Abraham Lincoln
16th President of the United States
In office March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865
Vice President	Hannibal Hamlin (1861–1865) Andrew Johnson (1865)
Preceded by	James Buchanan
Succeeded by	Andrew Johnson
Member of the US House of Representatives from Illinois' 7th District
In office March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849
Preceded by	John Henry
Succeeded by	Thomas L. Harris
Born	February 12, 1809(1809-02-12) Hardin County, Kentucky
Died	April 15, 1865 (aged 56) Washington, D.C.
Resting place	Oak Ridge Cemetery Springfield, Illinois 39°49′24″N 89°39′21″W / 39.82333°N 89.65583°W / 39.82333; -89.65583
Nationality	American
Political party	Whig (1832-1854) Republican (1854–1865) National Union (1864)
Spouse(s)	Mary Todd Lincoln
Children	Robert Todd Lincoln Edward Lincoln Willie Lincoln Tad Lincoln
Occupation	Lawyer
Religion	See: Abraham Lincoln and religion
Signature
Military service
Service/branch	Illinois Militia
Years of service	1832
Battles/wars	Black Hawk War

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led the United States through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery. Before his election in 1860¹ as the first Republican president, Lincoln, reared in a family of modest means and mostly self-educated, had been a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, a member of the United States House of Representatives, and twice an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate. Lincoln was a dedicated, though often necessarily absent, husband, and father of four children. As an outspoken opponent of the expansion of slavery in the United States,² Lincoln won the Republican nomination and was elected president in 1860. His tenure in office was immersed in the defeat of the secessionist Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. He introduced measures that resulted in the abolition of slavery, issuing his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and promoting the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Six days after the large-scale surrender of Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee, Lincoln became the first American president to be assassinated.

Lincoln had closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including Ulysses S. Grant. Historians have concluded that he handled the factions of the Republican Party well, bringing leaders of each faction into his cabinet and forcing them to cooperate. Lincoln successfully defused the Trent Affair, a war scare with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland late in 1861. Under his leadership, the Union took control of the border slave states at the start of the war. Additionally, he managed his own reelection in the 1864 presidential election.

Copperheads and other opponents of the war criticized Lincoln for refusing to compromise on the slavery issue. Conversely, the Radical Republicans criticized him for moving too slowly in abolishing slavery. Even with these opponents, Lincoln successfully rallied public opinion through his rhetoric and speeches;³ his Gettysburg Address became an iconic symbol of the nation's duty. At the close of the war, Lincoln held a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to speedily reunite the nation through a policy of generous reconciliation. Lincoln has consistently been ranked by scholars as one of the greatest of all U.S. Presidents.

Childhood and education

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, the second child to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Lincoln (née Hanks), in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm in southeast Hardin County, Kentucky⁴ (now LaRue County). Lincoln was not given a middle name.⁵ He had an older sister Sarah (Grigsby) who died while giving birth at a young age. A fusion of Welsh and Latin, his surname means "from the lake colony" or one from Lincoln, England.⁶ He is descended from Samuel Lincoln, who arrived in Hingham, Massachusetts from Norfolk in the 17th century.⁷ His grandfather and namesake Abraham Lincoln, a substantial landholder, moved from Virginia to Kentucky, where he was ambushed and killed by an Indian raid in 1786, with his children Mordecai, Josiah, and Thomas looking on.⁸ Mordecai's marksmanship with a rifle saved Thomas from the same fate. As the eldest son, Mordecai by law inherited his father's entire estate.⁹

Thomas, on his own financially, became a respected (though not wealthy) citizen of rural Kentucky. He bought and sold several farms, including the Sinking Spring Farm. The family belonged to a Separate Baptists church, which had high moral standards and opposed alcohol, dancing, and slavery.¹⁰ Lincoln himself never joined a church.¹¹ In 1816, the Lincoln family lost their lands because of a faulty title and made a new start in Perry County, Indiana (now in Spencer County, Indiana). Lincoln later noted that this move was "partly on account of slavery"¹² because it was hard to compete with farms operated with slaves.

Symbolic log cabin at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park

When Lincoln was nine, his 34 year old mother died of milk sickness. Soon afterwards his father remarried to Sarah Bush Johnston with whom Lincoln became very close and referred to as "Mother". But he became increasingly distant from his father. He regretted his father's lack of education, and was not inclined to a vocation of hard labor as was requisite to their frontier life; although, he willingly took on all chores expected of him as a male in the household, albeit young, tall and thin. As was the custom, Lincoln also dutifully fulfilled the obligation of a son to give his father all earnings from his work for third parties until age 21.¹³ In later years, he would also occasionally lend his father money.¹⁴ In 1830, fearing a milk sickness outbreak, the family settled on public land in Macon County, Illinois.¹⁵

The next year, when his father relocated the family to a new homestead in Coles County, Illinois, 22-year-old Lincoln struck out on his own, canoeing down the Sangamon River to the village of New Salem in Sangamon County.¹⁶ Later that year, hired by New Salem businessman Denton Offutt and accompanied by friends, he took goods from New Salem to New Orleans via flatboat on the Sangamon, Illinois and Mississippi rivers.¹⁷

Lincoln's formal education consisted of about 18 months of schooling and he was largely self-educated; he was an avid reader, writer and poet. He was also skilled with an axe and a talented local wrestler, which made him self-confident. He was no committed laborer during his teen age years, with family and neighbors then referring to him often as lazy.¹⁸¹⁹ Lincoln avoided hunting and fishing because he did not like killing animals, even for food.²⁰

Marriage and family

Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln, age 28

Lincoln's first love was Ann Rutledge. He met her when he first moved to New Salem, and by 1835 they had reached a romantic understanding, if not a formal engagement. Ann is quoted as desirous of advising a former love before "consummating the engagement with Mr. L.." Rutledge, however, died on August 25, probably of typhoid fever.²¹

In the early 1830s, he met Mary Owens from Kentucky when she was visiting her sister. Late in 1836, Lincoln agreed to a match with Mary proposed by her sister, if Mary ever returned to New Salem. Mary did return in November 1836 and Lincoln courted her for a time; however they both had second thoughts about their relationship. On August 16, 1837, Lincoln wrote Mary a letter from his law practice in Springfield, suggesting he would not blame her if she ended the relationship. She never replied, and the courtship was over.²²

In 1840, Lincoln became engaged to Mary Todd, from a wealthy slaveholding family in Lexington, Kentucky.²³ They met in Springfield in December 1839,²⁴ and were engaged sometime around that Christmas.²⁵ A wedding was set for January 1, 1841, but the couple split as the wedding approached.²⁴ They later met at a party, and then married on November 4, 1842, in the Springfield mansion of Mary's married sister.²⁶ While preparing for the nuptials and having cold feet yet again, Lincoln, asked where he was going, replied "To hell, I suppose." ²⁷ But see it through he did. In 1844 the couple bought a house in Springfield near Lincoln's law office.²⁸

Mary Lincoln worked valiantly in their home, assuming household duties which had been performed for her in her own family. As well, she struggled to make the most of the austere finances of a prairie lawyer quite obsessed with his work.²⁹ One evening, absorbed in his reading at home, Lincoln suddenly was rapped on the head with a piece of firewood by Mary, who had made four requests of him to restart the fire with no response.³⁰ The Lincolns soon had a budding family, with the birth of son Robert Todd Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois on August 1, 1843, and second son Edward Baker Lincoln on March 10, 1846, also in Springfield.³¹ According to a house girl, Abraham "was remarkably fond of children."³¹ The Lincolns did not believe in strict rules and tight boundaries when it came to their children.³²

1864 Mathew Brady photo depicts President Lincoln reading a book with his youngest son, Tad

Son Robert would be the only one of the Lincolns' children to survive into adulthood. Edward Lincoln died on February 1, 1850 in Springfield, likely of tuberculosis.³³ The Lincolns' grief over this loss was somewhat assuaged by the birth of William "Willie" Wallace Lincoln nearly eleven months later, on December 21. But Willie himself died of a fever at the age of eleven on February 20, 1862, in Washington, D.C., during President Lincoln's first term.³⁴ The Lincolns' fourth son Thomas "Tad" Lincoln was born on April 4, 1853, and, although he outlived his father, died at the age of eighteen on July 16, 1871 in Chicago.³⁵

The death of the Lincolns' sons had profound effects on both Abraham and Mary. Later in life, Mary found herself unable to cope with the stresses of losing her husband and sons, and this (in conjunction with possible bipolar disorder³⁶) eventually led Robert Lincoln to involuntarily commit her to a mental health asylum in 1875.³⁷ Abraham Lincoln, with the premature death of his mother and children, suffered from "melancholy", a condition now called clinical depression.³⁸³⁹

Early career and military service

Sketch of a young Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln began his political career in March 1832 at age 23 when he announced his candidacy for the Illinois General Assembly. He was esteemed by the residents of New Salem, though he lacked an education, powerful friends, and money. His campaign's focus was for navigational improvements on the Sangamon River. Before the election he served briefly as a captain in the Illinois militia during the Black Hawk War, although he never saw combat. Lincoln returned from the militia and was able to campaign for the August 6 election. At 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m), he was tall and "strong enough to intimidate any rival." At his first speech, he grabbed a man accosting a supporter by his "neck and the seat of his trousers" and threw him. In the vote Lincoln finished eighth out of thirteen candidates (only the top four were elected), though he got 277 of the 300 votes cast in the New Salem precinct.⁴⁰

US Postage, 1959 issue, depicting the young Abe Lincoln.

Lincoln served as New Salem's postmaster and then, once again after dedicated self-study, as county surveyor.⁴¹ In 1834, he won an election to the state legislature and though labeled as a Whig, he ran a bipartisan campaign.⁴² He then decided to become a lawyer, and began teaching himself law by reading Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England and other masters. Lincoln's description of his learning method was: "I studied with nobody." ⁴³ Admitted to the bar in 1837, he moved to Springfield, Illinois that April,⁴⁴ and began to practice law under John T. Stuart, Mary Todd's cousin.⁴⁵ Lincoln became an able and successful lawyer with a reputation as a formidable adversary during cross-examinations and closing arguments. In 1841, Lincoln partnered with Stephen Logan, which continued until 1844, when Lincoln began his practice with William Herndon, whom Lincoln thought "a studious young man."⁴⁶ He served four successive terms in the Illinois House of Representatives as a representative from Sangamon County, affiliated with the Whig party.⁴⁷

In 1837, he and another legislator declared that slavery was "founded on both injustice and bad policy"⁴⁸ the first time he had publicly opposed slavery. In the 1835–1836 legislative session he voted to continue the restriction on suffrage to white males only, but regardless of land ownership.⁴⁹⁵⁰ He was known for his "free soil" stance of opposing both slavery and abolitionism. He said in 1837 that the "institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy, but that the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils." ⁵¹ Until well into his presidency, Lincoln, perplexed by the seemingly insoluble problem of slavery, was inclined (informally) to favor colonization of the slaves, on a voluntary basis, to Liberia; this, despite strong opposition to the idea from both sides of the issue and its considered unworkability. If nothing else, this position provided Lincoln a way to avoid confronting the matter head on until the time of reckoning came.⁵²

Early national politics

Lincoln in 1846 or 1847

Lincoln was a Whig, and since the early 1830s had strongly admired Henry Clay.⁵³ "I have always been an old-line Henry Clay Whig" he professed to friends in 1861.⁵⁴ The party favored economic modernization, including banking, railroads, internal improvements (such as canals), and urbanization.⁵⁵ In 1846, Lincoln was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served one two-year term.⁵⁶ As a House member, Lincoln was a dedicated Whig, albeit the only one in the Illinois delegation; he showed up for almost all votes and gave speeches that echoed the party line.⁵⁷⁵⁸ He used his office as an opportunity to speak out against the Mexican–American War, which he attributed to President Polk's desire for "military glory — that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood."⁵⁹ Lincoln's main stand against Polk occurred in his Spot Resolutions: The war had begun with a violent confrontation on territory disputed by Mexico and Texas, but Polk insisted that Mexican soldiers had "invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil."⁶⁰⁶¹ Lincoln demanded that Polk show Congress the exact spot on which blood had been shed, and prove that the spot was on American soil.⁶¹ Congress never enacted the resolution or even debated it; it got no reaction from the executive, or in the papers nationally, and it resulted in a loss of political support for Lincoln in his district; one Illinois newspaper derisively nicknamed him "spotty Lincoln.".^{6263 64}

Realizing Clay was unlikely to win the presidency, Lincoln endorsed war hero General Zachary Taylor for the Whig nomination in the 1848 presidential election.⁶⁵ Lincoln uttered a number of things in his denunciation of the Polk administration and promotion of Taylor which he would later regret. Examples are his arguments in favor of 1) an exclusive congressional war power and 2) the right of the people to revolt against the federal government.⁶⁶ Taylor won, but after denying Lincoln the position as Commissioner of the General Land Office which he sought, the administration offered him the governorship of the Oregon Territory, which he declined. The territory was heavily Democratic, minimizing a Whig's political future there, so he returned to Springfield without any appointment. Publicly, he blamed the decision on his wife's reluctance to move the children further into the wilderness.⁶⁷

Prairie lawyer

Back in Springfield, Lincoln returned to practicing law, handling "every kind of business that could come before a prairie lawyer."⁶⁸ He "rode the circuit" twice a year for ten weeks at a time, appearing in county seats in the mid-state region when the county courts were in session; he persisted in this for sixteen years until 1854.⁶⁹⁷⁰ Lincoln handled many transportation cases in the midst of the nation's western expansion, particularly the conflicts arising from the operation of river barges under the new and prolific railroad bridges. As a riverboat man, Lincoln initially favored riverboat interests, but ultimately he represented whoever hired him. His reputation grew, and he appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States, arguing a case involving a canal boat that sank after hitting a bridge.⁷¹ In 1849, he had received a patent for a "device to buoy vessels over shoals.", or ballast tanks.⁷² The idea was never commercialized, but Lincoln is the only President to hold a patent.⁷³

In 1851, he represented the Alton & Sangamon Railroad in a dispute with one of its shareholders, James A. Barret, who had refused to pay the balance on his pledge to buy shares in the railroad, on the grounds that it had changed its originally planned route.^{74 75} Lincoln successfully argued that a corporation is not bound by its original charter, which can be amended in the public interest, that the newer proposed Alton & Sangamon route was superior and less expensive, and that the corporation had a right to demand Mr. Barret's payment. The decision by the Illinois Supreme Court has been cited by numerous other courts in the nation.⁷⁴ Lincoln appeared in front of the Illinois Supreme Court 175 times, 51 times as sole counsel, of which, 31 were decided in his favor.⁷⁶

Lincoln's most notable criminal trial came in 1858 when he defended William "Duff" Armstrong, who was on trial for the murder of James Preston Metzker.⁷⁷ The case is famous for Lincoln's use of judicial notice to show an eyewitness had lied on the stand. After the witness testified seeing the crime in the moonlight, Lincoln produced a Farmers' Almanac showing the moon was at a low angle, drastically reducing visibility. Based on this evidence, Armstrong was acquitted.⁷⁷ Lincoln rarely raised objections in the courtroom. However, in another celebrated case in 1859, where he defended Peachy Harrison, accused of stabbing another to death, Lincoln angrily protested the judge's decision to exclude evidence favorable to his client. Instead of Lincoln's being held in contempt of court as was expected, the judge reversed his ruling, allowed the evidence and Harrison was acquitted.⁷⁷ Unbeknown to Lincoln, this client was a cousin, through Lincoln's father.⁷⁸

Republican politics 1854–1860

Lincoln returned to politics in reaction to passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), essentially repealing the Missouri Compromise (1820), which restricted the expansion of slavery in the west. Senior Senator Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, by incorporating popular sovereignty into the Act, mandated that the people have the right to determine locally whether to allow slavery in their territory, rather than have such a decision imposed on them by the national Congress.⁷⁹

Lincoln in 1860

On October 16, 1854, in his "Peoria Speech,"⁸⁰ Lincoln declared his opposition to slavery that he would repeat enroute to the presidency.⁸¹: "[The Act has a] 'declared' indifference, but as I must think, a covert 'real' zeal for the spread of slavery. I cannot but hate it. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world..." ⁸² According to a newspaper account of the speech, Lincoln spoke with a very powerful voice and an accent native to his home Kentucky.⁸³

In late 1854, Lincoln decided to run for the United States Senate as a Whig.⁸⁴ After leading in the first six rounds of voting in the state legislature, once his support began to dwindle, Lincoln instructed his backers to vote for Lyman Trumbull who thus defeated the pro Kansas-Nebraska candidate Joel Aldrich Matteson.⁸⁵ The Whigs had been irreparably split by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. "I think I am a Whig, but others say there are no Whigs, and that I am an abolitionist, even though I do no more than oppose the extension of slavery" Lincoln said. Drawing on remnants of the old Whig party, and on disenchanted Free Soil, Liberty, and Democratic party members, he was instrumental in forging the shape of the new Republican Party.⁸⁶ At the Republican convention in 1856, Lincoln placed second in the contest to become the party's candidate for Vice-President.⁸⁷

In 1857–58, Douglas broke with President Buchanan, leading to a fight for control of the Democratic Party. Some eastern Republicans even favored the reelection of Douglas for the Senate in 1858, since he had led the opposition to the Lecompton Constitution, which would have admitted Kansas as a slave state.⁸⁸ In March of 1857 came the Supreme Court's controversial pro-slavery decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford; Chief Justice Taney opined that blacks were not citizens, and derived no rights under the Declaration of Independence or Constitution. Lincoln, though strong in his disagreement with the Court's opinion, was as a lawyer unequivocal in his deference to the Court's authority. Donald provides Lincoln's immediate reaction to the decision, showing his evolving position on slavery: "The authors of the Declaration of Independence never intended 'to say all were equal in color, size, intellect, moral developments, or social capacity,' but they 'did consider all men created equal - equal in certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' " ⁸⁹ After the state Republican party convention nominated him for the U.S. Senate in 1858 (the second instance of this in the country), Lincoln then delivered his famous speech: "'A house divided against itself cannot stand.'(Mark 3:25) I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other."^{90 91} The speech created an evocative image of the danger of disunion caused by the slavery debate, and rallied Republicans across the north.⁹² The stage was then set for the campaign for statewide election of the Illinois legislature which would in turn select Lincoln or Douglas as its U.S. Senator.

US Postage, 1958 issue, commemorating the Lincoln and Douglas debates.

Lincoln–Douglas debates and Cooper Union speech

The 1858 campaign featured the seven Lincoln–Douglas debates of 1858, generally considered the most famous political debate in American history.⁹³ The principals stood in stark contrast both physically and politically. Lincoln warned that "The Slave Power" was threatening the values of republicanism, and accused Douglas of distorting the values of the Founding Fathers that ALL men are created equal, while Stephen A. Douglas emphasized his Freeport Doctrine, that local settlers were free to choose whether to allow slavery or not, and accused Lincoln of having joined the abolitionists.⁹⁴

Though the Republican legislative candidates won more popular votes, the Democrats won more seats, and the legislature reelected Douglas to the Senate. Despite the bitterness of the defeat for Lincoln, his articulation of the issues gave him a national political reputation.⁹⁵

In May 1859, Lincoln purchased the Illinois Staats-Anzeiger, a German-language newspaper in Springfield that sang his praises; most of the state's 130,000 German Americans voted Democratic but there was Republican support that a German-language paper could mobilize.⁹⁶

On February 27, 1860, New York party leaders invited Lincoln to give a speech at Cooper Union to a group of powerful Republicans. In one of the most important speeches of his career, Lincoln showed that he was a contender for the Republican presidential nomination. Journalist Noah Brooks reported, "No man ever before made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York audience."⁹⁷ Donald described the speech as a "superb political move for an unannounced candidate, to appear in one rival's (William H. Seward) own state at an event sponsored by the second rival's (Salmon P. Chase) loyalists, while not mentioning either by name during its delivery."⁹⁸ In response to an inquiry about his presidential intentions, Lincoln said, "The taste is in my mouth a little."⁹⁹

Presidency

First Term (1861-1865)

1860 Presidential nomination and election

"The Rail Candidate" – Lincoln's 1860 candidacy is held up by the slavery issue (slave on left) and party organization (New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley) on right.

On May 9–10, 1860, the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in Decatur.¹⁰⁰ At this convention, Lincoln's very loyal, though unorganized, campaign team emerged, in the persons of David Davis, Norman Judd, Leonard Swett, Jesse DuBois and others; and Lincoln received his first endorsement to run for the presidency.¹⁰¹ Tapping on the somewhat flawed legend of his pioneering days with his father, Lincoln's supporters adopted the label of "The Rail Candidate".¹⁰² On May 18, at the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Lincoln became the Republican candidate on the third ballot, beating candidates such as William H. Seward and Salmon P. Chase.¹⁰³ Former Democrat Hannibal Hamlin of Maine received the nomination for Vice President to balance the ticket. Lincoln's nomination in general has been attributed to his relatively moderate views on slavery, as well as his support of internal improvements and the protective tariff. In terms of the actual balloting, Pennsylvania proved to be the lynchpin. Lincoln's managers were adroitly focused on this delegation as well as the others, while following Lincoln's strong dictate to "Make no contracts that bind me."¹⁰⁴

Most Republicans agreed with Lincoln that the North was the aggrieved party¹⁰⁵ of the Slave Power as it tightened its grasp on the national government with the Dred Scott decision and the presidency of James Buchanan. Throughout the 1850s Lincoln doubted the prospects of civil war, and his supporters repeatedly rejected claims that his election would incite secession.¹⁰⁶

Meanwhile, Douglas was selected as the candidate of the northern Democrats, with Herschel Vespasian Johnson as the vice-presidential candidate. Delegates from eleven slave states walked out of the Democratic convention, disagreeing with Douglas's position on Popular sovereignty, and ultimately selected John C. Breckinridge as their candidate.¹⁰⁷

As Douglas stumped the country, Lincoln was the only one of the four major candidates to give no speeches whatever. Instead he monitored the campaign closely but relied on the enthusiasm of the Republican Party. It did the leg work that produced majorities across the North. It produced tons of campaign posters and leaflets, and thousands of newspaper editorials. There were thousands of Republican speakers who focused first on the party platform, and second on Lincoln's life story, emphasizing his childhood poverty. The goal was to demonstrate the superior power of "free labor," whereby a common farm boy could work his way to the top by his own efforts. The Republican Party's production of campaign literature dwarfed the combined opposition. A Chicago Tribune writer produced a pamphlet that detailed Lincoln's life, and sold one million copies.¹⁰⁸ It was during this campaign that Lincoln became the first President to have placed his photo on a campaign button.¹⁰⁹

1860 presidential election results

On November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States, beating Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckinridge of the Southern Democrats, and John Bell of the new Constitutional Union Party. He was the first Republican president, winning entirely on the strength of his support in the North: he was not even on the ballot in ten states in the South, and won only two of 996 counties in all the Southern states.¹¹⁰ Lincoln received 1,866,452 votes, Douglas 1,376,957 votes, Breckinridge 849,781 votes, and Bell 588,789 votes. The electoral vote was decisive: Lincoln had 180 and his opponents added together had only 123. Turnout was 82.2%, with Lincoln winning the free northern states. Douglas won Missouri, and split New Jersey with Lincoln.¹¹¹ Bell won Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and Breckinridge won the rest of the South.¹¹² There were fusion tickets in which all of Lincoln's opponents combined to form one ticket in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island, but even if the anti-Lincoln vote had been combined in every state, Lincoln still would have won because he would still have had a majority in the electoral college.¹¹³

Secession winter 1860–1861

As Lincoln's election became more likely, secessionists made clear their intent to leave the Union.¹¹⁴ On December 20, 1860, South Carolina took the lead; by February 1, 1861, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana,¹¹⁵ and Texas had followed.¹¹⁶ The seven states soon declared themselves to be a new nation, the Confederate States of America.¹¹⁵ The upper South (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Arkansas) listened to, but initially rejected, the secessionist appeal.¹¹⁷¹¹⁸ President Buchanan and President-elect Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy.¹¹⁹ There were attempts at compromise, such as the Crittenden Compromise which would have extended the free slavery Missouri line of 1820.¹²⁰ and which some Republicans even supported; Lincoln rejected the idea, saying "I will suffer death before I consent...to any concession or compromise which looks like buying the privilege to take possession of this government to which we have a constitutional right."¹²¹

Lincoln, however, did support the Corwin Amendment to the Constitution, which had passed in the Congress. This amendment protected slavery in those states in which it already existed and was considered by Lincoln to be a possible way to stave off secession.¹²² A few short weeks before the war he went so far as to pen a letter to every governor asking for their support in ratifying the Corwin Amendment.¹²³

A photograph of the March 4, 1861 inauguration of Abraham Lincoln in front of United States Capitol

En route to his inaugural, President-elect Lincoln evaded possible assassins in Baltimore, who were revealed by Lincoln's head of security, Allan Pinkerton, and on February 23, 1861, arrived in disguise in Washington, D.C.¹²⁴ The capitol was placed under substantial military security.

Lincoln directed remarks to the South in his inaugural speech, "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies....The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."¹²⁵

By the time Lincoln took office, the Confederacy was an established fact,¹¹⁵ and no leaders of the insurrection proposed rejoining the Union on any terms. The Confederate States of America had selected Jefferson Davis on February 9, 1861, as their provisional President.¹²⁶ The failure of the Peace Conference of 1861 rendered legislative compromise practically implausible. Lincoln and nearly every Republican leader by March 1861 agreed the Union could not be dismantled.

War begins

A request was made for provisions from the commander of Ft. Sumter, S.C. and the execution of Lincoln's order to meet that request was seen by the seccessionists as an act of war.¹²⁷ On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on the Union troops at Fort Sumter, forced them to surrender and thus the war began.¹²⁸

Historian Allan Nevins argued that Lincoln miscalculated in believing that he could preserve the Union¹²⁹,and future general William Tecumseh Sherman, then a civilian, visited Lincoln in the White House during inauguration week and was "sadly disappointed" at Lincoln's seeming failure to realize that "the country was sleeping on a volcano" and the South was "'preparing for war.'"¹³⁰ Donald concluded Lincoln fairly estimated the events leading to the initiation of war. "His repeated efforts to avoid collision in the months between inauguration and the firing on Ft. Sumter showed he adhered to his vow not to be the first to shed fraternal blood. But he also vowed not to surrender the forts. The only resolution of these contradictory positions was for the confederates to fire the first shot; they did just that.¹³¹

On April 15, Lincoln called on the states to send detachments totaling 75,000 troops,¹³² to recapture forts, protect the capital, and "preserve the Union," which in his view still existed intact despite the actions of the seceding states.¹³³ These events forced the states to choose sides. Virginia declared its secession, after which the Confederate capital was moved from Montgomery to Richmond. North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas also voted for secession over the next two months. Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland threatened secession,¹³² but neither they nor the slave state of Delaware seceded.

Troops headed south towards Washington, D.C. to protect the capital in response to Lincoln's call. On April 19, angry secessionist mobs in Baltimore that controlled the rail links attacked Union troops traveling to the capital. George William Brown, the Mayor of Baltimore, and other suspect Maryland politicians were arrested and imprisoned as Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus.¹³⁴ John Merryman, a leader in the seccessionist group in Maryland asked Chief Justice Roger Taney to issue a writ of habeas corpus which he did, saying Lincoln's action of holding Merryman without a hearing was unlawful. Lincoln ignored it.

Conducting the war effort

"Running the 'Machine'": An 1864 political cartoon featuring Lincoln; William Fessenden, Edwin Stanton, William Seward, and Gideon Welles take a swing at the Lincoln administration

In the war Lincoln would confront an unprecedented crisis with unprecedented powers which no previous President had wielded: he used his war powers to impose a blockade, to disburse funds before appropriation by Congress, and to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, imprisoning thousands of suspected Confederate sympathizers without warrant.¹³⁵

The war was the source of frequent and severe criticism of the President, and occupied most of his time and attention, while he also mourned the death of son Willie. From the start it was clear that bi-partisan support would be essential to success in the war effort, and any manner of compromise alienated factions on both sides of the aisle, such as the appointment of Republicans and Democrats to command positions in the Union Army.¹³⁶

In August of 1861, Gen. John Fremont in Missouri created controversy, on the Republican side, when he issued, without consulting Lincoln, a proclamation of martial law in that entire state, declaring that any citizen found bearing arms could be court-martialed and shot and that slaves of persons aiding the rebellion would be freed. To this dictatorial insubordination were added charges of ineptness, fraud and corruption. Lincoln's efforts to reign him in were futile, and he was given another command in November. This decision in large part prevented the secession of Kentucky while incurring the wrath of many in the North.¹³⁷

The war assumed foreign policy implications in 1861 when James Mason and John Slidell, ministers of the Confederacy to Great Britain and France, violated Lincoln's blockade of Confederate ports and boarded the British ship Trent; Union officers boarded the british vessel and took custody of the two ministers, setting off a bitter dispute with Great Britain over rights in international waters.¹³⁸ Lincoln's foreign policy approach had been initially hands off, due to his inexperience; he left most diplomacy appointments and other foreign policy matters to his Secretary of State, William Seward. Seward's initial reaction to the Trent Affair however, was too bellicose, so Lincoln from that time also turned to Sen. Charles Sumner for foreign policy advice. With Sumner's help, Lincoln better understood the position of the British and agreed to the release of the two confederate foreign ministers, avoiding a crisis.¹³⁹

Despite his lack of expertise in military affairs, Lincoln, as in the past, undertook self-study and continued to take an active part in the war both administratively and strategically. In January of 1862, after a drumbeat of complaints about the running of the War department, Lincoln was forced to dismiss Secretary Simon Cameron and replaced him with Edwin Stanton, an appointment that brought much needed praise.¹⁴⁰ In terms of war strategy, Lincoln articulated two priorities: to ensure that Washington was well defended; and to conduct an aggressive war effort that would satisfy the demand in the North for prompt, decisive victory; indeed, major northern newspaper editors expected victory within 90 days.¹⁴¹ Two days a week, Lincoln would meet with his cabinet in the afternoon, and occasionally his wife would force him to take a carriage ride because she was concerned he was working too hard. Throughout the war, Lincoln showed an intense interest in the military campaigns. He spent hours at the War Department telegraph office, reading dispatches from the field.¹⁴² Lincoln grasped the need to control strategic points (such as the Mississippi River and the fortress city of Vicksburg) and understood the importance of defeating the enemy's army, rather than simply capturing territory.

One of Lincoln's Democrat commanders, Gen. George B. McClellan proved himself incapable of the desired aggressiveness in the conduct of the war. McClellan became general-in-chief of all the Union armies in the wake of the embarrassing Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run and after the retirement of the aged Winfield Scott in late 1861. ¹⁴³ McClellan, a youthful West Point graduate and railroad executive, took several months to plan and attempt his Peninsula Campaign, with the objective of capturing Richmond by moving the Army of the Potomac by boat to the peninsula and then traveling by land to Richmond. McClellan's repeated delays frustrated Lincoln and the Congress, as did his position that no troops were needed to defend Washington. Lincoln insisted on holding some of McClellan's troops to defend the capital, a decision McClellan, who consistently overestimated the strength of Confederate troops, blamed for the ultimate failure of the Peninsula Campaign.¹⁴⁴

McClellan was passed over for general-in-chief (that is, chief strategist) in favor of Henry Wager Halleck, after his Harrison's Landing Letter, where he offered unsolicited political advice to Lincoln urging caution in the war effort.¹⁴⁵ McClellan's letter incensed Radical Republicans, who successfully pressured Lincoln to appoint John Pope, a Republican, as head of the new Army of Virginia. Pope complied with Lincoln's strategic desire to move toward Richmond from the north, thus protecting the capital from attack. However, lacking requested reinforcements from McClellan, Pope was soundly defeated at the Second Battle of Bull Run in the summer of 1862, forcing the Army of the Potomac to defend Washington for a second time.¹⁴⁶

Meanwhile the war also expanded with naval operations in 1862 when the CSS Virginia, formerly the USS Merrimack, damaged or destroyed three Union vessels in Norfolk before being engaged and damaged by the USS Monitor. Lincoln intensely reviewed the dispatches and interrogated naval officers concerning the naval engagements.¹⁴⁷

Despite his dissatisfaction with McClellan's failure to reinforce Pope, Lincoln was desperate, and restored him to command of all forces around Washington, to the dismay of all in his cabinet but Seward.¹⁴⁸ Two days after McClellan's return to command, General Lee's forces crossed the Potomac River into Maryland, leading to the Battle of Antietam (September 1862).¹⁴⁹ The ensuing Union victory, one of the bloodiest in American history, enabled Lincoln to announce that he would issue an Emancipation Proclamation in January. He had actually written this some time earlier but could not issue it in the wake of previous military defeats.¹⁵⁰ McClellan then resisted the President's demand to pursue Lee's retreating and exposed army, while his counterpart Gen. Don Carlos Buell likewise refused orders to move the Army of the Ohio against rebel forces in eastern Tennessee. As a result, Lincoln replaced Buell with William Rosecrans; and, after the 1862 midterm elections, he replaced McClellan with Republican Ambrose Burnside. Both of these replacements were political moderates and therefore more supportive of the Commander in Chief.¹⁵¹

Burnside, against the advice of the President, prematurely launched an offensive across the Rappahannock and was stunningly defeated at Fredericksburg in December.¹⁵² Joseph Hooker took command, despite his history of "loose talk" and criticizing former commanders.¹⁵³

The mid-term elections in 1862 brought the Republicans substantial losses in the House, due in no small part to sharp disfavor with the President over his failure to deliver a speedy end to the war, or with his having suspended habeas corpus. No voice was louder in criticism of Lincoln than Ohio Democrat Rep. Clement Vallandigham. The objections to the habeas corpus issue reached a crescendo when Burnside arrested and jailed Vallandigham, an ex-congressman at the time, for his rebellious rhetoric. Lincoln at first thought the arrest warranted but later ordered his release.¹⁵⁴

In the spring of 1863 Lincoln was optimistic about a group of upcoming battle plans, to the point of thinking the end of the war could be near if a string of victories could be put together; these plans included Hooker's attack on Lee north of Richmond, Rosecran's on Chattanooga, Grant's on Vicksburg and a naval assault on Charleston. The Commander in Chief was most dejected when none of these plans, at least initially, succeeded.¹⁵⁵

Hooker was routed by Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May¹⁵⁶ but continued to command his troops for some weeks. When he ignored Lincoln's wish to divide his troops, and possibly force Lee to do the same in Harpers Ferry, the writing was on the wall and he tendered his resignation, which was accepted. He was replaced by George Meade who proceeded with the troops to follow Lee into Pennsylvania for the Gettysburg Campaign which was a victory for the Union, though Lee's army avoided capture. At the same time, after initial setbacks, Grant laid siege to Vicksburg and the Union navy attained some success in Charleston harbor.¹⁵⁷

Gettysburg Address

Although the Battle of Gettysburg was a Union victory, the increased casualties dealt a blow to Lincoln's war effort. More soldiers were needed to replace the ranks. Lincoln's 1863 military drafts, which had been passed by Congress, were considered "odious" among many in the north, particularly immigrants. The New York Draft Riots of July 1863 were the most notable manifestation of this discontent. The Governor of Pennsylvania, Andrew Gregg Curtin, reminded Lincoln that political sentiments were turning against him and the war effort. Therefore, in the fall of 1863, Lincoln's principal aim was to sustain public support for the war effort. This goal became the focus of his address at the Gettysburg battlefield cemetery on November 19.

The Gettysburg Address, one of the most quoted speeches in United States history,¹⁵⁸ was delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, four and a half months after the Union Army there defeated the Confederates in a casualty ridden battle. The President's carefully crafted address was far shorter than other speeches that day. In just over two minutes and 272 words, his message was 1) a defense of his administration, 2) an explanation why the war with all its horrors had to continue and 3) a pledge that because of these exertions "...government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."¹⁵⁹

It was only after Gettysburg that Lincoln finally began to understand that his wishes as to the movement of Union troops would most effectively be carried out by using his War Secretary or his general-in-chief (Halleck) to relay them to his generals, who resented "civilian" interference with their plans. Even so, he still often felt compelled to give detailed directions as Commander in Chief. ¹⁶⁰

Grant

Lincoln, in a top hat, with Allan Pinkerton and Major General John Alexander McClernand at Antietam

Meade's failure to capture Lee's army immediately as it retreated from Gettysburg and the continued passivity of the Army of the Potomac persuaded Lincoln that a change in command was needed. Lincoln was much impressed by the successes of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the west, which made him a strong candidate to head the Union Army. Responding to criticism of Grant after the 1862 battle of Shiloh, Lincoln had said, "I can't spare this man. He fights."¹⁶¹ With Grant, Lincoln felt the Union Army could relentlessly pursue a series of coordinated offensives in multiple theaters, and have a top commander who agreed on the use of black troops.¹⁶²

Nevertheless, he had some reservation that Grant might be considering a candidacy for President, as McCllellan then was. Lincoln arranged for an intermediary to make inquiry into Grant's political intentions, and finding none at that time, decided to promote Grant to command of the Union Army. He obtained Congress' consent to reinstate for Grant the full rank of Lt. General, last held by George Washington.¹⁶³

Grant waged his bloody Overland Campaign in 1864. This is often characterized as a war of attrition, given high Union losses at battles such as the Wilderness and Cold Harbor. However, even though they had the advantage of fighting on the defensive, the Confederate forces had "almost as high a percentage of casualties as the Union forces." ¹⁶⁴ The high Union casualty figures alarmed the North, and, after Grant lost a third of his army, Lincoln asked what Grant's plans were. "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer," replied Grant.

The Confederacy was out of replacements, so Lee's army shrank with every battle, forcing it back to trenches outside Petersburg, where Grant began a siege. Lincoln then made an extended visit to Grant's headquarters at City Point, Virginia. This allowed the president to confer in person with Grant and Sherman about the hostilities (as Sherman coincidentally managed a hasty visit to Grant from his forces in North Carolina at the same time).¹⁶⁵ Lincoln and the Republican party mobilized support throughout the North, backed Grant to the hilt, and replaced his losses.¹⁶⁶

Lincoln authorized Grant to target the Confederate infrastructure – such as plantations, railroads, and bridges – hoping to destroy the South's morale and weaken its economic ability to continue fighting. Indeed, Grant's move to Petersburg resulted in the obstruction of three railroad between Richmond and the south. This strategy allowed Generals Sherman and Sheridan to destroy plantations and towns in the Shenandoah Valley, Georgia, and South Carolina. The damage caused by Sherman's March to the Sea through Georgia totaled more than $100 million by the general's own estimate.¹⁶⁷

Jubal Anderson Early began a series of menacing assaults in the North which threatened the capitol. During his raid on Washington, D.C. in 1864, Lincoln was watching the combat from an exposed position; captain Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. shouted at him, "Get down, you damn fool, before you get shot!"¹⁶⁸ After repeated calls on Grant to defend Washington, Philip Sheridan was appointed and the threat from Early was dispatched.¹⁶⁹

In April 1865, Lee's army finally crumbled under Grant's pounding, and Richmond fell.¹⁷⁰

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln met with his cabinet on July 22, 1862 for the first reading of a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Lincoln maintained that the powers of his administration to end slavery were limited by the Constitution. He expected to cause the eventual extinction of slavery by stopping its further expansion into any U.S. territory, and by persuading states to accept compensated emancipation if the state would outlaw slavery (an offer that took effect only in Washington, D.C.). Guelzo says Lincoln believed that shrinking slavery in this way would make it uneconomical, and place it back on the road to eventual extinction that the Founders had envisioned.¹⁷¹

In July 1862, Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act, which freed the slaves of anyone convicted of aiding the rebellion. Although Lincoln believed it was not in Congress's remit to free any slaves, he approved the bill. He felt freeing the slaves could only be done by the Commander in Chief during wartime, and that signing the bill would help placate those in Congress who wanted to do it through legislation. In that month, Lincoln discussed a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation with his cabinet. In it, he stated that "as a fit and necessary military measure" (and according to Donald not for moral reasons) on January 1, 1863, "all persons held as a slaves" in the Confederate states will " thenceforward, and forever, be free."¹⁷²

In a shrewdly penned August reply to an editorial by Horace Greeley in the influential New York Tribune, with a draft of the Proclamation already on Lincoln's desk, the president subordinated the goal of ending slavery to the cause of preserving the Union, while, at the same time, preparing the public for emancipation being incomplete at first. Lincoln had decided at this point that he could not win the war without freeing the slaves, and so it was a necessity "to do more to help the cause":

My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.¹⁷³

The Emancipation Proclamation, announced on September 22, 1862, and put into effect on January 1, 1863, freed slaves in territories not already under Union control. As Union armies advanced south, more slaves were liberated until all of them in Confederate territory (over three million) were freed. Lincoln later said: "I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper." The proclamation made the abolition of slavery in the rebel states an official war goal. Lincoln then threw his energies into passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to permanently abolish slavery throughout the nation.¹⁷⁴ He personally lobbied individual Congressmen for the Amendment, which was passed by the Congress in early 1865, shortly before his death.¹⁷⁵ A few days after the Emancipation was announced, thirteen Republican governors met at the War Governors' Conference; they supported the president's Proclamation, but suggested the removal of General George B. McClellan as commander.¹⁷⁶ of the Union's Army of the Potomac.¹⁷⁷ For some time, Lincoln continued earlier plans to set up colonies for the newly freed slaves. He commented favorably on colonization in the Emancipation Proclamation, but all attempts at such a massive undertaking failed. As Frederick Douglass observed, Lincoln was, "The first great man that I talked with in the United States freely who in no single instance reminded me of the difference between himself and myself, of the difference of color."¹⁷⁸¹⁷⁹

Using black troops and former slaves was official government policy after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. At first Lincoln was reluctant to fully implement this program, but by the spring of 1863 he was ready to initiate "a massive recruitment of Negro troops." In a letter to Andrew Johnson, the military governor of Tennessee, encouraging him to lead the way in raising black troops, Lincoln wrote, "The bare sight of fifty thousand armed, and drilled black soldiers on the banks of the Mississippi would end the rebellion at once."¹⁸⁰ By the end of 1863, at Lincoln's direction, General Lorenzo Thomas had recruited twenty regiments of African Americans from the Mississippi Valley.¹⁸¹

Second Term (1865)

1864 Election

1864 Presidential election results

After Union victories at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga in 1863, overall victory seemed at hand, and Lincoln promoted Ulysses S. Grant General-in-Chief on March 12, 1864. When the spring campaigns turned into bloody stalemates, Lincoln supported Grant's strategy of wearing down Lee's Confederate army at the cost of heavy Union casualties. With an election looming, he easily defeated efforts to deny his renomination. At the Convention, the Republican Party selected Andrew Johnson, a War Democrat from the Southern state of Tennessee, as his running mate to form a broader coalition. They ran on the new Union Party ticket uniting Republicans and War Democrats.

Nevertheless, the lack of military success wore heavily on the President's re-election prospects, and even many Republicans across the country feared that Lincoln would be defeated and began looking for a substitute. Acknowledging this fear, Lincoln wrote and signed a pledge that, if he should lose the election, he would still defeat the Confederacy before turning over the White House:¹⁸²

This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterwards.¹⁸³

Lincoln did not show the pledge to his cabinet, but asked them to sign the sealed envelope. While the Democratic platform followed the Peace wing of the party and called the war a "failure," their candidate, General George B. McClellan, supported the war and repudiated the platform. Lincoln provided Grant with new replacements and mobilized his party to support Grant and win local support for the war effort. Sherman's capture of Atlanta in September and David Farragut's capture of Mobile ended defeatist jitters¹⁸⁴; the Democratic Party was deeply split, with some leaders and most soldiers openly for Lincoln; the Union party was united and energized, and Lincoln was easily reelected in a landslide. He won all but three states, including 78% of the Union soldiers' vote.¹⁸⁵

Second Inaugural Address

The only known photographs of Lincoln giving a speech were taken as he delivered his second inaugural address. Here, he stands in the center, with papers in his hand.

On March 4, 1865, Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address, his favorite of all his speeches. At this time, a victory over the rebels was at hand, slavery was dead, and Lincoln was looking to the future.

Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether." 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; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.¹⁸⁶

Reconstruction

Reconstruction began during the war as Lincoln and his associates pondered questions of how to reintegrate the Southern states and what to do with Confederate leaders and the freed slaves. Lincoln led the "moderates" regarding Reconstruction policy, and was usually opposed by the Radical Republicans, under Thaddeus Stevens in the House and Charles Sumner and Benjamin Wade in the Senate (though he cooperated with these men on most other issues). Determined to find a course that would reunite the nation and not alienate the South, Lincoln urged that speedy elections under generous terms be held throughout the war in areas behind Union lines. His Amnesty Proclamation of December 8, 1863, offered pardons to those who had not held a Confederate civil office, had not mistreated Union prisoners, and would sign an oath of allegiance.¹⁸⁷

Critical decisions had to be made as southern states were subdued. Of special importance were Tennessee and Arkansas, where Lincoln appointed Gen. Andrew Johnson and Gen. Frederick Steele as military governors, respectively. In Louisiana Lincoln ordered Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks to promote a plan that would restore statehood when 10% of the voters agreed to it. Lincoln's opponents seized on these appointments to accuse him of using the military to insure his and the Republicans' political aspirations. The Radicals thought his policy too lenient, and passed their own plan, the Wade-Davis Bill, in 1864. When Lincoln pocket vetoed the bill, the Radicals retaliated by refusing to seat representatives elected from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee.¹⁸⁸

Lincoln also was able to visit Richmond after it was taken by the Union forces and to make a public gesture of sitting at Jefferson Davis' own desk, symbolically saying to the nation that the President of the United States held authority over the entire land. He was greeted at the city as a conquering hero by freed slaves, whose sentiments were epitomized by one admirer's quote, "I know I am free for I have seen the face of Father Abraham and have felt him." When a general asked Lincoln how the defeated Confederates should be treated, Lincoln replied, "Let 'em up easy."¹⁸⁹ Lincoln arrived back in Washington on the evening of April 9, 1865, the day Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. The war was effectively over. The other rebel armies surrendered soon after, and there was no subsequent guerrilla warfare.¹⁹⁰

The last known high-quality photograph of Lincoln, taken March 1865

Redefining Republicanism

Lincoln's rhetoric defined the issues of the war for the nation, the world, and posterity. The Gettysburg Address defied Lincoln's own prediction that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here." His second inaugural address is also greatly admired and often quoted. In recent years, historians have stressed Lincoln's use of and redefinition of republican values. As early as the 1850s, a time when most political rhetoric focused on the sanctity of the Constitution, Lincoln shifted emphasis to the Declaration of Independence as the foundation of American political values—what he called the "sheet anchor" of republicanism.¹⁹¹ The Declaration's emphasis on freedom and equality for all, rather than the Constitution's tolerance of slavers, shifted the debate. As Diggins concludes regarding the highly influential Cooper Union speech, "Lincoln presented Americans a theory of history that offers a profound contribution to the theory and destiny of republicanism itself."¹⁹² His position gained strength because he highlighted the moral basis of republicanism, rather than its legalisms.¹⁹³ Nevertheless, in 1861 Lincoln justified the war in terms of legalisms (the Constitution was a contract, and for one party to get out of a contract all the other parties had to agree), and then in terms of the national duty to guarantee a "republican form of government" in every state.¹⁹⁴ That duty was also the principle underlying federal intervention in Reconstruction. In his Gettysburg Address Lincoln redefined the American nation, arguing that it was born not in 1789 but in 1776, "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." He declared that the sacrifices of battle had rededicated the nation to the propositions of democracy and equality, "that this nation 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." By emphasizing the centrality of the nation, he rebuffed the claims of state sovereignty. While some critics say Lincoln moved too far and too fast, they agree that he dedicated the nation to values that marked "a new founding of the nation."¹⁹⁵

Domestic measures

Lincoln believed in the Whig theory of the presidency, which left Congress to write the laws while he signed them; Lincoln exercised his veto power only four times, the only significant instance being his pocket veto of the Wade-Davis Bill.¹⁹⁶ Thus, he signed the Homestead Act in 1862, making millions of acres of government-held land in the West available for purchase at very low cost. The Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, also signed in 1862, provided government grants for state agricultural colleges in each state. The Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864 granted federal support for the construction of the United States' First Transcontinental Railroad, which was completed in 1869.¹⁹⁷ The passage of the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Acts was made possible by the absence of Southern congressmen and senators who had opposed the measures in the 1850s.¹⁹⁸

Other important legislation involved two measures to raise revenues for the Federal government: tariffs (a policy with long precedent), and a Federal income tax (which was new). In 1861, Lincoln signed the second and third Morrill Tariff (the first had become law under James Buchanan). In 1861, Lincoln signed the Revenue Act of 1861¹⁹⁹ creating the first U.S. income tax. This created a flat tax of 3% on incomes above $800 ($19,307 in current dollars), which was later changed by the Revenue Act of 1862²⁰⁰ to a progressive rate structure.²⁰¹

Lincoln also presided over the expansion of the federal government's economic influence in several other areas. The creation of the system of national banks by the National Banking Acts of 1863, 1864, and 1865 allowed the creation of a strong national financial system. In 1862, Congress created, with Lincoln's approval, the Department of Agriculture, although that institution would not become a Cabinet-level department until 1889. The Legal Tender Act of 1862 established the United States Note, the first paper currency in United States history since the Continentals that were issued during the Revolution. This was done to increase the money supply to pay for fighting the war.

In 1862, Lincoln sent a senior general, John Pope, to put down the "Sioux Uprising" in Minnesota. Presented with 303 death warrants for convicted Santee Dakota who were accused of killing innocent farmers, Lincoln conducted his own personal review of each of these warrants, eventually approving 39 for execution (one was later reprieved).²⁰²

In the wake of Grant's casualties in his campaign against Lee, Lincoln had considered another executive call to strengthen response to the military draft, but it was never issued. In response to rumors of one, the editors of the New York World and the Journal of Commerce published a bogus draft proclamation which created an opportunity for the editors and others of the publications to corner the gold market. Lincoln's reaction was to send the strongest of messages to the media about such behavior; he ordered the military to seize the two papers which lasted for two days.²⁰³

Abraham Lincoln is largely responsible for the institution of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Prior to Lincoln's presidency, Thanksgiving, while a regional holiday in New England since the 17th century, had only been proclaimed by the federal government sporadically, and on irregular dates. The last such proclamation was during James Madison's presidency fifty years before. In 1863, Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November to be a day of Thanksgiving, and the holiday has been celebrated annually then ever since.²⁰⁴

Administration, cabinet and Supreme Court appointments 1861–1865

²⁰⁵

States admitted to the Union

• West Virginia – June 20, 1863
• Nevada – October 31, 1864

Assassination

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. From left to right: Henry Rathbone, Clara Harris, Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth

Originally, John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland, had formulated a plan to kidnap Lincoln in exchange for the release of Confederate prisoners. After attending an April 11 speech in which Lincoln promoted voting rights for blacks, an incensed Booth changed his plans and determined to assassinate the president.²⁰⁶

Learning that the President and First Lady would be attending Ford's Theatre, he laid his plans, assigning his co-conspirators to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward. Without his main bodyguard Ward Hill Lamon, to whom he related his famous dream regarding his own assassination, Lincoln left to attend the play Our American Cousin on April 14, 1865.

On April 14, 1866, one year to the day after Lincoln's assassination, the US Post Office issued its first postage stamp honoring the fallen President

As a lone bodyguard wandered, and Lincoln sat in his state box (Box 7) in the balcony, Booth crept up behind the President and waited for what he thought would be the funniest line of the play ("You sock-dologizing old man-trap"), hoping the laughter would muffle the noise of the gunshot. When the laughter began, Booth jumped into the box and aimed a single-shot, round-ball .44 caliber (11 mm) Deringer at his head, firing at point-blank range. Major Henry Rathbone momentarily grappled with Booth but was cut by Booth's knife. Booth then leaped to the stage and shouted "Sic semper tyrannis!" (Latin: Thus always to tyrants) and escaped, despite suffering a broken leg in the leap.²⁰⁷ A twelve-day manhunt ensued, in which Booth was chased by Federal agents (under the direction of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton).²⁰⁸ He was eventually cornered in a Virginia barn house and shot, dying of his wounds soon after.²⁰⁹

Lincoln's funeral train carried his remains, as well as 300 mourners and the casket of his son, William, 1,654 miles (2,662 km) to Illinois

An army surgeon, Doctor Charles Leale, initially assessed Lincoln's wound as mortal. The President was taken across the street from the theater to the Petersen House, where he lay in a coma for nine hours before dying. Several physicians attended Lincoln, including U.S. Army Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes of the Army Medical Museum. Using a probe, Barnes located some fragments of Lincoln's skull and the ball lodged 6 inches (15 cm) inside his brain. Lincoln never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at 7:22:10 a.m. April 15, 1865. He was the first president to be assassinated or to lie in state. Lincoln's body was carried by train in a grand funeral procession through several states on its way back to Illinois.²¹⁰ While much of the nation mourned him as the savior of the United States, Copperheads celebrated the death of a man they considered a tyrant. The Lincoln Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois, is 177 feet (54 m) tall and, by 1874, was surmounted with several bronze statues of Lincoln. To prevent repeated attempts to steal Lincoln's body and hold it for ransom, Robert Todd Lincoln had it exhumed and reinterred in concrete several feet thick in 1901.

Religious and philosophical beliefs

Lincoln painted by George Peter Alexander Healy in 1869

In March 1860 in a speech in New Haven, Connecticut, Lincoln said, regarding slavery, "Whenever this question shall be settled, it must be settled on some philosophical basis. No policy that does not rest upon some philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained." The philosophical basis for Lincoln's beliefs regarding slavery and other issues of the day require that Lincoln be examined "seriously as a man of ideas." Lincoln was a strong supporter of the American Whig version of liberal capitalism.²¹¹ More than any political leader of the day he fashioned public policy into the mold of religious language, especially a kind of Old School Calvinism that avoided the evangelical, revivalistic fervor of the Second Great Awakening.²¹²

There were few people who strongly or directly influenced Lincoln's moral and intellectual development and perspectives. There was no teacher, mentor, church leader, community leader, or peer that Lincoln would credit in later years as a strong influence on his intellectual development. Lacking a formal education, Lincoln's personal philosophy was shaped by "an amazingly retentive memory and a passion for reading and learning." It was Lincoln's reading, rather than his relationships, that were most influential in shaping his personal beliefs.²¹³²¹⁴

Even as a child, Lincoln largely rejected organized religion, but the Calvinistic "doctrine of necessity" would remain a factor throughout his life. In 1846 Lincoln described the effect of this doctrine as "that the human mind is impelled to action, or held in rest by some power, over which the mind itself has no control."²¹⁵ In April 1864, in justifying his actions regarding Emancipation, Lincoln wrote, "I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years struggle the nation's condition is not what either party, or any man devised, or expected. God alone can claim it."²¹⁶

As Lincoln matured, and especially during his term as president, the idea of a divine will somehow interacting with human affairs increasingly influenced his public expressions. On a personal level, the death of his son Willie in February 1862 may have caused Lincoln to look towards religion for answers and solace.²¹⁷ After Willie's death, in the summer or early fall of 1862, Lincoln attempted to put on paper his private musings on why, from a divine standpoint, the severity of the war was necessary:

The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party—and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect his purpose. I am almost ready to say this is probably true—that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere quiet power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.²¹⁸

Lincoln's religious skepticism was fueled by his readings in Enlightenment and classical liberalism, especially economic liberalism.²¹³ Consistent with the common practice of the Whig party, Lincoln would often use the Declaration of Independence as the philosophical and moral expression of these two philosophies.²¹⁹ In a February 22, 1861 speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia Lincoln said,

I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. ... It was not the mere matter of the separation of the Colonies from the motherland; but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the world, for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is a sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence.²²⁰

He found in the Declaration justification for Whig economic policy and opposition to territorial expansion and the nativist platform of the Know Nothings. In claiming that all men were created free, Lincoln and the Whigs argued that this freedom required economic advancement, expanded education, territory to grow, and the ability of the nation to absorb the growing immigrant population.²²¹

It was the "Declaration of Independence," rather than the Bible, that Lincoln most relied on to oppose any further territorial expansion of slavery. He saw the Declaration as more than a political document. To him, as well as to many abolitionists and other antislavery leaders, it was, foremost, a moral document that had forever determined valuable principles for the future shaping of the nation.²²²

Legacy and memorials

Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Lincoln's death made the President a national martyr,²²³ regarded by historians in numerous polls as among the greatest presidents in U.S. history, usually in the top three, along with George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt.²²⁴ A study published in 2004, found that scholars in the fields of history and politics ranked Lincoln number one, while law scholars placed him second after Washington.²²⁵ Among contemporary admirers, Lincoln is usually seen as personifying classical values of honesty and integrity, as well as respect for individual and minority rights, and human freedom in general. Many American organizations of all purposes and agendas continue to cite his name and image, with interests ranging from the gay rights-supporting Log Cabin Republicans to the insurance corporation Lincoln National Corporation. The Lincoln automobile brand is also named after him.

There are 220 statues displayed outdoors of Lincoln.²²⁶

The ballistic missile submarine Abraham Lincoln (SSBN-602) and the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) were named in his honor.²²⁷ During the Spanish Civil War, the American faction of the International Brigades named themselves the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.²²⁸ Lincoln has been memorialized in many town, city, and county names,²²⁹ including the capital of Nebraska.²³⁰ Lincoln, Illinois, is the only city to be named for Abraham Lincoln before he became President.²³¹

The Apotheosis of Abraham Lincoln, greeted by George Washington in heaven (an 1860s work)

Lincoln's name and image appear in numerous places. These include the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.,²³⁰ the U.S. Lincoln $5 bill and the Lincoln cent, and Lincoln's sculpture on Mount Rushmore. Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Hodgenville, Kentucky,²³² Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana,²³³ and Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois,²³⁴ commemorate the president.²³⁵ In addition, New Salem, Illinois (a reconstruction of Lincoln's early adult hometown),²³⁶ Ford's Theatre, and Petersen House (where he died) are all preserved as museums.²³⁷

The state nickname for Illinois is Land of Lincoln; the slogan has appeared continuously on nearly all Illinois license plates issued since 1954.²³⁸

Abraham Lincoln's birthday, February 12, was never a national holiday, but it was observed by 30 states.²²⁹ In 1971, Presidents Day became a national holiday, combining Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays, and replacing most states' celebration of his birthday.²³⁹ As of 2005, Lincoln's Birthday is a legal holiday in 10 states.²⁴⁰ The Abraham Lincoln Association was formed in 1908 to commemorate the centennial of Lincoln's birth.²⁴¹ The Association is now the oldest group dedicated to the study of Lincoln.²⁴²

The United States Postal Service honored Lincoln with a Liberty Issue 4¢ postage stamp on November 19, 1954, and a Prominent Americans series (1965–1978) 4¢ postage stamp.

To commemorate his 200th birthday in February 2009, Congress established the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (ALBC) in 2000 to honor Lincoln.²⁴³ The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located in Springfield and is run by the State of Illinois.²⁴⁴

Abraham Lincoln is the only President whose portrait appears on U.S.Air Mail Postage

Lincoln owned a model 1857 Waltham William Ellery watch, with serial number 67613. This watch is now in the custody of the Smithsonian Museum.²⁴⁵ On March 11, 2009, the National Museum of American History found a message engraved inside Lincoln's watch by a watchmaker named Jonathan Dillon who was repairing it at the outbreak of the American Civil War. The engraving reads (in part): "Fort Sumpter was attacked by the rebels" and "thank God we have a government."²⁴⁶

Motorists on Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming pass a roadside park with the depiction of Lincoln's head on the top of a rock monument. The head was sculpted by Robert Russin, a University of Wyoming art professor and an admirer of Lincoln. When Russin died in 2007, his ashes were interred in the hollow monumeny. The statue originally stood at Sherman Summit, 8,878 feet (2,706 m) above sea level, the highest point along the former Lincoln Highway. When I-80 was completed in 1969, the head was moved to the current site. Though it was reduced in height, it attracted a wider viewing audience.²⁴⁷

See also

	Book:Abraham Lincoln
Books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

	American Civil War portal
	Military of the United States portal

• Bibliography of Abraham Lincoln
• American School, Lincoln's economic views.
• Electoral history of Abraham Lincoln
• Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial
• Lincoln Kennedy coincidences urban legend
• Lincoln Memorial University
• Lincoln family tree
• John T. Morse's 2-volume biography of Lincoln
• Poetry of Abraham Lincoln

References

Bibliography

External links

Find more about Abraham Lincoln on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions from Wiktionary
	Textbooks from Wikibooks
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Images and media from Commons
	News stories from Wikinews
	Learning resources from Wikiversity

• Abraham Lincoln at the Open Directory Project
• Abraham Lincoln at the Open Directory Project – Speeches and writings
• The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln
• Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College
• Photographs of Abraham Lincoln
• Abraham Lincoln at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The Lincoln Institute
• Digitized books about Abraham Lincoln from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library
• Mr. Lincoln's Virtual Library
• Poetry written by Abraham Lincoln
• Lincoln quotes collected by Roger Norton
• The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Springfield, Illinois
• President Lincoln's Cottage
• US PATNo. 6,469—Manner of Buoying Vessels—A. Lincoln—1849
• National Park Service Abraham Lincoln birthplace (includes good early history)
• National Endowment for the Humanities Spotlight – Abraham Lincoln
• The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
• Lincoln Memorial Washington, DC
• Lincoln/Net: Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project, Northern Illinois University Libraries
• Lincoln Home National Historic Site: A Place of Growth and Memory, lesson plan
• Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial: Forging Greatness during Lincoln's Youth, lesson plan
• Abraham Lincoln: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
• Essay on Abraham Lincoln and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs
• The Entire Writings of Lincoln including an introduction by Theodore Roosevelt
• "Mister Lincoln" (1981) by Herbert Mitgang starring Roy Dotrice filmed at Ford's Theater (Video)

Project Gutenberg eTexts

• List of Works by Abraham Lincoln at Project Gutenberg
• Richardson, James D. (compiler). A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents and more: Volume 6, part 1: Abraham Lincoln. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12462.  includes major (and minor) state papers, but not speeches or letters
• Lincoln's Yarns and Stories. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2517. 
• Hay, John; John George Nicolay (1890). Abraham Lincoln: a History.  "Volume 1". http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6812.  to 1856; coverage of national politics. "Volume 2". http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11708.  (1832 to 1901); covers 1856 to early 1861; coverage of national politics; part of 10 volume "life and times" by Lincoln's aides
• Nicolay, Helen (1907). The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1815.  (1866 to 1954)
• Ketcham, Henry (1901). The Life of Abraham Lincoln. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6811. ; popular
• Morse, John T. (1899). Abraham Lincoln. ; a solid scholarly biography "Volume 1". http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12800. "Volume 2". http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12801. 
• Francis Fisher Browne (1913). The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14004. ; popular
• George Haven Putnam, Litt. D. (1909). Abraham Lincoln: The People's Leader in the Struggle for National Existence. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11728. 
• Stephenson, Nathaniel W. (1922). Lincoln's Personal Life. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1713. ; popular
• Benson (Lorn Charnwood), Godfrey Rathbone (1917). Abraham Lincoln. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18379. 

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