with the Constitution and often at odds with the ideas of his military commanders. After a period of initial support and enthusiasm for George B. McClellan, Lincoln's conflicts with that Democratic general helped to turn the latter into his presidential rival in 1864. Famed for his clemency for court-martialed soldiers, Lincoln nevertheless took a realistic view of war as best prosecuted by killing the enemy. Above all, he always sought a general, no matter what his politics, who would fight. He found such a general in Ulysses S. Grant, to whom he gave overall command in 1864. Thereafter, Lincoln took a less direct role in military planning, but his interest never wavered, and he died with a copy of Gen. William Sherman's orders for the March to the Sea in his pocket. Politics vied with war as Lincoln's major preoccupation in the presidency. The war required the deployment of huge numbers of men and quantities of materiel; for administrative assistance, therefore, Lincoln turned to the only large organization available for his use, the Republican party. With some rare but important exceptions (for example, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton), Republicans received the bulk of the civilian appointments from the cabinet to the local post offices. Lincoln tried throughout the war to keep the Republican party together and never consistently favored one faction in the party over another. Military appointments were divided between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats accused Lincoln of being a tyrant because he proscribed civil liberties. For example, he suspended the writ of habeas corpus in some areas as early as Apr. 27, 1861, and throughout the nation on Sept. 24, 1862, and the administration made over 13,000 arbitrary arrests. On the other hand, Lincoln tolerated virulent criticism from the press and politicians, often restrained his commanders from overzealous arrests, and showed no real tendencies toward becoming a dictator. There was never a hint that Lincoln might postpone the election of 1864, although he feared in August of that year that he would surely lose to McClellan. Democrats exaggerated Lincoln's suppression of civil liberties, in part because wartime prosperity robbed them of economic issues and in part because Lincoln handled the slavery issue so skillfully. The Constitution protected slavery in peace, but in war, Lincoln came to believe, the commander in chief could abolish slavery as a military necessity. The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation of Sept. 22, 1862, bore this military justification, as did all of Lincoln's racial measures, including especially his decision in the final proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863, to accept blacks in the army. By 1864, Democrats and Republicans differed clearly in their platforms on the race issue: Lincoln's endorsed the 13TH Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery, whereas McClellan's pledged to return to the South the rights it had had in 1860. Lincoln's victory in that election thus changed the racial future of the United States. It also agitated Southern-sympathizer and Negrophobe John Wilkes Booth, who began to conspire first to abduct Lincoln and later to kill him. On Apr. 14, 1865, five days after Robert E. Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Lincoln attended a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington. There Booth entered the presidential box and shot Lincoln. The next morning at 7:22 Lincoln died. Abraham Lincoln was born Sunday, February 12, 1809, in a log cabin near Hodgenville, He was the son of Thomas and Nancy and he was named for his paternal grandfather. Thomas Lincoln was a carpenter and farmer. Both of Abraham's parents were members of a Baptist congregation which had separated from another church due to opposition to slavery. As Abraham grew up, he loved to read and preferred learning to working in the fields. This led to a difficult relationship with his father who was just the opposite. Abraham was constantly borrowing books from the neighbors. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, guided his country through the most devastating experience in its national history--the CIVIL WAR. He is considered by many historians to have been the greatest American president. Early Life In 1816 the Lincolns moved to Indiana, "partly on account of slavery," Abraham recalled, "but chiefly on account of difficulty in land titles in Kentucky." Land ownership was more secure in Indiana because the Land Ordinance of 1785 provided for surveys by the federal government; moreover, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 forbade slavery in the area. Lincoln's parents belonged to a faction of the Baptist church that disapproved of slavery, and this affiliation may account for Abraham's later statement that he was "naturally anti-slavery" and could not remember when he "did not so think, and feel." Indiana was a "wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods." The Lincolns' life near Little Pigeon Creek, in Perry (now Spencer) County, was not easy. Lincoln "was raised to farm work" and recalled life in this "unbroken forest" as a fight "with trees and logs and grubs." "There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education," Lincoln later recalled; he attended "some schools, so called," but for less than a year altogether. "Still, somehow," he remembered, "I could read, write, and cipher to the Rule of Three; but that was all." Lincoln's mother died in 1818, and the following year his father married a Kentucky widow, Sarah Bush Johnston. She "proved a good and kind mother." In later years Lincoln could fondly and poetically recall memories of his "childhood home." In 1828 he was able to make a flatboat trip to New Orleans. His sister died in childbirth the same year. In 1830 the Lincolns left Indiana for Illinois. Abraham made a second flatboat trip to New Orleans, and in 1831 he left home for New Salem, in Sangamon County near Springfield. The separation may have been made easier by Lincoln's estrangement from his father, of whom he spoke little in his mature life. In New Salem, Lincoln tried various occupations and served briefly in the Black Hawk War (1832). This military interlude was uneventful except for the fact that he was elected captain of his volunteer company, a distinction that gave him "much satisfaction." It opened new avenues for his life. Illinois Legislator Lincoln ran unsuccessfully for the Illinois legislature in 1832. Two years later he was elected to the lower house for the first of four successive terms (until 1841) as a Whig. His membership in the Whig Party was natural. Lincoln's father was a Whig, and the party's ambitious program of national economic development was the perfect solution to the problems Lincoln had seen in his rural, hardscrabble Indiana past. His first platform (1832) announced that "Time and experience . . . verified . . . that the poorest and most thinly populated countries would be greatly benefitted by the opening of good roads, and in the clearing of navigable streams. . . . There cannot justly be any objection to having rail roads and canals." As a Whig, Lincoln supported the Second Bank of the United States, the Illinois State Bank, government-sponsored internal improvements (roads, canals, railroads, harbors), and protective tariffs. His Whig vision of the West, derived from Henry CLAY, was not at all pastoral. Unlike most successful American politicians, Lincoln was unsentimental about agriculture, calling farmers in 1859 "neither better nor worse than any other people." He remained conscious of his humble origins and was therefore sympathetic to labor as "prior to, and independent of, capital." He bore no antagonism to capital, however, admiring the American system of economic opportunity in which the "man who labored for another last year, this year labors for himself, and next year he will hire others to labor for him." Slavery was the opposite of opportunity and mobility, and Lincoln stated his political opposition to it as early as 1837. Lawyer and U.S. Representative Encouraged by Whig legislator John Todd Stuart, Lincoln became a lawyer in 1836, and in 1837 he moved to Springfield, where he became Stuart's law partner. With a succession of partners, including Stephen T. Logan and William H. Herndon, Lincoln built a successful practice. Lincoln courted Mary Todd, a Kentuckian of much more genteel origins than he. After a brief postponement of their engagement, which plummeted Lincoln into a deep spell of melancholy, they were married on Nov. 4, 1842. They had four sons: Robert Todd (1843-1926), Edward Baker (1846-50), William Wallace (1850-62), and Thomas "Tad" (1853-71). Mary Todd Lincoln was a Presbyterian, but her husband was never a church member. Lincoln served one term (1847-49) as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he opposed the Mexican War--Whigs did everywhere--as unnecessary and unconstitutional. This opposition was not a function of internationalist sympathy for Mexico (Lincoln thought the war inevitable) but of feeling that the Democratic president, James Polk, had violated the Constitution. Lincoln had been indifferent about the annexation of Texas, already a slave territory, but he opposed any expansion that would allow slavery into new areas; hence, he supported the Wilmot Proviso, which would have barred slavery from any territory gained as a result of the Mexican War. He did not run for Congress again, returning instead to Springfield and the law. The Slavery Issue and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates Lincoln "was losing interest in politics" when the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by Congress in 1854. This legislation opened lands previously closed to slavery to the possibility of its spread by local option (popular sovereignty); Lincoln viewed the provisions of the act as immoral. Although he was not an abolitionist and thought slavery unassailably protected by the Constitution in states where it already existed, Lincoln also thought that America's founders had put slavery on the way to "ultimate extinction" by preventing its spread to new territories. He saw this act, which had been sponsored by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, as a new and alarming development. Lincoln vied for the U.S. Senate in 1855 but eventually threw his support to Lyman Trumbull. In 1856 he joined the newly formed Republican Party, and two years later he campaigned for the Senate against Douglas. In his speech at Springfield in acceptance of the Republican senatorial nomination (June 16, 1858) Lincoln suggested that Douglas, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, and Democratic presidents Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan had conspired to nationalize slavery. In the same speech he expressed the view that the nation would become either all slave or all free: "A house divided against itself cannot stand." The underdog in the senatorial campaign, Lincoln wished to share Douglas's fame by appearing with him in debates. Douglas agreed to seven debates: in Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and Alton, Ill. Lincoln knew that Douglas--now fighting the Democratic Buchanan administration over the constitution to be adopted by Kansas--had alienated his Southern support; and he feared Douglas's new appeal to eastern Republicans now that Douglas was battling the South. Lincoln's strategy, therefore, was to stress the gulf of principle that separated Republican opposition to slavery as a moral wrong from the moral indifference of the Democrats, embodied in legislation allowing popular sovereignty to decide the fate of each territory. Douglas, Lincoln insisted, did not care whether slavery was "voted up or voted down." By his vigorous showing against the famous Douglas, Lincoln won the debates and his first considerable national fame. He did not win the Senate seat, however; the Illinois legislature, dominated by Democratic holdovers in the upper house, elected Douglas. Election to the Presidency In February 1860, Lincoln made his first major political appearance in the Northeast when he addressed a rally at the Cooper Union in New York. He was now sufficiently well known to be a presidential candidate. At the Republican national convention in Chicago in May, William H. Seward was the leading candidate. Seward, however, had qualities that made him undesirable in the critical states the Republicans had lost in 1856: Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, and New Jersey. As a result Lincoln won the nomination by being the second choice of the majority. He went on to win the presidential election, defeating the Northern Democrat Douglas, the Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, and the Constitutional Union candidate John Bell. Lincoln selected a strong cabinet that included all of his major rivals for the Republican nomination: Seward as secretary of state, Salmon P. Chase as secretary of the treasury, and Edward Bates as attorney general. By the time of Lincoln's inauguration in March 1861, seven states had seceded from the Union. His conciliatory inaugural address had no effect on the South, and, against the advice of a majority of his cabinet, Lincoln decided to send provisions to Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. The fort was a symbol of federal authority--conspicuous in the state that had led secession, South Carolina--and it would soon have had to be evacuated for lack of supplies. On Apr. 12, 1861, South Carolina fired on the fort, and the Civil War began. The Civil War As a commander in chief Lincoln was soon noted for vigorous measures, sometimes at odds with the Constitution and often at odds with the ideas of his military commanders. After a period of initial support and enthusiasm for George B. McClellan, Lincoln's conflicts with that Democratic general helped to turn the latter into his presidential rival in 1864. Famed for his clemency for court-martialed soldiers, Lincoln nevertheless took a realistic view of war as best prosecuted by killing the enemy. Above all, he always sought a general, no matter what his politics, who would fight. He found such a general in Ulysses S. Grant, to whom he gave overall command in 1864. Thereafter, Lincoln took a less direct role in military planning, but his interest never wavered, and he died with a copy of Gen. William Sherman's orders for the March to the Sea in his pocket. Politics vied with war as Lincoln's major preoccupation in the presidency. The war required the deployment of huge numbers of men and quantities of materiel; for administrative assistance, therefore, Lincoln turned to the only large organization available for his use, the Republican party. With some rare but important exceptions (for example, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton), Republicans received the bulk of the civilian appointments from the cabinet to the local post offices. Lincoln tried throughout the war to keep the Republican party together and never consistently favored one faction in the party over another. Military appointments were divided between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats accused Lincoln of being a tyrant because he proscribed civil liberties. For example, he suspended the writ of habeas corpus in some areas as early as Apr. 27, 1861, and throughout the nation on Sept. 24, 1862, and the administration made over 13,000 arbitrary arrests. On the other hand, Lincoln tolerated virulent criticism from the press and politicians, often restrained his commanders from overzealous arrests, and showed no real tendencies toward becoming a dictator. There was never a hint that Lincoln might postpone the election of 1864, although he feared in August of that year that he would surely lose to McClellan. Democrats exaggerated Lincoln's suppression of civil liberties, in part because wartime prosperity robbed them of economic issues and in part because Lincoln handled the slavery issue so skillfully. The Constitution protected slavery in peace, but in war, Lincoln came to believe, the commander in chief could abolish slavery as a military necessity. The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation of Sept. 22, 1862, bore this military justification, as did all of Lincoln's racial measures, including especially his decision in the final proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863, to accept blacks in the army. By 1864, Democrats and Republicans differed clearly in their platforms on the race issue: Lincoln's endorsed the 13TH Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery, whereas McClellan's pledged to return to the South the rights it had had in 1860. Lincoln's victory in that election thus changed the racial future of the United States. It also agitated Southern-sympathizer and Negrophobe "booth.html", who began to conspire first to abduct Lincoln and later to kill him. On Apr. 14, 1865, five days after Robert E. Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Lincoln attended a performance of Our American Cousin at "/TOUR/ford.html" in Washington. There Booth entered the presidential box and shot Lincoln. The next morning at 7:22 Lincoln died. Lincoln's achievements--saving the Union and freeing the slaves--and his martyrdom just at the war's end assured his continuing fame. No small contribution was made by his eloquence as exemplified in the "../../TOUR/linstatue.html" l "gettysburg" (Nov. 19, 1863), in which he defined the war as a rededication to the egalitarian ideals of the Declaration of Independence, and in his second inaugural address (Mar. 4, 1865), in which he urged "malice toward none" and "charity for all" in the peace to come. Nickname: "Honest Abe"; "Illinois Rail-Splitter" Marriage: Nov. 4, 1842, to Mary Todd (1818-82) Children: Robert Todd Lincoln (1843-1926); Edward Baker Lincoln (1846-50); William Wallace Lincoln (1850-62); Thomas "Tad" Lincoln (1853-71) ? Abraham Lincoln has been depicted as a very gifted orator and noble leader of our country. He is often compared with Shakespeare, due to his ability to say amazingly profound words. He is a very important symbol of our country’s history. Lincoln definitely led an interesting life. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in a log cabin in Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky. This was near Hodgenville, Kentucky. His mother’s name was Nancy Hanks Lincoln; his father’s name was Thomas Lincoln. Abraham was named after his father’s father. He had an older sister named Sarah, and he had a younger brother named Thomas, but he died in infancy. Abraham Lincoln was once described by his cousin Dennis Hanks as,"...he'll never come to much, fur I'll tell you he wuz the puniest, cryin'est little youngster I ever saw." Abraham’s parents were part of a Baptist congregation. Abraham went to school every once in a while at a log schoolhouse two miles from his farm. Abraham then moved to Indiana due to troubles with land claims. When Abe was 9 years old, his mother died of “milk sickness” which was a disease that was acquired by drinking the milk of a cow that grazed on poisonous white snakeroot. His father Thomas then remarried a woman named Sara Bush Johnston. She didn’t think that Abe had enough schooling, so she sent him to school a lot more. Abraham Lincoln enjoyed reading much more than the usual working on the farm. This is where he got most of his knowledge. In the 1830’s, the Lincolns moved to Illinois where Abraham lived until 1837. In Illinois, he worked as a postmaster, a storekeeper, and he served in the Black Hawk War in 1832. His physical features are the most famous qualities of Abraham Lincoln. At his full height, he was 6 feet and 4 inches and was about 180 pounds. This made him very tall and stocky. Lincoln is often depicted as a very hunched over man, since he is so tall. Lincoln decided that he wanted to run for legislature in Illinois. However, he lost his first election. In 1834 he was a Whig and was at last elected to the legislature and served four terms. During this time period, Abraham kept on reading, and eventually went to study the law. In 1837 he moved to Springfield, Illinois. He became a lawyer, and met his future wife. Mary Todd was from Kentucky and had moved to Springfield to live with her married sister. She was 5 feet 2 inches (much shorter than Abraham) and the age of 21. Abraham was ten years older than she was. Mary and Abraham had an off and on relationship. They first confronted when they were at a cotillion and Abraham asked her to dance. Eventually they got engaged, broke up, and then saw each other again. They decided to get married in late 1842, yet they didn’t want a big wedding. Abraham told the minister that he wanted to “get hitched tonight.” They got married in the Edward’s house in which Mary was staying. About 30 relatives and friends attended; Mary did not wear an elaborate dress. On November 11, 1842, Abraham wrote a letter to Samuel D. Marshall, which included him saying, “Nothing new here, except my marrying, which to me is a matter of profound wonder.” The couple had 4 children: Robert, Edward, William, and Thomas (well known as Tad). In 1846, Lincoln was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives and won the election. During his term, he was well known for his opposition of slavery and the Mexican-American War. After his term he went back to his law practice and became suddenly uninterested in politics for a while. After the Kansas-Nebraska Act...