Abraham Lincoln

2022-10-25T05:50:43Z

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{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Abraham Lincoln
| nationality = American
| image = Abraham Lincoln O-77 matte collodion print.jpg
| caption = Portrait by [[Alexander Gardner]], November 1863
| order = 16th [[President (United States)|President of the United States]]
| term_start = March 4, 1861
| term_end = April 15, 1865
| predecessor = [[James Buchanan]]
| successor = [[Andrew Johnson]]
| state2 = [[Illinois]]
| district2 = [[Illinois' 7th congressional district|7th]]
| term_start2 = March 4, 1847
| term_end2 = March 4, 1849
| predecessor2 = [[John Henry (representative)|John Henry]]
| successor2 = [[Thomas L. Harris|Thomas Harris]]
| state_house3 = Illinois
| birth_date = {{birth date|1809|2|12}}
| birth_place = [[Hodgenville, Kentucky|Hodgenville]], [[Kentucky]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1865|4|15|1809|2|12}}
| death_place = [[Washington, D.C.]]
| death_cause = [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|Assassination]]
| spouse = [[Mary Todd Lincoln]]
| party = Whig (before 1854)
Republican (1854–1864)
National Union (1864–1865)
| vicepresident = [[Hannibal Hamlin]] (1861 to 1865); <br /> [[Andrew Johnson]] (March  — April 1865)
| height = {{height|ft=6|in=4}}
| signature = Abraham Lincoln signature.JPG
}}
'''Abraham Lincoln''' (February 12, 1809  – April 15, 1865) was an American politician. He was the 16th [[president of the United States]]. He was president from 1861 until [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|his assassination]] in 1865, during the [[American Civil War]]. Just five days after most of the [[Confederacy|Confederate]] forces had surrendered and the war was ending, [[John Wilkes Booth]] [[assassination|assassinated]] Lincoln. Lincoln was the first president of the United States to be assassinated. Lincoln has been remembered as the "Great Emancipator" because he worked to end [[slavery]] in the [[United States]].<ref name="yale" />

== Life ==
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in [[Hodgenville, Kentucky]], [[United States]]. His parents were Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. His family was very poor.<ref name="lincolnbook">{{cite book |last=Thornton |first=Brian |author2= Richard W. Donley |title=101 things you didn't know about Lincoln: loves and losses, political power |url=https://archive.org/details/101thingsyoudidn0000thor |publisher=Adams Media |date=October 31, 2005 |isbn=978-1-59337-399-3 |language=English}}</ref> Abraham had one brother and one sister. His brother died in childhood. They grew up in a small [[log cabin]], with just one room inside. Although slavery was legal in Kentucky at that time, Lincoln's father, who was a religious [[Baptist]], [[:wikt:refuse|refused]] to own any [[slave]]s.

When Lincoln was seven years old, his family moved to [[Indiana]]. Later they moved to [[Illinois]].<ref>{{cite web
|accessdate=May 21, 2008
|url=http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/sites/decaturock.htm
|title=Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park
|publisher=Abraham Lincoln Online
|archive-date=April 15, 2012
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415051600/http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/sites/decaturock.htm
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> In his childhood he helped his father on the farm, but when he was 22 years old he left home and moved to [[New Salem, Illinois|New Salem]], [[Illinois]], where he worked in a [[general store]].<ref>
{{cite book
|last=Fehrenbacher
|first=Don
|title=Speeches and Writings 1859-1865
|publisher=Library of America
|year=1989
|page=163
|isbn=9780940450639
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UWJStTs8-A4C&q=lincoln+canoe+sangamon+river}}
</ref>
Later, he said that he had gone to [[school]] for just one year, but that was enough to learn how to [[read]], [[write]], and do simple [[mathematics|math]]. In 1842, he married [[Mary Todd Lincoln|Mary Todd]]. They had four children, but three of them died when they were very young.<ref name="teamofrivals">
{{cite book
|last=Goodwin
|first=Doris Kearns
|title=Team of Rivals
|url=https://archive.org/details/teamofrivalspoli00good
|location=New York, NY
|publisher=Simon & Schuster, Inc.
|year=2005|isbn=9780684824901
}}
</ref>
Abraham Lincoln was sometimes called Abe Lincoln or "Honest Abe" because of a legend stating that he ran miles to give a customer the right amount of change. The nickname "Honest Abe" came from a time when he started a business that failed. Instead of running away like many people would have, he stayed and worked to pay his debt.<ref>White, Jr., Ronald C. (2009). ''A. Lincoln: A Biography''. Random House, Inc. {{ISBN|9781400064991}}</ref>

== Early political career ==
Lincoln started his political career in 1832 when he ran for the IGA [[Illinois General Assembly]], but he lost the election. He served as a captain in the Illinois [[militia]] during the [[Black Hawk War]], a war with [[Native American]] tribes. When he moved to [[Springfield, Illinois|Springfield]] in 1837, he began to work as a [[lawyer]]. Soon, he became one of the most highly respected lawyers in Illinois.<ref>
{{cite book |last=Frank |first=John |title=Lincoln as a Lawyer |url=https://archive.org/details/lincolnaslawyer0000fran |publisher=Americana House |year=1991 |isbn=0962529028}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quotablelincoln.com/lincoln2_books.php|publisher=Quotable Lincoln|title=Biography of Lincoln|accessdate=August 28, 2009|archive-date=January 4, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100104195713/http://www.quotablelincoln.com/lincoln2_books.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 1837, as a member of the Illinois General Assembly, Lincoln issued a written protest of its passage of a resolution stating that slavery could not be abolished in Washington, D.C.<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/liho/historyculture/slavery.htm |title=Lincoln on Slavery |accessdate= November 15, 2009}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite web |accessdate= November 15, 2009 |url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=lincoln;cc=lincoln;type=simple;rgn=div1;q1=founded%20on%20both%20injustice%20and%20bad%20policy;view=text;subview=detail;sort=occur;idno=lincoln1;node=lincoln1%3A101 |title=Protest in Illinois Legislature on Slavery |publisher=University of Michigan Library |date=March 3, 1937}}
</ref>

In 1841, he won a court case (Bailey v. Cromwell). He represented a black woman who claimed she had already been freed and could not be sold as a slave. In 1847, he lost a case (Matson v. Rutherford) representing a slave owner (Robert Matson) claiming the return of fugitive slaves. After he moved to Illinois, he worked as a shopkeeper and postmaster. He rode the circuit of courts for many years. When he was 21, he worked on a [[flatboat]] that carried freight. He joined the Independent Spy Corp. At first, he was a member of the Whig Party. He later became a Republican. Lincoln ran for senate against [[Stephen A. Douglas]]. Douglas won.

In 1846, Lincoln joined the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] and was elected to one term in the [[House of Representatives]]. After that, he ignored his political career and instead worked as a lawyer. In 1854, in reaction to the passage of the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]], Lincoln became involved in politics again. He joined the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], which had recently been formed in opposition to the expansion of slavery. In 1858, he wanted to become [[United States Senate|senator]]; although this was unsuccessful, the [[wikt:debate|debate]]s drew national attention to him.<ref>
{{cite web |accessdate=May 21, 2008 |url=http://www.nationalcenter.org/HouseDivided.html |title=A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand |publisher=[[National Center for Public Policy Research]] |date= June 1858 |author=Lincoln, Abraham}}
</ref>
The [[United States Republican Party|Republican Party]] nominated him for the Presidential election of 1860.<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/abraham-lincoln |title= Abraham Lincoln |publisher= history.com}}</ref>

== Presidency ==
{{main|Presidency of Abraham Lincoln}}
[[File:Thomas Hicks - Leopold Grozelier - Presidential Candidate Abraham Lincoln 1860.jpg |thumb|left |upright |alt=Thin man looking to the right wearing a bow tie. |A sketch of candidate Abraham Lincoln]]
Lincoln was chosen as a [[candidate]] for the elections in 1860 for different reasons. Among these reasons was that his views on slavery were less extreme than those of other people who wanted to be candidates. Lincoln was from what was then one of the Western states and had a bigger chance of winning the election there. Other candidates that were older or more [[:wikt:experience|experienced]] than him had [[enemy|enemies]] inside the party.<ref>{{cite book |title=Why the Civil War Came |url=https://archive.org/details/whycivilwarcame00bori |author=Boritt, Gabor S. |publisher=Oxford University Press|date=1997|isbn=0195113764 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/whycivilwarcame00bori/page/n3 3]–30}}</ref><ref name="nationalexperience">
{{cite book
|last=Blum
|first=John M.
|title=Team of Rivals
|location=New York, NY
|publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
|year=1981
|pages=340–342}}
</ref> Lincoln's family was poor, which added to the Republican position of [[free labor]], the opposite of slave labor. Lincoln won the election in 1860 and was made the 16th President of the United States. He won with almost no votes in the South. For the first time, a president had won the election because of the large support he got from the states in the North.<ref name="nationalexperience" /> During his presidency Lincoln became well known because of his large stovepipe hat. He used his tall hat to store papers and documents when he was traveling.<ref>[http://www.epinions.com/review/Abe_Lincoln_s_Hat__Step_into_Reading_Books_Series_A_Step_2_Book_by_Martha_Brenner_Books/content_347421773444?sb=1 Abe Lincoln's Hat Step into Reading Books Series A Step 2 Book by Martha Brenner Books] at epinions.com</ref>

=== The Civil War ===
[[File:Abraham Lincoln O-55, 1861-crop.jpg|thumb|250px|The first photographic image of the new president]]
After Lincoln's election in 1860, seven States (South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana) formed the [[Confederate States of America]]. When the United States refused to surrender [[Fort Sumter]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], the Confederates attacked the fort, beginning the [[American Civil War]]. Later, four more states (Arkansas, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina) joined the Confederacy for a total of eleven. In his whole period as president, he had to rebuild the Union with military force and many bloody battles. He also had to stop the "border states", like Kentucky, Missouri, and Maryland, from leaving the Union and joining the Confederacy.

Lincoln was not a general, and had only been in the army for a short time during the [[Black Hawk War]].<ref name=ilng>"[http://www.il.ngb.army.mil/Museum/HistPeople/Lincoln.htm Captain Abraham Lincoln] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060718033854/http://www.il.ngb.army.mil/Museum/HistPeople/Lincoln.htm |date=2006-07-18 }}", ''Illinois State Military Museum'', [[Illinois National Guard]], accessed April 12, 2009.</ref> However, he still took a major role in the war, often spending days and days in the War Department. His plan was to cut off the South by surrounding it with ships, control the [[Mississippi River]], and take Richmond, the Confederate capital. He often clashed with generals in the field, especially [[George B. McClellan]], and fired generals who lost battles or were not [[:wikt:aggressive|aggressive]] enough. Eventually, he made [[Ulysses S. Grant]] the top general in the army.

=== Emancipation Proclamation ===
With the [[Emancipation Proclamation]] begun on January 1, 1863, Lincoln ordered the freedom of all slaves in those states still in rebellion during the American Civil War. It did not actually immediately free all those slaves however, since those areas were still controlled by the rebelling states of the [[Confederacy]]. Only a small number of slaves already behind Union lines were immediately freed. As the [[Union army]] advanced, nearly all four million slaves were effectively freed. Some former slaves joined the Union army after 1862.
The Proclamation also did not free slaves in the slave states that had remained loyal to the Union (the federal government of the US). Neither did it apply to areas where Union forces had already regained control, as in [[Tennessee]].<ref name=yale>{{cite web |url= http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1985/5/85.05.03.x.html |title=Lincoln |accessdate= August 22, 2009 |publisher= Yale University}}</ref> Until the [[Thirteenth Amendment]] to the U.S. Constitution in 1865, only the states had power to end slavery within their own borders, so Lincoln issued the proclamation as a war measure.

The Proclamation made freeing the slaves a Union goal for the war, and put an end to movements in European nations (especially in [[Great Britain]] and [[France]]) that would have recognized the Confederacy as an independent nation. Lincoln then sponsored a constitutional amendment to free all slaves. The [[Thirteenth Amendment]], making slavery illegal everywhere in the United States, was passed late in 1865, eight months after Lincoln was assassinated.

=== Gettysburg Address ===
{{main|Gettysburg Address}}
Lincoln made a famous speech after the [[Battle of Gettysburg]] in 1863 called the [[Gettysburg Address]]. The battle was very important, and many soldiers from both sides died. The speech was given at the new [[cemetery]] for the dead soldiers. It is one of the most famous speeches in American history.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |title=Outline of U.S. History |page=73 |url=http://www.america.gov/st/educ-english/2008/April/20080407120920eaifas0.4535639.html |accessdate=January 3, 2009 |archive-date=October 20, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020070127/http://www.america.gov/st/educ-english/2008/April/20080407120920eaifas0.4535639.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Second term and assassination ===
{{main|Assassination of Abraham Lincoln}}

Lincoln was re-elected president by a small number of votes in 1864 and re-inaugurated on March 4, 1865. Soon afterward, it appeared likely that the Union would win the Civil War. Lincoln wanted to make it easy for states that had rebelled to restore self-government. On April 9, 1865, the leading Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, surrendered his armies. On April 11, 1865, Lincoln gave a speech in which he promoted voting rights for black American citizens.<ref>{{cite web |title=Last Public Address |url=http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/last.htm |date=April 11, 1865 |accessdate=September 15, 2008 |work=Speeches and Writings |publisher=showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln.html, Abraham Lincoln Online |archive-date=June 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606044904/http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/last.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Lincoln assassination slide c1900.png |thumb|left |alt=Image of Lincoln being shot by Booth while sitting in a theater booth. |Shown in the presidential booth of Ford's Theatre, from left to right, are assassin [[John Wilkes Booth]], Abraham Lincoln, [[Mary Todd Lincoln]], [[Clara Harris]], and [[Henry Rathbone]].]]

During the day on April 14, 1865, Lincoln signed the law that created the secret service, the US President's security force. On the evening of April 14, Lincoln went to attend a play with his wife, Mary Todd at Ford's Theater in [[Washington, D.C.]]. He had invited Ulysses S. Grant to attend the play with him and his wife Mary Todd, and Grant planned to attend. As a general, Grant would have brought his own extra military security force, but he did not attend the play because his wife Julia and Mary Todd did not get along well.

During the third act of the play, [[John Wilkes Booth]], a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland, entered the presidential box and shot Lincoln at [[point-blank range]],<ref>Swanson, James. ''Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer''. Harper Collins, 2006. pp. 42–3. {{ISBN|978-0-06-051849-3}}</ref> mortally wounding him and shouted "''Sic semper tyrannis''" ("Thus always to tyrants"). An unconscious Lincoln was carried across the street to [[Petersen House]]. He was placed diagonally on the bed because his tall frame would not fit normally on the smaller bed.<ref>Steers, Edward. ''Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln''. University Press of Kentucky, 2001. p. 123–24. {{ISBN|978-0-8131-9151-5}}</ref> He remained in a [[coma]] for nine hours before dying the next morning.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.co.uk/biographies/abraham-lincoln|title=Abraham Lincoln|work=History|publisher=AETN UK|accessdate=February 16, 2014}}</ref> According to some accounts, at his last drawn breath, on the morning after the assassination, he smiled broadly and then expired.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fox|first1=Richard|title=Lincoln's Body: A Cultural History|url=https://archive.org/details/lincolnsbodycult0000foxr|date=2015|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0393247244}}</ref> Lincoln was the first American president to be [[wikt:assassinate|assassinated]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer|last=Swanson|first=James|year=2006|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=9780060518493}}</ref>

Booth escaped but died from shots fired during his capture on April 26.

== Legacy ==
[[File:AbrahamLincolnOilPainting1869Restored.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A painting of Lincoln sitting with his hand on his chin and his elbow on his leg.|''[[Abraham Lincoln (Healy)|Lincoln]]'', painting by [[George Peter Alexander Healy]] in 1869]]
Lincoln has been consistently [[Historical rankings of Presidents of the United States#Scholar survey results|ranked]] both by scholars<ref name="Ranking Our Presidents">[http://history-world.org/pres.pdf "Ranking Our Presidents"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811010704/http://history-world.org/pres.pdf |date=2017-08-11 }}. James Lindgren. November 16, 2000. International World History Project.</ref> and the public<ref name=gallup>[http://www.gallup.com/poll/146183/Americans-Say-Reagan-Greatest-President.aspx "Americans Say Reagan Is the Greatest President"]. Gallup Inc. February 28, 2011.</ref> as one of the greatest U.S. presidents. He is often considered the greatest president in American history for his leadership during the [[American Civil War]] and his eloquence in speeches such as the [[Gettysburg Address]].

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== External links ==

{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.abrahamlincoln.org The Lincoln Institute]
* [http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln2.html Abraham Lincoln Research Site]
* [http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln77.html A One Page Summary of Abraham Lincoln's Life]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=627 Abraham Lincoln] at [[Find a Grave]]
* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/al16.html Lincoln's White House biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205223927/http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/al16.html |date=2006-12-05 }}
* [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln Abraham Lincoln] -Citizendium
* [http://www.abelincolnhistory.com/ Abe Lincoln History Site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208043959/http://www.abelincolnhistory.com/ |date=2016-02-08 }}

{{USPresidents}}
{{Lincoln cabinet}}
{{American Civil War}}
{{Gettysburg figures}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lincoln, Abraham}}
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[[Category:Abraham Lincoln| ]]
[[Category:American abolitionists]]
[[Category:Lawyers from Illinois]]
[[Category:Assassinated presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in the United States]]
[[Category:Politicians from Springfield, Illinois]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kentucky]]
[[Category:United States representatives from Illinois]]
[[Category:American Civil War]]
[[Category:19th-century American politicians]]
[[Category:Lawyers from Kentucky]]

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Abraham Lincoln