Abraham Lincoln

Government of the people, by the people, for the people are among the
most recognizable words of any US politician. They belong to Abraham
Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America. Lincoln's
remarkable leadership during the Civil War led him to become one of
the greatest presidents in American history. His role in freeing the
slaves won him the recognition as the great emancipator and pave the
way to forever abolish slavery and the United States. His dramatic and
untimely death left Americans in shock, leaving behind a presidential
legacy that will never be forgotten.
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in rural Kentucky. To Thomas
and Nancy Hanks. Lincoln. He had an older sister, Sarah, and a
younger brother named Thomas Junior, who died in infancy soon after
being born. While Abraham Lincoln was still very young, his family
moved to southern Indiana due to a harsh winter. They spent their first
year in a temporary shelter. The next year, the Lincolns were able to
build a more suitable log cabin for their family. Together, Abraham
Lincoln and his dad built a farm for their family. The young Lincoln
would help clear the fields and took care of crops, but disliked hunting
and fishing. Sadly, when Lincoln was nine, his mom suddenly fell ill
from sickness and died shortly after leaving behind the devastated
Lincoln. With his mother gone, Lincoln grew farther apart from his dad
and quietly resented all the hard work that his dad required him to do.

The following year after Nancy's death, Thomas Lincoln married Sarah
Busch Johnston, a widow with three children of her own that he had
known while living in Kentucky. Sarah was a tremendous help to the
grieving Lincoln. She saw potential in Abraham Lincoln at such a
young age and fueled his reading and intellect. Lincoln and his new
stepmom quickly formed a strong bond. Sarah provided Lincoln with
love and encouragement, and Lincoln soon started calling her mother
as he grew older. Lincoln continued to help his father on the farm and
gained a reputation for his exceptional skills with an act. Lincoln didn't
receive very much schooling, and most of what he learned was self-
taught while he devoured as many books as he could. By the age of 21,
Lincoln had grown up to be a very tall man, six feet four inches tall. He
had a whole life waiting ahead of him. And the Lincoln's moved to
Illinois. Here, Lincoln, with absolutely no desire to be a farmer, tried
various occupations. He went from rail splitter, hoping to clear and
fence his father's new farm to becoming a flat boatman. Or he made a
voyage down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. But upon his return
to Illinois, Lincoln settled in a small village known as New Salem,
where he worked different jobs from time to time. He explored
occupations as a storekeeper, postman and surveyor. When the Black
Hawk War, a brief conflict between the US and Native Americans broke
out.
Volunteers in the area elected Lincoln to be their leader. Lincoln saw
no combat during this time but made important political connections.
Soon, Lincoln began his career in politics when he was elected as a
member of the Whig Party for the Illinois State Legislature. During this
time. Lincoln devoted himself to a huge project for constructing an
extensive network of railroads, highways and canals. Even from this
early in his political career, Lincoln opposed slavery and had a vision of
expanding the United States commerce and cities rather than
agriculture. During his term, serving with the Illinois state legislature,
Lincoln taught himself law, and after passing the bar examination in
1836, he began working as a lawyer. Soon, he moved to Springfield,
Illinois, the new state capital, which offered more opportunities there.
He served clients ranging from individual residents to national railroad
lines. A few years later, he met Mary Todd, a well-educated woman,
and the two were soon married. They went on to have four children
together Robert, Edward, William and Thomas, whom Abraham
Lincoln nicknamed Tad. Lincoln ran for Congressman for the United
States and won the election. He served one term and decided not to
seek reelection. He then returned to Springfield to continue practicing
law where success in court cases started bringing him more and more
clients, including banks, insurance companies, manufacturing firms
and even a few criminal trials. Sadly, Lincoln's son Edward passed
away shortly before his fourth birthday and only months before
William was born. For the next couple of years.
Lincoln barely took part in politics. Then, when a new crisis splitting
up the northern and southern US came up. Lincoln was pushed back
into national politics at this point in time between 1815 and 1861. There
were many economic differences in the US. The northern states were
rapidly modernizing and although they still relied on some agriculture,
manufacturing and other industries were well established. In contrast,
the economy of the southern states was mainly based on large
plantations or farms that depended on slaves for labor. The North did
not approve of having slaves. The North and South also disagreed over
states’ rights and whether or not slavery would be allowed in the new
Western states. In 1854, the US Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska
Act, stating that settlers in Kansas and Nebraska would decide for
themselves whether to allow slaves in their states. Violence soon broke
out between antislavery and pro-slavery supporters as what is today
known as bleeding Kansas. Opposition to the act in the North caused
the Republican Party to form and the Whig Party to fade away. The
new act enraged Lincoln, and so he went before a large crowd of people
denouncing slavery and calling it a violation of the most basic
principles from the Declaration of Independence. Joining the
Republican Party. He tried running for the US Senate and challenged
sitting Senator Stephen Douglass, and while he wasn't elected, he
gained national recognition for his music and slavery. In 1858, after he
accepted the nomination for state senator for the Illinois Republican
Party, Lincoln delivered his famous House divided speech.

Soon, people were mentioning Lincoln as a presidential prospect for

the 1860 election. In May of 1860, Republicans chose Lincoln as their
presidential candidate. So he set aside his law practice and started
focusing on his campaign. That November at the presidential election.
Lincoln once again faced Douglass, but with support from the northern
states, he was able to win the White House and become the 16th
president of the United States. It was a difficult time in the US and
Lincoln was facing a divided nation upon his election. Many of the
southern states believed Lincoln was against slavery and in favor of the
interest of the northern states. So they felt their cause was never going
to be heard. Even before Lincoln's presidential inauguration, South
Carolina became the first slave state to secede from the US. Six
additional states followed and together with South Carolina, they
formed the Confederate States of America. Commonly referred to as
the Confederacy. As soon as Lincoln took office in March, the
Confederacy threatened the federal held Fort Sumter in South
Carolina. Lincoln ordered a fleet to resupply the fort, but the
Confederates started firing. It was 1861, and the American Civil War
had started. Lincoln was off to a bad start. Lincoln called on state
governors for troops, but four more southern states took side, seceded
from the US and joined the Confederacy. Lincoln soon proclaimed a
blockade of the southern ports during the American Civil War.

The United States was divided between the Union and the Confederacy.
The union, commonly referred to as the North, was the federal
government, with President Lincoln as their commander in chief and
included 23 states and five border states. The Confederacy was made
up of 11 slave states, all of which seceded from the United States. And.
Jefferson Davis has their president, but free state prohibited slavery
while slave states allowed slavery. The border states were states that
allowed slavery, but that did not leave the Union. The country was in
crisis, but Lincoln was determined to keep the country together.
Jefferson Davis was a man who knew the military being a graduate of
the US Military Academy, a hero of the Mexican-American War and
Secretary of war. He was an experienced wartime leader. And then
there was Lincoln who had only one experience in a war, that being the
Black Hawk war, where he saw absolutely no action. Despite this,
Lincoln proved to be a capable leader during the war. He quickly
learned successful tactics and strategies and took control of the war,
choosing his generals wisely. Sadly, on top of everything that Lincoln
had been dealing with during the Civil War, his beloved son, William
died at the age of 11. His death cast a dark shadow over the Lincoln's
and Abraham Lincoln never fully recovered from losing another one of
his sons. After several Union losses, Confederate General Robert E Lee
led an attempt to invade the north.
And so came the Battle of Antietam in 1862, the bloodiest single day
battle in American history and one of the keys turning points of the
Civil War. The union's victory gave Lincoln the perfect time to
announce the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared freedom for
all slaves in the rebellious states. Thousands of former slaves soon went
on to join the Union Army. Two important union victories at
Vicksburg, Mississippi and at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania
followed in July 1863. The Battle of Gettysburg once again ended the
Confederacy's attempts of invading the North and left them in a
defensive position, turning the tide of the war in the union's favor. This
victory led Lincoln to deliver the Gettysburg Address. The speech,
though brief but effective, expressed the war's purpose and the pursuit
of human equality. The Gettysburg Address became Lincoln's most
famous speech and one of the most quoted speeches in history. The
time came in 1864, when Lincoln faced a tough reelection. But union
victories in battle, especially the capture of Atlanta by General William
T Sherman and his famous march to the sea, swung many votes in
Lincoln's favor, and he was reelected as union military triumphs
indicated that an end to the war was near. Lincoln encouraged
Southerners to stop fighting and join him in reuniting the country. In
his second inaugural address. Lincoln expressed the need to
reconstruct the South and rebuild the union without hatred and
instead offering help to those who need it. Since Abraham Lincoln's
Emancipation Proclamation freed only those slaves held in the
Confederate states.

Lincoln submitted a proposed amendment to the Constitution that

would abolish slavery for the entire United States. That amendment
became the 13th Amendment and was passed in January 1865. Finally,
after four years of continuous fighting, Confederate General Robert E
Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S Grant at the Appomattox
Courthouse in Virginia on April nine, 1865, and the American Civil War
finally ended that year. A couple of nights later, Lincoln and his wife
were watching a play at the Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., where
a tragic fate awaited him during the play. Actor and Confederate
sympathizer John Wilkes Booth slipped into the president's box and
shot Lincoln straight in the back of his head. President Lincoln was
carried to a boarding house across the street, but it was too late.
Abraham Lincoln died a few hours later on the morning of April 15,
1865. Abraham Lincoln was killed at a time when he was needed to
complete the difficult task of reuniting his country after ending the
war. Lincoln's incredible impact on the nation left the US with an
enduring legacy. Lincoln's face is featured on pennies and $5 bills. He's
had many important memorials built in his honor, including the
famous Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and Lincoln Memorial in
Washington, D.C. Abraham Lincoln's inspiring and effective leadership
throughout the Civil War and as the 16th president of the United States
forever earned him a place in history.