Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln is one of
America’s most famous presidents. He was our 16th president and
served from March of 1861 until his assassination on April 15th,
1865. He led the United States through the Civil War and its greatest moral, constitutional
and political crisis ever in history. He won the war which kept our country
unified and abolished slavery. This in turn strengthened our federal government
as well as the economy.
He was born on February 12th,
1809 and grew up in the western frontier of Kentucky and Indiana. He was
self-educated and became a lawyer in Illinois. He was a Whig Party leader and a
member of the Illinois House of Representatives. He served as an Illinois Representative
from 1834 to 1846. In 1846 Lincoln was elected into the United States House of Representatives.
He promoted modernization of our economy through railroads, tariffs and banks. He
was opposed to the Mexican-American Was which was not very popular among
Illinois voters, so he did not return for a second term in Congress. Therefore
he returned to Springfield and had a successful law practice.
Lincoln reentered politics in
1854 and he became a leader in building a new Republican Party, which was quite
popular among Illinois voters. During a debate with a Democrat by the name of
Stephen A. Douglas, he spoke out against the expansion of slavery, but lost in
the U.S. Senate race.
Lincoln dominated votes in
the North and was elected president in 1860. His election caused seven southern
slave states to form the Confederate States of America before he was sworn into
office.
The Confederate States of
America attacked Fort Sumter on April 12th, 1861 and that caused the
North to rally behind the Union. Lincoln focused on the military and political
aspects of the war. His main goal was to reunite the nation. Lincoln suspended
and arrested anyone accused of hindering the war efforts by blocking troop
trains.
Lincoln centered his efforts
on the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. He used the U.S. Army to protect
slaves that had escaped to the North. He also encouraged all states to abolish
slavery. He heavily pushed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution, which permanently outlawed slavery. Lincoln tightly supervised
the war effort, including the selection of top generals, one of which is quite
popular: Ulysses S. Grant. He also made all major decisions on the strategy of
the Union. One example is the naval blockade that shut down the South’s trade.
He also made moves that took control of Kentucky and Tennessee and used
gunboats to gain control of the southern river system.
Lincoln tried repeatedly to
capture the Confederate Captain at Richmond. Grant finally did it in 1865.
Six days after the surrender
of the Confederate commanding General Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated
by John Wilkes Booth, who was a Confederate supporter.
Lincoln is considered one of
our three greatest U.S. Presidents to this day.
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