Happy Birthday Honest Abe
On February 12, 1809 (205 years ago today) Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was born in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm in Hardin County, Kentucky. He served as President from March 1861 until his assassination on April 14,1865 (he died early on the following morning of April 15, 1865). Lincoln led the United States through the Civil War, the nation's bloodiest conflict and its greatest moral, constitutional and political crisis. As the result of his leadership, the Union was preserved and the institution of slavery was abolished.
Lincoln was raised in a poor family on the western frontier. He became a self-educated lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, a state legislator during the 1830s, and a one-term member of the Congress during the 1840s. He promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks, canals, railroads and tariffs, and he encouraged the building of factories. He was opposed to the war with Mexico in 1846, a move which hurt him politically, but established his reputation as someone who put principle above politics. After a series of highly publicized debates in 1858 during which he opposed the expansion of slavery, Lincoln lost the U.S. Senate race to his archrival, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln, a moderate from a swing state, secured the Republican Party presidential nomination in 1860. With almost no support in the South, Lincoln swept the North and was elected president in 1860. His election prompted seven southern slave states to secede and form the Confederate States of America. No compromise or reconciliation was able to be achieved.
When the North enthusiastically rallied behind the national flag after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Lincoln concentrated on the military and political aspects of the war. His goal was to reunite the nation. He suspended the writ of habeas corpus, which allowed the arrest and temporarily detention thousands of suspected secessionists in the border states without trial. Lincoln averted British intervention by defusing the Trent affair in late 1861 (an incident in which two British diplomats were arrested after their attempting to negotiate with the Confederacy). He skilfully maneuvered toward ending slavery, leading to the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, using the Army to protect escaped slaves, encouraging the border states to outlaw slavery, and helping push through Congress the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which permanently outlawed slavery.
Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including commanding general Ulysses S. Grant. He made the major decisions on Union war strategy, Lincoln's Navy set up a naval blockade that shut down the South's normal trade, helped take control of Kentucky and Tennessee, and gained control of the Southern river system using gunboats. He tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond. Each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another until finally Grant succeeded in 1865.
An exceptionally astute politician, Lincoln reached out to "War Democrats" (who supported the North against the South), and managed his own re-election in the 1864 presidential election. As the leader of the moderate faction of the Republican party, he was confronted with Radical Republicans who demanded harsher treatment of the South, War Democrats who called for more compromise, Copperheads who despised him, and irreconcilable secessionists who plotted his death. Politically, Lincoln used patronage and putted his opponents against each other. He also appealed directly to the American people with his powers of oratory. His Gettysburg Address of 1863 became one of the most famous orations of all time, in which he spoke of America's dedication to the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy (and did so in just a few minutes). Lincoln held a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to reunite the nation speedily through a policy of generous reconciliation in the face of lingering and bitter divisiveness.
Six days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a confederate sympathizer, part of a plot against other members of the administration as well. He died early the next morning after the day that he was shot. His death was mourned by the nation and his funeral train home to Springfield, Illinois attracted great crowds. Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and by the public, and by this community as well, as one of the greatest U.S. presidents.
Lincoln was raised in a poor family on the western frontier. He became a self-educated lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, a state legislator during the 1830s, and a one-term member of the Congress during the 1840s. He promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks, canals, railroads and tariffs, and he encouraged the building of factories. He was opposed to the war with Mexico in 1846, a move which hurt him politically, but established his reputation as someone who put principle above politics. After a series of highly publicized debates in 1858 during which he opposed the expansion of slavery, Lincoln lost the U.S. Senate race to his archrival, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln, a moderate from a swing state, secured the Republican Party presidential nomination in 1860. With almost no support in the South, Lincoln swept the North and was elected president in 1860. His election prompted seven southern slave states to secede and form the Confederate States of America. No compromise or reconciliation was able to be achieved.
When the North enthusiastically rallied behind the national flag after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Lincoln concentrated on the military and political aspects of the war. His goal was to reunite the nation. He suspended the writ of habeas corpus, which allowed the arrest and temporarily detention thousands of suspected secessionists in the border states without trial. Lincoln averted British intervention by defusing the Trent affair in late 1861 (an incident in which two British diplomats were arrested after their attempting to negotiate with the Confederacy). He skilfully maneuvered toward ending slavery, leading to the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, using the Army to protect escaped slaves, encouraging the border states to outlaw slavery, and helping push through Congress the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which permanently outlawed slavery.
Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including commanding general Ulysses S. Grant. He made the major decisions on Union war strategy, Lincoln's Navy set up a naval blockade that shut down the South's normal trade, helped take control of Kentucky and Tennessee, and gained control of the Southern river system using gunboats. He tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond. Each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another until finally Grant succeeded in 1865.
An exceptionally astute politician, Lincoln reached out to "War Democrats" (who supported the North against the South), and managed his own re-election in the 1864 presidential election. As the leader of the moderate faction of the Republican party, he was confronted with Radical Republicans who demanded harsher treatment of the South, War Democrats who called for more compromise, Copperheads who despised him, and irreconcilable secessionists who plotted his death. Politically, Lincoln used patronage and putted his opponents against each other. He also appealed directly to the American people with his powers of oratory. His Gettysburg Address of 1863 became one of the most famous orations of all time, in which he spoke of America's dedication to the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy (and did so in just a few minutes). Lincoln held a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to reunite the nation speedily through a policy of generous reconciliation in the face of lingering and bitter divisiveness.
Six days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a confederate sympathizer, part of a plot against other members of the administration as well. He died early the next morning after the day that he was shot. His death was mourned by the nation and his funeral train home to Springfield, Illinois attracted great crowds. Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and by the public, and by this community as well, as one of the greatest U.S. presidents.