Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the sixteenth president of the United States in 1861. His leadership during the political and constitutional crises of the American Civil War (1861–65) earned him a place in history as one of the United States's most highly regarded presidents.

Early life

Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in the backwoods of Kentucky. His parents were both illiterate farmers, and Lincoln was raised to be a farmer too. He received very little formal schooling, but he borrowed books and read as much as he could on his own.

In 1819, the Lincoln family moved to Indiana , where his mother died soon after. Because Lincoln's relationship with his father was strained and distant, Lincoln's sister, Sarah, became his greatest support. After Sarah's death in 1828, Lincoln joined a four-month voyage on a flatboat expedition down the Mississippi River. This allowed him to see parts of the country that he had never seen, inspiring him to pursue a different future than becoming a farmer.

In 1831, Lincoln left the family homestead. After another expedition down the Mississippi, he volunteered for the Illinois state militia during the Black Hawk War (1832), a conflict with Native Americans. He never experienced any fighting, but his company noticed his leadership and elected him captain.

In 1832, Lincoln moved to New Salem, Illinois, where he worked in a variety of jobs, then moved to the state's capital, Springfield, in 1837. In November 1842, he married Mary Todd, and over the next eleven years they had four sons.

Political career

Lincoln's interest in a political career started in 1832, when he first ran for the state legislature. Though he lost that election, he was elected in 1834 for the first of four terms. Lincoln was self-motivated, and he taught himself law and earned a license to practice by 1836.

While serving as a legislator, Lincoln practiced law, using Springfield as his base starting in 1847. From there, Lincoln followed the yearly rounds of a federal circuit judge to the state's outlying counties to represent clients who needed experienced attorneys. This work improved Lincoln's skill as a lawyer, and it also helped him make political contacts.

Lincoln's service in the state legislature came to an end in 1841. He practiced law until 1847, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He accomplished very little there, however, and in his disappointment returned to Springfield after one term, vowing to stay out of politics.

In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act , which stated that the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska would be allowed to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery within their borders. This caused a political stir because it effectively negated the 1820 Missouri Compromise . Under that law, Congress had allowed Missouri to be admitted to the Union as a slave state, but it had banned slavery in the northern territories of the Louisiana Purchase . Angered by the new law and the possible spread of slavery, Lincoln was inspired to run for the U.S. Senate in 1855, but he lost.

The Republican Party was formed in 1854 by people who opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Lincoln quickly joined and became an active leader in Illinois. In 1857, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Dred Scott case, which supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Fueled again by anger, Lincoln ran a second time for the Senate.

This time, Lincoln's opponent was U.S. senator Stephen A. Douglas (1813–1861), the Democratic sponsor of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Facing a difficult race, Lincoln invited the senator to engage in a series of seven debates. The fiery exchanges drew large crowds and national press coverage. Douglas emphasized explosive race issues, and characterized Lincoln as a radical abolitionist (opponent of slavery). Lincoln responded by carefully defining his conservative antislavery views: he favored maintaining slavery where it was already and banning it only from spreading to new areas.

Though the election was close, Douglas won and returned to Washington, D.C. But the attention surrounding the Lincoln-Douglas debates and Lincoln's performance earned him the Republican nomination for president in 1860.

Election of 1860

Known for his support of business, his support of free labor (the labor of white workers who owned property), and his opposition to the spread of slavery, Lincoln was an attractive Republican nominee. His party also was in favor of a protective tariff, or tax, to aid U.S. business; a homestead act (a law allowing the sale of undeveloped land in the West to farmers); a transcontinental railroad to aid national development; banking reform; and other internal improvements.

The Democratic Party convention that convened in early May in South Carolina resulted in a deadlock, with no candidate chosen. Southern Democrats wanted a federal slave code that would allow slavery in the western territories. Northern Democrats favored popular sovereignty, letting each state decide whether to allow slavery within its borders.

The divisions in the Democratic Party eventually grew too deep, and the Northern and Southern Democrats announced separate presidential candidates. A fourth candidate ran from the Constitutional Union Party. Its platform neglected the explosive issue of slavery, focusing instead on preserving the Constitution and the Union . After a complex, four-way campaign, Lincoln was elected president.

State secessions

Southern fears of a Republican president grew throughout the campaign of 1860. Many feared that Republicans would emancipate, or free, all African Americans throughout the Union and strengthen federal control over state governments.

When Lincoln won the election, panic spread throughout the South. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to vote to secede, or withdraw, from the Union. (See Secession .) Before Lincoln was inaugurated, Alabama , Florida , Georgia , Louisiana , and Mississippi seceded too, joining to form the Confederate States of America .

In an attempt to maintain calm, Lincoln refrained from making public comments about the secessions before his inauguration. Privately, he and other Republicans tried to assure Southerners that they were not a threat to them or their property. But the Confederates were not persuaded, and they continued to establish their own government. They named their first president, former U.S. senator Jefferson Davis (1808–1889) of Mississippi, wrote a constitution, scheduled elections, and even authorized an army of ten thousand men before Lincoln took office.

Lincoln's inauguration

Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861. His inaugural address was vague enough to allow flexibility in handling the growing crisis but also reassure the Union. While restating his party's commitment to not interfere with slavery in the states, he also argued forcefully that secession was wrong. Lincoln pledged to uphold the Union, to “hold, occupy, and possess” federal property, and to collect all federal taxes and fees.

In the final parts of his inaugural address, Lincoln explained that it was up to Southerners to solve the constitutional and political crisis of secession. He pledged that the government had no interest in initiating a civil war, and conflict would arise only through others’ acts of aggression. He ended by asking Southerners to work through the tensions rather than break the bonds of the Union.

Civil War

After his inauguration, Lincoln sought to keep control of all federal property in the Confederate states. This goal was challenged by the South Carolina governor's demand that Lincoln remove the military troops from his state. Lincoln chose instead to resupply the men of Fort Sumter in Charleston. He warned the Confederate commander of the supply ship's approach and told them not to interfere.

After discussing the issue, Confederate president Davis and his cabinet demanded the Union surrender of Fort Sumter. Receiving a rejection, the Confederates destroyed most of the fort and forced a surrender on April 14, 1861. As a result of the battle, Arkansas , North Carolina , Tennessee , and Virginia also seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy. The Civil War had begun.

The White House was not prepared for a rebellion so soon after President Lincoln's inauguration. Lincoln had recruited highly qualified men to lead the government's departments, but it was difficult at first to control them. He also had a series of ineffective generals, and this motivated him to educate himself in military history and strategy to better guide his army. Tens of thousands of men volunteered to serve, but the Union Army lacked everything from shoes to muskets to supply them.

Lincoln acted quickly and assertively in spite of his challenges. He organized a war plan based on the experience and guidance of Winfield Scott (1786–1866), the U.S. army commander, to defeat the Confederacy over time by cutting off supplies. But neither the public nor Lincoln wanted to wait for a supply shortage to bring about the South's collapse. In a rush to a decisive Union victory, Lincoln ordered an attack on the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. There, at the Battles of Bull Run , the Union suffered a decisive defeat.

Although General Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) saw many Union successes in the western states and territories, the battles in the East were often Union failures. The Union generals were not as aggressive as Lincoln knew they needed to be to win. The Battle of Gettysburg and the Battle of Vicksburg in 1863, however, marked turning points for the Union Army .

These successes were key to Lincoln's winning a second presidential election in 1864. Eventually, Lincoln assigned General Grant to command the Army of the Potomac, and General William Sherman (1820–1891) replaced Grant in the west. The forcefulness of these generals led to Union victory. Confederate general Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse , Virginia, on April 9, 1865, and the rest of the Confederate troops surrendered nine days later.

Ending slavery and honoring the dead

Slavery was a complex problem for Lincoln during the Civil War. Slavery allowed the South to establish factories and to maintain essential manpower in the economy behind battle lines without sacrificing soldier power. Although the Union Army could have been helped by slaves escaped from the South, by law slaves were considered property and had to be returned to their owners, who often came to find them.

Lincoln understood that he needed to allow escaped slaves to remain in the Union, but he also wanted to keep slave-holding border states such as Kentucky, Missouri, and Maryland in the Union. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation , which declared that all slaves within the rebellious Confederate states were forever free.

Although it failed to eliminate slavery in the states that had remained loyal to the Union, the Emancipation Proclamation set the stage for the eventual passage of the Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. On January 31, 1865, the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment officially ended slavery in all areas of the United States and made emancipation permanent.

Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of a national cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania , in 1863. The address was only a few hundred words long, but Americans regard it as a great speech that honored the dead as well as the very ideals on which the United States was founded.

Lincoln's legacy

Though President Lincoln is remembered best for his leadership and devotion to preserving the Union of the United States, Lincoln's legacy includes other accomplishments, too. His work with a supportive Congress produced legislation that would have been impossible with divisive politics.

Together, Lincoln and Congress formed a new banking system and enacted the Legal Tender Act of 1862 to establish the first official currency of the United States. The Homestead Act and the Morrill Land-Grant College Act, both passed in 1862, were important laws that boosted the economy and helped speed the development of the western United States. Lincoln's actions, which were based on the belief that the president could create unity among independent states, dramatically strengthened federal power and minimized state power.

President Lincoln's service was abruptly ended on April 14, 1865. While he was watching a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., he was shot and killed by a Southern sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth (1838–1865).