Considered to be
the greatest of the American presidents, Abraham Lincoln, carried
the great ship that is America through the turbulent times of the
Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United
States of America. Lincoln was born in humble circumstances on
12th February 1809 in a family of carpenters in the present Larue
County, earlier known as Hardin in the state of Kentucky and never
forgot his past. In 1816, the Lincolns moved to Indiana. The area
they settled down was an unforgiving patch of forest and life for
them was not pleasant at all.
There was nothing that was conducive for proper education. Lincoln
still managed to attend some schools for almost a year and learnt
to read and write. In 1831, Lincoln moved to New Salem in Springfield
and in the next year he served in the Black Hawk War. His brief
stint with the military opened up new opportunities. In 1834,
Lincoln was elected to the Illinois legislature for four consecutive
terms until 1841. Lincoln was against slavery right from his
childhood. Fighting against all the odds, Abraham Lincoln became
a lawyer and within a few years became a successful
lawyer. In 1842, Lincoln married Mary Todd. Lincoln was elected
to the
U. S. House of Representatives in 1847.
|
Lincoln opposed the Kansas-Nebraska
Act which advocated differential treatment of slaves and which
was passed in 1854. Two years later, Abraham Lincoln joined the
Republican Party and in 1858 he received the senatorial nomination.
Though Lincoln lost the Illinois seat, he nevertheless shot to
national fame. Lincoln went on to presidential election in 1860.
Abraham Lincoln beat the Democrat candidates from north and south,
Douglas and John C. Breckinridge respectively as well as the Constitutional
Union nominee, John Bell. What awaited Lincoln was but very rough
times. By 1861, seven states of the south had separated itself
from the union. Though Lincoln tried to pacify these secessionist
elements, it did not bear fruit. On 12th April 1861, the Civil
War broke out when the separatists in South Carolina fired on the
Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, which symbolized the federal
authority. |
|
The Civil War occupied
much of his presidency. Lincoln was charged with the mammoth task
of managing and streamlining the entire resources for the war as
well as keeping the factional elements in the Republican Party
together. In the end, however, the unionists won and thus America
was prevented from falling apart on racial lines. Lincoln thus
preserved the original spirit of the Founding Fathers. While in
power, Lincoln always took measures that were sympathetic to the
blacks. In the next general election that was held in 1864, Lincoln
won again. As promised, Lincoln effected the 13th Amendment to
the American constitution which provided for the abolishment of
the practice of slavery. This statute radically changed the racial
profile of USA. An embittered sympathizer of the racialists from
South, John Wilkes Booth, shot Abraham Lincoln from behind while
he was attending the performance of ‘Our American Cousin’ in
Washington at the Ford’s Theatre on 14th April 1865. Abraham
Lincoln died the next morning. Lincoln’s place in history
is immortal as are the ideals and vision he stood for.
|
|