Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 close to Hodgenville, Kentucky. His family moved to Indiana in 1816. When Lincoln was ten his mother died from poisoned milk. His father remarried the next year to Sarah Bush Johnston. Abraham liked her very much and even later recalled her “his angel mother. (Encarta)” Abraham had less than one year of formal education during his life. He was self-educated and taught himself how to read and write. When he was not in school, he worked on the frontier farm clearing out forests with his axe.
When Abraham Lincoln was 21 he and his family moved to Illinois. There he worked on a farm growing corn. But more importantly here was where he gave his first political speech. In 1830, the same year his family moved to Illinois, he went to a political rally and was convinced to talk for a candidate on his behalf. According to a witness there, Lincoln “was frightened but got warmed up and made the best speech of the day. (Encarta).”
Abraham Lincoln’s political career started in the spring of 1832 by running for a seat in the Illinois’ House of Representatives. However an unusual turn of events happened a month after he announced he was running. The store he was working at went bankrupt and he lost his job. Very shortly thereafter Native Americans rebelled and the governor of Illinois asked for volunteers to help put this down to which Lincoln promptly volunteered for. He never experienced actual combat, but during his 3 month time period he served as a captain and a private. Lincoln enjoyed his his short stay in the military.
When the brief uprising was over, Lincoln returned to Illinois to campaign for a spot in the Illinois House of Representatives. He spoke on tree stumps to groups of people, went to farms and talked to farmers at their homes, and greeted people on the street and started conversation with them. However, this strategy did not work. There were thirteen people running for four spots in the House of Representatives. Lincoln finished eighth in the voting. However, Lincoln did not give up. In 1834 he ran again; by this time, he was well known in his area. He was elected in 1834 and reelected three more times in ’36, ’38, and ’40.
In 1840 Lincoln met a young woman named Mary Todd from Kentucky. After going out for a few years they were married on November 14, 1842. A year later the Lincolns moved to Springfield, Illinois. They eventually had 4 children, and only one of them made it to adulthood, Robert Todd Lincoln.
By 1856 Lincoln was starting to become famous. In 1856 he attended the Republican state convention in Illinois, where he gave the main address. At the Republican national convention the Illinois delegation suggested Lincoln be Vice-President, but he was defeated.
Lincoln was nominated by the Republican Party in 1858 to run against Stephen Douglas for a seat in the Senate. In his acceptance speech he made his famous house-divided speech: “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half salve and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fail; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. (Encarta)” This statement was Lincoln’s most powerful against slavery. This speech was actually used against him by Douglas during debates.
The Lincoln-Douglas debates made the national stage. When Douglas learned Lincoln was his opponent, he actually admitted he had his hands full. The main topic was on slavery. Douglas was for popular sovereignty, while Lincoln did not want slavery spreading. Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates. At Freeport, Lincoln asked Douglas “whether the people of a territory could lawfully exclude slavery prior to the formation of a state constitution. Douglas replied that slavery could be excluded from a territory, despite the Dred Scott decision, if the people refused to enact the necessary local laws for its protection. (Encarta)” This statement by Douglas became known as the Freeport Doctrine. This statement actually hurt Douglas’ support among southern Democrats and hurt his chances of being President. However Douglas would just hang on to defeat Lincoln in the election 54 to 46. But now Lincoln was on the national stage and was ready to take the next step.
Lincoln was invited to make speeches in several different states including “Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, and at the Cooper Union college in New York City. (Encarta)” He was nominated the Republican candidate for President at the Republican National Convention. To get more votes the convention chose Democrat Hannibal Hamlin as Vice-President for the Republican ticket.
The Democratic Party split and nominated 3 different candidates for President: Stephen Douglas, John C. Breckinridge, and John Bell. When election time came, they split, with Stephen Douglas getting only 12 electoral votes, John C. Breckinridge carrying all of the Deep South with 72 electoral votes, and John Bell getting 39 electoral votes. Lincoln had 180 electoral votes and easily won the election despite only getting 39 percent of the popular vote. Lincoln was now the President of the United States.
Before he could be inaugurated into office, the South took action against the election. South Carolina immediately seceded from the Union. Shortly thereafter it was joined by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. In February 1861 it was joined by Texas. Together they created a new constitution and formed their own country, the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis was elected the first President of this new nation.
On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated into office as the 16th President of the United States. But this was no time for celebration. The Confederate States of America saw the United States as another nation. There were still forts and bases of U.S. Soldiers in that country. The Confederates wanted the U.S. Soldiers out. So they immediately took over forts and the U.S. surrendered most without a fight. Then Lincoln was immediately faced with an important decision.
Fort Sumter was one of the most strongly defended forts the United States still held in Confederate territory. The for was running out of supplies. It would have to surrender if it ran out. If Lincoln surrendered Fort Sumter, there would be no war and that would be the end of the Union. If Lincoln gave supplies to Fort Sumter, he would be risking war and a conflict that could last a long time. But Lincoln did not want to give up Fort Sumter.
Lincoln then decided to give supplies to Fort Sumter, and informed South Carolina of his decision. South Carolina promptly decided to fight and try to take the fort. The United States surrendered the fort and the first shots of the Civil War were fired. No one was hurt during the battle.
Lincoln reacted quickly to this defeat. He called for 75,000 militia to serve three months because he assumed this would be a short war. He called for an emergency session of Congress that summer. The North supported the President through this process. When Lincoln called for war, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas immediately seceded and joined the Confederate States of America.
Lincoln was in charge of the war as Commander in Chief. He would do whatever it took to save the Union, even if it meant violating the Constitution, which is exactly what he did. He started a blockade in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean to stop ships from coming in and out of Confederate ports. He expanded the Union army beyond what it was allowed. He took away the right of habeas corpus, so people could now be jailed for speaking out against the war.
The first battle of the Civil War was the First Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas. Lincoln and the North thought this would be a short, easy victory and the end of the Southern rebellion. The South shocked the North and defeated them. Now Lincoln knew this would not be an easy war. After this poor showing of the North Lincoln promptly removed General Irvin McDowell from commander of the army and named George B. McClellan the new commander of the Potomac. McClellan gave support and hope for the Union army.
Lincoln also had political struggles right from the beginning. A group of Radical Republicans called the Jacobins were not in favor of Lincoln’s policies. These Radicals wanted quick action against the South, setting the slaves free, and to punish Southern leaders. They wanted to take away any political power the whites had and give it to the blacks, and in turn the blacks would become Republicans. These Radicals also “controlled the joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War (Encarta),” and their leader was Senator Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio. They tried to take control of the decisions made about the war. These people were not in favor of McClellan at all, but Lincoln continued to show support for him. He even told him, “…you must not fight till you are ready. (Encarta)”
Aside from the Civil War, the Union almost got itself involved in another war against Great Britain. This event was known as the Trent Affair. The Confederates sent two people to France and Britain to help gain support for the Confederate cause. After evading the Union’s blockade they went to Cuba to board the British ship Trent. The very first day they sailed they were stopped by a Union blockade ship. Union naval captain Charles Wilkes took two Southerners as prisoners of war. His actions were an infraction “of the international law over which the United States had gone to war with Britain in 1812. (Encarta)” Britain commanded the Union apologize and free the prisoners. Lincoln handled this by letting Britain have that they wanted and avoided another war with Britain. Another war would have definitely cost the Union any chance of defeating the Confederates.
Lincoln’s second year in office was filled with hard decisions and decisions that would affect the Union. Lincoln authorized McClellan in the spring of 1862 to commence the so called “Peninsular Campaign.” The objective was to capture the Confederate capital Richmond. But Lincoln was concerned the Confederates, led by General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, would take over Washington, so he took action and pulled 40,000 people from McClellan’s army to defend the Capital. However, McClellan still had more men than the Confederates as they moved toward Richmond. For seven days both armies were fighting, but instead of going for a decisive victory he pulled his troops out even thou the Confederates had suffered more casualties than the Union had.
In August of 1862 the Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) took place. The Confederate army led by Robert E. Lee met with the Union army led by John Pope, and the Union army fell. However, in September the Union won the bloodiest battle of the Civil War at Antietam. Now with a victory, Lincoln decided to use this to announce the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was issued on September 22, 1862. In the proclamation it said that on January 1, 1863, all slaves held in the Confederate states would “be thenceforward, and forever free…” However, to actually free the slaves would have to come with triumphs from the Union army.
The reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation varied. The South did not like it at all. They said it “destroyed 4 billion dollars worth of property and bid the slaves rise in insurrection. (Boorstin)” Jefferson Davis said that any chance of reunion was killed by this proclamation. The North was split – Abolitionists were pleased, however, they did have second thoughts that Lincoln did not free the slaves in the border states as well. Northern citizens were not happy “because they wanted to fight only for the Union. (Boorstin)” However in Europe this proclamation killed any chance of recognizing the Confederate States of America. This proclamation also changed what the Union was fighting for: the end of slavery.
This proclamation now opened the door for blacks to join the Union army. About 186,000 blacks joined the Union army. Most did not actually go on the front lines, but if they did, they fought with everything they had. The blacks did serve as spies, laborers, and garrison troops. They were given a chance to fight, and they charged Fort Wagner near Charleston.
However, after Antietam the war was not going well. So Lincoln stepped in after McClellan was being too cautious on the battlefield and replaced him with Major General Ambrose E. Burnside. His army was badly defeated and Union casualties exceeded 12,000. For a long period of time Lincoln kept replacing commanders on the battlefield with hardly any success.
Aside from the battlefield Lincoln was now facing a crisis in his Cabinet. The Radical Republicans were looking to discredit Lincoln. Lincoln’s Secretary of State William Seward was forced to resign by these Radicals, but Lincoln refused to accept his resignation because he needed him in his Cabinet. Samuel Chase, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury, also offered his resignation but Lincoln refused.
The North was growing a a large pace during the Civil War. Over 800,000 Europeans immigrated to the United States and 300,000 emigrants migrated to California and Oregon. Lincoln stepped in and assisted the growth of the Union by signing three key acts: the Homestead Act, Morrill Act, and the Pacific Railway Act. The Homestead Act offered 160 acres of land each for settlers, the Morrill Act “gave the states free land to establish agricultural and mechanical colleges, (Encarta)” and the Pacific Railway Act enabled the transcontinental railroad to be built. Kansas, Nevada, and West Virginia were added into the Union during Lincoln’s administration as well.
In Lincoln’s third year of office he still struggled to find the perfect leader for the Union Army. After the defeat at Fredericksburg he named Major General Joseph Hooker leader of the Union Army. Though Hooker’s men fought bravely, Lee’s army defeated them and now this set up Lee’s march to Pennsylvania. Lincoln stepped in and replaced Hooker with Major General George G. Meade as leader of the Union army.
The Battle of Gettysburg was the next battle where the two armies met. The Union chose to be on the defensive this time and the South, under General Lee, took the offensive. For three days both armies fought bravely, and this time the Union was able to thwart Lee’s attack. Lee would eventually be forced to retreat because his army suffered massive casualties. However the Union army also was badly hurt in the battle. The big mistake in the battle was Meade letting Lee escape after he retreated.
However, a general on the rise was Ulysses S. Grant. The same day Lee withdrew from Gettysburg Lincoln received word Grant had captured Vicksburg, and in November Grant’s army won the Battle of Chattanooga. Finally the Union found a general who was willing to fight, and Lincoln would see that by eventually placing Grant in command of all Union armies in 1864.
Also in Lincoln’s third year in office he issued a draft. The draft called for all men between 20 and 45 to be ready to serve in the military if called upon. However, the people were not happy Lincoln did this. Riots sprang up in several places including New York City. Lincoln was not happy with these riots, but he was confident he made a good decision to keep the draft in place.
Whenever the Union took control over an area of the Confederacy, Lincoln wanted them to come back into the Union. “On December 8, 1863, Lincoln offered his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction to the Southern people. This pronouncement is often called Lincoln’s 10 percent plan of Reconstruction after one of its provisions. In this document, Lincoln offered a full pardon, or amnesty, to any Southerner, with the exception of certain leaders, who would take an oath to support ‘the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder.’ (Encarta)” The people who took the oath could vote to create a new state government. However, Lincoln said they must fulfill two obligations: slavery must be abolished because Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and the total of people voting for this new state government was at least ten percent that voted in the 1860 election.
Lincoln also faced resistance from the Jacobins, who created their own plan for Reconstruction. The Wade-Davis bill, created by these Radicals, made it clear what their plans were. The bill stated three things: (1) the South was to be punished for what they did, (2) it would not allow any Confederate leader to vote, and finally (3) it said that the majority of citizens had to be loyal to the Union. However, Lincoln promptly vetoed this bill.
Also in 1863, Lincoln was faced with a high national debt from the war expenses. “In February 1863, Lincoln signed the National Banking Act to make it easier to sell government bonds. (Encarta)” This new Act would be the way the American Banking System would work until it was replaced in 1913 by the Federal Reserve Act.
In November of 1863 Lincoln was called upon to make a brief statement at the cemetery where the Battle of Gettysburg was fought. This brief address, which was a classic, became known as the Gettysburg Address.
In Lincoln’s fourth year as President he made some crucial decision that would ultimately end up victorious for the Union. In March of 1864 Lincoln promoted Ulysses S. Grant to commander of all the Union armies, the first time a person held this honor since George Washington. Grant made Major general William Tecumseh Sherman the commander of the West. Lincoln’s idea of promoting Grant was a good choice. Grant had a different strategy on the battlefield. Instead of targeting major cities, he attacked the main army wherever it was. Grant’s ultimate goal was to go after Lee, while Sherman’s goal was to go for Joe Johnston, the leader of the Confederate Army in Tennessee. The main tactic used by Grant and Sherman was total war, destroying everything in their way.
Meanwhile, in the summer of 1864, Lincoln was concentrating on the election that fall. Lincoln thought he would not get reelected. The Radicals kept making bitter statements against him. However in September things got better for Lincoln. “The Moderate Republicans prevailed on Fremont to withdraw from the race, and the party united behind Lincoln. (Lincoln)” general Sherman defeated the Confederates at Atlanta and forced them to move to Tennessee. Major General Philip Sheridan, on instructions from Grant, slaughtered the Shenandoah Valley, where a bulk of Lee’s army was. With this, reelection was no problem at all. He defeated McClellan in the electoral college 212 to 21. He also had 400,000 more votes than McClellan had.
With reelection secure, Lincoln decided to go on the offensive in the war. An army led by Major General George H. Thomas crushed the Confederates in the battle of Nashville. The next month in December Sherman captured Savannah, and started his famous march up north to meet with Grant’s army to crush the South once and for all. Grant’s army defeated the Confederates at Petersburg and Sherman totally burned down Columbia. The Confederates surrendered at the Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
Two days after the Confederates surrendered, Lincoln addressed the crowd gathered around the White House. He asked for unity among all the states and to treat the now-defeated South with respect. He appealed to his audience to ‘join in doing the acts necessary to restoring the practical relations between these states and the Union.’ (Encarta)
However, there was no time for Lincoln to take any post-war action. John Wilkes Booth organized a conspiracy with a few other people to assassinate a few political leaders. Booth was to kill Lincoln, while another was to try to assassinate William Seward. At Ford’s Theatre, after the play had already begun, “Booth quietly opened the door and shot the President behind the ear with a derringer from only a few inches away. (Gienapp)” Lincoln died the next morning. Booth thought he was helping the South by taking this aggressive action. However, “the opposite was the result, for with Lincoln’s death, the possibility of peace with magnanimity died. (White House WEB)” Lincoln’s funeral was April 19 in Washington. He was buried near Springfield after his body was placed on a train for a few weeks so that people could pay their respects to him.
Works Cited List:
“Abraham Lincoln.” Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. 17 Nov. 2006
http://encarta.msn.com>.
Since there is no author listed I will refer to quotes from this source as “Encarta”
“Abraham Lincoln.” The Official Site of the White House. 17 Nov. 2006
