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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
Personal details
Born	(1809-02-12)February 12, 1809 Hardin County, Kentucky
Died	April 15, 1865(1865-04-15) (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	Mary Todd Lincoln
Children	Robert Todd Lincoln Edward Lincoln Willie Lincoln Tad Lincoln
Occupation	Lawyer, Politician
Signature
Military service
Branch/service	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 country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery. Before his election in 1860 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, and a member of the United States House of Representatives, but failed in two attempts at a seat in the United States Senate. Lincoln was a dedicated, though often absent, husband, and father of four children.

As an outspoken opponent of the expansion of slavery in the United States,^[1] Lincoln won the Republican nomination and was elected president in 1860. His tenure in office was largely dedicated to the defeat of the secessionist Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. This led him to exercise unprecedented war powers, including the arrest and detention, without warrant, of thousands of suspected secessionists. He issued his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and promoted the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery. Six days after the surrender of Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee, Lincoln became the first American president to be assassinated.

Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including Ulysses S. Grant. He brought leaders of each faction of his party into his cabinet and forced them to cooperate. He defused a confrontation with Britain in the Trent affair late in 1861. Under his leadership, the Union took control of the border slave states at the start of the war, and tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond; each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded in 1865. A master politician deeply involved with patronage and power issues in each state, he managed his own reelection in the 1864 presidential election.

Lincoln was the focal point of frequent and severe criticism from both sides of the political schism which then pervaded the country. Even in the midst of this divergent opposition, Lincoln successfully rallied public opinion with his rhetoric and speeches;^[2] in particular with the Gettysburg Address of 1863 which, although short, became one of the most quoted speeches in history. It became an iconic statement of America's dedication to the principles of nationalism, equal rights, liberty and democracy. 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, Kentucky^[3] (now LaRue County). Lincoln was not given a middle name.^[4] His older sister, Sarah (Grigsby), died while giving birth at a young age. He is descended from Samuel Lincoln, who arrived in Hingham, Massachusetts, from Norfolk, England, in the 17th century.^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^[7]

Thomas, financially austere, became a respected 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.^[8] Lincoln himself never joined a church.^[9] In 1816, the Lincoln family lost their lands because of a faulty title and made a new start in Perry County, Indiana (now Spencer County). Lincoln later noted that this move was "partly on account of slavery" but mainly due to land title difficulties.^[10]

When Lincoln was nine, his 34-year-old mother died of milk sickness. Soon after, his father married Sarah Bush Johnston, with whom Lincoln became very close and whom he called "Mother".^[11] But he became increasingly distant from his father. Lincoln regretted his father's lack of education, and did not like the hard labor associated with frontier life. Still, 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.^[12] In later years, he would also occasionally lend his father money.^[13] In 1830, fearing a milk-sickness outbreak, the family settled on public land in Macon County, Illinois.^[14]

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.^[15] Later that year, hired by New Salem businessman Denton Offutt and accompanied by friends, he took goods by flatboat from New Salem to New Orleans via the Sangamon, Illinois, and Mississippi rivers.^[16]

Lincoln's formal education consisted of about 18 months of classes from several itinerant teachers; he was mostly self-educated and was an avid reader.^[17] Very tall and strong, young Lincoln was handy with an axe and became a talented local wrestler, which made him self-confident. He was not a hard worker during his teens, with family and neighbors often calling him lazy.^[18][19] Lincoln avoided hunting and fishing because he did not like killing animals.^[20]

Marriage and family

Lincoln's first love was Ann Rutledge, whom he met when he first moved to New Salem; by 1835 they had reached a romantic understanding, if not a formal engagement. Ann wanted to advise a former love before "consummating the engagement to Mr. L. with marriage." Rutledge died however 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, who was from a wealthy slave-holding 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, when asked where he was going, replied "To hell, I suppose." ^[27] 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. She struggled as well 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 Robert Todd Lincoln in 1843, and Edward Baker Lincoln in 1846. According to a house girl, Abraham "was remarkably fond of children."^[31] The Lincolns were not disciplinarian with their children.^[32]

Robert was 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 their sons had profound effects on both of them. Later in life, Mary was unable to cope with the stresses of losing her husband and sons, and this eventually led Robert Lincoln to commit her to a mental health asylum in 1875.^[36] Abraham Lincoln suffered from "melancholy", a condition now called clinical depression.^[37]

Early career and military service

At age 23, Lincoln began his political career in 1832 when he announced his candidacy for the Illinois General Assembly. He had achieved a reputation as an esteemed raconteur in New Salem, though he lacked an education, powerful friends, and money. His campaign's focus was for navigational improvements on the Sangamon River.^[38] 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 metres), 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. Lincoln finished eighth out of thirteen candidates (the top four were elected), though he got 277 of the 300 votes cast in the New Salem precinct.^[39]

Lincoln served as New Salem's postmaster and then, once again after dedicated self-study, as county surveyor.^[40] In 1834, he won an election to the state legislature and though labeled as a Whig, he ran a bipartisan campaign.^[41] 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." ^[42] Admitted to the bar in 1837, he moved to Springfield, Illinois that April,^[43] and began to practice law under John T. Stuart, Mary Todd's cousin.^[44] Lincoln became an able and successful lawyer with a reputation as a formidable adversary during cross-examinations and closing arguments. In 1841, he partnered with Stephen Logan until 1844, when he began his practice with William Herndon, whom Lincoln thought "a studious young man."^[45] He served four successive terms in the Illinois House of Representatives as a representative from Sangamon County, affiliated with the Whig party.^[46]

In the 1835–1836 legislative session he voted to continue the restriction on suffrage to white males only, but make it regardless of land ownership.^[47][48] 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." ^[49] This was the first time he had publicly opposed slavery.^[50] Until late in his presidency, Lincoln, perplexed by the seemingly insoluble problem of slavery, articulated a preference for colonization of the slaves, on a voluntary basis, to Liberia. This was despite strong opposition to the infeasible idea from people on both sides of the issue.^[51]

Early national politics

From the early 1830s Lincoln was a Whig and professed to friends in 1861 "I have always been an old-line Henry Clay Whig."^[52] The party favored economic modernization, including in banking, railroads, internal improvements, urbanization and protective tarrifs.^[53] In 1846, Lincoln was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served one two-year term.^[54] 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.^[55] 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."^[56]

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."^[57][58] Lincoln demanded that Polk show Congress the exact spot on which blood had been shed, and prove that the spot was on American soil.^[58] Congress never enacted the resolution or even debated it, the national papers ignored it, and it resulted in a loss of political support for Lincoln in his district. One Illinois newspaper derisively nicknamed him "spotty Lincoln.".^{[59][60] [61]}

Realizing Clay was unlikely to win the presidency, Lincoln endorsed war hero General Zachary Taylor for the Whig nomination in the 1848 presidential election.^[62] 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.^[63] 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.^[64]

Prairie lawyer

Back in Springfield, Lincoln returned to practicing law, handling "every kind of business that could come before a prairie lawyer."^[65] 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.^[66] 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 many new railroad bridges. As a riverboat man, Lincoln initially favored those 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.^[67] In 1849, he received a patent for a "device to buoy vessels over shoals.", or ballast tanks.^[68] The idea was never commercialized, but Lincoln is the only president to hold a patent.^[69]

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.^{[70] [71]} Lincoln successfully argued that the railroad company was not bound by its original charter in existence at the time of Barret's pledge; the charter was amended in the public interest, to provide a newer, superior and less expensive route, and the corporation retained the right to demand Mr. Barret's payment. The decision by the Illinois Supreme Court has been cited by numerous other courts in the nation.^[70] Lincoln appeared before the Illinois Supreme Court 175 times, 51 times as sole counsel, of which, 31 were decided in his favor.^[72]

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.^[73] The case is famous for Lincoln's use of a fact established by judicial notice in order to challenge an eyewitness' credibility. After an opposing 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.^[73] 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 (a Democrat) reversed his ruling, allowed the evidence and Harrison was acquitted.^[73] Unbeknown to Lincoln, this client was a cousin, through Lincoln's father.^[74]

Republican politics 1854–1860

Lincoln returned to politics with his opposition to passage of the pro-slavery Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), which repealed the slavery-restricting Missouri Compromise (1820). Senior Senator Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois incorporated popular sovereignty into the Act, and thus 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.^[75]

On October 16, 1854, in his "Peoria Speech,"^[76] Lincoln declared his opposition to slavery that he would repeat enroute to the presidency.^[77]: "[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..." ^[78] According to a newspaper account, Lincoln spoke with a very powerful voice and an accent native to his home Kentucky.^[79]

In late 1854, Lincoln decided to run as a Whig for an Illinois seat in United States Senate (which was at that time elected by the state legislature.)^[80] After leading in the first six rounds of voting in the Illinois assembly, 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.^[81] The Whigs had been irreparably split by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Lincoln said, "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." 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.^[82] At the Republican convention in 1856, Lincoln placed second in the contest to become the party's candidate for Vice-President.^[83]

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.^[84] In March 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. Lincoln historian David Herbert 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.' " ^[85] 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."^{[86] [87]} The speech created an evocative image of the danger of disunion caused by the slavery debate, and rallied Republicans across the north.^[88] 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.

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.^[89] 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.^[90]

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.^[91] In May 1859, Lincoln purchased the Illinois Staats-Anzeiger, a German-language newspaper which was consistently supportive; most of the state's 130,000 German Americans voted Democratic but there was Republican support that a German-language paper could mobilize.^[92]

On February 27, 1860, New York party leaders invited Lincoln to give a speech at Cooper Union to a group of powerful Republicans. Lincoln argued that the Founding Fathers had little use for popular sovereignty and repeatedly sought to limit and restrict slavery. Lincoln insisted the moral foundation of the Republicans required opposition to slavery, and rejected any "groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong."^[93] In spite of his ungainly appearance, Lincoln demonstrated an intellectual leadership that brought him into the front ranks of the party and into contention 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."^[94] 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."^[95] In response to an inquiry about his presidential intentions, Lincoln said, "The taste is in my mouth a little."^[96]

1860 Presidential nomination and election

On May 9–10, 1860, the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in Decatur.^[97] Lincoln's followers organized a campaign team led by David Davis, Norman Judd, Leonard Swett and Jesse DuBois and Lincoln received his first endorsement to run for the presidency.^[98] Tapping on the somewhat flawed legend of his pioneering days with his father, Lincoln's supporters adopted the label of "The Rail Candidate".^[99] 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.^[100] 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 put him over the top. Lincoln's managers had been adroitly focused on this delegation as well as the others, while following Lincoln's strong dictate to "Make no contracts that bind me."^[101]

Most Republicans agreed with Lincoln that the North was the aggrieved party^[102] 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.^[103] 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.^[104]

As Douglas stumped the country, Lincoln was the only one of the four major candidates who gave no speeches. Instead he monitored the campaign closely but relied on the enthusiasm of the Republican Party. The party did the leg work that produced majorities across the North, and produced an abundance of campaign posters, leaflets, and newspaper editorials.^[105] 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.^[106] 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.^[107]

Presidency

1860 Election

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.^[108] 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.^[109] Bell won Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and Breckinridge won the rest of the South.^[110] 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.^[111]

Secession winter 1860–1861

As Lincoln's election became more likely, secessionists made clear their intent to leave the Union.^[112] On December 20, 1860, South Carolina took the lead; by February 1, 1861, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana,^[113] and Texas had followed.^[114] The seven states soon declared themselves to be a new nation, the Confederate States of America.^[113] The upper South (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Arkansas) listened to, but initially rejected, the secessionist appeal.^[115] President Buchanan and President-elect Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy.^[116] There were attempts at compromise, such as the Crittenden Compromise which would have extended the free slavery Missouri line of 1820.^[117] 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."^[118]

Lincoln, however, did support the Corwin Amendment to the Constitution, which had passed in 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.^[119] 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.^[120]

En route to his inauguration, 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.^[121] The capitol was placed under substantial military security.^{[citation needed]}

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."^[122]

By the time Lincoln took office, the Confederacy was an established fact,^[113] 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.^[123] 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.^[124]

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 secessionists as an act of war.^[125] On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on the Union troops at Fort Sumter, forced them to surrender and thus the war began.^[126] Historian Allan Nevins argued that Lincoln miscalculated in believing that he could preserve the Union,^[127] 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.'"^[128] 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."^[125]

On April 15, Lincoln called on the states to send detachments totaling 75,000 troops,^[129] to recapture forts, protect the capital, and "preserve the Union," which in his view still existed intact despite the actions of the seceding states.^[130] 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,^[129] 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.^[131] John Merryman, a leader in the secessionist 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.^[132]

Assuming command for the Union in the war

As Commander in Chief, Lincoln would confront in the war an unprecedented crisis, and he responded, using unprecedented powers which no 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, arresting and imprisoning thousands of suspected Confederate sympathizers without warrant.^[133]

The war effort was the source of continued disparagement of Lincoln from every direction, and occupied most of his time and attention, while he also mourned the death of son Willie. From the start it was clear that bipartisan 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.^[134] 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.^[135]

In August 1861, Gen. John Fremont in Missouri created controversy on the Republican side when he issued, without consulting Lincoln, a proclamation of martial law in the entire state. He declared that any citizen found bearing arms could be court-martialed and shot, and that slaves of persons aiding the rebellion would be freed. His bungling was compounded with charges of fraud and corruption stemming from his command of the Department of the West. 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.^[136]

The war assumed foreign policy implications in 1861 when James Mason and John Slidell, ministers of the Confederacy to Great Britain and France, boarded the British ship Trent in Havana, Cuba. The U.S. Navy intercepted the Trent on the high seas and seized the two Confederate envoys in violation of international law. Britain protested vehemently while American public opinion cheered; Lincoln managed to resolve the issue by releasing the two men.^[137]

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, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and an expert on Britain.^[138]

Despite his lack of expertise in military affairs, Lincoln studied books from tghe Library of Congress and devoured the telegraphic reports, keeping close tabs on all phases of the military effort and making a special effort to consult with governors and to select generals in terms of their past success. In January 1862, after numerous complaints about the running of the War Department, Lincoln dismissed bumbling Secretary Simon Cameron and replaced him with Edwin Stanton, an unusually effective leader.^[139] 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.^[140] 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.^[141] 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.^[142]

Fighting with McClellan and on to Gettysburg

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 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]

Lincoln removed McClellan as general-in-chief (that is, chief strategist) and appointed Henry Wager Halleck, after McClellan's Harrison's Landing Letter, in which 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 River 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 peaked 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, Rosecrans' on Chattanooga, Grant's on Vicksburg and a naval assault on Charleston. The Commander in Chief became despondent when none of these plans, at least initially, succeeded.^[155]

Hooker was routed by Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May^[156] but continued to command his troops for some weeks. He ignored Lincoln's order to divide his troops, and possibly force Lee to do the same in Harper's Ferry, the and 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

The Battle of Gettysburg was indeed a Union victory, but the increased casualties dealt a blow to Lincoln's war effort, and more troops were needed to refill the ranks. Lincoln's 1863 military drafts, which had been passed by Congress, were considered "odious" among many in the north, particularly immigrants.^[158] 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 primary aim was to increase public support for the war effort. This goal became the focus of his address at the Gettysburg battlefield cemetery on November 19.^[159]

The Gettysburg Address, one of the most quoted speeches in United States history,^[160] 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 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."^[161]

It was 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 was often compelled to give detailed directions as Commander in Chief.^[162]

General Grant

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."^[163] 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.^[164]

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.^[165]

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." ^[166] 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.^[167]

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).^[168] Lincoln and the Republican party mobilized support throughout the North, backed Grant to the hilt, and replaced his losses.^[169]

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.^[170]

Jubal Anderson Early began a series of menacing assaults in the North which raised fears for 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!"^[171] After repeated calls on Grant to defend Washington, Philip Sheridan was appointed and the threat from Early was dispatched.^[172]

As Grant continued to wear down Lee's forces, efforts to discuss peace began. The Confederacy appointed its Vice President Stephens to lead a group to meet with Lincoln, Seward and others at Hampton Roads. Lincoln refused to allow negotiation based on any assumption that the Confederacy was deemed an equal. Lincoln's objective was an agreement to end the fighting. The meetings produced no results.^[173] On April 1 Grant successfully outflanked Lee's forces in the Battle of Five Forks and nearly encircled Petersburg, prompting Lee to warn Jefferson Davis to evacuate Richmond. On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered at Appomattox.^[174]

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln maintained that his power to end slavery was limited by the Constitution. He expected the eventual extinction of slavery would result from preventing its expansion into new U.S. territory. He also sought to persuade the states to accept compensated emancipation in return for their prohibition of slavery (an offer that took effect only in Washington, D.C.). Lincoln believed that curtailing slavery in this manner would economically expunge it, as envisioned by the Founders.^[176]

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 within Congress's power to free the slaves, he approved the bill in deference to the legislature. He felt freeing the slaves could only be done by the Commander in Chief using war powers granted by the Constitution. 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" on January 1, 1863, "all persons held as a slaves" in the Confederate states will " thenceforward, and forever, be free."^[177]

In a shrewd reply to a denigrating editorial by Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune which urged emancipation as a prerequisite to military success, the President subordinated the goal of ending slavery to the primary goal of preserving the Union. Privately, Lincoln had in fact concluded at this point that the war could not be won 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.^[178]

The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on September 22, 1862, and put into effect on January 1, 1863, freed slaves in territories not already under Union control. Once the abolition of slavery in the rebel states became a military objective, 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."^[179] 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 of the Union Army.^[180]

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. Lincoln later sought to incorporate the policy of the proclamation into the Constitution through passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, permanently abolishing slavery throughout the nation.^[181] He personally lobbied individual Congressmen for the Amendment, which was passed by Congress in early 1865, shortly before his death.^[182]

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."^[183] By the end of 1863, at Lincoln's direction, General Lorenzo Thomas had recruited twenty regiments of African Americans from the Mississippi Valley.^[184] Frederick Douglass once observed that Lincoln was "the first great man that I talked with in the United States freely who in no single instance reminded me I was a Negro."^[185]

1864 Reelection

When Grant's spring campaigns turned into bloody stalemates, Lincoln supported Grant's determination to wear 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.^[186]

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 a number 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:^[187]

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 afterward.^[188]

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. Lincoln made no effort to increase his electoral vote by prematurely admitting new states, or readmitting old states, to the Union as was suspected he might.^[189] Sherman's capture of Atlanta in September and David Farragut's capture of Mobile ended defeatist jitters;^[190] 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.^[191]

Second Inaugural Address

On March 4, 1865, Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address, the shortest inaugural speech in history and his personal favorite of all those he gave. 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.^[192]

Lincoln's comment as he filed the speech away was "a fair amount of wisdom there." And Frederick Douglas remarked it was "a sacred effort."^[193]

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.^[194]

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.^[195]

Lincoln's decision to fill retired Chief Justice Taney's seat on the Supreme Court with the appointment of Salmon Chase was strategically designed to facilitate reconstruction, as he shared Lincoln's views on emancipation and his uses of the greenback to finance the Union's war efforts.^[196] 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."^[197] 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.^[198]

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.^[199] 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."^[200] His position gained strength because he highlighted the moral basis of republicanism, rather than its legalisms.^[201]

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.^[202] 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."^[203]

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.^[204] 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.^[205] 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.^[206]

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 1861 creating the first U.S. income tax.^[207] This created a flat tax of 3% on incomes above $800 ($27,129 in current dollars), which was later changed by the Revenue Act of 1862 to a progressive rate structure.^[208]

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.^[207] 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).^[209]

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; the seizure lasted for two days.^[210]

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.^[211]

Administration, cabinet and Supreme Court appointments 1861–1865

States admitted to the Union

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

Assassination

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.^[215] 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.^[216]

As a lone bodyguard wandered, and Lincoln sat in his state box 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 Booth escaped; he was tracked down by the Army on April 26 and killed.

An army surgeon, Doctor Charles Leale, initially assessed Lincoln's wound as mortal. The dying man was taken across the street to the Petersen House. After being in a coma for nine hours, Lincoln died at 7:22 A.M on April 15. Secretary of War saluted and said, "Now he belongs to the ages."^[217]

Religious and philosophical beliefs

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."^[218] 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.^[219][220]

Lincoln's religious skepticism was for a time fueled by his readings in Enlightenment and economic liberalism.^[219] 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.^[221] 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."^[222]

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.^[223]

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.^[224] It was the Declaration of Independence more than the Bible that Lincoln relied on specifically 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.^[225]

As Lincoln matured, and especially during his term as president, the idea of a divine will, somehow interacting with human affairs, increasingly influenced his beliefs and public expressions. On a personal level, the death of his son Willie in February 1862 caused Lincoln to look towards religion for answers and solace.^[226] 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.^[222] After Willie's death, in the summer or early fall of 1862, Lincoln attempted to put on paper his private thoughts 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.^[227]

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."^[228] In the difficult summer of 1864, when the Union Army was suffering severe casualties, Lincoln drew solace from the Bible. To his friend Joshua Speed, he said, "Take all of this book [the Bible] upon reason that you can, and the balance on faith, and you will live and die a happier and better man." He is also quoted as saying, "this Great Book...is the best gift God has given to man."^[228]

And in September 1864 Lincoln, placing the war squarely within a divine province, wrote in a letter to a member of the Society of Friends, "The purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail accurately to perceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise...we must work earnestly in the best light He gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay."^[229]

Legacy and memorials

Lincoln's death made the President a national martyr,^[230] 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.^[231] 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.^[232]

The ballistic missile submarine Abraham Lincoln (SSBN-602) and the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) were named in his honor.^[233] During the Spanish Civil War, the American faction of the International Brigades named themselves the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.^[234] Lincoln has been memorialized in many town, city, and county names,^[235] including the capital of Nebraska.^[236] Lincoln, Illinois, is the only city to be named for Abraham Lincoln before he became President.^[237]

Lincoln's name and image appear in numerous places. These include the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.,^[236] 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,^[238] Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana,^[239] and Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois,^[240] commemorate the president.^[241] In addition, New Salem, Illinois (a reconstruction of Lincoln's early adult hometown),^[242] Ford's Theatre, and Petersen House (where he died) are all preserved as museums.^[243] The Lincoln Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois, contains his remains, and well as the remains of his wife and three of his four sons.^[244] There are 220 statues displayed outdoors of Lincoln.^[245]

Abraham Lincoln's birthday, February 12, was never a national holiday, but it was observed by 30 states.^[235] In 1971, Presidents Day became a national holiday, combining Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays, and replacing most states' celebration of his birthday.^[246] As of 2005, Lincoln's Birthday is a legal holiday in 10 states.^[247] The Abraham Lincoln Association was formed in 1908 to commemorate the centennial of Lincoln's birth.^[248] The Association is now the oldest group dedicated to the study of Lincoln.^[249]

To commemorate his 200th birthday in February 2009, Congress established the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (ALBC) in 2000 to honor Lincoln.^[251] The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located in Springfield and is run by the State of Illinois.^[252] Also, 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.^[253]

See also

Template:Wikipedia-Books

• 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

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links

• Abraham Lincoln at Curlie
• Abraham Lincoln at Curlie – Speeches and writings
• The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln
• Photographs of Abraham Lincoln
• United States Congress. "Abraham Lincoln (id: L000313)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• The Lincoln Institute
• 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

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. includes major (and minor) state papers, but not speeches or letters
• Lincoln's Yarns and Stories.
• Hay, John (1890). Abraham Lincoln: a History. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) "Volume 1". to 1856; coverage of national politics. "Volume 2". (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. (1866 to 1954)
• Ketcham, Henry (1901). The Life of Abraham Lincoln.; popular
• Morse, John T. (1899). Abraham Lincoln.; a solid scholarly biography "Volume 1"."Volume 2".
• Francis Fisher Browne (1913). The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln.; popular
• George Haven Putnam, Litt. D. (1909). Abraham Lincoln: The People's Leader in the Struggle for National Existence.
• Stephenson, Nathaniel W. (1922). Lincoln's Personal Life.; popular
• Benson (Lorn Charnwood), Godfrey Rathbone (1917). Abraham Lincoln.

Political offices
Preceded by James Buchanan	President of the United States March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865	Succeeded by Andrew Johnson
U.S. House of Representatives Template:USRSB
Party political offices
Preceded by John C. Frémont	Republican Party presidential candidate 1860, 1864	Succeeded by Ulysses S. Grant
Honorary titles
Preceded by Henry Clay	Persons who have lain in state or honor in the United States Capitol rotunda April 19–21, 1865	Succeeded by Thaddeus Stevens

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