This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 205.188.198.183 (talk) at 18:07, 26 February 2002 (*added a bit on Abraham Lincoln). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 18:07, 26 February 2002 by 205.188.198.183 (talk) (*added a bit on Abraham Lincoln)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Abraham Lincoln was the 16th (1861-1865) President of the United States, and the first President from the Republican Party.
File:Abraham-lincoln-thumbnail.jpg
Public domain picture from Handbook of Early Advertising Art. full size
Born on February 12 1809 in Kentucky, he moved at a young age to the area near Springfield, Illinois.
Lincoln was elected president in 1860, when the republic was in crisis. Southern states had made clear their belief in the right to secede from the Union.
Lincoln was commander-in-chief during the American Civil War.
He wrote and delivered the Gettysburg Address, perhaps the greatest piece of oratory ever delivered in North America.
Another astonishing speech is Lincoln's second Inaugural. Lincoln might have been a great novelist or biographer had he not become a professional politician.
He is credited with freeing the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation, though this only freed the slaves in areas of the Confederacy not yet controlled by the Union.
At Lincoln's Inauguration on March 4, 1861 the Turners formed Lincoln's bodyguard .
He was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 26 1865.
One of the most respected and beloved presidents, Lincoln was also reviled by millions of people, especially in the slave and border states. When President Harry Truman, of Independence, Missouri laid a wreath on the grave of Abraham Lincoln, he caught hell from his mother, who recalled with bitterness the depradations on family property committed bny Union radicals in the name of Lincoln.
Lincoln has been memorialized in many city names, notably the capital of Nebraska, in corporate and product names, and with the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C..
Related articles
- Previous President: James Buchanan
- Next President: Andrew Johnson
- Vice President: Hannibal Hamlin; Andrew Johnson