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Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln
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 U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 7th district
In office
March 4, 1847 March 3, 1849
Preceded by
John Henry
Succeeded by Thomas L. Harris
Born February 12, 1809(1809-02-12)
Hardin County, Kentucky
Died
April 15, 1865 (aged 56)
Washington, D.C.
Nationality
American
Political party Whig (1832-1854), Republican (1854-1864), National Union (1864-1865)
Spouse
Mary Todd Lincoln
Children
Robert Todd Lincoln, Edward Lincoln, Willie Lincoln, Tad Lincoln
Occupation
Lawyer
Religion
See: Abraham Lincoln and religion
Signature
Abraham Lincoln's signature
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 April 15, 1865), the sixteenth President of the United
States, successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War,[1]
[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] only to be assassinated as the war was coming to an end.[9] Before becoming
the first Republican elected to the Presidency, Lincoln was a lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, 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,[10][11] Lincoln won
the Republican Party nomination in 1860 and was elected president later that year. During his
time in office, he contributed to the effort to 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 Lincoln 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.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Early life
o 1.1 Childhood and education
o 1.2 Early political career and military service
o 1.3 Marriage and family
o 1.4 Legislative activity
o 1.5 Prairie lawyer
* 2 Republican politics 18541860
o 2.1 Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858
* 3 1860 Presidential Election
* 4 Presidency and the Civil War
o 4.1 Secession winter 18601861
o 4.2 Fighting begins: 18611862
o 4.3 Emancipation Proclamation
o 4.4 Gettysburg Address
o 4.5 1864 election and second inauguration
o 4.6 Conducting the war effort
o 4.7 Reconstruction
* 5 Home front
o 5.1 Redefining Republicanism
o 5.2 Civil liberties suspended
o 5.3 Domestic measures
* 6 Medical history
* 7 Assassination
* 8 Presidential appointments
o 8.1 Administration and cabinet
o 8.2 Supreme Court
* 9 Major presidential acts
o 9.1 Signed as President
o 9.2 States admitted to the Union
* 10 Religious and philosophical beliefs
* 11 Legacy and memorials
* 12 Electoral history
* 13 See also
* 14 References
* 15 Further reading
* 16 External links
Early life
Main article: Abraham Lincoln's early life and career
Childhood and education
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, two
uneducated farmers, in a one-room log cabin on the 348-acre (1.4 km2) Sinking Spring Farm, in
southeast Hardin County, Kentucky (now part of LaRue County), making him the first president

born outside the original Thirteen Colonies. Lincoln's ancestor Samuel Lincoln had arrived in
Hingham, Massachusetts in the 17th century, but his descendants had gradually moved west,
from Pennsylvania to Virginia and then westward to the frontier.[12]
Symbolic log cabin at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site
Symbolic log cabin at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site
For some time, Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, was a respected and relatively affluent citizen
of the Kentucky backcountry. He had purchased the Sinking Spring Farm in December 1808 for
$200 cash and assumption of a debt. The family belonged to a Hardshell Baptist church, although
Abraham himself never joined their church, or any other church for that matter.
In 1816, the Lincoln family was forced to make a new start in Perry County (now in Spencer
County), Indiana. He later noted that this move was "partly on account of slavery," and partly
because of difficulties with land deeds in Kentucky: Unlike land in the Northwest Territory,
Kentucky never had a proper U.S. survey, and farmers often had difficulties proving title to their
property.
When Lincoln was nine, his mother, then 34 years old, died of milk sickness. Soon afterwards, his
father remarried to Sarah Bush Johnston. Lincoln was affectionate toward his stepmother, whom
he would call "Mother" for the rest of his life, but he was distant from his father.[13]
In 1830, after more economic and land-title difficulties in Indiana, the family settled on public
land[14] in Macon County, Illinois. The following winter was desolate and especially brutal, and
the family considered moving back to Indiana. The following 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 from New Salem to New Orleans via flatboat on the Sangamon, Illinois and Mississippi
rivers.
Lincoln's formal education consisted of about 18 months of schooling, but he was largely selfeducated and an avid reader. He was also a talented local wrestler and skilled with an axe.[16]
Lincoln avoided hunting and fishing because he did not like killing animals, even for food.[17] At 6
foot 4 inches (1.93 m), he was unusually tall, as well as strong.
Early political career and military service
Sketch of a younger Abraham Lincoln
Sketch of a younger Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln began his political career in 1832, at age 23, with an unsuccessful campaign for the
Illinois General Assembly, as a member of the Whig Party. The centerpiece of his platform was
the undertaking of navigational improvements on the Sangamon River. He believed that this
would attract steamboat traffic, which would allow the sparsely populated, poorer areas along the
river to flourish.
He was elected captain of an Illinois militia company drawn from New Salem during the Black
Hawk War, and later wrote that he had not had "any such success in life which gave him so much
satisfaction."[18][19]
For several months, Lincoln ran a small store in New Salem. In 1834, he won election to the state
legislature, and, after coming across the Commentaries on the Laws of England, began to teach
himself law. Admitted to the bar in 1837, he moved to Springfield, Illinois, that same year and
began to practice law with John T. Stuart. With a reputation as a formidable adversary during
cross-examinations and in his closing arguments, Lincoln became an able and successful lawyer.
[20]

He served four successive terms in the Illinois House of Representatives as a representative from
Sangamon County, and became a leader of the Illinois Whig party. In 1837, he made his first
protest against slavery in the Illinois House, stating that the institution was "founded on both
injustice and bad policy."[21] It was also in this same year that Lincoln met Joshua Fry Speed,
who would become a close friend.
Lincoln wrote a series of anonymous letters, published in 1842 in the Sangamon Journal,
mocking State Auditor and prominent Democrat James Shields. Two years later, Lincoln entered
law practice with William Herndon, a fellow Whig. In 1854, both men joined the fledgling
Republican Party. Following Lincoln's death, Herndon began collecting stories about Lincoln and
published them in Herndon's Lincoln.
The first photograph ever taken of Mary Lincoln, a daguerreotype by N.H. Shepherd, about 1846.
The first photograph ever taken of Mary Lincoln, a daguerreotype by N.H. Shepherd, about 1846.
Marriage and family
On November 4, 1842 Lincoln married Mary Todd, daughter of a prominent slave-owning family
from Kentucky. The couple had four sons. Robert Todd Lincoln was born in Springfield, Illinois on
August 1, 1843. Their only child to survive into adulthood, young Robert attended Phillips Exeter
Academy and Harvard College.
The other Lincoln children were born in Springfield, Illinois, and died either during childhood or
their teen years. Edward Baker Lincoln was born on March 10, 1846, and died on February 1,
1850, also in Springfield. William "Willie" Wallace Lincoln was born on December 21, 1850, and
died on February 20, 1862 in Washington, D.C., during President Lincoln's first term. Thomas
"Tad" Lincoln was born on April 4, 1853, and died on July 16, 1871 in Chicago.
The first photograph ever taken of Abraham Lincoln, a daguerreotype by N.H. Shepherd, about
1846.
The first photograph ever taken of Abraham Lincoln, a daguerreotype by N.H. Shepherd, about
1846.
Legislative activity
A Whig and an admirer of party leader Henry Clay, Lincoln was elected to a term in the U.S.
House of Representatives in 1846. As a freshman House member, he was not a particularly
powerful or influential figure. However, he spoke out against the Mexican-American War, which he
attributed to President Polk's desire for "military glory" and challenged the President's claims
regarding the Texas boundary and offered Spot Resolutions, demanding to know on what "spot"
on US soil that blood was first spilt.[22]
Lincoln later damaged his political reputation with a speech in which he declared, "God of Heaven
has forgotten to defend the weak and innocent, and permitted the strong band of murderers and
demons from hell to kill men, women, and children, and lay waste and pillage the land of the just."
Two weeks later, President Polk sent a peace treaty to Congress. While no one in Washington
paid any attention to Lincoln, the Democrats orchestrated angry outbursts from across his district,
where the war was popular and many had volunteered.
Warned by his law partner, William Herndon, that the damage was mounting and irreparable,
Lincoln decided not to run for reelection. His statements were not easily forgotten, and would
haunt him during the Civil War. These statements were also held against him when he applied for
a position in the new Taylor administration. Instead, Taylor's people offered Lincoln various
positions in the remote Oregon Territory, primarily the governorship. Acceptance of this offer
would have ended his career in the rapidly growing state of Illinois, so Lincoln declined the
position. Returning to Springfield, Lincoln gave up politics for several years and turned his
energies to his law practice.

Prairie lawyer
By the mid-1850s, Lincoln's caseload focused largely on the competing transportation interests of
river barges and railroads. In one prominent 1851 case, he represented the Alton & Sangamon
Railroad in a dispute with a shareholder, James A. Barret. Barret had refused to pay the balance
on his pledge to the railroad on the grounds that it had changed its originally planned route.
Lincoln argued that as a matter of law a corporation is not bound by its original charter when that
charter can be amended in the public interest, that the newer route proposed by Alton &
Sangamon was superior and less expensive, and that accordingly, the corporation had a right to
sue Barret for his delinquent payment. He won this case, and the decision by the Illinois Supreme
Court was eventually cited by several other courts throughout the United States.[23]
The civil case which won Lincoln fame as a lawyer was the landmark Hurd v. Rock Island Bridge
Company. America's expansion west, which Lincoln strongly supported, was seen as an
economic threat to the river trade, which ran north-to-south, primarily on the Mississippi river. In
1856 a steamboat collided with a bridge, built by the Rock Island Railroad, between Rock Island,
Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa, the first railroad bridge to span the Mississippi. The steamboat
owner sued for damages, claiming the bridge was a hazard to navigation. Lincoln argued in court
for the railroad and won, removing a costly impediment to western expansion by establishing the
right of land routes to bridge waterways.
In the 1920s, historical markers were placed at the county lines along the route Lincoln traveled in
the eighth judicial district. This example is on the border of Piatt and DeWitt counties.
In the 1920s, historical markers were placed at the county lines along the route Lincoln traveled in
the eighth judicial district. This example is on the border of Piatt and DeWitt counties.
Possibly the most notable criminal trial of Lincoln's career as a lawyer came in 1858, when he
defended William "Duff" Armstrong, who had been charged with murder. The case became
famous for Lincoln's use of judicial notice a rare tactic at that time to show that an
eyewitness had lied on the stand. After the witness testified to having seen the crime by
moonlight, Lincoln produced a Farmers' Almanac to show that the moon on that date was at such
a low angle that it could not have provided enough illumination to see anything clearly. Based
almost entirely on this evidence, Armstrong was acquitted.[24]
Lincoln was involved in more than 5,100 cases in Illinois alone during his 23-year legal career.
Though many of these cases involved little more than filing a writ, others were more substantial
and quite involved. Lincoln and his partners appeared before the Illinois State Supreme Court
more than 400 times.
Republican politics 18541860
Lincoln returned to politics in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), which expressly
repealed the limits on slavery's extent as determined by the Missouri Compromise (1820). Illinois
Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, the most powerful man in the Senate, proposed popular
sovereignty as the solution to the slavery impasse, and incorporated it into the KansasNebraska
Act. Douglas argued that in a democracy the people should have the right to decide whether or
not to allow slavery in their territory, rather than have such a decision imposed on them by
Congress.[25]
In the October 16, 1854, "Peoria Speech",[26] Lincoln first stood out among the other free soil
orators of the day:[27]
[The Act has a] declared indifference, but as I must think, 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 enables the
enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites causes the real friends of
freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so many really good men

amongst ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil liberty
criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action
but self-interest.[28]
Drawing on remnants of the old Whig, Free Soil, Liberty and Democratic parties, he was
instrumental in forming the new Republican Party. In a stirring campaign, the Republicans carried
Illinois in 1854 and elected a senator. Lincoln was the obvious choice, but to keep the new party
balanced he allowed the election to go to an ex-Democrat Lyman Trumbull. At the Republican
convention in 1856, Lincoln placed second in the contest to become the party's candidate for
Vice-President.
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 in 1858,
since he had led the opposition to the Lecompton Constitution, which would have admitted
Kansas as a slave state. Accepting the Republican nomination for Senate in 1858, Lincoln
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."[29] The speech created an evocative image of the
danger of disunion caused by the slavery debate, and rallied Republicans across the north.
Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858
Main article: Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858
The 1858 campaign featured the Lincoln-Douglas debates, a famous contest on slavery. Lincoln
warned that "The Slave Power" was threatening the values of republicanism, while Douglas
emphasized the supremacy of democracy, as set forth in his Freeport Doctrine, which said that
local settlers should be free to choose whether to allow slavery or not. Though the Republican
legislative candidates won more popular votes, the Democrats won more seats, and the
legislature reelected Douglas to the Senate. Nevertheless, Lincoln's speeches on the issue
transformed him into a national political star.
1860 Presidential Election
Lincoln in New York City the day of his famous Cooper Union speech, February 27, 1860 by
Mathew Brady
Lincoln in New York City the day of his famous Cooper Union speech, February 27, 1860 by
Mathew Brady
"The Rail Candidate" - Lincoln's 1860 candidacy is held up by the slavery issue (slave on left) and
party organization (New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley on right).
"The Rail Candidate" - Lincoln's 1860 candidacy is held up by the slavery issue (slave on left) and
party organization (New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley on right).
Main article: United States presidential election, 1860
Lincoln was chosen as the Republican candidate for the 1860 election for several reasons. His
expressed views on slavery were seen as more moderate than those of rivals William H. Seward
and Salmon P. Chase. His "Western" origins also appealed to the newer states: other contenders,
especially those with more governmental experience, had acquired enemies within the party and
were weak in the critical western states, while Lincoln was perceived as a moderate who could
win the West. Most Republicans agreed with Lincoln that the North was the aggrieved party as
the Slave Power tightened its grasp on the national government. Throughout the 1850s he denied
that there would ever be a civil war, and his supporters repeatedly rejected claims that his
election would incite secession.[30][need quote] On May 9-10, 1860, the Illinois Republican State
Convention was held in Decatur. At this convention, Lincoln received his first endorsement to run
for the presidency.

Throughout the general election, Lincoln did not campaign or give speeches. This was handled
by the state and county Republican organizations, who used the latest techniques to sustain party
enthusiasm and thus obtain high turnout. There was little effort to convert non-Republicans, and
there was virtually no campaigning in the South except for a few border cities such as St. Louis,
Missouri, and Wheeling, Virginia; indeed, the party did not even run a slate in most of the South.
In the North, there were thousands of Republican speakers, tons of campaign posters and
leaflets, and thousands of newspaper editorials. These focused first on the party platform, and
second on Lincoln's life story, making the most of his boyhood poverty, his pioneer background,
his native genius, and his rise from obscurity. His nicknames, "Honest Abe" and "the Rail-Splitter,"
were exploited to the full. The goal was to emphasize the superior power of "free labor," whereby
a common farm boy could work his way to the top by his own efforts.[31]
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 nine states in the South,
and won only 2 of 996 counties in the other Southern states. Lincoln gained 1,865,908 votes
(39.9% of the total), for 180 electoral votes; Douglas, 1,380,202 (29.5%) for 12 electoral votes;
Breckenridge, 848,019 (18.1%) for 72 electoral votes; and Bell, 590,901 (12.5%) for 39 electoral
votes. There were fusion tickets in some states, but even if his opponents had combined in every
state, Lincoln had a majority vote in all but two of the states in which he won the electoral votes
and would still have won the electoral college and the election.
Presidency and the Civil War
Main article: Origins of the American Civil War
With the emergence of the Republicans as the nation's first major sectional party by the mid1850s, politics became the stage on which sectional tensions were played out. Although much of
the West the focal point of sectional tensions was unfit for cotton cultivation, Southern
secessionists read the political fallout as a sign that their power in national politics was rapidly
weakening. Before, the slave system had been buttressed to an extent by the Democratic Party,
which was increasingly seen as representing a more pro-Southern position that unfairly permitted
Southerners to prevail in the nation's territories and to dominate national policy before the Civil
War. But they suffered a significant reverse in the electoral realignment of the mid-1850s. 1860
was a critical election that marked a stark change in existing patterns of party loyalties among
groups of voters; Abraham Lincoln's election was a watershed in the balance of power of
competing national and parochial interests and affiliations.
Secession winter 18601861
Main articles: Baltimore Plot and Cornerstone Speech
As Lincoln's election became more likely, secessionists made it clear that their states would leave
the Union. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina took the lead. By February 1, 1861, South
Carolina was followed by six other cotton-growing states in the deep South. The seven states
soon declared themselves to be a new nation, the Confederate States of America. The upper
South (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and
Arkansas) listened to, but initially rejected, the secessionist appeal. President Buchanan and
President-elect Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy.
Attempts at compromise, such as the Crittenden Compromise which would have extended the
Missouri line of 1820, were discussed. Despite support for the Crittenden Compromise among
some Republicans, Lincoln denounced it in private letters, saying "either the Missouri line
extended, or... Pop. Sov. would lose us everything we gained in the election; that filibustering for

all South of us, and making slave states of it, would follow in spite of us, under either plan",[32]
while other Republicans publicly stated it "would amount to a perpetual covenant of war against
every people, tribe, and state owning a foot of land between here and Tierra del Fuego [at the far
end of South America]."[33]
President-elect Lincoln evaded possible assassins in Baltimore, and on February 23, 1861,
arrived in disguise in Washington, D.C.
A photograph of the March 4, 1861 inauguration of Abraham Lincoln in front of United States
Capitol.
A photograph of the March 4, 1861 inauguration of Abraham Lincoln in front of United States
Capitol.
At his inauguration on March 4, 1861, the German American Turners formed Lincoln's bodyguard;
and a sizable garrison of federal troops was also present, ready to protect the capital from
Confederate invasion and local insurrection. In his First Inaugural Address, Lincoln declared, "I
hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is
perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national
governments," arguing further that the purpose of the United States Constitution was "to form a
more perfect union" than the Articles of Confederation which were explicitly perpetual, thus the
Constitution too was perpetual. He asked rhetorically that even were the Constitution a simple
contract, would it not require the agreement of all parties to rescind it?
Also in his inaugural address, in a final attempt to reunite the states and prevent the looming war,
Lincoln supported the pending Corwin Amendment to the Constitution, which had already passed
Congress. This amendment, which explicitly protected slavery in those states in which it already
existed, had more appeal to the critical border states than to the states that had already declared
their separation.
By the time Lincoln took office, the Confederacy was an established fact, and no leaders of the
insurrection proposed rejoining the Union on any terms. No compromise was found because a
compromise was deemed virtually impossible. Buchanan might have allowed the southern states
to secede, and some Republicans recommended that. However, conservative Democratic
nationalists, such as Jeremiah S. Black, Joseph Holt, and Edwin M. Stanton had taken control of
Buchanan's cabinet around January 1, 1861, and refused to accept secession. Lincoln and nearly
every Republican leader adopted this position by March 1861: the Union could not be dismantled.
Believing that a peaceful solution was still possible, Lincoln decided to not take any action against
the South unless the Unionists themselves were attacked first. This finally happened in April
1861.
Historian Allan Nevins argues that Lincoln made three miscalculations in believing that he could
preserve the Union, hold government property, and still avoid war. He "temporarily underrated the
gravity of the crisis", overestimated the strength of Unionist sentiment in the South and border
states, and misunderstood the conditional support of Unionists in the border states.[34] In
connection with Nevins's conclusions, it is interesting to note an incident from this period reported
in the memoirs of William Tecumseh Sherman. Then a civilian, Sherman visited Lincoln in the
White House during inauguration week, with his brother, Ohio Republican John Sherman. This
meeting left the future General Sherman "sadly disappointed" at Lincoln's seeming failure to
realize that "the country was sleeping on a volcano" and the South was "'preparing for war.'"[35]
Fighting begins: 18611862
Main article: American Civil War
In April 1861, after Union troops at Fort Sumter were fired upon and forced to surrender, Lincoln
called on the governors of every state to send detachments totaling 75,000 troops to recapture
forts, protect the capital, and "preserve the Union," which in his view still existed intact despite the

actions of the seceding states. Virginia, which had repeatedly warned Lincoln that it would not
allow an invasion of its territory or join an attack on another state, responded by seceding, along
with North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
The slave states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware did not secede, and Lincoln
urgently negotiated with state leaders there, promising not to interfere with slavery. After the
fighting started, he had rebel leaders arrested in all the border areas (especially in Maryland) and
held in military prisons without trial. Over 18,000 were arrested, though none were executed.
One, Clement Vallandigham, was exiled; but all of the remainder were released, usually after two
or three months (see: Ex parte Merryman).
Emancipation Proclamation
Main articles: Abraham Lincoln on slavery and Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln met with his cabinet on July 22, 1862 for the first reading of a draft of the Emancipation
Proclamation. Use a cursor to identify who is in the picture.
Lincoln met with his cabinet on July 22, 1862 for the first reading of a draft of the Emancipation
Proclamation. Use a cursor to identify who is in the picture.
In July 1862, Congress moved to free the slaves by passing the Second Confiscation Act. The
goal was to weaken the rebellion, which was led and controlled by slave owners. While it did not
abolish the legal institution of slavery (the Thirteenth Amendment did that), the Act showed that
Lincoln had the support of Congress in liberating slaves owned by rebels. This new law was
implemented with Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation."
Ending slavery was always a primary goal of the Lincoln administration. However, the American
public was slow to embrace the idea. In a shrewdly penned letter to Horace Greeley, editor of The
New York Tribune, Lincoln masked his goal of ending slavery by making it subservient to the
cause of preserving the union:
I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the
national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." ... 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. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do
more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when
shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. I
have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of
my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.[36]
The Emancipation Proclamation, announced on September 22 and put into effect on January 1,
1863, freed slaves in territories not under Union control. As Union armies advanced south, more
slaves were liberated until all of them in Confederate hands (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." The proclamation made the abolition of slavery in the rebel states an official war goal.
Lincoln then threw his energies into passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to permanently
abolish slavery throughout the nation.[37]
In September 1862, thirteen northern governors met in Altoona, Pennsylvania, at the Loyal War
Governors' Conference to discuss the Proclamation and Union war effort. In the end, the state
executives fully supported the president's Proclamation and also suggested the removal of
General George B. McClellan as commander of the Union's Army of the Potomac.[38]

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. As Frederick Douglass observed, Lincoln was, "The first great man
that I talked with in the United States freely who in no single instance reminded me of the
difference between himself and myself, of the difference of color."[39]
Gettysburg Address
Main article: Gettysburg Address
Although the Battle of Gettysburg was a Union victory, it was also the bloodiest battle of the war
and dealt a blow to Lincoln's war effort. As the Union Army decreased in numbers due to
casualties, more soldiers were needed to replace the ranks. Lincoln's 1863 military drafts were
considered "odious" among many in the north, particularly immigrants. The New York Draft Riots
of July, 1863 were the most notable manifestation of this discontent.
Writing to Lincoln in September 1863, the Governor of Pennsylvania, Andrew Curtin, warned that
political sentiments were turning against Lincoln and the war effort:
If the election were to occur now, the result would be extremely doubtful, and although most of
our discreet friends are sanguine of the result, my impression is, the chances would be against
us. The draft is very odious in the State... the Democratic leaders have succeeded in exciting
prejudice and passion, and have infused their poison into the minds of the people to a very large
extent, and the changes are against us.[40]
At the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November
19, beginning with the now-iconic[41] phrase "Four score and seven years ago...", Lincoln
referred to the events of the Civil War and described the ceremony at Gettysburg as an
opportunity not only to dedicate the grounds of a cemetery, but also to consecrate the living in the
struggle to ensure that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish
from the earth".
1864 election and second inauguration
Main article: United States presidential election, 1864
After Union victories at Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Chattanooga in 1863, overall victory seemed
at hand, and Lincoln promoted Ulysses S. Grant General-in-Chief ( March 12, 1864). When the
spring campaigns turned into bloody stalemates, Lincoln supported Grant's strategy of wearing
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 in order to form a broader coalition. They ran on the new Union Party ticket uniting
Republicans and War Democrats.
The only known photographs of Lincoln giving a speech were taken as he delivered his second
inaugural address. Here, he stands in the center, with papers in his hand.
The only known photographs of Lincoln giving a speech were taken as he delivered his second
inaugural address. Here, he stands in the center, with papers in his hand.
Nevertheless, Republicans across the country feared that Lincoln would be defeated.
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:[42]
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 afterwards.[43]
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. Sherman's capture of Atlanta in September ended defeatist jitters;
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 two states, capturing 212 of 233 electoral votes.
On March 4, 1865, Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address, his favorite of all his
speeches. 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.[44]
Conducting the war effort
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Running the Machine: An 1864 political cartoon featuring Lincoln; William Fessenden, Edwin
Stanton, William Seward and Gideon Welles take a swing at the Lincoln administration
Running the Machine: An 1864 political cartoon featuring Lincoln; William Fessenden, Edwin
Stanton, William Seward and Gideon Welles take a swing at the Lincoln administration
The war was a source of constant frustration for the president, and occupied nearly all of his time.
He had a contentious relationship with General McClellan, who 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 Winfield Scott in late 1861. Despite his inexperience in military affairs,
Lincoln wanted to take an active part in determining war strategy. His priorities were twofold: to
ensure that Washington, D.C. was well defended; and to conduct an aggressive war effort in the
hope of ending the war quickly and appeasing the Northern public and press. McClellan, a
youthful West Point graduate and railroad executive called back to active military service, took a
more cautious approach. He took several months to plan and execute his Peninsula Campaign,
with the objective of capturing Richmond by moving the Army of the Potomac by boat to the
peninsula between the James and York Rivers. McClellan's delay irritated Lincoln, as did his
insistence that no troops were needed to defend Washington, D.C. Lincoln insisted on holding
some of McClellan's troops to defend the capital, a decision McClellan blamed for the ultimate
failure of the Peninsula Campaign.
McClellan, a lifelong Democrat who was temperamentally conservative, was relieved as generalin-chief after releasing his Harrison's Landing Letter, where he offered unsolicited political advice
to Lincoln urging caution in the war effort. 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. But 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. In response to his failure, Pope was sent to Minnesota to fight the Sioux.
An 1864 Mathew Brady photo depicts President Lincoln reading a book with his youngest son,
Tad
An 1864 Mathew Brady photo depicts President Lincoln reading a book with his youngest son,
Tad
Panicked by Lee's invasion of Maryland, Lincoln restored McClellan to command of all forces
around Washington in time for the Battle of Antietam (September 1862). The ensuing Union
victory enabled Lincoln to release his Emancipation Proclamation, but he relieved McClellan of
his command shortly after the 1862 midterm elections and appointed Republican Ambrose
Burnside to head the Army of the Potomac. Burnside had promised to follow through on Lincoln's
strategic vision for a strong offensive against Lee and Richmond. After Burnside was stunningly
defeated at Fredericksburg, Joseph Hooker was given the command, despite his idle talk about
the necessity for a military dictator to win the war and a past history of criticizing his commanders.
[45] Hooker was routed by Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville (May 1863), and relieved of
command early in the subsequent Gettysburg Campaign replaced by George Meade.
After the Union victory at Gettysburg, Meade's failure to pursue Lee and months of inactivity for
the Army of the Potomac persuaded Lincoln to bring in a western general, Ulysses S. Grant.
Grant already had a solid string of victories in the Western Theater, including the battles of
Vicksburg and Chattanooga. Responding to criticism of Grant, Lincoln was quoted as saying, "I
cannot spare this man. He fights." Grant waged his bloody Overland Campaign in 1864 with a
strategy of a war of attrition, characterized by high Union losses at battles such as the Wilderness
and Cold Harbor, but by proportionately higher Confederate losses. His invasion campaign
eventually bottled Lee up in the Siege of Petersburg, so that Grant could take Richmond, and
bring the war to a close in the spring of 1865.
Lincoln, in a top hat, with Allan Pinkerton and Major General John Alexander McClernand at
Antietam
Lincoln, in a top hat, with Allan Pinkerton and Major General John Alexander McClernand at
Antietam
Lincoln authorized Grant to target civilians and infrastructure, hoping to destroy the South's
morale and weaken its economic ability to continue fighting. This allowed Generals Sherman and
Sheridan to destroy farms and towns in the Shenandoah Valley, Georgia, and South Carolina.
The damage caused by Sherman's March to the Sea through Georgia totaled in excess of $100
million by Sherman's own estimate.[46]
Lincoln had a star-crossed record as a military leader, possessing a keen understanding of
strategic points (such as the Mississippi River and the fortress city of Vicksburg) and the
importance of defeating the enemy's army, rather than simply capturing cities. He had, however,
limited success in motivating his commanders to adopt his strategies until late 1863, when he
found a man who shared his vision of the war in Ulysses S. Grant. Only then could he insist on
using African American troops and relentlessly pursue a series of coordinated offensives in
multiple theaters.
Throughout the war, Lincoln showed a keen curiosity with the military campaigns. He spent hours
at the War Department telegraph office, reading dispatches from his generals. He visited battle
sites frequently, and seemed fascinated by watching scenes of war. During Jubal Anderson
Early's raid on Washington, D.C. in 1864, Lincoln had to be told to duck to avoid being shot while
observing the battle.
Reconstruction

Main article: Reconstruction era of the United States

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 Reconstructionist 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.[47] Critical decisions had to be made as state after state was reconquered. Of special
importance were Tennessee, where Lincoln appointed Andrew Johnson as governor, and
Louisiana, where Lincoln attempted a plan that would restore statehood when 10% of the voters
agreed to it. The Radicals thought this policy too lenient, and passed their own plan, the WadeDavis Bill, in 1864. When Lincoln pocket-vetoed the bill, the Radicals retaliated by refusing to seat
representatives elected from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee.[48]
Near the end of the war, Lincoln made an extended visit to Grant's headquarters at City Point,
Virginia. This allowed the president to visit Richmond after it was taken by the Union forces and to
make a public gesture of sitting at Jefferson Davis's 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."[49] 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.[50]
Home front
Redefining Republicanism
One of the last photographs of Lincoln, likely taken in February 1865
One of the last photographs of Lincoln, likely taken in February 1865
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.[51] 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."[52] His position gained strength because he highlighted the
moral basis of republicanism, rather than its legalisms.[53][54] 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.[55] 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."[56]
Civil liberties suspended
During the Civil War, Lincoln appropriated powers no previous President had wielded: he used his
war powers to proclaim a blockade, suspended the writ of habeas corpus, spent money without
congressional authorization, and imprisoned 18,000 suspected Confederate sympathizers without
trial.
Domestic measures
Lincoln believed in the Whig theory of the presidency, which left Congress to write the laws while
he signed them, vetoing only those bills that threatened his war powers. 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 agricultural universities 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. Other important legislation involved economic matters,
including the first income tax and higher tariffs. Also included was the creation of the system of
national banks by the National Banking Acts of 1863, 1864, and 1865, which allowed the creation
of a strong national financial system. Congress created and Lincoln approved the Department of
Agriculture in 1862, 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. This was done to increase the money supply to pay for fighting the war.
During the war, Lincoln's Treasury Department effectively controlled all cotton trade in the
occupied South the most dramatic incursion of federal controls on the economy.
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 had massacred innocent
farmers, Lincoln affirmed 39 of these for execution (one was later reprieved).
Medical history
Illnesses included: frostbitten feet, malaria, physical trauma and smallpox.[57] Claims that Lincoln
had syphilis about 1835 have been controversial, but a recent analysis finds them credible.[58]
As a child, Lincoln was tall for his age. He reached his adult height of 6 feet 4 inches (1.9 m) no
later than age 21. Friends noticed his arms, legs, hands, and feet were long. Although well
muscled as a young adult, he was always thin. Fragmentary evidence says he weighed around
170 pounds before the Presidency, but lost weight while in the White House. Based on Lincoln's
unusual physical appearance, Dr. Abraham Gordon proposed in 1962 that Lincoln had Marfan
syndrome.[59] Lincoln's unremarkable cardiovascular history and his normal visual acuity have
been the chief objections to the theory, and today the diagnosis is considered unlikely.[60] Testing
Lincoln's DNA for Marfan syndrome was contemplated in the 1990s, but such a test was not
performed.
In 2007, Dr. John Sotos proposed that Lincoln had multiple endocrine neoplasia, type 2B
(MEN2B).[61] This theory suggests Lincoln had all the major features of the disease: a marfan-

like body shape, large, bumpy lips, constipation, hypotonia, a history compatible with cancer and
a family history of the disorder - his sons Eddie, Willie, and Tad, and probably his mother. The
"mole" on Lincoln's right cheek, the asymmetry of his face, his large jaw, his drooping eyelid, and
"pseudo-depression" are also suggested as manifestations of MEN2B. Lincoln's longevity is the
principal challenge to the MEN2B theory, which could be proven by DNA testing.
Assassination
Main article: Abraham Lincoln assassination
Further information: Abraham Lincoln's burial and exhumation
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln. From left to right: Henry Rathbone, Clara Harris, Mary
Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln. From left to right: Henry Rathbone, Clara Harris, Mary
Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth
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.[62] Learning that the
President and First Lady would be attending Ford's Theatre, he laid his plans, assigning his coconspirators 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. As a
lone bodyguard wandered, and Lincoln sat in his state box (Box 7) 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-slug 0.44 caliber
Henry Deringer at his head, firing at point-blank range. Major Henry Rathbone momentarily
grappled with Booth but was cut by Booth's knife. Booth then leapt to the stage and shouted "Sic
semper tyrannis!" (Latin: Thus always to tyrants) and escaped, despite a broken leg suffered in
the leap.[63] A twelve-day manhunt ensued, in which Booth was chased by Federal agents (under
the direction of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton). He was eventually cornered in a Virginia
barn house and shot, dying of his wounds soon after.
Lincoln's funeral train carried his remains, as well as 300 mourners and the casket of his son,
William, 1,654 miles (2,661 km) to Illinois
Lincoln's funeral train carried his remains, as well as 300 mourners and the casket of his son,
William, 1,654 miles (2,661 km) to Illinois
An army surgeon, Doctor Charles Leale, initially assessed Lincoln's wound as mortal. The
President was taken across the street from the theater to the Petersen House, where he lay in a
coma for nine hours before dying. Several physicians attended Lincoln, including U.S. Army
Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes of the Army Medical Museum. Using a probe, Barnes located
some fragments of Lincoln's skull and the ball lodged 6 inches (15 cm) inside his brain. Lincoln
never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at 7:22:10 a.m. April 15, 1865. There is
some disagreement among historians as to Stanton's words after Lincoln died. All agree that he
began "Now he belongs to the..." with some stating he said "ages" while others believe he said
"angels."[63] After Lincoln's body was returned to the White House, a brain-only autopsy was
performed, and his body was prepared for his lying in repose in the East Room. He was the first
president to be assassinated or to lie in state.
The Army Medical Museum, now named the National Museum of Health and Medicine, has
retained in its collection several artifacts relating to the assassination. Currently on display are the
bullet that was fired from the Philadelphia Deringer pistol, the probe used by Barnes, pieces of

Lincoln's skull and hair, and the surgeon's cuff stained with Lincoln's blood. The chair in which
Lincoln was shot is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, Michigan.
Lincoln's body was carried by train in a grand funeral procession through several states on its
way back to Illinois.[63] While much of the nation mourned him as the savior of the United States,
Copperheads celebrated the death of a man they considered a tyrant. The Lincoln Tomb in Oak
Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, is 177 feet (54 m) tall and, by 1874, was surmounted with several
bronze statues of Lincoln. To prevent repeated attempts to steal Lincoln's body and hold it for
ransom, Robert Todd Lincoln had Lincoln exhumed and reinterred in concrete several feet thick in
1901.
Presidential appointments
Administration and cabinet
Lincoln was known for appointing political rivals to high positions in his cabinet to keep in line all
factions of his party and to let them battle each other and not combine against him. Historians
agree that, except for Simon Cameron, it was a highly effective group.
Portrait of Lincoln by George P.A. Healy
Portrait of Lincoln by George P.A. Healy
The Lincoln Cabinet
Office Name Term
President
Abraham Lincoln
18611865
Vice President Hannibal Hamlin
18611865
Andrew Johnson
1865
Secretary of State
William H. Seward
18611865
Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase
18611864
William P. Fessenden 18641865
Hugh McCulloch
1865
Secretary of War
Simon Cameron
18611862
Edwin M. Stanton
18621865
Attorney General
Edward Bates 18611864
James Speed 18641865
Postmaster General
Montgomery Blair
18611864
William Dennison
18641865
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles 18611865
Secretary of the Interior Caleb B. Smith 18611862
John P. Usher 18631865
Supreme Court
Lincoln appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:
* Noah Haynes Swayne 1862
* Samuel Freeman Miller 1862
* David Davis 1862
* Stephen Johnson Field 1863
* Salmon P. Chase Chief Justice 1864
Major presidential acts
While Lincoln is usually portrayed bearded, he first grew a beard in late 1860, at the suggestion of
11-year-old Grace Bedell and others
While Lincoln is usually portrayed bearded, he first grew a beard in late 1860, at the suggestion of
11-year-old Grace Bedell and others

Signed as President
* Revenue Act of 1861
* Homestead Act
* Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act
* Revenue Act of 1862
* Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864
* United States Department of Agriculture (1862)
* National Banking Act of 1863
* Revenue Act of 1864
States admitted to the Union
* West Virginia 1863
* Nevada 1864
Religious and philosophical beliefs
Further information: Abraham Lincoln and religion
In March 1860 in a speech in New Haven, Connecticut, Lincoln said, with respect to 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 Lincolns beliefs regarding slavery and other issues of the day require
that Lincoln be examined "seriously as a man of ideas." Lincoln was a strong supporter of the
American Whig version of liberal capitalism who, more than most politicians of the time, was able
to express his ideas within the context of Nineteenth Century religious beliefs.[64]
There were few people who strongly or directly influenced Lincolns 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, Lincolns personal philosophy was shaped by "an
amazingly retentive memory and a passion for reading and learning." It was Lincolns reading,
rather than his relationships, that were most influential in shaping his personal beliefs.[65][66]
Lincoln did, even as a boy, largely reject 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."[67] In April 1864, in justifying his actions in regard to
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."[68]
As Lincoln matured, and especially during his term as president, the idea of a divine will
somehow interacting with human affairs more and more influenced his public expressions. On a
personal level, the death of his son Willie in February 1862 may have caused Lincoln to look
towards religion for answers and solace.[69] After Willies death, in the summer or early fall of
1862, Lincoln attempted to put on paper his private musings 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 partyand 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
truethat 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.[70]
Lincolns religious skepticism was fueled by his exposure to the ideas of the Lockean
Enlightenment and classical liberalism, especially economic liberalism.[65] 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.[71] 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.[72]
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.[73]
It was the Declaration of Independence, rather than the Bible, that Lincoln most relied on in order
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 criteria in shaping the future of
the nation.[74]
Legacy and memorials
Further information: Cultural depictions of Abraham Lincoln
The Apotheosis of Abraham Lincoln, greeted by George Washington in heaven (an 1860s work)
The Apotheosis of Abraham Lincoln, greeted by George Washington in heaven (an 1860s work)
Lincoln's death made the President a martyr to many. Repeated polls of historians have ranked
Lincoln as among the greatest presidents in U.S. history, often appearing in the first position.
Among contemporary admirers, Lincoln is usually seen as personifying classical values of
honesty and integrity, as well as respect for individual and minority rights, and human freedom in
general.
Many American organizations of all purposes and agendas continue to cite his name and image,
with interests ranging from the gay rights-supporting Log Cabin Republicans to the insurance
corporation Lincoln National Corporation. The Lincoln automobile is also named after him. The
ballistic missile submarine Abraham Lincoln (SSBN-602) and the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln
(CVN-72) were named in his honor. Also, the Liberty ship SS Nancy Hanks was named for his
mother. During the Spanish Civil War, the American faction of the International Brigades named
themselves the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
Lincoln has been memorialized in many city names, notably the capital of Nebraska. Lincoln,
Illinois, is the only city to be named for Abraham Lincoln before he became President. Lincoln's
name and image appear in numerous places. These include the Lincoln Memorial in Washington,
D.C., the U.S. Lincoln $5 bill and the Lincoln cent, Lincoln's sculpture on the Mount Rushmore,
and the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois. In addition, New Salem, Illinois
(a reconstruction of Lincoln's early adult hometown), Ford's Theatre, and Petersen House (where

he died) are all preserved as museums. The Lincoln Shrine in Redlands, California, is located
behind the A.K. Smiley Public Library. The state nickname for Illinois is Land of Lincoln.
Counties in 18 U.S. states (Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi,
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, West Virginia,
Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming) are named after Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln's birthday, February 12, was formerly a national holiday, now commemorated as
Presidents' Day. However, it is still observed in Illinois and many other states as a separate legal
holiday, Lincoln's Birthday. A dozen states have legal holidays celebrating the third Monday in
February as 'Presidents' Day' as a combination Washington-Lincoln Day.
To commemorate his upcoming 200th birthday in February 2009, Congress established the
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (ALBC) in 2000. Dedicated to renewing American
appreciation of Lincolns legacy, the 15-member commission is made up of lawmakers and
scholars and also features an advisory board of over 130 various Lincoln historians and
enthusiasts. Located at Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the ALBC is the organizing
force behind numerous tributes, programs and cultural events highlighting a two-year celebration
scheduled to begin in February 2008 at Lincolns birthplace: Hodgenville, Kentucky.
Lincoln's birthplace and family home are national historic memorials: the Abraham Lincoln
Birthplace National Historic Site in Hodgenville, and the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in
Springfield, Illinois. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum opened in Springfield
in 2005; it is a major tourist attraction, with state-of-the-art exhibits. The Abraham Lincoln National
Cemetery is located in Elwood, Illinois.
Portrait of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln's portrait on the American five dollar bill
The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Daniel Chester French's sculpture inside the Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln's likeness on Mount Rushmore
Proof-quality Lincoln penny with cameo effect, obverse
Lincoln stamp, issued November 19, 1965
The Lincoln Tomb in Springfield
Electoral history
Illinois' 7th congressional district, 1846[75]
* Abraham Lincoln (Whig) - 6,340 (55.53%)
* Peter Cartwright (D) - 4,829 (42.29%)
* Elihu Walcott (Liberty) - 249 (2.18%)

1856 Republican National Convention (Vice Presidential tally):[76]

* William Lewis Dayton - 523 (64.73%)
* Abraham Lincoln - 110 (13.61%)
* Nathaniel Prentice Banks - 46 (5.69%)
* David Wilmot - 43 (5.32%)
* Charles Sumner - 35 (4.33%)
* Jacob Collamer - 15 (1.86%)
* John Alsop King - 9 (1.11%)
* Samuel Clarke Pomeroy - 8 (0.99%)
* Thomas Ford - 7 (0.87%)
* Henry Charley Gray - 3 (0.37%)
* Cassius M. Clay - 3 (0.37%)
* Joshua R. Giddings - 2 (0.25%)
* Whitfield Johnson - 2 (0.25%)
* Aaron Pennington - 1 (0.12%)
* Henry Wilson - 1 (0.12%)
Illinois United States Senate election, 1858:[77]
* Stephen A. Douglas (D) (inc.) - 54 (54.00%)
* Abraham Lincoln (R) - 46 (46.00%)
1860 Republican National Convention (Final Results on 3rd Ballot):[78]
* Abraham Lincoln - 340 (73.0%)
* William H. Seward - 121.5 (26.1%)
* Salmon P. Chase - 2 (0.0%)
* others - 2.5 (0.0%)
United States presidential election, 1860
* Abraham Lincoln/Hannibal Hamlin (R) - 1,865,908 (39.8%) and 180 electoral votes (18 states
carried)
* John C. Breckinridge/Joseph Lane (Southern Democrats) - 848,019 (18.1%) and 72 electoral
votes (11 states carried)
* John Bell/Edward Everett (Constitution) - 590,901 (12.6%) and 39 electoral votes (3 states
carried)
* Stephen A. Douglas/Herschel Vespasian Johnson (Northern Democrats) - 1,380,202 (29.5%)
and 12 electoral votes (1 state carried)
United States presidential election, 1864
* Abraham Lincoln/Andrew Johnson (National Union) - 2,218,388 (55.0%) and 212 electoral
votes (22 states carried)
* George B. McClellan/George H. Pendleton (D) - 1,812,807 (45.0%) and 21 electoral votes (3
states carried)
See also
Military of the United States portal
* American School, Lincoln's economic views.
* Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial
* Lincoln Memorial University
* List of assassinated American politicians
* List of United States Presidents who died in office

References
1. ^ "Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia, by Ervin L. Jordan, published
1995 by University of Virginia Press".
2. ^ "Popular Images of American Presidents by William C. Spragens, published 1988 by
Greenwood Publishing Group".
3. ^ "Civil War historian, beloved professor, William Gienapp, at 59; obituary by Beth Potier,
published 6 November 2003, in the Harvard Gazette".
4. ^ "World Book Encyclopedia; article: Abraham Lincoln, retrieved on 13 October 2008".
5. ^ "The Boisterous Sea of Liberty, by David Brion Davis and Steven Mintz, published in 1998
by Oxford University Press. p. 3".
6. ^ "Comparative Economics in a Transforming World Economy, by John Barkley Rosser and
Marina V. Rosser, published 2004 by MIT press".
7. ^ "The Cousins' Wars, by Kevin P. Phillips, published in 2000 by Basic Books".
8. ^ "Multiculturalism in the United States, by John D. Buenker and Lorman Ratner, published
by Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005".
9. ^ "General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia on April 9,
1865".
10. ^ Goodwin 2005, p. 91
11. ^ Holzer 2004, p. 232
12. ^ Tracy Bouv, Thomas (1893). History of the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts. Harvard
University.
13. ^ Donald 1995, pp. 28, 152
14. ^ "Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park". Abraham Lincoln Online. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
15. ^ Fehrenbacher, Don (1989). Speeches and Writings 1859-1865. Library of America, p.163.
16. ^ "Abraham Lincoln, The Physical Man". Lincoln Portrait. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
17. ^ Sandburg 1974, p. 10
18. ^ Thomas 1952, pp. 3234
19. ^ Basler 1946, p. 551
20. ^ Frank, John (1991). Lincoln as a Lawyer. Americana House. ISBN 0962529028.
21. ^ "Protest in Illinois Legislature on Slavery". University of Michigan Library (1937-03-03).
Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
22. ^ "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates,
1774 - 1875". Library of Congress. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
23. ^ Donald 1995, 6
24. ^ Donald 1995, pp. 15051
25. ^ Donald 1995, 7
26. ^ "Speech at Peoria, October 16,". Abraham Lincoln and Freedom. Retrieved on 2008-0521.
27. ^ "Lincoln at Peoria". Abraham Lincoln at Peoria. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
28. ^ Basler 1955, p. 255
29. ^ Lincoln, Abraham (June 1858). "A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand". National
Center for Public Policy Research. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
30. ^ Boritt, Gabor S. (1997-05-29). Why the Civil War Came. Oxford University Press, 330.
ISBN 0195113764.
31. ^ Thomas 1952, p. 216 See also: Luthin, Reinhard H. (December 1987). The First Lincoln
Campaign. Peter Smith Publishing. ISBN 0844612928. and Nevins, Allan (1992-09-30). Ordeal
of the Union Vol. 4. Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0020354452.
32. ^ Fehrenbacher, Don E. (1989). Speeches and Writings by Abraham Lincoln, 1859-1865.
Library of America. ISBN 0940450631. "either the Missouri line extended, or Douglas' and Eli
Thayer's Pop. Sov. would lose us everything we gained in the election; that filibustering for all
South of us, and making slave states of it, would follow in spite of us, under either plan." - from
private letter to Thurlow Weed, 1860-12-17
33. ^ James M. McPherson (1988). Battle cry of freedom: the Civil War era. US: Oxford
University Press, 904 pages. ISBN 019516895X.

34. ^ Nevins, Allan (1971-09-01). The War for the Union Volume I.....The Improvised War 18611862. Konecky & Konecky, 29. ISBN 1568522967.
35. ^ WTS Memoirs 185-86 (Lib. of America ed., 1990).
36. ^ "Letter to Horace Greeley". Abraham Lincoln Online. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
37. ^ "Letter to Albert G. Hodges". Abraham Lincoln Online (1864-04-04). Retrieved on 2008-0521.
38. ^ Pulling, Anne Frances (2001-06-11). Altoona. Arcadia Publishing, 10. ISBN 0738505161.
39. ^ Douglass, Frederick (April 2001). The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Digital
Scanning. ISBN 1582183678.
40. ^ Curtin, Andrew G. (1863-09-03). "Andrew G. Curtin to Abraham Lincoln, Friday, September
4, 1863 (Politics in Pennsylvania)". Library of Congress. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
41. ^ "Gettysburg Address". Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Edition. Columbia University Press via
Bartleby.com (May 2001). Retrieved on 2008-08-31. "It is one of the most famous and most
quoted of modern speeches."
42. ^ Grimsley, Mark (2001-03-01). The Collapse of the Confederacy. University of Nebraska
Press, 80. ISBN 0803221703.
43. ^ Basler 1955, p. 514
44. ^ Basler 1955, p. 333
45. ^ "Joseph Hooker". Civil War Home. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
46. ^ Davidson, James West (April 1990). The United States: A History of the Republic. Prentice
Hall, 446. ISBN 0139436979.
47. ^ "Proclamation of Amnesty". Bartleby.com (1863). Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
48. ^ Donald 1995, 20
49. ^ Donald 1995, pp. 576, 580;"President Lincoln Enters Richmond, 1865". Eyewitness to
History. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
50. ^ "The Lincoln Log, April 9, 1865.".
51. ^ Jaffa 2000, p. 399
52. ^ Diggins, John P. (1986-08-15). The Lost Soul of American Politics: Virtue, Self-Interest, and
the Foundations of Liberalism. University of Chicago Press, 307. ISBN 0226148777.
53. ^ Foner 1970, p. 215
54. ^ McPherson 1992, pp. 6164
55. ^ Jaffa 2000, p. 263
56. ^ Wills 1993, p. 39
57. ^ "Maladies and Conditions". Doctor Zebra. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
58. ^ Vidal, Gore (February 1991). "Communications". American Historical Review: 324326.
See also: Fehrenbacher, Don E. (February 1991). "Communications". American Historical
Review: 326328. and Sotos, JG (2008). The Physical Lincoln Sourcebook. Mount Vernon, VA:
Mt. Vernon Book Systems, 318326.
59. ^ "Gordon AM. Abraham Lincoln" (March 1962). Kentucky Medical Association (60): 24953.
PMID 13900423.
60. ^ Marion, Robert (February 1994). Was George Washington Really the Father of Our
Country?: A Clinical Geneticist Looks at World History. Perseus Books, 88124. ISBN
0201622556. See also: Ready, Tinker (1999). "Access to presidential DNA denied". Nature
Medicine 5 (859).
61. ^ Sotos, JG (2008). The Physical Lincoln: Finding the Genetic Cause of Abraham Lincoln's
Height, Homeliness, Pseudo-Depression, and Imminent Cancer Death. Mount Vernon, VA: Mt.
Vernon Book Systems.
62. ^ Harrison, Lowell Hayes (2000). Lincoln of Kentucky. University Press of Kentucky, 34.
ISBN 0813121566.
63. ^ a b c Townsend, George Alfred (1865). The Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth.
New York: Dick and Fitzgerald.
64. ^ Guelzo 1999, pp. 1819
65. ^ a b Guelzo 1999, p. 20
66. ^ Miller 2002, pp. 5759
67. ^ Donald 1995, p. 15
68. ^ Donald 1995, p. 514

69. ^ Wilson 1999, pp. 251254

70. ^ Wilson 1999, p. 254
71. ^ Guelzo 1999, p. 194
72. ^ Jaffa 2000, p. 258
73. ^ Guelzo 1999, pp. 194195
74. ^ Miller 2002, p. 297
75. ^ "IL District 7". Our Campaigns. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
76. ^ "US Vice President - R Convention". Our Campaigns. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
77. ^ "IL US Senate". Our Campaigns. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
78. ^ "US President - R Convention". Our Campaigns. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
Books referenced
* Basler, Roy P. (1946), Abraham Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings .
* Basler, Roy P. (1955), Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers
University Press
* Foner, Eric (1970), Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party
before the Civil War
* Jaffa, Harry V. (2000), A New birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil
War, ISBN 0-8476-9952-8 .
* Goodwin, Doris Kearns (2005), Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,
ISBN 0-684-82490-6 .
* Guelzo, Allen C. (1999), Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, ISBN 0-8028-3872-3,
<http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=99466893>
* Holzer, Harold (2004), Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln
President .
* McPherson, James M. (1992), Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution .
* Miller, William Lee (2002), Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography, ISBN 0-375-40158-X
* Sandburg, Carl (1974), Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years, Harvest
Books, ISBN 0156026112 .
* Thomas, Benjamin P. (1952), Abraham Lincoln: A Biography,
<http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=25051697> .
* Wills, Garry (1993), Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America, ISBN 0-67186742-3 .
* Wilson, Douglas L. (1999), Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln .
Further reading
Biographies
* Isaac N. Arnold, The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1885), written by Lincoln's friend and political
ally
* William H Herndon, Lincoln
* Beveridge, Albert J. Abraham Lincoln: 1809-1858 (1928). 2 vol. to 1858; notable for strong,
unbiased political coverage online edition
* Richard Carwardine. Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power ISBN 1400044561 (2003), winner
of the 2004 Lincoln Prize from Gettysburg College
* William E. Gienapp. Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America: A Biography by ISBN 0-19515099-6 (2002), short online edition
* John Hay & John George Nicolay. Abraham Lincoln: a History (1890); Vol 1 and Vol 2 10 vols
in all; detailed narrative of era by Lincoln's aides
* Reinhard H Luthin The Real Abraham Lincoln (1960), emphasis on politics
* Mark E. Neely. The Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia (1984), detailed articles on many men and
movements associated with AL
* Mark E. Neely. The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America
(1993), Pulitzer prize winning author

* Stephen B. Oates. With Malice Toward None: The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1994)
* James G. Randall. Lincoln the President (4 vol., 194555; reprint 2000.) by prize winning
scholar. Mr. Lincoln excerpts ed. by Richard N. Current (1957)
* Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire, Abraham Lincoln (1939), for children
* John C. Waugh. One Man Great Enough: Abraham Lincolns Road to Civil War ISBN 978-015-101071-4 (2007), Harcourt
* John C. Waugh. Reelecting Lincoln: The Battle for the 1864 Presidency ISBN 0-517-59766-7
(1997), Crown Publishers
Specialty topics
* Angle, Paul M., Here I Have Lived: A History of Lincoln's Springfield, 1821-1865, (1935)
online edition
* Baker, Jean H. Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography (1987) online edition
* Belz, Herman. Abraham Lincoln, Constitutionalism, and Equal Rights in the Civil War Era
(1998)
* Boritt, Gabor S. Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream (1994). Lincoln's
economic theory and policies
* Boritt, Gabor S. ed. Lincoln the War President (1994)
* Boritt, Gabor S., ed. The Historian's Lincoln U. of Illinois Press, 1988, historiography
* Bruce, Robert V. Lincoln and the Tools of War (1956) on weapons development during the
war online edition
* Bush, Bryan S. Lincoln and the Speeds: The Untold Story of a Devoted and Enduring
Friendship (2008) ISBN 978-0-9798802-6-1
* Chittenden, Lucius E., Recollections of President Lincoln and His Administration, (1891).
Google Books
* Donald, David Herbert. Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the Civil War Era (1960)
* Donald, David Herbert. We Are Lincoln Men: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends Simon &
Schuster, (2003).
* Guelzo, Allen C., Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America, Simon & Schuster
(2008). ISBN-13: 978-0743273206
* Harris, William C. With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union (1997). AL's
plans for Reconstruction
* Hendrick, Burton J. Lincoln's War Cabinet (1946) online edition
* Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It (1948) ch 5:
"Abraham Lincoln and the Self-Made Myth"
* Lea, James Henry (1909). The Ancestry of Abraham Lincoln. Houghton Mifflin.
* Kunhardt, Jr., Phillip B., Kunhardt, III, Phillip, and Kunhardt, Peter W. Lincoln: An Illustrated
Biography. Gramercy Books, New York, 1992. ISBN: 0-517-20715-X
* Marshall, John A., " American Bastille" (1870) Fifth edition: A History of the Illegal Arrests and
Imprisonment of American Citizens in the Northern and Border States on Account of Their political
opinions during the late Civil War. Part 1
* McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988). Pulitzer Prize winner
surveys all aspects of the war
* Morgenthau, Hans J., and David Hein. Essays on Lincoln's Faith and Politics. White Burkett
Miller Center of Public Affairs at the U of Virginia, 1983.
* Neely, Mark E. The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties (1992). Pulitzer Prize
winner. online version
* Ostendorf, Lloyd, and Hamilton, Charles, Lincoln in Photographs: An Album of Every Known
Pose, Morningside House Inc., 1963, ISBN 089029-087-3.
* Paludan, Philip S. The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln (1994), thorough treatment of Lincoln's
administration
* Peterson, Merrill D. Lincoln in American Memory (1994). how Lincoln was remembered after
1865
* Polsky, Andrew J. "'Mr. Lincoln's Army' Revisited: Partisanship, Institutional Position, and
Union Army Command, 18611865." Studies in American Political Development (2002), 16: 176-

207
* Randall, James G. Lincoln the Liberal Statesman (1947)
* Richardson, Heather Cox. The Greatest Nation of the Earth: Republican Economic Policies
during the Civil War (1997)
* Shenk, Joshua Wolf. Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and
Fueled His Greatness (2005)
* Kenneth P. Williams. Lincoln Finds a General: A Military Study of the Civil War (1959) 5
volumes on Lincoln's control of the war
* Williams, T. Harry. Lincoln and His Generals (1967).
* Wilson, Douglas L. Lincoln's Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words(2006) ISBN 14000-4039-6.
Lincoln in art and popular culture
* DiLorenzo, Thomas (2002). The Real Lincoln. ISBN 0-7615-2646-3.
* Lauriston, Bullard. F. (1952). Lincoln in Marble and Bronze. New Brunswick, New Jersey:
Rutgers University Press.
* Mead, Franklin B. (1932). Heroic Statues in Bronze of Abraham Lincoln: Introducing The
Hoosier Youth by Paul Manship. The Lincoln National Life Foundation.
* Moffatt, Frederick C. (1998). Errant Bronzes: George Grey Barnard's Statues of Abraham
Lincoln. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press.
* Murry, Freeman Henry Morris [1916] (1972). Emancipation and the Freed in American
Sculpture. Books For Libraries Press.
* Petz, Weldon (1987). Michigan's Monumental Tributes to Abraham Lincoln. Historical Society
of Michigan.
* Redway, Maurine Whorton; Bracken, Dorothy Kendall (1957). Marks of Lincoln on Our Land.
New York: Hastings House, Publishers.
* Savage, Kirk (1997). Standing Soldiers, Kneeling Slaves: Race War and Monument in
Nineteenth Century America. Princeton University Press.
* Tice, George (1984). Lincoln. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
Primary sources
* Lincoln, Abraham (2000). in ed by Philip Van Doren Stern: The Life and Writings of Abraham
Lincoln. Modern Library Classics.
* Fehrenbacher, Don E., ed. Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1832-1858 (Library of
America, ed. 1989) ISBN 978-0-94045043-1
* Fehrenbacher, Don E., ed. Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865 (Library of
America, ed. 1989) ISBN 978-0-94045063-9
External links
Find more about Abraham Lincoln on Wikipedia's sister projects:
Dictionary definitions
Textbooks
Quotations
Source texts
Images and media
News stories
Learning resources
* Abraham Lincoln at the Open Directory Project
* Abraham Lincoln at the Open Directory Project Speeches and writings
* The Life of Lincoln by Henry Ketcham Free full-length recording
* Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College
* Photographs of Abraham Lincoln
* Abraham Lincoln at the 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
* The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln
* President Lincolns Cottage
* US PATNo. 6,469 Manner of Buoying Vessels A. Lincoln 1849
* Lincoln's Patent
* National Park Service Abraham Lincoln birthplace (includes good early history)
* Research Center provides finding aid to article subject from the Special Collections,
Washington State Historical Society (WSHS)
* The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
* Lincoln Memorial Washington, DC
* Digitized books about Abraham Lincoln from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Library
* 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
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; John George Nicolay (1890). Abraham Lincoln: a History. "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.
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
John Henry
Member from Illinois's
7th congressional district
March 4, 1847 March 3, 1849 Succeeded by
Thomas L. Harris
Political offices
Preceded by
James Buchanan
President of the United States
March 4, 1861 April 15, 1865 Succeeded by
Andrew Johnson
Party political offices

Preceded by
John C. Frmont
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, 1865 April 21, 1865 Succeeded by
Thaddeus Stevens
[show]
vde
President Abraham Lincoln
Events
1860 election American Civil War Emancipation Proclamation Gettysburg Address
Assassination Burial and exhumation
Abraham Lincoln
Family
Mary Todd Lincoln Edward Lincoln Robert Todd Lincoln Willie Lincoln Tad Lincoln
Legacy
Cultural depictions Lincoln Memorial
Life and views
Early life Religion Sexuality Slavery
[show]
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Presidents of the United States
George Washington John Adams Thomas Jefferson James Madison James Monroe John
Quincy Adams Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren William Henry Harrison John Tyler
James K. Polk Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore Franklin Pierce James Buchanan Abraham
Lincoln Andrew Johnson Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester
A. Arthur Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison Grover Cleveland William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson Warren G. Harding Calvin
Coolidge Herbert Hoover Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Ronald
Reagan George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Bush
Seal of the President of the United States
[show]
vde
United States Republican Party presidential nominees
John C. Frmont Abraham Lincoln Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield
James G. Blaine Benjamin Harrison William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt William Howard
Taft Charles Evans Hughes Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover Alf Landon
Wendell Willkie Thomas E. Dewey Dwight D. Eisenhower Richard Nixon Barry Goldwater
Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush Bob Dole George W. Bush
John McCain
[show]
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Cabinet of President Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)
Vice President
Hannibal Hamlin (1861-1865) Andrew Johnson (1865)
Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States
Secretary of State
William H. Seward (1861-1865)
Secretary of the Treasury
Salmon P. Chase (1861-1864) William P. Fessenden (1864-1865) Hugh McCulloch (1865)
Secretary of War

Simon Cameron (1861-1862) Edwin M. Stanton (1862-1865)

Attorney General
Edward Bates (1861-1864) James Speed (1864-1865)
Postmaster General
Montgomery Blair (1861-1864) William Dennison (1864-1865)
Secretary of the Navy
Gideon Welles (1861-1865)
Secretary of the Interior
Caleb Blood Smith (1861-1862) John Palmer Usher (1863-1865)
[show]
vde
Black Hawk War (1832)
Factions
British Band Fox Ho-Chunk Illinois Militia Kickapoo Sioux Menominee Michigan
Territorial Militia Potawatomi Sauk United States Army
People
John Giles Adams Milton Alexander Henry Apple Elizabeth Armstrong Henry Atkinson
David Bailey Black Hawk Hugh Brady Ebenezer Brigham Jesse B. Brown George
Davenport Jefferson Davis John Dement Henry Dodge Mike Girty Henry Gratiot Rachel
Hall Sylvia Hall William S. Hamilton James D. Henry George W. Jones Keewassee
Keokuk Abraham Lincoln Meommuse Neapope Adam Payne Elijah Phillips Alexander
Posey James Sample Lucy Sample Winfield Scott Shabbona Adam Wilson Snyder
James W. Stephenson Isaiah Stillman Clack Stone Joseph M. Street James M. Strode
Felix St. Vrain Joseph Throckmorton Zachary Taylor Wabokieshiek Waubonsee Weesheet
Samuel Whiteside
Places
Illinois: Apple River Fort Buffalo Grove Dixon's Ferry Fort Armstrong Fort Beggs Galena
Indian Creek Kellogg's Grove Plum River Saukenuk Stillman Creek Stillman's Run Battle
Site Waddams Grove Yellow Creek
Michigan Territory (Wisconsin): Bad Axe River Fort Blue Mounds Fort Crawford Fort Defiance
Fort Hamilton Fort Jackson Fort Koshkonong Fort Union Gratiot's Grove Hamilton's
Diggings Pecatonica River Sinsinawa Mound Wisconsin Heights Battlefield Wisconsin River

Engagements
Minor engagements Battle of Stillman's Run Buffalo Grove ambush Plum River raid Indian
Creek massacre St. Vrain massacre Attacks at Fort Blue Mounds Spafford Farm massacre
Battle of Horseshoe Bend Battle of Waddams Grove Battle of Kellogg's Grove Attack at
Ament's Cabin Battle of Apple River Fort Sinsinawa Mound raid Battle of Wisconsin Heights
Battle of Bad Axe
Other topics
Black Hawk Purchase Black Hawk Tree Keokuk's Reserve Neutral Ground Warrior
Persondata
NAME Lincoln, Abraham
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
16th President of the United States of America
DATE OF BIRTH
February 12, 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH
Hardin County, Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH
April 15, 1865
PLACE OF DEATH
Washington, D.C.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln"

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