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| Abraham Lincoln |
“Those
who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.” – Abraham
Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln is regarded as one of
America's greatest heroes due to both his incredible impact on the nation and
his unique appeal. His is a remarkable story of the rise from humble beginnings
to achieve the highest office in the land; then, a sudden and tragic death at a
time when his country needed him most to complete the great task remaining
before the nation. Lincoln's distinctively human and humane personality and
historical role as savior of the Union and emancipator of the slaves creates a
legacy that endures. His eloquence of democracy and his insistence that the
Union was worth saving embody the ideals of self-government that all nations
strive to achieve.
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log
cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln.
Thomas was a strong and determined pioneer who found a moderate level of
prosperity and was well respected in the community. The couple had two other
children: Abraham's older sister Sarah and younger brother Thomas, who died in
infancy. Due to a land dispute, the Lincolns were forced to move from Kentucky
to Perry County, Indiana in 1817, where the family "squatted" on
public land to scrap out a living in a crude shelter, hunting game and farming
a small plot. Thomas was eventually able to buy the land.
When young Abraham was 9 years old his
mother died of tremetol (milk sickness) at age 34 and the event was devastating
on him. The 9-year-old Abraham grew more alienated from his father and quietly
resented the hard work placed on him at an early age. A few months after
Nancy's death, Thomas married Sarah Bush Johnston, a Kentucky widow with three
children of her own. She was a strong and affectionate woman with whom Abraham
quickly bonded. Though both his parents were most likely illiterate, Sarah
encouraged Abraham to read. It was while growing into manhood that he received
his formal education—an estimated total of 18 months—a few days or weeks at a
time. Reading material was in short supply in the Indiana wilderness. Neighbors
recalled how Abraham would walk for miles to borrow a book. He undoubtedly read
the family Bible and probably other popular books at that time such as Robinson
Crusoe, Pilgrims Progress and Aesop’s Fables.
Law Career
In March, 1830, the family again
migrated, this time to Macon County, Illinois. When his father moved the family
again to Coles County, 22-year-old Abraham Lincoln struck out on this own,
making a living in manual labor. At six feet four inches tall, Lincoln was
rawboned and lanky, but muscular and physically strong. He spoke with a
backwoods twang and walked with a long-striding gait. He was known for his
skill in wielding an ax and early on made a living splitting wood for fire and
rail fencing. Young Lincoln eventually migrated to the small community of New
Salem, Illinois where over a period of years he worked as a shopkeeper,
postmaster, and eventually general store owner. It was here that Lincoln,
working with the public, acquired social skills and honed story-telling talent
that made him popular with the locals.
When the Black Hawk War
broke out in 1832 between the United States and Native Americans, the volunteers
in the area elected Lincoln to be their captain. He saw no combat during this
time, save for "a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes,"
but was able to make several important political connections.
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After the Black Hawk War, Abraham
Lincoln began his political career and was elected to the Illinois state
legislature in 1834 as a member of the Whig Party. He supported the Whig
politics of government-sponsored infrastructure and protective tariffs. This
political understanding led him to formulate his early views on slavery, not so
much as a moral wrong, but as an impediment to economic development. It was
around this time that he decided to become a lawyer, teaching himself the law
by reading William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. After
being admitted to the bar in 1837, he moved to Springfield, Illinois and began
to practice in the John T. Stuart law firm.
It was soon after this that he
purportedly met and became romantically involved with Anne Rutledge. Before
they had a chance to be engaged, a wave of typhoid fever came over New Salem
and Anne died at age 22. Her death was said to have left Lincoln severely
depressed. However, several historians disagree on the extent of Lincoln’s
relationship with Rutledge and his level of sorrow at her death may be more the
makings of legend.
In 1844, Abraham Lincoln partnered
with William Herndon in the practice of law. Though the two had different
jurisprudent styles, they developed a close professional and personal
relationship. Lincoln made a good living in his early years as a lawyer, but
found that Springfield alone didn't offer enough work, so to supplement his
income, he followed the court as it made its rounds on the circuit to the
various county seats in Illinois.
Entering Politics
Abraham Lincoln served a single term
in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1847 to 1849. His foray into national
politics seems to be as unremarkable as it was brief. He was the lone Whig from
the state of Illinois, showing party loyalty, but finding few political allies.
He used his term in office to speak out against the Mexican-American War and
supported Zachary
Taylor for president in 1848. His criticism of the war made him unpopular
back home and he decided not to run for second term, but instead returned
Springfield to practice law.
By the 1850s, the railroad industry
was moving west and Illinois found itself becoming a major hub for various
companies. Abraham Lincoln served as a lobbyist for the Illinois Central
Railroad as its company attorney. Success in several court cases brought other
business clients as well—banks, insurance companies and manufacturing firms.
Lincoln also did some criminal trials. In one case, a witness claimed that he
could identify Lincoln's client who was accused of murder, because of the
intense light from a full moon. Lincoln referred to an almanac and proved that
the night in question had been too dark for the witness to see anything
clearly. His client was acquitted.
About a year after the death of Anne
Rutledge, Lincoln courted Mary Owens. The two saw each other for a few months
and marriage was considered. But in time Lincoln called off the match. In 1840,
Lincoln became engaged to Mary Todd, a high spirited, well educated woman from
a distinguished Kentucky family. In the beginning, many of the couple's friends
and family couldn't understand Mary’s attraction, and at times Lincoln
questioned it himself. However, in 1841, the engagement was suddenly broken
off, most likely at Lincoln's initiative. They met later, at a social function
and eventually married on November 4, 1842. The couple had four children, of
which only one, Robert, survived to adulthood.
Elected President
In 1854, Congress passed the
Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise, and allowed
individual states and territories to decide for themselves whether to allow
slavery. The law provoked violent opposition in Kansas and Illinois. And it
gave rise to the Republican Party. This awakened Abraham Lincoln's political
zeal once again, and his views on slavery moved more toward moral indignation.
Lincoln joined the Republican Party in 1856.
In 1857, the Supreme Court issued its
controversial decision Scott v. Sanford, declaring African Americans were not
citizens and had no inherent rights. Though Abraham Lincoln felt African
Americans were not equal to whites, he believed the America's founders intended
that all men were created with certain inalienable rights. Lincoln decided to
challenge sitting U.S. Senator Stephen Douglas for his seat. In his nomination
acceptance speech, he criticized Douglas, the Supreme Court, and President
Buchanan for promoting slavery and declared "a house divided cannot
stand."
The 1858 Senate campaign featured
seven debates held in different cities all over Illinois. The two candidates
didn't disappoint the public, giving stirring debates on issues ranging from
states' rights to western expansion, but the central issue in all the debates
was slavery. Newspapers intensely covered the debates, often times with
partisan editing and interpretation. In the end, the state legislature elected
Douglas, but the exposure vaulted Lincoln into national politics.
In 1860, political operatives in
Illinois organized a campaign to support Lincoln for the presidency. On May
18th at the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Abraham Lincoln
surpassed better known candidates such as William Seward
of New York and Salmon
P. Chase of Ohio. Lincoln's nomination was due in part to his moderate
views on slavery, his support for improving the national infrastructure, and
the protective tariff. In the general election, Lincoln faced his friend and
rival, Stephan Douglas, this time besting him in a four-way race that included
John C. Breckinridge of the Northern Democrats and John Bell of the
Constitution Party. Lincoln received not quite 40 percent of the popular vote,
but carried 180 of 303 Electoral votes.
Abraham Lincoln selected a strong
cabinet composed of many of his political rivals, including William Seward,
Salmon P. Chase, Edward
Bates and Edwin
Stanton.
Formed out the adage "Hold your
friends close and your enemies closer," Lincoln's Cabinet became one of
his strongest assets in his first term in office… and he would need them.
Before his inauguration in March, 1861, seven Southern states had seceded from
the Union and by April the U.S. military installation Fort Sumter, was under
siege in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. In the early morning hours of April
12, 1861, the guns stationed to protect the harbor blazed toward the fort
signaling the start of America’s costliest and most deadly conflict.
Civil War
Abraham Lincoln responded to the
crisis wielding powers as no other present before him. He distributed $2
million from the Treasury for war material without an appropriation from
Congress; he called for 75,000 volunteers into military service without a declaration
of war; and he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, arresting and imprisoning
suspected Confederate sympathizers without a warrant. Crushing the rebellion
would be difficult under any circumstances, but the Civil War, with its
preceding decades of white-hot partisan politics, was especially onerous. From
all directions, Lincoln faced disparagement and defiance. He was often at odds
with his generals, his Cabinet, his party and a majority of the American
people.
The Union Army's first year and a half
of battlefield defeats made it especially difficult to keep morale up and
support strong for a reunification the nation. With the hopeful, but by no
means conclusive Union victory at Antietam on September 22, 1862, Abraham felt
confident enough to reshape the cause of the war from "union" to
abolishing slavery. Gradually, the war effort improved for the North, though
more by attrition then by brilliant military victories. But by 1864, the
Confederacy had hunkered down to a guerilla war and Lincoln was convinced he'd
be a one-term president. His nemesis, George B. McClellan, the former commander
of the Army of the Potomac, challenged him for the presidency, but the contest
wasn't even close. Lincoln received 55 percent of the popular vote and 212 of
243 Electoral votes. On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee,
commander of the Army of Virginia, surrendered his forces to Union General Ulysses S. Grant
and the war for all intents and purposes was over.
Assassination
Reconstruction began during the war as
early as 1863 in areas firmly under Union military control. Abraham Lincoln
favored a policy of quick reunification with a minimum of retribution. But he
was confronted by a radical group of Republicans in the Senate and House that
wanted complete allegiance and repentance from former Confederates. Before a
political battle had a chance to firmly develop, Lincoln was assassinated on
April 14, 1865, by well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes
Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. Lincoln was taken from the
theater to a Petersen House across the street and laid in a coma for nine hours
before dying the next morning. His body lay in state at the Capitol before a
funeral train took him back to his final resting place in Springfield,
Illinois.
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