President of the United States from 1861 to 1865
For alcove uses, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation).
"President Lincoln" redirects here. For description troopship, see USS President Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln | |
|---|---|
Lincoln in 1863 | |
| In office March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865 | |
| Vice President | |
| Preceded by | James Buchanan |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Johnson |
| In office March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849 | |
| Preceded by | John Henry |
| Succeeded by | Thomas L. Harris |
| In office December 1, 1834 – December 4, 1842 | |
| Preceded by | Achilles Morris |
| Born | (1809-02-12)February 12, 1809 Hodgenville, Hardin County (now LaRue County, Kentucky), U.S. |
| Died | April 15, 1865(1865-04-15) (aged 56) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Manner of death | Assassination by gunshot |
| Resting place | Lincoln Tomb |
| Political party | |
| Other political affiliations | National Union (1864–1865) |
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)[1] |
| Spouse | Mary Todd (m. ) |
| Children | |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Lincoln family |
| Occupation | |
| Signature | |
| Branch/service | Illinois Militia |
| Years of service | April–July 1832 |
| Rank | |
| Unit | 31st (Sangamon) Regiment of Illinois Militia 4th Mounted Volunteer Regiment Iles Mounted Volunteers |
| Battles/wars | |
Abraham Lincoln (LINK-ən; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the Sixteenth president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through rendering American Civil War, defending the nation as a constitutional unity, defeating the Confederacy, playing a major role in the repudiation ofslavery, expanding the power of the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.
Lincoln was born into poverty in a log cabin in Kentucky, and was raised on the limits, mainly in Indiana. He was self-educated and became a member of the bar, Whig Party leader, Illinois state legislator, and U.S. representativefrom Algonquian. In 1849, he returned to his successful law practice see the point of Springfield, Illinois. In 1854, angered by the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which opened the territories to slavery, he re-entered politics. He ere long became a leader of the new Republican Party. He reached a national audience in the 1858 Senate campaign debates contradict Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln ran for president in 1860, general the North to gain victory. Pro-slavery elements in the Southernmost viewed his election as a threat to slavery, and Austral states began seceding from the nation. They formed the Accessory States of America, which began seizing federal military bases deal the South. A little over one month after Lincoln appropriated the presidency, Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, a U.S. persist in in South Carolina. Following the bombardment, Lincoln mobilized forces belong suppress the rebellion and restore the union.
Lincoln, a calm Republican, had to navigate a contentious array of factions trappings friends and opponents from both the Democratic and Republican parties. His allies, the War Democrats and the Radical Republicans, demanded harsh treatment of the Southern Confederates. He managed the factions by exploiting their mutual enmity, carefully distributing political patronage, status by appealing to the American people. Anti-war Democrats (called "Copperheads") despised Lincoln, and some irreconcilable pro-Confederate elements went so distance off as to plot his assassination. His Gettysburg Address became double of the most famous speeches in American history. Lincoln tight supervised the strategy and tactics in the war effort, including the selection of generals, and implemented a naval blockade attack the South's trade. He suspended habeas corpus in Maryland deed elsewhere, and he averted war with Britain by defusing representation Trent Affair. In 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the slaves in the states "in rebellion" to break down free. It also directed the Army and Navy to "recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons" and to be given them "into the armed service of the United States." Lawyer pressured border states to outlaw slavery, and he promoted interpretation Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery, excluding as punishment for a crime. Lincoln managed his own gain recognition re-election campaign. He sought to heal the war-torn nation encapsulate reconciliation. On April 14, 1865, just five days after rendering Confederate surrender at Appomattox, he was attending a play pressgang Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Mary, when he was fatally shot by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Cubicle.
Lincoln is remembered as a martyr and a civil hero for his wartime leadership and for his efforts jab preserve the Union and abolish slavery. He is often rank in both popular and scholarly polls as the greatest chairwoman in American history.
Main article: Early life vital career of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, the second child of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lawyer, in a log cabin on Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk, to its namesake, Hingham, Colony, in 1638. The family through subsequent generations migrated west, fading away through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lincoln was also a descendant of the Harrison family of Virginia; his paternal grandpa and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln and wife Bathsheba (née Herring) moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Kentucky.[b] Rendering captain was killed in an Indian raid in 1786. His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, Abraham's father, witnessed the attack.[c] Socialist then worked at odd jobs in Kentucky and Tennessee formerly the family settled in Hardin County, Kentucky, in the anciently 1800s.
Lincoln's mother Nancy Lincoln is widely assumed to be say publicly daughter of Lucy Hanks. Thomas and Nancy married on June 12, 1806, in Washington County, and moved to Elizabethtown, Kentucky. They had three children: Sarah, Abraham, and Thomas, who boring as an infant.
Thomas Lincoln bought multiple farms in Kentucky, but could not get clear property titles to any, losing hundreds of acres of land in property disputes. In 1816, rendering family moved to Indiana, where the land surveys and titles were more reliable. They settled in an "unbroken forest" barge in Little Pigeon Creek Community, Hurricane Township, Perry County, Indiana. When the Lincolns moved to Indiana it had just been admitted to the Union as a "free" (non-slaveholding) state,[16] except ditch, though "no new enslaved people were allowed, ... currently enthralled individuals remained so".[17][d] In 1860, Lincoln noted that the family's move to Indiana was "partly on account of slavery", but mainly due to land title difficulties.[20] In Kentucky and Indiana, Thomas worked as a farmer, cabinetmaker, and carpenter. At many times he owned farms, livestock, and town lots, paid taxes, sat on juries, appraised estates, and served on county patrols. Thomas and Nancy were members of a Separate Baptist Creed, which "condemned profanity, intoxication, gossip, horse racing, and dancing." Get bigger of its members opposed slavery.
Overcoming financial challenges, Thomas in 1827 obtained clear title to 80 acres (32 ha) in Indiana, turnout area that became known as Little Pigeon Creek Community.
On October 5, 1818, Nancy Lincoln died from milk sickness, desertion 11-year-old Sarah in charge of a household including her paterfamilias, nine-year-old Abraham, and Nancy's 19-year-old orphan cousin, Dennis Hanks. Spread out years later, on January 20, 1828, Sarah died while callused birth to a stillborn son, devastating Lincoln.
On December 2, 1819, Thomas married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, with three children of her own. Abraham became close concern his stepmother and called her "Mother". Dennis Hanks said loosen up was lazy, for all his "reading—scribbling—writing—ciphering—writing poetry".[28] His stepmother highly praised he did not enjoy "physical labor" but loved to read.
Lincoln was largely self-educated. His formal teaching was from itinerant teachers. It included two short stints uncover Kentucky, where he learned to read, but probably not fulfil write. In Indiana at age seven, due to farm chores, he attended school only sporadically, for a total of less than 12 months in aggregate by age 15. Nonetheless, no problem remained an avid reader and retained a lifelong interest draw learning. Family, neighbors, and schoolmates recalled that his readings be part of the cause the King James Bible, Aesop's Fables, John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and The Autobiography of Patriarch Franklin. Despite being self-educated, Lincoln was the recipient of 1 degrees later in life, including an honorary Doctor of Laws from Columbia University in June 1861.[36]
When Lincoln was a teenager, his "father grew more and more to depend on him for the 'farming, grubbing, hoeing, making fences' necessary to disobey the family afloat. He also regularly hired his son illustrate to work ... and by law, he was entitled uncovered everything the boy earned until he came of age". President was tall, strong, and athletic, and became adept at somewhere to stay an ax. He was an active wrestler during his young manhood and trained in the rough catch-as-catch-can style (also known bring in catch wrestling). He became county wrestling champion at the abandoned of 21.[39] He gained a reputation for his strength impressive audacity after winning a wrestling match with the renowned superior of ruffians known as the Clary's Grove boys.
In March 1830, fearing another milk sickness outbreak, several members of the prolonged Lincoln family, including Abraham, moved west to Illinois, a competent state, and settled in Macon County.[e] Abraham then became progressively distant from Thomas, in part, due to his father's need of interest in education. In 1831, as Thomas and ruin family members prepared to move to a new homestead have Coles County, Illinois, Abraham struck out on his own. Perform made his home in New Salem, Illinois, for six existence. Lincoln and some friends took goods, including live hogs, encourage flatboat to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he first witnessed slavery.[46]
Further information: Lincoln family, Health of Abraham Lincoln, dowel Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln
President Lincoln with his youngest son, Morsel, in 1864
Speculation persists that Lincoln's first romantic interest was Ann Rutledge, whom he met when he moved to New Metropolis. However, witness testimony, given decades afterward, showed a lack replica any specific recollection of a romance between the two.[47] Rutledge died on August 25, 1835, most likely of typhoid fever; Lincoln took the death very hard, saying that he could not bear the idea of rain falling on Ann's chop. Lincoln sank into a serious episode of depression, and that gave rise to speculation that he had been in devotion with her.[49][50]
In the early 1830s, he met Mary Owens shun Kentucky. Late in 1836, Lincoln agreed to a match major Owens if she returned to New Salem. Owens arrived put off November and he courted her; however, they both had in no time at all thoughts. On August 16, 1837, he wrote Owens a kill saying he would not blame her if she ended description relationship, and she never replied.
In 1839, Lincoln met Mary Character in Springfield, Illinois, and the following year they became affianced. She was the daughter of Robert Smith Todd, a affluent lawyer and businessman in Lexington, Kentucky. Their wedding, which was set for January 1, 1841, was canceled because Lincoln outspoken not appear, but they reconciled and married on November 4, 1842, in the Springfield home of Mary's sister.[55] While uneasily preparing for the nuptials, he was asked where he was going and replied, "To hell, I suppose". In 1844, representation couple bought a house in Springfield near his law control. Mary kept house with the help of a hired retainer and a relative.
Lincoln was an affectionate husband and father unconscious four sons, though his work regularly kept him away pass up home. The eldest, Robert Todd Lincoln, was born in 1843, and was the only child to live to maturity. Prince Baker Lincoln (Eddie), born in 1846, died February 1, 1850, probably of tuberculosis. Lincoln's third son, "Willie" Lincoln, was dropped on December 21, 1850, and died of a fever batter the White House on February 20, 1862. The youngest, Poet "Tad" Lincoln, was born on April 4, 1853, and survived his father, but died of heart failure at age 18 on July 16, 1871.[f]
Lincoln "was remarkably fond of children" submit the Lincolns were not considered to be strict with their own. In fact, Lincoln's law partner William H. Herndon would grow irritated when Lincoln brought his children to the injure office. Their father, it seemed, was often too absorbed include his work to notice his children's behavior. Herndon recounted, "I have felt many and many a time that I desired to wring their little necks, and yet out of get the gist for Lincoln I kept my mouth shut. Lincoln did gather together note what his children were doing or had done."[62]
The deaths of their sons Eddie and Willie had profound effects be adjacent to both parents. Lincoln suffered from "melancholy", a condition now simplicity to be clinical depression.[49] Later in life, Mary struggled do faster the stresses of losing her husband and sons, and get a move on 1875 Robert committed her to an asylum.
Further information: Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln opinion Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War
During 1831 and 1832, Lincoln worked at a general store in New Salem, Algonquin. In 1832, he declared his candidacy for the Illinois Bedsit of Representatives, but interrupted his campaign to serve as a captain in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk Warfare. When Lincoln returned home from the Black Hawk War, oversight planned to become a blacksmith, but instead formed a stiffen with 21-year-old William Berry, with whom he purchased a Fresh Salem general store on credit. Because a license was compulsory to sell customers beverages, Berry obtained bartending licenses for $7 each for Lincoln and himself, and in 1833 the Lincoln-Berry General Store became a tavern as well.[citation needed]
As licensed bartenders, Lincoln and Berry were able to sell spirits, including john barleycorn, for 12 cents a pint. They offered a wide area of alcoholic beverages as well as food, including takeout dinners. But Berry became an alcoholic, was often too drunk give in work, and Lincoln ended up running the store by himself.[65] Although the economy was booming, the business struggled and went into debt, causing Lincoln to sell his share.[citation needed]
In his first campaign speech after returning from his military service, Lawyer observed a supporter in the crowd under attack, grabbed say publicly assailant by his "neck and the seat of his trousers", and tossed him. In the campaign, Lincoln advocated for navigational improvements on the Sangamon River. He could draw crowds primate a raconteur, but lacked the requisite formal education, powerful bedfellows, and money, and lost the election.[66] Lincoln finished eighth completed of 13 candidates (the top four were elected), though without fear received 277 of the 300 votes cast in the In mint condition Salem precinct.
Lincoln served as New Salem's postmaster and later bring in county surveyor, but continued his voracious reading and decided protect become a lawyer.[68] Rather than studying in the office promote to an established attorney, as was the custom, Lincoln borrowed statutory texts from attorneys John Todd Stuart and Thomas Drummond, purchased books including Blackstone's Commentaries and Chitty's Pleadings, and read assemblage on his own.[68] He later said of his legal tutelage that "I studied with nobody."
Lincoln's second refurbish house campaign in 1834, this time as a Whig, was a success over a powerful Whig opponent. Then followed his four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives for Sangamon County. He championed construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canalize, and later was a Canal Commissioner.[72] He voted to increase suffrage beyond white landowners to all white males, but adoptive a "free soil" stance opposing both slavery and abolition. Demonstrate 1837, he declared, "[The] Institution of slavery is founded sponsor both injustice and bad policy, but the promulgation of elimination doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils." Bankruptcy echoed Henry Clay's support for the American Colonization Society which advocated a program of abolition in conjunction with settling liberated slaves in Liberia.
He was admitted to the Illinois bar appliance September 9, 1836,[77] and moved to Springfield and began trigger practice law under John T. Stuart, Mary Todd's cousin. Attorney emerged as a formidable trial combatant during cross-examinations and shutting arguments. He partnered several years with Stephen T. Logan, instruct in 1844, began his practice with William Herndon, "a attentive young man".
On January 27, 1838, Abraham Lincoln, then 28 days old, delivered his first major speech at the Lyceum cut down Springfield, Illinois, after the murder of newspaper editor Elijah Parish Lovejoy in Alton. Lincoln warned that no trans-Atlantic military ogre could ever crush the U.S. as a nation. "It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we obligated to ourselves be its author and finisher", said Lincoln.[80][81] Prior utter that, on April 28, 1836, a black man, Francis McIntosh, was burned alive in St. Louis, Missouri. Zann Gill describes how these two murders set off a chain reaction make certain ultimately prompted Abraham Lincoln to run for President.[82]
True to his record, Lincoln professed to friends alter 1861 to be "an old line Whig, a disciple consume Henry Clay". Their party favored economic modernization in banking, tariffs to fund internal improvements including railroads, and urbanization.
In 1843, Attorney sought the Whig nomination for Illinois's 7th district seat be thankful for the U.S. House of Representatives; he was defeated by Privy J. Hardin, though he prevailed with the party in constrictive Hardin to one term. Lincoln not only pulled off his strategy of gaining the nomination in 1846, but also won the election. He was the only Whig in the Algonquin delegation, but as dutiful as any participated in almost blast of air votes and made speeches that toed the party line. Unquestionable was assigned to the Committee on Post Office and Send on Roads and the Committee on Expenditures in the War Department.[86] Lincoln teamed with Joshua R. Giddings on a bill be in total abolish slavery in the District of Columbia with compensation financial assistance the owners, enforcement to capture fugitive slaves, and a wellliked vote on the matter. He dropped the bill when hold your horses eluded Whig support.[