U.S. Presidents

Presidents of the United States are elected to be the head of the U.S. government. From George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama and Donald Trump, U.S. presidents are some of the most powerful people on the planet. 

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. He preserved the Union during the U.S. Civil War and brought about the emancipation of slaves.

Who Was Abraham Lincoln?

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States and is regarded as one of America's greatest heroes due to his role as savior of the Union and emancipator of slaves. His rise from humble beginnings to achieving the highest office in the land is a remarkable story. 

Lincoln was assassinated at a time when his country needed him to complete the great task of reunifying the nation. His eloquent support of democracy and insistence that the Union was worth saving embody the ideals of self-government that all nations strive to achieve. Lincoln's distinctively humane personality and incredible impact on the nation have endowed him with an enduring legacy.

Family

Lincoln was born 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: Lincoln's older sister Sarah and younger brother Thomas, who died in infancy.

When young Lincoln was nine years old, his mother died of tremetol (milk sickness) at age 34, on October 5, 1818. The event was devastating to him, and young Lincolngrew more alienated from his father and quietly resented the hard work placed on him at an early age.

QUICK FACTS

NAME

Abraham Lincoln

BIRTH DATE

February 12, 1809

DEATH DATE

April 15, 1865

DID YOU KNOW?

A former Whig Party member, Lincoln joined the Republican Party in 1856.

DID YOU KNOW?

Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, was saved from getting hit by a train by Edwin Booth, John Wilkes Booth's brother.

DID YOU KNOW?

Lincoln was an accomplished wrestler: He was defeated only once in about 300 matches, and is enshrined in the Wrestling Hall of Fame.

PLACE OF BIRTH

Hodgenville, Kentucky

PLACE OF DEATH

Washington, D.C.

Lincoln and Slavery

As a member of the Illinois state legislature in 1834, Lincoln 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.In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise, allowing 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 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 Dred Scott decision, declaring African Americans were not citizens and had no inherent rights. Though Lincoln felt African Americans were not equal to whites, he believed America's founders intended that all men were created with certain inalienable rights. 

Senate Race

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 James Buchanan for promoting slavery and declared "a house divided cannot stand."

During Lincoln’s 1858 U.S. Senate campaign against Douglas, he participated in seven debates held in different cities across 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 was slavery. 

Newspapers intensely covered the debates, often times with partisan commentary. In the end, the state legislature elected Douglas, but the exposure vaulted Lincoln into national politics.

President Abraham Lincoln

With his newly enhanced political profile, in 1860, political operatives in Illinois organized a campaign to support Lincoln for the presidency. On May 18, at the Republican National Convention in Chicago, 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, Stephen 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 College votes, thus winning the U.S. presidency.

Abraham Lincoln: Assassination

Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, by well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. He was taken to the Petersen House across the street and laid in a coma for nine hours before dying the next morning. His death was mourned by millions of citizens in the North and South alike. 

Lincoln's body lay in state at the U. S. Capitol before a funeral train took him back to his final resting place in Springfield, Illinois.

Legacy

Lincoln is frequently cited by historians and average citizens alike as America's greatest president. An aggressively activist commander-in-chief, Lincoln used every power at his disposal to assure victory in the Civil War and end slavery in the United States.

Some scholars doubt that the Union would have been preserved had another person of lesser character been in the White House. According to historian Michael Burlingame, "No president in American history ever faced a greater crisis and no president ever accomplished as much."

Lincoln's philosophy was perhaps best summed up in this Second Inaugural Address, when he stated, "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."