Brief biography of abraham lincoln
By the time Lincoln was inaugurated as 16th U. The Confederates fired on both the fort and the Union fleet, beginning the Civil War. Hopes for a quick Union victory were dashed by defeat in the Battle of Bull Run Manassas , and Lincoln called for , more troops as both sides prepared for a long conflict. While the Confederate leader Jefferson Davis was a West Point graduate, Mexican War hero and former secretary of war, Lincoln had only a brief and undistinguished period of service in the Black Hawk War to his credit.
He surprised many when he proved to be a capable wartime leader, learning quickly about strategy and tactics in the early years of the Civil War, and about choosing the ablest commanders.
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General George McClellan , though beloved by his troops, continually frustrated Lincoln with his reluctance to advance, and when McClellan failed to pursue Robert E. During the war, Lincoln drew criticism for suspending some civil liberties, including the right of habeas corpus , but he considered such measures necessary to win the war.
Shortly after the Battle of Antietam Sharpsburg , Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation , which took effect on January 1, , and freed all of the enslaved people in the rebellious states not under federal control, but left those in the border states loyal to the Union in bondage. Two important Union victories in July —at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania—finally turned the tide of the war.
Grant , as supreme commander of the Union forces. In November , Lincoln delivered a brief speech just words at the dedication ceremony for the new national cemetery at Gettysburg. Union victory was near, and Lincoln gave a speech on the White House lawn on April 11, urging his audience to welcome the southern states back into the fold.
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Tragically, Lincoln would not live to help carry out his vision of Reconstruction. Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky on February 12, , to parents who could neither read nor write. He went to school on and off for a total of about a year, but he educated himself by reading borrowed books. When Lincoln was nine years old, his mother died.
His father—a carpenter and farmer—remarried and moved his family farther west, eventually settling in Illinois. As a young adult, Lincoln worked as a flatboat navigator, storekeeper, soldier, surveyor, and postmaster.
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At age 25 he was elected to the local government in Springfield, Illinois. Once there, he taught himself law, opened a law practice, and earned the nickname "Honest Abe. He served one term in the U. House of Representatives but lost two U. Senate races. Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars [ 25 ] and the public [ 26 ] as one of the greatest U.
He is often considered the greatest president in American history for his leadership during the American Civil War and his eloquence in speeches such as the Gettysburg Address. Contents move to sidebar hide.
Page Talk. Read Change Change source View history. Tools Tools. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. Abraham Lincoln.
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Portrait by Alexander Gardner , November Life [ change change source ]. Early political career [ change change source ]. Presidency [ change change source ]. See the main article: Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. The Civil War [ change change source ]. Emancipation Proclamation [ change change source ]. Gettysburg Address [ change change source ].
See the main article: Gettysburg Address.
Biography of john f. kennedy: Abraham Lincoln led his country through a tumultuous period and played an instrumental role in abolishing slavery while preserving the Union as the 16th president of the United States.
Second term and assassination [ change change source ]. See the main article: Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Legacy [ change change source ]. References [ change change source ]. Yale University. Retrieved August 22, Retrieved September 11, Donley October 31, Adams Media. ISBN Abraham Lincoln Online. Archived from the original on April 15, Retrieved May 21, Speeches and Writings Library of America.
Team of Rivals. Lincoln: A Biography. Random House, Inc. Lincoln as a Lawyer. Americana House. Quotable Lincoln. Archived from the original on January 4, Retrieved August 28, Retrieved November 15, University of Michigan Library. March 3, National Center for Public Policy Research. In Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas for Senator.
He lost the election, but in debating with Douglas he gained a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President in As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization.
Further, he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause. On January 1, , he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy. Lincoln never let the world forget that the Civil War involved an even larger issue. Lincoln won re-election in , as Union military triumphs heralded an end to the war.
In his planning for peace, the President was flexible and generous, encouraging Southerners to lay down their arms and join speedily in reunion. The spirit that guided him was clearly that of his Second Inaugural Address, now inscribed on one wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.