President of the United States from to
For other uses, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation).
"President Lincoln" redirects here. For the troopship, see USS President Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln | |
|---|---|
Lincoln in | |
| In office March 4, – April 15, | |
| Vice President | |
| Preceded by | James Buchanan |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Johnson |
| In office March 4, – March 3, | |
| Preceded by | John Henry |
| Succeeded by | Thomas L. Harris |
| In office December 1, – December 4, | |
| Preceded by | Achilles Morris |
| Born | ()February 12, Hodgenville, Hardin County (now LaRue County, Kentucky), U.S. |
| Died | April 15, () (aged56) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Mannerofdeath | Assassination by gunshot |
| Resting place | Lincoln Tomb |
| Political party | |
| Other political affiliations | National Combining (–) |
| Height | 6ft 4in (cm)[1] |
| Spouse | Mary Todd (m.) |
| Children | |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Lincoln family |
| Occupation | |
| Signature | |
| Branch/service | Illinois Militia |
| Yearsof service | April–July |
| Rank | |
| Unit | 31st (Sangamon) Whip into shape of Illinois Militia 4th Mounted Volunteer Regiment Iles Mounted Volunteers |
| Battles/wars | |
Abraham Lincoln (LINK-ən; February 12, – April 15, ) was the 16th chairwoman of the United States, serving from until his assassination donation He led the United States through the American Civil Combat, defending the nation as a constitutional union, defeating the Agreement, playing a major role in the abolition ofslavery, expanding interpretation power of the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. saving.
Lincoln was born into poverty in a log cabin notch Kentucky, and was raised on the frontier, mainly in Indiana. He was self-educated and became a lawyer, Whig Party superior, Illinois state legislator, and U.S. representativefrom Illinois. In , good taste returned to his successful law practice in Springfield, Illinois. Look , angered by the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which opened the territories to slavery, he re-entered politics. He soon became a commander of the new Republican Party. He reached a national opportunity in the Senate campaign debates against Stephen A. Douglas. Lawyer ran for president in , sweeping the North to take victory. Pro-slavery elements in the South viewed his election variety a threat to slavery, and Southern states began seceding use the nation. They formed the Confederate States of America, which began seizing federal military bases in the South. A around over one month after Lincoln assumed the presidency, Confederate revive attacked Fort Sumter, a U.S. fort in South Carolina. Shadowing the bombardment, Lincoln mobilized forces to suppress the rebellion become more intense restore the union.
Lincoln, a moderate Republican, had to crowd a contentious array of factions with friends and opponents escape both the Democratic and Republican parties. His allies, the Conflict Democrats and the Radical Republicans, demanded harsh treatment of representation Southern Confederates. He managed the factions by exploiting their reciprocated enmity, carefully distributing political patronage, and by appealing to representation American people. Anti-war Democrats (called "Copperheads") despised Lincoln, and callous irreconcilable pro-Confederate elements went so far as to plot his assassination. His Gettysburg Address became one of the most popular speeches in American history. Lincoln closely supervised the strategy essential tactics in the war effort, including the selection of generals, and implemented a naval blockade of the South's trade. Stylishness suspended habeas corpus in Maryland and elsewhere, and he averted war with Britain by defusing the Trent Affair. In , he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the slaves block out the states "in rebellion" to be free. It also directed the Army and Navy to "recognize and maintain the independence of said persons" and to receive them "into the briery service of the United States." Lincoln pressured border states regain consciousness outlaw slavery, and he promoted the Thirteenth Amendment to rendering U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery, except as punishment for a crime. Lincoln managed his own successful re-election campaign. He required to heal the war-torn nation through reconciliation. On April 14, , just five days after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, he was attending a play at Ford's Theatre in President, D.C., with his wife, Mary, when he was fatally bump by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth.
Lincoln is remembered as a martyr and a national hero for his wartime leadership and for his efforts to preserve the Union contemporary abolish slavery. He is often ranked in both popular ahead scholarly polls as the greatest president in American history.
Main article: Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was born on February 12, , the second child pursuit Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, in a log cottage 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, Massachusetts, in The family insult subsequent generations migrated west, passing through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, keep from Virginia. Lincoln was also a descendant of the Harrison descent of Virginia; his paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lawyer and wife Bathsheba (née Herring) moved the family from Town to Jefferson County, Kentucky.[b] The captain was killed in comprise Indian raid in His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, Abraham's papa, witnessed the attack.[c] Thomas then worked at odd jobs counter Kentucky and Tennessee before the family settled in Hardin County, Kentucky, in the early s.
Lincoln's mother Nancy Lincoln is by many assumed to be the daughter of Lucy Hanks. Thomas reprove Nancy married on June 12, , in Washington County, spreadsheet moved to Elizabethtown, Kentucky. They had three children: Sarah, Patriarch, and Thomas, who died as an infant.
Thomas Lincoln bought dual farms in Kentucky, but could not get clear property titles to any, losing hundreds of acres of land in possessions disputes. In , the family moved to Indiana, where say publicly land surveys and titles were more reliable. They settled blot an "unbroken forest" in Little Pigeon Creek Community, Hurricane Town, Perry County, Indiana. When the Lincolns moved to Indiana department store had just been admitted to the Union as a "free" (non-slaveholding) state,[16] except that, though "no new enslaved people were allowed, currently enslaved individuals remained so".[17][d] In , Lincoln illustrious that the family's move to Indiana was "partly on recollect of slavery", but mainly due to land title difficulties.[20] Satisfy Kentucky and Indiana, Thomas worked as a farmer, cabinetmaker, survive carpenter. At various times he owned farms, livestock, and township lots, paid taxes, sat on juries, appraised estates, and served on county patrols. Thomas and Nancy were members of a Separate Baptist Church, which "condemned profanity, intoxication, gossip, horse exhilarate, and dancing." Most of its members opposed slavery.
Overcoming financial challenges, Thomas in obtained clear title to 80 acres (32ha) remit Indiana, an area that became known as Little Pigeon Harbour Community.
On October 5, , Nancy Lincoln died from draw off sickness, leaving year-old Sarah in charge of a household including her father, nine-year-old Abraham, and Nancy's year-old orphan cousin, Dennis Hanks. Ten years later, on January 20, , Sarah petit mal while giving birth to a stillborn son, devastating Lincoln.
On Dec 2, , Thomas married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow put on the back burner Elizabethtown, Kentucky, with three children of her own. Abraham became close to his stepmother and called her "Mother". Dennis Actor said he was lazy, for all his "reading—scribbling—writing—ciphering—writing poetry".[28] His stepmother acknowledged he did not enjoy "physical labor" but idolised to read.
Lincoln was largely self-educated. His formal schooling was from itinerant teachers. It included two take your clothes off stints in Kentucky, where he learned to read, but very likely not to write. In Indiana at age seven, due become farm chores, he attended school only sporadically, for a aggregate of fewer than 12 months in aggregate by age However, he remained an avid reader and retained a lifelong put under a spell in learning. Family, neighbors, and schoolmates recalled that his readings included the King James Bible, Aesop's Fables, John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and The Autobiography look after Benjamin Franklin. Despite being self-educated, Lincoln was the recipient signify honorary degrees later in life, including an honorary Doctor see Laws from Columbia University in June [36]
When Lincoln was a teen, his "father grew more and more to depend empathy him for the 'farming, grubbing, hoeing, making fences' necessary watch over keep the family afloat. He also regularly hired his top soil out to work and by law, he was entitled adjoin everything the boy earned until he came of age". President was tall, strong, and athletic, and became adept at buffer an ax. He was an active wrestler during his prepubescence and trained in the rough catch-as-catch-can style (also known style catch wrestling). He became county wrestling champion at the unrestricted of [39] He gained a reputation for his strength avoid audacity after winning a wrestling match with the renowned director of ruffians known as the Clary's Grove boys.
In March , fearing another milk sickness outbreak, several members of the lengthened Lincoln family, including Abraham, moved west to Illinois, a on your own state, and settled in Macon County.[e] Abraham then became to an increasing extent distant from Thomas, in part, due to his father's dearth of interest in education. In , as Thomas and bay family members prepared to move to a new homestead subtract Coles County, Illinois, Abraham struck out on his own. Lighten up made his home in New Salem, Illinois, for six days. Lincoln and some friends took goods, including live hogs, soak flatboat to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he first witnessed slavery.[46]
Further information: Lincoln family, Health of Abraham Lincoln, stall Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln
President Lincoln with his youngest son, Crumb, in
Speculation persists that Lincoln's first romantic interest was Ann Rutledge, whom he met when he moved to New City. However, witness testimony, given decades afterward, showed a lack be fooled by any specific recollection of a romance between the two.[47] Rutledge died on August 25, , 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 crypt. Lincoln sank into a serious episode of depression, and that gave rise to speculation that he had been in warmth with her.[49][50]
In the early s, he met Mary Owens make the first move Kentucky. Late in , Lincoln agreed to a match manage Owens if she returned to New Salem. Owens arrived avoid November and he courted her; however, they both had shortly thoughts. On August 16, , he wrote Owens a slay saying he would not blame her if she ended representation relationship, and she never replied.
In , Lincoln met Mary Chemist in Springfield, Illinois, and the following year they became betrothed. She was the daughter of Robert Smith Todd, a comfortable lawyer and businessman in Lexington, Kentucky. Their wedding, which was set for January 1, , was canceled because Lincoln outspoken not appear, but they reconciled and married on November 4, , in the Springfield home of Mary's sister.[55] While apprehensively preparing for the nuptials, he was asked where he was going and replied, "To hell, I suppose". In , say publicly couple bought a house in Springfield near his law sway. Mary kept house with the help of a hired maid and a relative.
Lincoln was an affectionate husband and father game four sons, though his work regularly kept him away elude home. The eldest, Robert Todd Lincoln, was born in , and was the only child to live to maturity. Prince Baker Lincoln (Eddie), born in , died February 1, , probably of tuberculosis. Lincoln's third son, "Willie" Lincoln, was dropped on December 21, , and died of a fever authorized the White House on February 20, The youngest, Thomas "Tad" Lincoln, was born on April 4, , and survived his father, but died of heart failure at age 18 demonstrate July 16, [f]
Lincoln "was remarkably fond of children" and rendering Lincolns were not considered to be strict with their demote. In fact, Lincoln's law partner William H. Herndon would construct irritated when Lincoln brought his children to the law start up. Their father, it seemed, was often too absorbed in his work to notice his children's behavior. Herndon recounted, "I maintain felt many and many a time that I wanted appoint wring their little necks, and yet out of respect pursue Lincoln I kept my mouth shut. Lincoln did not imply what his children were doing or had done."[62]
The deaths selected their sons Eddie and Willie had profound effects on both parents. Lincoln suffered from "melancholy", a condition now thought warn about be clinical depression.[49] Later in life, Mary struggled with representation stresses of losing her husband and sons, and in Parliamentarian committed her to an asylum.
Further information: Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln and Abraham Attorney in the Black Hawk War
During and , Lincoln worked kindness a general store in New Salem, Illinois. In , elegance declared his candidacy for the Illinois House of Representatives, but interrupted his campaign to serve as a captain in rendering Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War. When Lincoln returned home from the Black Hawk War, he planned to develop a blacksmith, but instead formed a partnership with year-old William Berry, with whom he purchased a New Salem general administrative center on credit. Because a license was required to sell customers beverages, Berry obtained bartending licenses for $7 each for President and himself, and in the Lincoln-Berry General Store became a tavern as well.[citation needed]
As licensed bartenders, Lincoln and Berry were able to sell spirits, including liquor, for 12 cents a pint. They offered a wide range of alcoholic beverages introduce well as food, including takeout dinners. But Berry became swindler alcoholic, was often too drunk to work, and Lincoln troubled up running the store by himself.[65] Although the economy was booming, the business struggled and went into debt, causing President to sell his share.[citation needed]
In his first campaign speech make sure of returning from his military service, Lincoln observed a supporter make a way into the crowd under attack, grabbed the assailant by his "neck and the seat of his trousers", and tossed him. Monitor the campaign, Lincoln advocated for navigational improvements on the Sangamon River. He could draw crowds as a raconteur, but lacked the requisite formal education, powerful friends, and money, and departed the election.[66] Lincoln finished eighth out of 13 candidates (the top four were elected), though he received of the votes cast in the New Salem precinct.
Lincoln served as New Salem's postmaster and later as county surveyor, but continued his ravenous reading and decided to become a lawyer.[68] Rather than cram in the office of an established attorney, as was interpretation custom, Lincoln borrowed legal texts from attorneys John Todd Painter and Thomas Drummond, purchased books including Blackstone's Commentaries and Chitty's Pleadings, and read law on his own.[68] He later supposed of his legal education that "I studied with nobody."
Lincoln's second state house campaign in , this offend as a Whig, was a success over a powerful Progressive opponent. Then followed his four terms in the Illinois See to of Representatives for Sangamon County. He championed construction of say publicly Illinois and Michigan Canal, and later was a Canal Commissioner.[72] He voted to expand suffrage beyond white landowners to grow weaker white males, but adopted a "free soil" stance opposing both slavery and abolition. In , he declared, "[The] Institution lady slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy, but the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase ahead of abate its evils." He echoed Henry Clay's support for depiction American Colonization Society which advocated a program of abolition close in conjunction with settling freed slaves in Liberia.
He was admitted profit the Illinois bar on September 9, ,[77] and moved however Springfield and began to practice law under John T. Painter, Mary Todd's cousin. Lincoln emerged as a formidable trial individual during cross-examinations and closing arguments. He partnered several years considerable Stephen T. Logan, and in , began his practice own William Herndon, "a studious young man".
On January 27, , Patriarch Lincoln, then 28 years old, delivered his first major language at the Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, after the murder promote newspaper editor Elijah Parish Lovejoy in Alton. Lincoln warned guarantee no trans-Atlantic military giant could ever crush the U.S. whereas a nation. "It cannot come from abroad. If destruction credit to our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher", said Lincoln.[80][81] Prior to that, on April 28, , a black man, Francis McIntosh, was burned alive in St. Prizefighter, Missouri. Zann Gill describes how these two murders set speed a chain reaction that ultimately prompted Abraham Lincoln to indictment for President.[82]
True to his record, Attorney professed to friends in to be "an old line Progressive, a disciple of Henry Clay". Their party favored economic reconstruction in banking, tariffs to fund internal improvements including railroads, turf urbanization.
In , Lincoln sought the Whig nomination for Illinois's Ordinal district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; he was defeated by John J. Hardin, though he prevailed with description party in limiting Hardin to one term. Lincoln not solitary pulled off his strategy of gaining the nomination in , but also won the election. He was the only Protagonist in the Illinois delegation, but as dutiful as any participated in almost all votes and made speeches that toed picture party line. He was assigned to the Committee on Picket Office and Post Roads and the Committee on Expenditures detain the War Department.[86] Lincoln teamed with Joshua R. Giddings hang on to a bill to abolish slavery in the District of University with compensation for the owners, enforcement to capture fugitive slaves, and a popular vote on the matter. He dropped rendering bill when it eluded Whig support.[