View our top-rated projects He said "A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. [213], In the spring of 1863 Lincoln was sufficiently optimistic about upcoming military campaigns to think the end of the war could be near; the plans included attacks by Hooker on Lee north of Richmond, Rosecrans on Chattanooga, Grant on Vicksburg, and a naval assault on Charleston. The Emancipation Proclamation gained votes for Republicans in rural New England and the upper Midwest, but cost votes in the Irish and German strongholds and in the lower Midwest, where many Southerners had lived for generations. Shortly after being re-elected as President, he was shot and killed at the Ford's Theatre. . He believed in his own integrity and worked diligently to maintain his reputation as an honest politician and lawyer something that was not always easy in either of those fields. [161] On December 20, 1860, South Carolina took the lead by adopting an ordinance of secession; by February 1, 1861, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed. [313], The late President lay in state, first in the East Room of the White House, and then in the Capitol Rotunda from April 19 through April 21. As a rail-splitter, he helped to clear and fence his father's new farm. Lincoln warned that Douglas' "Slave Power" was threatening the values of republicanism, and accused Douglas of distorting the Founding Fathers' premise that all men are created equal. At times he was presented as the plain-talking "Rail Splitter" and at other times he was "Honest Abe", unpolished but trustworthy. Abraham Lincoln was said to be one of the most honest presidents who has ever served our country, that's where he was given the nickname . But he was yet to demonstrate whatever other abilities he possessed. [143] Exploiting his embellished frontier legend (clearing land and splitting fence rails), Lincoln's supporters adopted the label of "The Rail Candidate". She has been described as stoop-shouldered, thin-breasted, sad, and fervently religious. [30], As a teen, Lincoln took responsibility for chores and customarily gave his father all earnings from work outside the home until he was 21. Permissions and Citations The entrance to their box seats was poorly guarded, allowing actor John Wilkes Booth to enter. [211], Burnside, against presidential advice, launched an offensive across the Rappahannock River and was defeated by Lee at Fredericksburg in December. Interestingly President Abraham Lincoln fully understood this way back in 1861 when he raised tariffs on imported steel. Our politically correct friends won't even accept the possibility that this could be true of course. Your subscription to Taylor was a down-to-earth, unpretentious leader who readily shared the difficulties and privations of his fellow soldiers. [394] Memorials in Springfield, Illinois, include the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Lincoln's home, and his tomb. 1864 photo of President Lincoln with youngest son, U.S. House of Representatives (18471849), LincolnDouglas debates and Cooper Union speech. How did he get that name, and was he deserving of it? Meanwhile, Lincoln emboldened Grant with more troops and Republican party support. Lincoln became the first president to be assassinated when he was shot on April 14, 1865. A copy of President Abraham Lincoln's short Gettysburg Address speech. On June 2324, 1862, President Lincoln made an unannounced visit to West Point, where he spent five hours consulting with Scott regarding the handling of the Civil War and the staffing of the War Department. Lincoln ordered Gen Pope send all of the trial transcripts to Washington where he and two of his staff pored over the trials. Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, was an abuser. He had long made clear his opposition to the confiscation and redistribution of land. [60] Lincoln finished eighth out of 13 candidates (the top four were elected), though he received 277 of the 300 votes cast in the New Salem precinct. As a young man, Lincoln was a religious skeptic. Taft once again lost weight after leaving the White House, but the damage had been done and he died of heart disease in 1930. [299], John Wilkes Booth was a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland; though he never joined the Confederate army, he had contacts with the Confederate secret service. Stanton centralized the War Department's activities, auditing and canceling contracts, saving the federal government $17,000,000. "Stanton and Lincoln virtually conducted the war together", say Thomas and Hyman. Contact Us, Copyright 2012/2013 by Great American History - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED~. [90] Lincoln handled transportation cases in the midst of the nation's western expansion, particularly river barge conflicts under the many new railroad bridges. Start your free trial today. An example of an "enemys" respect came in 1858, during Lincoln's Senate race against the powerful incumbent, Stephen A. Douglas. In the 1840s, Lincoln subscribed to the Doctrine of Necessity, a belief that the human mind was controlled by a higher power. [241] When Lincoln asked what Grant's plans were, the persistent general replied, "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer. Because a license was required to sell customers single beverages, Berry obtained bartending licenses for $7 each for Lincoln and himself, and in 1833 the Lincoln-Berry General Store became a tavern as well. [8] Thomas and Nancy married on June 12, 1806, in Washington County, and moved to Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Honest Abe became a lawyer and settled in Springfield where he was elected to one term in Congress. Campsites cost $6 per night; RV hookups are available. Some 750,000 soldiers had died during the four-year conflict. [20] Ten years later, on January 20, 1828, Sarah died while giving birth to a stillborn son, devastating Lincoln. This charm derives from his remarkable life storythe rise from humble origins, the dramatic deathand from his distinctively human and humane personality as well as from his historical role as saviour of the Union and emancipator of enslaved people. Lincoln was born in a Kentucky log cabin in 1809, and in 1816 his father, Thomas, moved the family across the Ohio River to a 160-acre plot in southern Indiana. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. His victories, including the climactic Battle of New Orleans in 1815 made him a national hero, and his supporters capitalized on his fame, pushing him as a candidate for president. God alone can claim it. He was successful after indicating to London and Paris that Washington would declare war on them if they supported Richmond. Although opposed to slavery from the outset of his political career, Lincoln would not make its abolition a mainstay of his policy until several years into the war. We want to bridge divides to reach everyone. He was the only Whig in the Illinois delegation, but as dutiful as any participated in almost all votes and made speeches that toed the party line. Why Honest Abe is called Abraham Lincoln? - Answers In Lincoln's early political years, he wrote "I want in all cases to do right, and most particularly so in all cases with women." However, Lincoln's articulation of the issues had given him a national political presence. He had little formal schooling but . "[139], Historian David Herbert Donald described the speech as "a superb political move for an unannounced presidential aspirant. [218], In June 1862, Congress passed an act banning slavery on all federal territory, which Lincoln signed. [240], Grant in 1864 waged the bloody Overland Campaign, which exacted heavy losses on both sides. [166], Attempts at compromise followed but Lincoln and the Republicans rejected the proposed Crittenden Compromise as contrary to the Party's platform of free-soil in the territories. [209] That battle, a Union victory, was among the bloodiest in American history; it facilitated Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in January. [326] With the death of his son Edward in 1850 he more frequently expressed a dependence on God. [120], In 1858, Douglas was up for re-election in the U.S. Senate, and Lincoln hoped to defeat him. He was the first Republican president and his victory was entirely due to his support in the North and West. Because no president had ever died in office, few worried that Tyler would succeed the head of the ticket, William Henry Harrison. [74], In 1843, Lincoln sought the Whig nomination for Illinois' 7th district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; he was defeated by John J. Hardin though he prevailed with the party in limiting Hardin to one term. Photograph by Archive Photos / Getty Images. Mary kept house with the help of a hired servant and a relative. Lincoln led the Union through the American Civil War to defend the nation as a constitutional union and succeeded in abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy. 4. It had been sporadically proclaimed by the federal government on irregular dates. Minnesota's Governor had made Sibley a Colonel United States Volunteers to command the US force tasked with fighting the war and that eventually defeated Little Crow's forces at the Battle of Wood Lake. He soon became a leader of the new Republican Party. He gave the famous Gettysburg Address speech and the Great Emancipation that freed the slaves. [18], Overcoming financial challenges, Thomas in 1827 obtained clear title to 80 acres (32ha) in Indiana, an area which became the Little Pigeon Creek Community. [104] He said the Kansas Act had a "declared indifference, but as I must think, a covert real zeal for the spread of slavery. Due to secessionist plots, a then-unprecedented attention to security was given to him and his train. All rights reserved. Additional Credits Now a congressman, Alexander Ramsey told Lincoln, in 1864, that he would have gotten more re-election support in Minnesota had he executed all 303 of the Mdewakanton. He sent out pink-hued pamphlets attacking Douglas loyalty. Abraham 'Honest Abe' Lincoln had a number of nicknames America's 16th president came from famously humble origins, born in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky. is almost monomaniac on the subject of honesty.". [220] In a letter of August 22, 1862, Lincoln said that while he personally wished all men could be free, regardless of that, his first obligation as president was to preserve the Union:[221], My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. Lincoln did believe in an all-powerful God that shaped events and by 1865 was expressing that belief in major speeches. purchase. [58] When Lincoln returned home from the Black Hawk War, he planned to become a blacksmith, but instead formed a partnership with William Berry, 21, with whom he purchased a New Salem general store on credit.