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Roosevelt , he has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as one of the top three greatest American presidents, often as the greatest president in American history. Lincoln, who was a former Whig congressman, emerged as a major Republican presidential candidate following his narrow loss to Democrat Stephen A.
Douglas in the Senate election in Illinois. Seward of New York had, Lincoln believed that he could emerge as the Republican presidential nominee at the convention after multiple ballots.
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Lincoln spent much of and building support for his candidacy, and his Cooper Union speech was well received by eastern elites. Lincoln positioned himself in the "moderate center" of his party; he opposed the expansion of slavery into the territories but accepted the consensus that the federal government could not abolish slavery in the slave states.
Ignoring Lincoln's strong dictate to "make no contracts that bind me", [ 3 ] his managers maneuvered to win Lincoln's nomination on the third ballot of the convention. Delegates then nominated Senator Hannibal Hamlin from Maine for vice president. It also endorsed a protective tariff , internal improvements such as a transcontinental railroad , and policies designed to encourage the settlement of public land in the West.
The Democratic National Convention met in April , but adjourned after failing to agree on a candidate. A second convention met in June and nominated Stephen Douglas as the presidential nominee, but several pro-slavery Southern delegations refused to support Douglas, as they demanded a strongly pro-slavery nominee. Breckinridge of Kentucky for president.
Breckinridge and Bell would primarily contest the South, while Lincoln and Douglas would compete for votes in the North. Republicans were confident after these party conventions, with Lincoln predicting that the fractured Democrats stood little chance of winning the election. Lincoln carried all but one Northern state to win an Electoral College majority with votes to 72 for Breckinridge, 39 for Bell, and 12 for Douglas.
Lincoln won every county in New England and most of the remaining counties in the North, but he won just two of the Southern counties. Despite Republican success in the presidential election, the party failed to win a majority in either house of Congress, [ 9 ] although after the Southern states seceded, Lincoln governed with a majority in both houses.
Following Lincoln's victory, all the slave states began to consider secession. Lincoln was not scheduled to take office until March 4, , leaving incumbent Democratic President James Buchanan , a " doughface " from Pennsylvania who had been sympathetic to the South, to preside over the country until that time. Lincoln had no official power to act while the secession crisis escalated.
Many wanted him to provide reassurances to the South that its interests were not being threatened. He believed that, given enough time without any overt acts or threats to the South, Southern unionists would carry the day and bring their states back into the Union. Republicans praised Trumbull's address, Democrats assailed it, and the South largely ignored it.
In December , both the House and Senate formed special committees to address the unfolding crisis. Lincoln communicated with various Congressmen that there was room for negotiation on issues such as fugitive slaves, slavery in the District of Columbia , and the domestic slave trade. However he made it clear that he was unalterably opposed to anything which would allow the expansion of slavery into any new states or territories.
The instant you do, they have us under again; all our labor is lost, and sooner or later must be done over. Douglas is sure to be again trying to bring in his [popular sovereignty]. Have none of it. In mid-December, Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, the chairman of the special Senate committee, proposed a package of six constitutional amendments, known as the Crittenden Compromise.
Congress would be forbidden from abolishing slavery in any state or the District of Columbia or interfering with the domestic slave trade. Despite pressure from Seward, Lincoln refused to support the compromise. Lincoln believed that Southern threats of secession were mostly bluster and that the sectional crisis would be defused, as it had in and In February , two final political efforts were made to preserve the Union.
The first was made by a group of delegates sent by 21 states to a Peace Conference , held at the Willard's Hotel in the nation's capital. The proposal was rejected by the Senate and never considered by the House. Commonly known as the Corwin Amendment , the measure was approved by Congress, but was not ratified by the state legislatures.
On February 11, , Lincoln boarded a special train that over the course of the next two weeks would take him to the nation's capital. While his speeches were mostly extemporaneous, his message was consistent: he had no hostile intentions towards the South, disunion was not acceptable, and he intended to enforce the laws and protect property.
Rumors abounded during the course of the trip of various plots to kill Lincoln. Samuel Felton , president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad , hired detective Allan Pinkerton to investigate reports that secessionists might try to sabotage the railroad along the route. In conducting his investigation Pinkerton obtained information that indicated to him that an attempt on Lincoln's life would be made in Baltimore.
Lincoln and his entourage passed through Baltimore's waterfront at around 3 o'clock in the early morning of February 23, and arrived safely in the nation's capital a few hours later.
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The unannounced departure from the published schedule, along with the unconventional attire Lincoln wore to keep a low profile, led to critics and cartoonists accusing him of sneaking into Washington in disguise. He also worked to complete his cabinet, meeting with Republican Senators to obtain their feedback. Lincoln, aware that his inaugural address would be delivered in an atmosphere filled with fear and anxiety, and amid an unstable political landscape, sought guidance from colleagues and friends as he prepared it.
Among those whose counsel Lincoln sought was Orville Browning , who advised Lincoln to omit the phrase "to reclaim the public property and places which have fallen". He also asked his former rival and Secretary of State-designate William Seward to review it. Seward exercised his due diligence by presenting Lincoln with a six-page analysis of the speech in which he offered some 49 suggested changes, of which the president-elect incorporated 27 into the final draft.
Lincoln's first presidential inauguration occurred on March 4, , on the East Portico of the United States Capitol. He opened by attempting to reassure the South that he had no intention or constitutional authority to interfere with slavery in states where it already existed. He promised to enforce the fugitive slave law and spoke favorably about a pending constitutional amendment that would preserve slavery in the states where it currently existed.
He also assured the states that had already seceded that the federal government would not "assail" violently attack them. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
Lincoln began the process of constructing his cabinet on election night. He did not shy away from surrounding himself with strong-minded men, even those whose credentials for office appeared to be much more impressive than his own. The first cabinet position filled was that of Secretary of State. It was tradition for the president-elect to offer this, the most senior cabinet post, to the leading best-known and most popular person of his political party.
William Seward was that man and in mid-December , Vice President-elect Hamlin, acting on Lincoln's behalf, offered the position to him. Despite pressure from some congressional leaders to fire Seward, Lincoln retained his Secretary of State for the duration of his presidency. Chase , Seward's chief political rival. Lincoln replaced Chase with William P.
The most problematic cabinet selection made by Lincoln was that of Simon Cameron as the Secretary of War. Cameron was one of the most influential public leaders in the crucial political state of Pennsylvania, but he was also alleged to be one of the most corrupt. Curtin and party chairman A. Nonetheless, by Inauguration Day the competing factions realized that it was important to business interests that at least some Pennsylvanian be in Lincoln's cabinet, and Cameron was made Secretary of War.
Stanton worked more often and more closely with Lincoln than any other senior official. Lincoln appointed two individuals from the border states to his cabinet. Montgomery Blair of Maryland, who was popular among anti-slavery and border state Democrats, became Lincoln's first Postmaster-General. Blair came from a prominent political family, as his father, Francis Preston Blair , had served as an adviser to President Andrew Jackson , while his younger brother, Francis Preston Blair Jr.
Seeing Blair as a political liability, Lincoln dismissed Blair from the cabinet in September , replacing him with William Dennison. Lincoln tasked Vice President-elect Hamlin with finding someone from a New England state for the cabinet. Other influential Republicans concurred, and Welles became Secretary of the Navy. His critics faulted him for some of his railroad ventures, accused him of being a Doughface, and questioned his intellectual capacity for a high government position.
In the end, Smith's selection for Secretary of the Interior had much to do with his campaign efforts on behalf of Lincoln and their friendship. Southern Democrats had dominated the Supreme Court of the United States in the period before Lincoln took office, and their unpopular ruling in the case of Dred Scott v.
Sandford had done much to invigorate the Republican cause in the North. Two more vacancies arose in early due to the death of John McLean and the resignation of John Archibald Campbell. Despite the vacancies, Lincoln did not nominate a replacement for any of the justices until January Lincoln's appointments gave Northern Unionists a majority on the Court.
By the time Lincoln assumed office seven states had declared their secession and had seized federal property within their bounds, but the United States retained control of major military installations at Fort Sumter near Charleston and Fort Pickens near Pensacola. Totten , the army's chief engineer, said that simply reinforcing the fort was not possible, although Secretary of the Navy Welles disagreed.
Scott advised Lincoln that it would take a large fleet, 25, troops, and several months of training in order to defend the fort. Fox presented a plan for a naval resupply and reinforcement of the fort. The plan had been approved by Scott during the last month of the previous administration, but Buchanan had rejected it.
No decision was reached, but Lincoln personally dispatched Fox, Stephen A. Hurlbut , and Ward Lamon to South Carolina to assess the situation. The recommendations that came back were that reinforcement was both necessary, since secessionist feeling ran high and threatened the fort, and feasible, despite Anderson's misgivings.
On March 28, Scott recommended that both Pickens and Sumter be abandoned, basing his decision more on political than military grounds. The next day a deeply agitated Lincoln presented Scott's proposal to the cabinet. Blair was now joined by Welles and Chase in supporting reinforcement. Bates was non-committal, Cameron was not in attendance, and Seward and Smith opposed resupply.
Later that day Lincoln gave Fox the order to begin assembling a squadron to reinforce Fort Sumter. Pickens of the impending re-supply of the fort. The Confederate cabinet was already meeting to discuss the Sumter crisis, and on April 10 Davis decided to demand the surrender of the fort and bombard it if the demand was refused.
The relief expedition sent by the Union arrived too late to intervene. On April 15, following the Battle of Fort Sumter, Lincoln declared that a state of rebellion existed and called up a force of seventy-five thousand state militiamen to serve three-month terms. While Northern states rallied to the request, border states such as Missouri refused to provide soldiers.
Lincoln also called Congress into a special session to begin in July. Though an in-session Congress could potentially affect his freedom of action, Lincoln needed Congress to authorize funds to fight the war.
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Lee command of the Union forces, but Lee chose to serve the Confederacy. Union soldiers in Southern states burned federal facilities to prevent Southern forces from taking control of them, while Confederate sympathizers rioted in Baltimore. To ensure the security of the capital, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus in Maryland and ignored a court order to release John Merryman from prison.
While Lincoln struggled to maintain order in Maryland and other border states, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee all seceded from the Union. North Carolina was the last state to secede, doing so on May With the secession of several states, Lincoln's Republicans enjoyed large majorities in both houses of Congress. Knowing that success in the war required the support of local officials in mobilizing soldiers, Lincoln used patronage powers and personal diplomacy to ensure that Northern leaders remained devoted to the war effort.
Having succeeded in rallying the North against secession, Lincoln next determined to attack the Confederate capital of Richmond , which was located just one hundred miles from Washington. Lincoln was disappointed by the state of the War Department and Navy Department, and Scott counseled that the army needed more time to train, but Lincoln nonetheless ordered an offensive.
As the aged Scott was unable to lead the army himself, General Irvin McDowell led a force of 30, men south, where he met a force led by Confederate General P. At the First Battle of Bull Run , the Confederate army dealt the Union a major defeat, ending any hope of a quick end to the war. Following the secession of four states after the Battle of Fort Sumter, one of Lincoln's major concerns was that the slave-holding border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri would join the Confederacy.
Of these four states, Lincoln was least concerned about Delaware, which had a proportionally large pro-Union population. Due to its location, Maryland remained a critical part of the Union. Lincoln continued to suppress Southern sympathizers in the state, but historian Ronald White also notes Lincoln's forbearance in refusing to take harsher measures.
Perhaps even more critical than Maryland was Kentucky , which provided access to key rivers and served as a gateway to Tennessee and the Midwest. Hoping to avoid upsetting the delicate balance in the state, Lincoln publicly ordered military leaders to respect Kentucky's declared neutrality, but quietly provided support to Kentucky Unionists.
The Confederates were the first to violate this neutrality, seizing control of the town of Columbus , while the Union would capture the important town of Paducah. Like Kentucky, Missouri controlled access to key rivers and had a large pro-Confederate population. Lincoln appointed General John C. McClellan to replace McDowell. McClellan had won minor battles in the Western Virginia campaign , and those victories had allowed Unionist West Virginia to hold the Wheeling Convention and eventually secede from Virginia.
The campaign's objective was to capture Richmond by moving the Army of the Potomac by boat to the Virginia Peninsula and then overland to the Confederate capital. McClellan's repeated delays frustrated Lincoln and Congress, as did his position that no troops were needed to defend Washington. In response to Bull Run, Congress established the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War to provide oversight of military operations.
Aside from the committee's activities, Congress would generally defer to Lincoln's leadership throughout the war. Congressional Democrats, on the other hand, tended to oppose Lincoln's policies regarding both the war and slavery. In January , Lincoln, frustrated by months of inaction, ordered McClellan to begin the offensive by the end of February.
He did, however, remove McClellan as general-in-chief of the army in May, leaving the office vacant.
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Following the battle, Robert E. Lee took command of Confederate forces in Virginia, and he led his forces to victory in the Seven Days Battles , which effectively brought the Peninsula Campaign to a close. On July 11, Lincoln summoned Henry Halleck from the Western Theater of the war to take command as general-in-chief of the army.
Following the battle, Lincoln turned to McClellan again, placing him in command of the Army of Virginia as well as the Army of Potomac. The Emancipation Proclamation gained votes for the Republicans in the rural areas of New England and the upper Midwest, but it lost votes in the cities and the lower Midwest.
Against the advice of the president, Burnside prematurely launched an offensive across the Rappahannock River and was stunningly defeated by Lee at the Battle of Fredericksburg in December. Not only had Burnside been defeated on the battlefield, but his soldiers were disgruntled and undisciplined. Desertions during were in the thousands and they increased after Fredericksburg.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Following the Battle of Fredericksburg, Lincoln reassigned Burnside to the western theater and replaced Burnside with General Joseph Hooker , who had served in several battles of the eastern theater. In April , Hooker began his offensive towards Richmond, and his army encountered Lee's at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Despite possessing a larger army, the Union suffered another major loss at Chancellorsville, though the Confederates also suffered a high number of casualties, including the death of General Stonewall Jackson.
Lee hoped that Confederate victories in the offensive would empower Lincoln's political opponents and convince the North that the Union could not win the war. Lee led his army into Pennsylvania, and was followed by Meade's Army of the Potomac. While many in the North fretted over Lee's advance, Lincoln saw the offensive as an opportunity to destroy a Confederate army.
The battle, fought over three days, resulted in the highest number of casualties in the war. Along with the Union victory in the Siege of Vicksburg , the Battle of Gettysburg is often referred to as a turning point in the war. Though the battle ended with a Confederate retreat, Lincoln was dismayed that Meade had failed to destroy Lee's army.
Feeling that Meade was a competent commander despite his failure to pursue Lee, Lincoln allowed Meade to remain in command of the Army of the Potomac. The Eastern Theater would be locked in a stalemate for the remainder of In November , Lincoln was invited to Gettysburg to dedicate the first national cemetery and honor the soldiers who had fallen.
His Gettysburg Address became a core statement of American political values. Defying Lincoln's prediction that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here", the Address became the most quoted speech in American history. Chase of Ohio. In the November general election, Lincoln faced his friend and rival Stephen Douglas, this time besting him in a four-way race that included John C.
Lincoln received not quite 40 percent of the popular vote but carried of Electoral College votes, thus winning the U. He grew his trademark beard after his election. Following his election to the presidency in , Lincoln selected a strong cabinet composed of many of his political rivals, including William Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Edwin Stanton.
In the early morning hours of April 12, , the guns stationed to protect the harbor blazed toward the fort, signaling the start of the U. Crushing the rebellion would be difficult under any circumstances, but the Civil War, after 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. On January 1, , Lincoln delivered his official Emancipation Proclamation , reshaping the cause of the Civil War from saving the Union to abolishing slavery. And the Union victory at Antietam on September 22, , while by no means conclusive, was hopeful.
It gave Lincoln the confidence to officially change the goals of the war. On that same day, he issued a preliminary proclamation that slaves in states rebelling against the Union would be free as of January 1. In the far reaches of western Texas, that day finally came on June 19, —more than two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect.
For decades, many Black Americans have celebrated this anniversary, known as Juneteenth or Emancipation Day, and in , President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a national holiday. Still, the Emancipation Proclamation did have some immediate impact. It permitted Black Americans to serve in the Union Army for the first time, which contributed to the eventual Union victory.
The historic declaration also paved the way for the passage of the 13 th Amendment that ended legal slavery in the United States. On November 19, , Lincoln delivered what would become his most famous speech and one of the most important speeches in American history: the Gettysburg Address. Addressing a crowd of around 15, people, Lincoln delivered his word speech at one of the bloodiest battlefields of the Civil War, the Gettysburg National Cemetery in Pennsylvania.
The Civil War, Lincoln said, was the ultimate test of the preservation of the Union created in , and the people who died at Gettysburg fought to uphold this cause. A common interpretation was that the president was expanding the cause of the Civil War from simply reunifying the Union to also fighting for equality and abolishing slavery. His nemesis George B.
Lincoln received 55 percent of the popular vote and of electoral votes. On April 9, , General Robert E. The Civil War was for all intents and purposes over. Reconstruction had already began during the Civil War, as early as in areas firmly under Union military control, and Lincoln favored a policy of quick reunification with a minimum of retribution.
He was confronted by a radical group of Republicans in Congress that wanted complete allegiance and repentance from former Confederates. Before a political debate had any chance to firmly develop, Lincoln was killed. Lincoln was taken to the Petersen House across the street and laid in a coma for nine hours before dying the next morning.
He was In the general election, Lincoln again faced Douglas, who represented the northern Democrats; southern Democrats had nominated John C. He built an exceptionally strong cabinet composed of many of his political rivals, including Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates and Edwin M. After years of sectional tensions, the election of an antislavery northerner as the 16th president of the United States drove many southerners over the brink.
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. 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. After years of war, he feared he would not win. Only in the final months of the campaign did the exertions of Ulysses S. Grant , the quiet general now in command of all of the Union armies, begin to bear fruit.
A string of heartening victories buoyed Lincoln's ticket and contributed significantly to his re-election. In his second inauguration speech , March 4, , he set the tone he intended to take when the war finally ended. The Lincoln administration did more than just manage the Civil War, although its reverberations could still be felt in a number of policies.
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The Revenue Act of established the United States' first income tax, largely to pay the costs of total war. The Morrill Act of established the basis of the state university system in this country, while the Homestead Act, also passed in , encouraged settlement of the West by offering acres of free land to settlers.
Lincoln also created the Department of Agriculture and formally instituted the Thanksgiving holiday. Internationally, he navigated the "Trent Affair," a diplomatic crisis regarding the seizure of a British ship carrying Confederate envoys, in such a way as to quell the saber-rattling overtures coming from Britain as well as the United States.
In another spill-over from the war, Lincoln restricted the civil liberties of due process and freedom of the press. The assassination was part of a larger plot to eliminate the Northern government that also left Secretary of State William Seward grievously injured. Lincoln died the following day, and with him the hope of reconstructing the nation without bitterness.
Civil War Biography.