Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865) was an American statesman and lawyer who served as the 16th United States President from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led United States through the Civil War America - the bloodiest of wars and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. Thus, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy.
Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the western border in Kentucky and Indiana. Mostly self-taught, he became a lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, and was elected to the Illinois Representative Council, where he served for eight years. Elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846, Lincoln promoted rapid economic modernization and opposed the Mexican-American War. After a period, he returned to Illinois and continued his successful law practice. Reentering politics in 1854, he became a leader in building a new Republican Party, which has a majority in the state of Illinois. As part of the 1858 campaign for US Senators from Illinois, Lincoln took part in a series of heavily publicized debates with opponents and rivals Democrat Stephen A. Douglas; Lincoln spoke against the expansion of slavery, but lost the race to Douglas. In 1860, Lincoln secured the Republican presidential nomination as moderate from a swing state, although most delegates initially favored other candidates. Although he had little support in the southern Slave states, he swept through North Korea and was elected president in 1860.
Despite attempts to bridge the difference between North and South, Lincoln's victory finally pushed the seven southern slave states to secede from the United States and form the State of the Confederate States before he moved to the White House. US troops refused to leave Fort Sumter, a fortress located in Charleston, South Carolina, after the secession from the Southern State. The Confederate Assault produced at Fort Sumter inspired North Korea to support the Union. As the leader of the moderate faction of the Republican Party, Lincoln confronted Radical Republicans, who demanded tougher treatment against the South, Democrats of War, who collected a large faction of former opponents into his camp, Democratic anti-war (called Copperheads), who hated him, reconciled, who planned his murder. Lincoln fought back against his opponents with each other, with carefully planned political patronage, and by attracting Americans with his powers in speech. Its Gettysburg Address becomes an icon of support for nationalism, republicanism, equality, freedom, and democracy. He suspended habeas corpus, leading to Merryman's controversial exit Merryman's decision, and he avoided any potential British intervention by taming the Affine Trent. Lincoln was closely watching the war effort, especially the general election, including the most successful general, Ulysses S. Grant. He made major decisions on Union's war strategy, including the sea blockade that closed down the Southern trade. As the war progresses, the complex moves toward ending slavery including the Emancipation of the Proclamation of 1863; Lincoln uses the US Army to protect escaped slaves, encourages border states to ban slavery, and pushes through the Third Amendment Congress of the Constitution of the United States, which permanently prohibits slavery.
A clever politician deeply involved with power matters in each state, Lincoln reached out to the War Democrats and administered his own election campaign in the presidential election of 1864. Anticipating the conclusion of the war, Lincoln encouraged a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to reunite the country quickly through a generous reconciliation policy in the face of continuous and bitter divisions. On April 14, 1865, five days after the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was shot by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth and died the next day. Lincoln has been consistently ranked by both scholars and the public as one of the greatest US presidents.
Video Abraham Lincoln
Family and childhood
Early life and ancestry
Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, the second son of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, in a one-room log cabin at Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. He is a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk, to the namesake of Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1638. Samuel's grandchild and grandson began a western family migration, which passed through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.. Lincoln's father's father and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln, moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Kentucky, in the 1780s. Captain Lincoln was killed in an Indian attack in 1786. His sons, including Thomas, the eight-year-old father of the president, witnessed the attack. After his father was murdered, Thomas was left to make his own way on the border, working at odd jobs in Kentucky and in Tennessee, before settling with his family members in Hardin County, Kentucky, in the early 1800s.
Lincoln's mother, Nancy, is widely assumed to be the daughter of Lucy Hanks, though no Nancy Hanks birth records have ever been found. According to William Ensign Lincoln's book The Ancestry of Abraham Lincoln, Nancy is the daughter of Joseph Hanks; However, the debate continues as to whether he was born out of wedlock. Still another researcher, Adin Baber, claims that Nancy Hanks is the daughter of Abraham Hanks and Sarah Harper of Virginia.
Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks married on June 12, 1806, in Washington County, and moved to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, after their marriage. They became parents of three children: Sarah, born on February 10, 1807; Abraham, on February 12, 1809; and another son, Thomas, who died as a baby. Thomas Lincoln bought or rented several farms in Kentucky, including the Spring Sinking field, where Abraham was born; However, the land ownership dispute immediately forced the Lincolns family to move. In 1811, the family moved eight miles (13 km) north, to Knob Creek Farm, where Thomas acquired a land rights of 230 hectares (93 hectares). In 1815, a prosecutor in another land dispute tried to get the family out of the farm. Of the 816.5 acres (330.4 ha) held by Thomas in Kentucky, he lost all but 200 acres (81 ha) from his land in a court dispute over property rights. Frustrated by the lack of security provided by the Kentucky title survey system in court, Thomas sold the remaining land he held in Kentucky in 1814, and began planning to move to Indiana, where the land surveying process was more reliable and the ability for individuals to retain rights over land safer.
In 1816, the family moved north across the Ohio River to Indiana, a free, non-slaveholding area, where they settled in "unbroken forests" in Hurricane City, Perry County. (Their land in southern Indiana became part of Spencer County, Indiana, when the county was founded in 1818.) The garden was preserved as part of the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. In 1860, Lincoln noted that family displacement to Indiana was "partly because of slavery"; but mainly due to the difficulty of titling the land in Kentucky. During his family years in Kentucky and Indiana, Thomas Lincoln worked as a farmer, cabinet maker, and carpenter. He owns fields, several towns and cattle, pays taxes, sits on the jury, assesses plantations, serves on country slave patrols, and keeps prisoners. Thomas and Nancy Lincoln were also members of the Baptist Church Separated, who had limited moral standards and opposed alcohol, dancing, and slavery. Within a year of family arrivals in Indiana, Thomas claimed the title for 160 acres (65Ã, ha) of Indiana land. Despite several financial challenges, it eventually gained a clear right to 80 hectares (32 acres) of land in a place known as Little Pigeon Creek Community in Spencer County. Before moving the family to Illinois in 1830, Thomas acquired an additional twenty acres of land adjacent to his property.
Some significant family events occurred during Lincoln's youth in Indiana. On October 5, 1818, Nancy Lincoln died of milk disease, leaving an eleven-year-old Sarah in charge of a household that included her nine-year-old father, Abraham, and Dennis Hanks, Nancy's nineteen-year-old orphan cousin. On December 2, 1819, Lincoln's father married Sarah "Sally" Bush Johnston, a widow from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, with three of her own children. Abraham became very close to his stepmother, whom he called "Mother". Those who knew Lincoln as a teenager then recalled him becoming deeply saddened over the death of his younger sister Sarah on January 20, 1828, while giving birth to a son who was stillborn.
As a young man, Lincoln does not like the hard work associated with border life. Some of her neighbors and her family members thought for a moment that she was lazy for all "reading, scribbling, writing, writing passwords, writing Poetry, etc.", and had to do it to avoid rough work. Her stepmother also admits she does not enjoy "physical labor", but loves to read. Lincoln is mostly educated. The formal education of some mobile teachers is intermittent, an aggregate that may be less than one year old; However, he is a diligent reader and retains a lifelong interest in learning. Lincoln's family, neighbors, and schoolmates remembered reading and re-reading the King James Bible, Aesop's Fables, John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe, Mason Locke Weems of The Life of Washington, and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin , among others.
As he grew into adolescence, Lincoln took responsibility for the tasks expected of him as one of the boys in the household. He also obeys the customary obligations of a child who gives his father all the income from work done outside the home until the age of twenty-one. Abraham became adept at using axes. Tall for his age, Lincoln is also strong and athletic. He has a reputation as a brave and courageous after a highly competitive wrestling match with the famous leader of a bunch of scoundrels known as "Clary's Grove sons".
In early March 1830, partly out of fear of a dairy epidemic along the Ohio River, several extended Lincoln family members moved west to Illinois, a non-slaveholding country, and settled in Macon County, 10 miles (16 km) west of Decatur. Historians disagree on who initiated the movement; Thomas Lincoln has no obvious reason to leave Indiana, and one possibility is that other family members, including Dennis Hanks, may not have the stability and regular income that Thomas Lincoln owns. After the family moved to Illinois, Abraham became distant from his father, partly because of his father's lack of education, but sometimes lent him money. In 1831, when Thomas and other family members prepared to move to a new guest house in Coles County, Illinois, Abraham was mature enough to make his own decisions and attack him on his own. Traveling down the Sangamon River, he ends up in the village of New Salem in Sangamon County. Later that spring, Denton Offutt, a New Salem merchant, hired Lincoln and some friends to collect goods on a flatboat from New Salem to New Orleans via the Sangamon, Illinois and Mississippi rivers. Upon arriving in New Orleans - and witnessing direct slavery - Lincoln returns to New Salem, where he lives for the next six years.
Marriage and children
According to some sources, Lincoln's first romantic interest was Ann Rutledge, whom he met when he first moved to New Salem; these sources indicate that in 1835 they were in a relationship but not formally involved. He died at the age of 22 on August 25, 1835, most likely a typhoid fever. In the early 1830s, he met Mary Owens of Kentucky when he visited his sister.
At the end of 1836, Lincoln agreed to compete with Mary if he returned to New Salem. Mary returned in November 1836, and Lincoln scolded her for a while; However, they both have second thoughts about their relationship. On August 16, 1837, Lincoln wrote a letter to Mary stating that he would not blame her if he ended the relationship. He never answered and the courtship ended.
In 1840, Lincoln was engaged to Mary Todd, who came from a wealthy slave-owned family in Lexington, Kentucky. They met in Springfield, Illinois in December 1839 and were involved in the following December. A wedding set for January 1, 1841, was canceled when the two broke off their engagement at the initiative of Lincoln. They then met again at a party and married on November 4, 1842, at the big house of Springfield, Mary's married sister. While preparing for the marriage and feeling anxiety again, Lincoln, when asked where he went, replied, "To hell, I think." In 1844, the couple bought a house in Springfield near the Lincoln law office. Mary Todd Lincoln stayed at home, often with the help of a relative or hired servant girl.
She is a loving, though often non-existent, husband and father of four children. Robert Todd Lincoln was born in 1843 and Edward Baker Lincoln (Eddie) in 1846. Edward died on February 1, 1850, in Springfield, possibly due to tuberculosis. Lincoln's fourth son, Thomas "Tad" Lincoln, was born on April 4, 1853, and died of heart failure at the age of 18 on July 16, 1871. Robert was born the only child who lived to adulthood and had children. The last descendant of Lincoln, great grandson of Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died in 1985. Lincoln "loved children", and the Lincoln family was not considered strict with their own children.
The death of their son has a profound effect on both parents. Later, Mary struggled with the pressure of losing her husband and son, and Robert Lincoln gave it temporarily to a mental hospital in 1875. Abraham Lincoln suffered "melancholy", a condition now referred to as clinical depression.
Lincoln's father-in-law and the rest of Todd's family are the owners of slaves or slave traders. Lincoln is close to Todds, and he and his family sometimes visit Todd's plantation in Lexington.
During his tenure as President of the United States, Mary is known to often cook for Lincoln. Because he was raised by a wealthy family, his cooking skills were simple, but satisfied Lincoln's taste, which included, in particular, imported oysters.
Maps Abraham Lincoln
Early career and militia
In 1832, at the age of 23, Lincoln and a colleague bought a small general store with credit in New Salem, Illinois. Although the economy was booming in the region, his business was struggling and Lincoln eventually sold his share. That March he started his political career with his first campaign for the Illinois General Assembly. He has achieved local popularity and can attract many people as a natural sufferer in New Salem, even though he has no education, strong friends, and money, which is probably why he lost. He advocated improved navigation on the Sangamon River.
Prior to the election, Lincoln served as captain in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War. Upon his return, Lincoln continued his campaign for the Aug. 6 election for the Illinois General Assembly. At 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm), he is tall and "strong enough to intimidate any rival". In his first speech, when he saw a supporter in the crowd being attacked, Lincoln caught the assailant with his "neck and pants seat" and tossed it. Lincoln ranks eighth out of 13 candidates (the top four are elected), although he received 277 of the 300 votes cast in New Salem.
Lincoln served as a postmaster of New Salem and then as a county surveyor, reading greedily. He then decided to become a lawyer and began teaching himself the law by reading Blackstone's Comments on English Law and other legal books. From his method of learning, Lincoln states: "I learn without anyone." The second campaign in 1834 succeeded. He won the election for the state legislature; although he ran as a Whig, many Democrats supported him over stronger Whig opponents.
Recognized in the Illinois bar in 1836, he moved to Springfield, Illinois, and began practicing law under John T. Stuart, cousin of Mary Todd. Lincoln became a capable and successful lawyer with a reputation as a formidable enemy during cross-examination and closing arguments. He partnered with Stephen T. Logan from 1841 to 1844. Then Lincoln began his training with William Herndon, whom Lincoln thought was "a diligent young man learning."
Succeeding at the second run for the office, Lincoln served four consecutive times at the Illinois House of Representatives as a Whig representative from Sangamon County. He supported the construction of the Illinois Canal and Michigan, which he remains involved with later as Channel Commissioner. In the 1835-36 legislative session, he chose to extend the suffrage for white men, whether landowners or not. He is known for his "free land" attitude against slavery and abolitionism. He first articulated this in 1837, saying, "[The] institution of slavery is based on injustice and bad policies, but the enforcement of the doctrine of abolition tends to increase rather than alleviate evil." His close stance followed Henry Clay in support of the American Colonization Society program making the abolition of practical slavery with his advocacy and helping freed slaves to settle in Liberia in Africa.
AS. House of Representatives, 1847-49
From the early 1830s, Lincoln was a stout Whig and confessed to his friends in 1861 to become "the old line of Whig, the disciple of Henry Clay". The party, including Lincoln, loves economic modernization in banking, protective tariffs to fund internal improvements including railroads, and supports urbanization as well.
Lincoln ran for the Whig nomination for the 7th district in the US House of Representatives in 1843, but was defeated by John J. Hardin. However, Lincoln won support for the rotation principle, in which Hardin will retire only after one period to allow the nomination of another candidate. Lincoln hoped that this arrangement would lead to his candidacy in 1846. Lincoln was indeed elected to the House of Representatives in 1846, where he served for two years. He is the only Whig in the Illinois delegation, but he shows his party's loyalty by participating in almost all voices and making speeches echoing party lines. Lincoln, in collaboration with members of the Abolitionist Congress Joshua R. Giddings, wrote a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia with compensation for the owner, law enforcement to capture the fugitive slave, and popular vote on the matter. He left the bill when he failed to gather enough Whig supporters.
Concerning foreign and military policy, Lincoln spoke against the Mexican-American War, which he attributes to President Polk's desire for "military glory - an attractive rainbow, which rises in the rain of blood". Lincoln also supports Wilmot Proviso, which, if adopted, will prohibit slavery in US territory won from Mexico.
Lincoln emphasized his opposition to Polk by compiling and introducing his Spot Resolutions. The war has started with the Mexican massacre of American soldiers in disputed territory by Mexico and US Police insisting that Mexican soldiers have "invaded our territory and spilled our fellow citizens on our own land > ". Lincoln demanded that Polk show Congress the exact place where the blood had been shed and prove that the place was on American soil.
The congress never imposed a resolution or even debated it, national newspapers ignored it, and that resulted in a loss of political support for Lincoln in his district. One Illinois newspaper taunted him nicknamed "spotty Lincoln". Lincoln later regretted some of his statements, especially his attacks on the powers of presidential warfare.
Realizing that Clay was unlikely to win the presidency, Lincoln, who had promised in 1846 to serve only one term in the House, supported General Zachary Taylor for the Whig nomination in the presidential election in 1848. Taylor won and Lincoln hoped to be appointed as Commissioner of the General Land Office , but the lucrative patronage work fell into the hands of Illinois rival Justin Butterfield, whom the government considered a highly skilled lawyer, but in Lincoln's view, "old fossils". The government offered him the secretary prize or the governor of the Oregon Region. This distant region is a Democratic stronghold, and the reception of the post will effectively put an end to his legal and political career in Illinois, so he refuses and continues his legal practice.
Prairie Lawyer
Lincoln returned to the practice of law in Springfield, handling "any kind of business that could come before the lawn lawyers". Twice a year for 16 years, 10 weeks at a time, he appears in regional chairs in the middle area as regional courts are in progress. Lincoln handles many transportation cases amid the country's western expansion, particularly conflicts arising from the operation of river barges under many new railway bridges. As a river boat man, Lincoln initially liked that interest, but ultimately represented anyone who hired him. In fact, he later represented a bridge company against a river ship company in a landmark case involving a sinking canal boat after crashing a bridge. In 1849, he received a patent for flotation devices for boat movement in shallow waters. The idea was never commercialized, but Lincoln is the only president who holds the patent.
In 1851, he represented Alton & amp; Sangamon Railroad in a dispute with one of its shareholders, James A. Barret, who has refused to pay the balance on his pledge to buy shares on the train on the grounds that the company has changed the original train route. Lincoln managed to argue that the railway company was not bound by its original charter that remained at the time of Barret's promise; the charter was altered in the public interest to provide newer, more superior, and cheaper routes, and the company retained the right to demand Barret's payments. The decision by the Illinois High Court has been quoted by many other courts in the country. Lincoln appeared before the Illinois Supreme Court in 175 cases, at 51 as the sole lawyer, who was decided to support him. From 1853 to 1860, one of Lincoln's biggest clients was the Illinois Central Railroad. Lincoln's reputation with the client led to his nickname "Honest Abe."
Lincoln's most famous criminal tribunal occurred in 1858 when he defended William "Duff" Armstrong, who was on trial for the murder of James Preston Metzker. The case is notorious for the factual use that Lincoln made to challenge the credibility of an eyewitness. After the opposing witness testifies to the crime under the moonlight, Lincoln produces a Farmer Almanac that shows the moon at a low angle, drastically reducing visibility. Based on this evidence, Armstrong was released.
Lincoln rarely filed an objection in the courtroom; but in the case of 1859, where he defended his cousin, Peachy Harrison, accused of stabbing others to death, Lincoln furiously protested the judge's decision to exclude his client's lucrative evidence. Instead of holding Lincoln in contempt as expected, a judge, a Democrat, reverses his decision, allowing evidence and releasing Harrison.
Republican Politics 1854-60
Appear as a Republican leader
The debate over the status of slavery in the territories exacerbated sectarian tensions between the Southern and Northern Slaves, and the 1850 Compromise failed to alleviate the problem. In the early 1850s, Lincoln supported sectional mediation efforts, and his 1852 speech to Henry Clay focused on the latter's support for the gradual emancipation and opposition to the "extremes" on the issue of slavery. As 1850 progressed, the slavery debates in the Nebraska Territory and the Kansas Territory became very fierce, and Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois proposed people's sovereignty as a compromise step; The proposal will take the issue of slavery from the hands of Congress by allowing people from each region to decide the status of slavery itself. The proposal worries many northerners, who hope to stop the spread of slavery into the territories. Despite this North opposition, Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Act narrowly passed Congress in May 1854.
For months after his trip, Lincoln did not publicly comment on the Kansas-Nebraska Act, but he strongly opposed it. On October 16, 1854, in his "Peoria Speech", Lincoln declared his opposition to slavery, which he repeated on his way to the presidency. Speaking in his Kentucky accent, in a very strong voice, he said the Kansas Act has a "declared indifference, but because I have to think, a real secret > the spirit for the spreading of slavery I can not hate it I hate it because of the terrible injustice of slavery itself I hate it for removing our republican example of its fair influence in the world... "Lincoln's attack on the Kansas-Nebraska Act marked the return to political life.
Nationally, the Whig was separated by the Kansas-Nebraska Act and other attempts to compromise on the issue of slavery. Reflecting on the destruction of his party, Lincoln would write in 1855, "I think I am a Whig, but others say there is no Whig, and that I am an abolitionist [...] I am no more than opposed to the extension of slavery. "Drawing on the antislavery of the Whig Party, and combining Free Soil, Liberty, and antislavery members of the Democratic Party, the new Republican Party was formed as a northern party dedicated to antislavery. Lincoln rejected an early attempt to recruit him to a new party, fearing that it would serve as a platform for extreme abolitionists. Lincoln also still hopes to rejuvenate the ailing Whig Party, though he bemoans his party's growing familiarity with the nativist Know Nothing movement.
In the election of 1854, Lincoln was elected to Illinois lawmaker but refused to take his seat. In the aftermath of the election, which showed the strength and popularity of the movement against the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Lincoln instead sought election to the United States Senate. At that time, the senators were elected by the state legislature. After taking the lead in the first six rounds of voting, but unable to gain a majority, Lincoln instructed his supporters to vote for Lyman Trumbull. Trumbull is an antislavery Democrat, and has received some votes on his previous ballot; his supporters, as well as Democrat antislavery, have vowed not to support anyone. Lincoln's decision to resign allowed the Whig and Trumull anti-democracy supporters to combine and defeat the mainstream Democratic candidate, Joel Aldrich Matteson.
Partly due to the ongoing violent political confrontation in Kansas, the opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act remains strong in Illinois and throughout the North. As the 1856 election approached, Lincoln left the Whig Party dead and supported the Republican Party. He attended the Bloomington Convention in May 1856, which officially founded the Illinois Republican Party. The convention platform confirms that Congress has the right to regulate slavery in the territories and called for the immediate acceptance of Kansas as a free country. Lincoln gave the final speech of the convention, in which he supported the party platform and called for the preservation of the Union. At the Republican National Convention in June 1856, Lincoln received significant support at the vice-presidential vote, although the party nominated tickets for John C. FrÃÆ' © mont and William Dayton. Lincoln strongly supports Republican ticketing, campaigning for parties across Illinois. Democrats nominate former Ambassador James Buchanan, who has been out of the country since 1853 and thus avoided debate over slavery in the region, while Know Nothings nominated former President Whig Millard Fillmore. In the 1856 election, Buchanan defeated his two challengers, but Frà © m mont won several Northern states and Republican William Henry Bissell won the election as Illinois Governor. Although Lincoln himself did not win the title, his vigorous campaign has made him a leading Republican in Illinois.
Eric Foner (2010) compares the abolitionist and anti-slavery Radical Republicans of Northeast who saw slavery as sin, with conservative Republicans who thought it was bad for hurting whites and hampering progress. Foner argued that Lincoln was a moderate in the middle, against slavery primarily for violating the principles of republicanism from the Founding Fathers, especially the equality of all human and self-governing democratic states as stated in the Declaration of Independence.
In March 1857, the Supreme Court issued its decision at Dred Scott v. Sandford . Opinion by Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney states that blacks are not citizens and do not have the right of the Constitution. While many Democrats hope that Dred Scott will end a dispute over slavery in the region, the decision sparked further anger in the North. Lincoln denounced the decision, accusing it of being a product of the Democratic conspiracy to support Slave Power. Lincoln argues, "The authors of the Declaration of Independence were never intended" to say that all are equal in terms of color, size, intelligence, moral development, or social capacity, but they "assume that all are created equal in certain rights which can not revoked, among them are life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness'. " Lincoln-Douglas Lincoln and Doug Cooper's speech Lincoln-Douglas and Lincoln Cooperative speech Douglas rose for re-election in 1858, and Lincoln hoped to defeat the powerful Illinois Democrats. With former Trufull Democrats now serving as Republican Senators, many in the party feel that the former Whig should be nominated in 1858, and Lincoln's 1856 campaign and a willingness to support Trumbull in 1854 have made him happy in the party. Some of the Eastern Republic favored the re-election of Douglas for the Senate in 1858, as he led the opposition to the Lecompton Constitution, which would recognize Kansas as a slave state. But many of the Republic of Illinois hate this eastern interference. For the first time, the Illinois Republic held a convention to approve the Senate candidate, and Lincoln won a Senate party nomination with little opposition. After receiving the nomination, Lincoln delivered his Separate Speech at Home, referring to Mark 3:25, "A house divided against himself can not stand.I believe this government can not survive half a slave and half permanently free. The Union will be dissolved- - I do not expect the house to fall - but I hope the house will stop being shared.That will be one thing, or all the others. "The speech creates an evocative picture of the dangers of division caused by the slavery debate, across the North. The stage is then set for an Illinois state election campaign that will, in turn, choose Lincoln or Douglas as his US senator. Being informed of the Lincoln nomination, Douglas declared "[Lincoln] is the party's strong man... and if I defeat him, my victory will not prevail." The Senate campaign featured seven Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858, the most famous political debate in American history. The principal stands very differently physically and politically. Lincoln warns that "The Slave Power" threatens the values ​​of republicanism, and accuses Douglas of distorting the Founding Fathers' values ​​that all humans are created equal, while Douglas insists on his Freeport Doctrine that local settlers are free to choose whether to allow slavery or not , and accused Lincoln of joining the abolitionist. The debate has an atmosphere of prize battles and attracts many people in the thousands. Lincoln states Douglas's popular sovereignty theory is a threat to the nation's morality and that Douglas represents a conspiracy to expand slavery to the free countries. Douglas said Lincoln was against the authority of the US Supreme Court and the decision of Dred Scott . Although Republican legislative candidates won a more popular vote, Democrats won more seats, and the legislature voted back Douglas to the Senate. Despite the bitterness of defeat for Lincoln, his articulation of problems gave him a national political reputation. In May 1859, Lincoln bought the Illinois Staats-Anzeiger, a German language newspaper that consistently supported; most of the 130,000 German citizens of the United States voted for Democrats, but there was Republican support that could be mobilized by a German-language paper. In the aftermath of the 1858 election, newspapers often mentioned Lincoln as a potential Republican presidential candidate in 1860, with William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Simon Cameron rising as rivals for the nomination. While Lincoln is popular in the Midwest, he has no support in the Northeast, and is not sure if he should seek the president. In January 1860, Lincoln told a group of political allies that he would accept the presidential nomination of 1860 if offered, and in the following months some local newspapers supported Lincoln to become president. On February 27, 1860, New York party leaders invited Lincoln to address the Cooper Union to a powerful group of Republicans. Lincoln argues that the Founding Fathers have little use of popular sovereignty and have repeatedly sought to limit slavery. Lincoln insisted that the moral foundations of the Republican Party demanded opposition to slavery, and refused every "groping for the middle ground between right and wrong." Despite his odd appearance - many of the spectators thought him awkward and even ugly - Lincoln showed the intellectual leadership that brought him to the front of the party and was nominated for a Republican presidential nomination. Journalist Noah Brooks reports, "No one has ever made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York audience." Historian Donald described the speech as "a remarkable political step for an unannounced candidate, to appear in his own rival country (Seward) at an event sponsored by second rival lender (Chase), while not naming him on delivery." Responding to a question about his presidential intentions, Lincoln said, "It feels like it's in my mouth a bit." 1860 Presidential nominations and campaigns
On May 9-10, 1860, the Illinois State Convention was held in Decatur. Lincoln's followers organized a campaign team led by David Davis, Norman Judd, Leonard Swett, and Jesse DuBois, and Lincoln received his first support to run for president. Utilizing legends adorned his border days with his father (clearing the soil and breaking the fence with ax), Lincoln's supporters adopted the label "The Rail Candidate". In 1860 Lincoln described himself: "I am tall, six feet, four inches, nearly, leaning in meat, weighing, average, one hundred and eighty pounds, dark skin, with coarse black hair, and gray eyes."
On May 18, at the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Lincoln became a Republican candidate in the third vote, defeating candidates such as Seward and Chase. A former Democrat, Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, was nominated for the Vice President to balance the ticket. Lincoln's success depends on his campaign team, his reputation as moderate in slavery, and his strong support for Whiggish's programs on internal improvements and protection tariffs.
At the third vote, Pennsylvania placed it on it. The iron interests of Pennsylvania are reassured by its support for protective tariffs. Lincoln managers swiftly focused on this delegation and the others, while following Lincoln's strong command to "Do not make a contract that binds me".
Most Republicans agree with Lincoln that the North is a disadvantaged party, as Slave Power tightens its grip on the national government with the decision of Dred Scott and the presidency of James Buchanan. Throughout the 1850s, Lincoln doubted the prospect of a civil war, and his supporters rejected claims that his election would incite secession. Meanwhile, Douglas was elected as a candidate from the North Democrats. Delegates from 11 slave states quit the Democratic convention, disagreed with Douglas's position on popular sovereignty, and eventually voted incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge as their candidate. A group of former Whigs and Know Nothings formed the Constitutional Union Party and nominated John Bell of Tennessee. Lincoln and Douglas will compete for a vote in the North, while Bell and Breckinridge mainly get support in the South.
Lincoln has a very effective campaign team that projects his image carefully as an ideal candidate. As Michael Martinez says:
Lincoln and his political advisers manipulate his image and background.... Sometimes he appears as a straight-talking person, ordinary speaking, a person who holds common sense from people. His shadow as "Rail Splitter" comes from this era. His supporters also describe him as "Abe Honest," a countryman who is only dressed and not primarily polished or formal in his manner but who is as honest and trustworthy as his legs are long. Even Lincoln's tall, thin body was used for good gains during the campaign as many pictures and posters showed the candidates running past their vertically challenged rivals. At other times, Lincoln appears as a sophisticated, wise, articulate candidate.
Prior to the Republican convention, the Lincoln campaign began fostering a national youth organization, Wide Awakes, which used to generate popular support for Lincoln across the country to spearhead large voter registration voters, knowing that new voters and young voters tend to embrace new and young parties. When Lincoln's ideas about the abolition of slavery grew, so did his supporters. People from Northern states know the Southern states will vote against Lincoln because of his ideas about anti-slavery and take action to rally supporters of Lincoln.
When Douglas and the other candidates went through their campaign, Lincoln was the only one who did not give a speech. Instead, he closely monitors the campaign and relies on Republican enthusiasm. The party does foot work that generates a majority across the North, and produces many campaign posters, flyers, and editorial papers. There are thousands of Republican speakers who focus first on the party platform, and second on the life story of Lincoln, emphasizing the poverty of his childhood. The aim is to demonstrate the superior power of "free labor", in which a common agricultural boy can work to the top with his own efforts. The production of Republican campaign literature dwarfs the combined opposition; a Chicago Tribune writer produced pamphlets detailing Lincoln's life, and sold 100,000 to 200,000 copies.
Presidency
1860 election and secession
On November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States, beating Douglas, Breckinridge, and Bell. He is the first president of the Republican Party. His victory was entirely due to the strength of his support in the North and the West; no ballot was cast for him in 10 of the 15 Southern slave nations, and he won only two of the 996 districts in all Southern countries.
Lincoln received 1,866,452 votes, Douglas 1,376,957 votes, Breckinridge 849,781 votes, and Bell 588,789 votes. The number of voters was 82.2 percent, with Lincoln winning the northern states, as well as California and Oregon. Douglas won Missouri, and divided New Jersey with Lincoln. Bell won Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and Breckinridge won the rest of the South.
Although Lincoln only won a number of popular voices, his college win was crucial: Lincoln had 180 and his opponents added only 123. There was a fusion ticket in which all of Lincoln's opponents joined to support the same row of voters. in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island, but even if the anti-Lincoln vote has been combined in every state, Lincoln will still win a majority in Electoral College.
When the election of Lincoln became clear, separatists confirmed their intention to leave the Union before taking office in March. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina took the lead by adopting a regulation of secession; on 1 February 1861, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed. Six of these countries then adopted the constitution and declared themselves as a sovereign nation, the Confederation of American States. The Southern States and the upper border (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Arkansas) listened, but were initially denied, the separatist appeal. President Buchanan and President-elect Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy, declaring illegal secession. The Confederation chose Jefferson Davis as the interim President on 9 February 1861.
There is a compromise effort. Crittenden's compromise would extend the Missouri Compromise line in 1820, dividing the territory into slavery and freedom, in opposition to the Republican free land platform. Lincoln rejected the idea, saying, "I will suffer death before I agree... for any concessions or compromises that seem like buying the privilege of taking over this government where we have constitutional rights."
Lincoln, however, secretly supported the proposed Corwin Amendment to the Constitution, which Congress passed before Lincoln came to office and then awaited ratification by states. The proposed amendment will protect slavery in the countries where it already exists and will ensure that Congress will not interfere with slavery without the approval of the South. A few weeks before the war, Lincoln sent letters to every governor informing them that Congress had passed a joint resolution to amend the Constitution. Lincoln is open to the possibility of a constitutional convention to make further amendments to the Constitution.
On the way to his inauguration by train, Lincoln spoke to the crowd and legislature throughout the North. The then elected president avoided the possibility of a murderer in Baltimore, discovered by Lincoln's security chief Allan Pinkerton. On February 23, 1861, he arrived in Washington, DC, stationed under great military oversight. Lincoln directs his inaugural address to the South, stating once again that he has no intentions, or tendencies, to abolish slavery in the Southern states:
Fear seems to exist among the people of the Southern States who by accession to the Republican Administration of their property and their peace and personal security will be threatened. There has never been a plausible reason for such fear. Indeed, the most conflicting evidence exists and is open to their inspections. It is found in almost all published speeches about him who now calls you. I only quote from one of these speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of enslavement in the United States where it exists, I believe I have no legitimate right to do so, and I do not have tendency to do so. "
The President concluded his lecture with a call to the South: "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies... The mystical umbilical cord, stretching from every battlefield, and the patriot's tomb, to every living person, heart and rock corals, throughout this vast land, will swell the choir of the Society, once again touched, as certain as they will be, by angels better than ours. "The failure of the Peace Conference 1861 signifies that a legislative compromise is impossible. In March 1861, no rebel leader proposed to rejoin the Unity on any condition. Meanwhile, Lincoln and the Republican leader agreed that Union dismantling was intolerable. Lincoln said when the war ended:
The two sides stop the war, but one of them will fight rather than let the Nation survive, and others will receive war rather than let it perish, and war comes.
Civil War
The commander of Fort Sumter, South Carolina, Major Robert Anderson, sent a request for a provision to Washington, and the execution of Lincoln's order to fulfill the request was seen by separatists as an act of war. On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on Union forces at Fort Sumter, forcing them to surrender, to start a war. Historian Allan Nevins argues that the newly inaugurated Lincoln made three miscalculations: undercutting the gravity of the crisis, exaggerating the forces of Unionist sentiment in the South, and not realizing that the Southern Unionists insisted there would be no invasion.
William Tecumseh Sherman spoke with Lincoln during the inauguration week and was "deeply disappointed" at his failure to realize that "the country is sleeping on a volcano" and that the South is preparing for war. Historian David Herbert Donald concludes that, "The repeated attempts to avoid a collision in the months between the inauguration and the shooting at Ft Sumter show he pledged his vow not to be the first to shed blood fraternity, but he also vowed not to surrender forts. The only resolution of this contradictory position is for the allies to shoot the first shot; they do that. "
On April 15, Lincoln called on all countries to send detachments with a total of 75,000 troops to retake the fortress, protect Washington, and "preserve Unity", which, in his view, still exists despite the actions of the breakaway countries. This call forces the state to vote for parties. Virginia declared secession and was rewarded with Confederate capital, although Richmond's position was so close to the Union line. North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas also chose secession for the next two months. Sentiments of strong feeling in Missouri and Maryland, but not applicable; Kentucky tried to be neutral. The Confederate Assault at Fort Sumter moves North America from the Mason-Dixon line to defend the American people. Historian Allan Nevins says:
Thunder from Sumter produces a surprising crystallization of Northern sentiment... Anger sweeps the land. From each side comes news of mass meetings, speeches, resolutions, business support tenders, corporate gatherings and regiments, actions prescribed by governors and legislatures.
The state sent the Union regime to the south in response to Lincoln's appeal to save the capital and confront the rebellion. On April 19, mobs in Baltimore, which controlled the railway network, attacked Union forces with train changes, and local leaders groups burned an important rail bridge to the capital. The Army responded by arresting local Maryland officials. Lincoln suspended the habeas corpus warrant in areas that the army needed to secure troops to reach Washington. John Merryman, a Maryland official involved in retarding US troop movements, petitioned to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Marylander, Roger B. Taney, author of Dred Scott's controversial pro-slavery opinion, to issue a warrant habeas corpus , and in June Taney, acting as circuit judge and not speaking for the Supreme Court, issued the letter, because according to him only Congress could suspend the warrant. Lincoln continued his military policy that the letter was suspended in restricted areas even though Ex-parte Merryman came to power.
Union military strategy
After the Battle of Fort Sumter, Lincoln realized the importance of taking direct executive control over the war and shaping the Union's overall military strategy to stop the insurgency. Lincoln experienced an unprecedented political and military crisis, and he responded as commander-in-chief, using unprecedented powers. He expanded the power of his war, and imposed a blockade on all ports of confederation shipments, channeled funds before being taken over by Congress, and after suspending habeas corpus, arrested and imprisoned thousands of suspected Confederate sympathizers. Lincoln is supported by Congress and the northern public for this action. In addition, Lincoln must fight by strengthening strong Union sympathizers in border slave countries and keeping the war from becoming an international conflict.
The war effort is a constant source of tarnished Lincoln, and dominates his time and attention. From the beginning, it was clear that bipartisan support would be crucial to success in the war effort, and any way of compromising factions alienated on both sides of the aisle, such as the appointment of the Republican Party and Democrats to command positions in the Union Army. Copperheads criticized Lincoln for refusing to compromise on the issue of slavery. In contrast, Radical Republicans criticized him for moving too slowly to abolish slavery. On August 6, 1861, Lincoln signed the Foreclosure Act allowing the judicial process to confiscate and free the slaves used to support the Confederate war effort. In practice, the law has little influence, but it denotes political support for abolishing slavery in the Confederation.
In late August 1861, General John C. Frà © Ã… © mont, Republican presidential candidate 1856, issued, without consulting his superiors in Washington, the proclamation of martial law in Missouri. He declared that any citizen who was found with a gun could be tried in court and shot, and that the slave of the person who helped the rebellion would be freed. FrÃÆ'Ã… © mont already under the cloud with allegations of negligence in his command from the Western Department exacerbated by charges of fraud and corruption. Lincoln rejected the proclamation of FrÃÆ'Ã… © mont. Lincoln believes that Fremont's emancipation is political, both military and legal. After Lincoln acted, Union registrations from Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri increased by more than 40,000 troops.
In foreign policy, Lincoln's main objective is to stop military aid from overseas countries to the Confederation. Lincoln left a lot of diplomatic affairs to his Foreign Minister, William Seward. At any time Seward is too fierce, so for balance, Lincoln maintains a close working relationship with Senator Charles Sumner, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Trent Affair of late 1861 was in danger of war with the United Kingdom. The US Navy had illegally intercepted a British post ship, Trent , on the high seas and captured two Confederate envoys; England protested loudly while the US cheered. Lincoln ended the crisis by releasing two diplomats. Biographer James G. Randall has dissected Lincoln's successful technique:
his abandonment of the expression out of truculence, the early softening of the State Department's attitude towards Britain, his respect for Seward and Sumner, kept his own paper prepared for the occasion, his readiness to arbitrate, his golden silence in overcoming Congress, his acumen in recognizing that war must avoided, and his clear view that a point can be reached for America's true position at the same time when full satisfaction is given to a friendly country.
Lincoln painstakingly monitored the telegraph report coming to the War Department's headquarters. He continues to oversee all phases of military efforts, consult with the governor, and choose generals based on their past success (as well as their country and party). In January 1862, after numerous complaints of inefficiency and profiteering at the War Department, Lincoln replaced Simon Cameron with Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War. Stanton centralized the activities of the War Department, audited and canceled the contract, saving the federal government $ 17,000,000. Stanton is a conservative, pro-business Unionist politician who moves toward the Radical Republican faction. Nevertheless, he works more often and is closer to Lincoln than any other senior official. "Stanton and Lincoln are virtually fighting together," said Thomas and Hyman.
In terms of war strategy, Lincoln articulates two priorities: to ensure that Washington is well defended, and to make aggressive war efforts that will meet the demand in the North for quick and decisive victory; Northern newspaper major editors expect victory in 90 days. Twice a week, Lincoln will meet with his cabinet in the afternoon, and sometimes Mary Lincoln will force him on the train because he's worried he's working too hard. Lincoln learned from reading the theoretical book of his chief of staff, General Henry Halleck, student of the European strategist Jomini; he began to appreciate the critical need to control strategic points, such as the Mississippi River. Lincoln sees the importance of Vicksburg and understands the need to defeat the enemy forces, not just seize the territory.
General McClellan
After the Union's defeat at Bull Run, the first major battle of the Civil War, and retirement from the aging Winfield Scott in late 1861, Lincoln appointed Major General George B. McClellan as general head of all Union forces. McClellan, a young West Point graduate, a railroad executive, and Pennsylvania Democrat, took several months to plan and try his Peninsula Campaign, longer than Lincoln wanted. The purpose of the campaign was to capture Richmond by moving the Potomac Army on board to the peninsula and then ashore to the Confederate capital. McClellan's repeated postponements made Lincoln and Congress hopeless, as did his position that no force was needed to defend Washington. Lincoln insisted on holding some McClellan troops to defend the capital; McClellan, who consistently exaggerated the forces of the Confederate forces, blamed the decision for the Campaign Peninsula's major failure.
Lincoln dismissed McClellan as head general in March 1862, after McClellan's "Landing Letter Landing", where he offered unsolicited political advice to Lincoln to remind him in the war effort. The office remained empty until July, when Henry Halleck was elected to it. McClellan's letter angered the Radical Republicans, who managed to pressure Lincoln to appoint John Pope, a Republican, as the head of the new Virginia Army. The Pope fulfilled Lincoln's strategic desire to move to Richmond from the north, thus protecting the capital from attack.
However, without asking for help from McClellan, now commander of the Potomac Army, the Pope was clearly defeated at the Second Battle of Bull Run in the summer of 1862, forcing the Potomac Army to defend Washington for the second time. The war was also extended by naval operations in 1862 when CSS Virginia , formerly USS Merrimack , destroyed or destroyed three Union ships in Norfolk, Virginia, before being involved and destroyed by USS < i> Monitor . Lincoln carefully examined the shipments and interrogations of naval officers during their clashes in the Battle of Hampton Roads.
Despite his dissatisfaction with McClellan's failure to strengthen the Pope, Lincoln was desperate, and restored him to lead all troops around Washington, anxious of all in his cabinet but Seward. Two days after McClellan returned to command, General Robert E. Lee's troops crossed the Potomac River to Maryland, leading to the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. The next Union victory was one of the bloodiest in American history, but it allowed Lincoln to announce that he will issue the Emancipation Proclamation in January. Having composed the Proclamation some time before, Lincoln had been waiting for a military victory to publish it not to be considered a product of despair.
McClellan later dismissed the President's request that he chase backwards Lee and the army, while his partner General Don Carlos Buell also refused an order to move the Ohio Army against rebel forces in eastern Tennessee. As a result, Lincoln replaced Buell with William Rosecrans; and, after the midterm elections of 1862, he replaced McClellan with Republican Ambrose Burnside. Both of these successors are moderate politically and are prospectively more supportive of the Supreme Commander.
Burnside, against the president's suggestion, prematurely launched an attack on the River Rappahannock and was amazingly defeated by Lee in Fredericksburg in December. Not only was Burnside defeated in the battlefield, but his army was dissatisfied and undisciplined. Desertions during 1863 numbered thousands and they increased after Fredericksburg. Lincoln brought Joseph Hooker, despite notes of loose talk about the need for a military dictatorship.
The mid-term election in 1862 brought great losses to the Republican Party due to a sharp displeasure with the government for its failure to end the war swiftly, as well as rising inflation, new high taxes, rumors of corruption, the temporary suspension of habeas corpus, military invitation, and the fear that the freed slaves will undermine the labor market. The Emancipation Proclamation announced in September produced a vote for Republicans in rural New England and upper Midwest, but lost votes in the lower cities and Midwest.
While Republicans are discouraged, Democrats are energized and perform very well in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and New York. Republicans defend their majority in Congress and in the big countries, except New York. The Cincinnati Sheet argues that voters "are oppressed by the endless nature of this war, so far done, and by the rapid depletion of national resources without progress".
In the spring of 1863, Lincoln was optimistic about the impending military campaign to the point that the end of the war could be close if a series of victories could be put together; These plans include attacks by Hooker in Lee north of Richmond, Rosecrans in Chattanooga, Grant on Vicksburg, and naval attacks in Charleston.
Hooker was diverted by Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May, but continued to command his troops for several weeks. He ignored Lincoln's order to divide his troops, and might force Lee to do the same at Harper's
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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