Abraham Lincoln

Led the Union to victory in the Civil War and drove the abolition of slavery.

Life

Self-taught lawyer

Lincoln was born into a poor farming family on the Kentucky frontier and became a lawyer almost entirely through self-education, later being elected to the Illinois legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives. In the mid-19th century, the question of whether new western states would allow slavery sharpened the divide between North and South; successive compromises collapsed one after another, and the political system was on the verge of splitting apart.

Civil war and emancipation

In 1860 he was elected President as the Republican candidate; several Southern states promptly declared their secession from the Union, and civil war broke out. With preserving the Union as his overriding goal, he promoted generals such as Grant and expanded the president's wartime powers. On New Year's Day 1863 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, making the abolition of slavery a war aim, and Black men were enlisted in the army.

Speeches and assassination

That same year his Gettysburg Address summed up the ideal of republican government as government of the people, by the people, for the people. In 1865, days after the South surrendered, he was assassinated in a theater. The Thirteenth Amendment then abolished slavery, but segregation and racial violence after Reconstruction persisted for nearly a century, and his unfinished work has had far-reaching consequences.

Legacy

Lincoln led the United States through the American Civil War, its gravest national crisis, preserved the Union and drove the abolition of slavery, and he is widely regarded as one of the greatest presidents in American history. His speeches set out the ideals of democracy and equality in concise, powerful language, with lasting influence. Some historians note, however, that his early views on racial equality were rather conservative, and that his commitment to abolition firmed up only gradually during the war.

Major works & achievements

• Led the Union to victory in the Civil War
• Issued the Emancipation Proclamation
• Gettysburg Address
• Pushed the Thirteenth Amendment

Did you know? The full text of the Gettysburg Address is only about 270 English words, and delivering it took only about two minutes.

Key dates

• 1834Elected to the Illinois legislature
• 1858Debated slavery with Douglas
• 1860Elected President of the United States
• 1861American Civil War breaks out
• 1862Signed the Homestead Act
• 1863Issues the Emancipation Proclamation; delivers the Gettysburg Address
• 1864Reelected president
• 1865Confederate army surrenders; Lincoln assassinated