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Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States who successfully led the country through the Civil War. As a lawyer and member of the House of Representatives, Lincoln opposed the expansion of slavery and was elected President in 1860 as a Republican. During his presidency, Lincoln helped abolish slavery and preserve the Union by defeating the Confederate states in the Civil War. Though criticized by both opponents of the war and radical Republicans, Lincoln rallied public support and oversaw the Union's victory. His assassination in 1865 made him a martyr for national unity shortly after the end of the war.

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174 views1 page

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States who successfully led the country through the Civil War. As a lawyer and member of the House of Representatives, Lincoln opposed the expansion of slavery and was elected President in 1860 as a Republican. During his presidency, Lincoln helped abolish slavery and preserve the Union by defeating the Confederate states in the Civil War. Though criticized by both opponents of the war and radical Republicans, Lincoln rallied public support and oversaw the Union's victory. His assassination in 1865 made him a martyr for national unity shortly after the end of the war.

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cs9374
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809–April 15, 1865), the sixteenth


President of the United States, successfully led his country through its
greatest crisis, the Civil War, only to be assassinated less than a week
after the war's end[1]. Before his election as President, Lincoln was a
lawyer, a member of the United States House of Representatives, and an
unsuccessful candidate for election to the Senate. As an outspoken
opponent of the expansion of slavery in the United States,[2][3] Lincoln won
the Republican Party nomination in 1860 and was elected president later
that year. During his term, he helped preserve the United States by
leading the defeat of the secessionist Confederate States of America in
the American Civil War. He introduced measures that resulted in the
abolition of slavery, issuing his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and
promoting the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution,
which passed Congress before Lincoln's death and was ratified by the
states later in 1865.

Lincoln closely supervised the victorious war effort, especially the


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

Opponents of the war (also known as "Copperheads") criticized him for


refusing to compromise on the slavery issue. Conversely, the Radical
Republicans, an abolitionist faction of the Republican Party, criticized him
for moving too slowly in abolishing slavery. Even with these road blocks,
Lincoln successfully rallied public opinion through his rhetoric and
speeches; his Gettysburg Address is but one example of this. 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. His
assassination in 1865 was the first presidential assassination in U.S.
history and made him a martyr for the ideal of national unity.

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