I

INTRODUCTION
. 

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 16th president of the United States (1861-1865) and one of the

great leaders in American history. A humane, far-sighted statesman in his lifetime, he became a
legend and a folk hero after his death.

Lincoln rose from humble backwoods origins to become one of the great presidents of the United
States. In his effort to preserve the Union during the Civil War, he assumed more power than any
preceding president. If necessity made him almost a dictator, by fervent conviction he was
always a democrat. A superb politician, he persuaded the people with reasoned word and
thoughtful deed to look to him for leadership. He had a lasting influence on American political
institutions, most importantly in setting the precedent of vigorous executive action in time of
national emergency.

II
EARLY LIFE
.
A.Education

Reading by Firelight
 

When his father could spare him from chores, Lincoln attended an ABC school. Such schools
were held in log cabins, and often the teachers were barely more educated than their pupils.
According to Lincoln, “no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond readin', writin',
and cipherin', to the Rule of Three.” Including a few weeks at a similar school in Kentucky,
Lincoln had less than one full year of formal education in his entire life.

Abe's stepmother encouraged his quest for knowledge. At an early age he could read, write, and
do simple arithmetic. Books were scarce on the Indiana frontier, but besides the family Bible,
which Lincoln knew well, he was able to read the classical authors Aesop, John Bunyan, and
Daniel Defoe, as well as William Grimshaw's History of the United States (1820) and Mason
Locke Weems's Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington (about 1800). This
biography of George Washington made a lasting impression on Lincoln, and he made the ideals
of Washington and the founding fathers of the United States his own.

By the time Lincoln was 19 years old, he had reached his full height of 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in). He was
lean and muscular, with long arms and big hands that gave him an awkward appearance.
Although he had remarkable strength, he never liked farm work. He preferred instead the easy
congeniality that he found at the general store in nearby Gentryville. A neighbor recalled “Abe
was awful lazy, he would laugh and talk and crack jokes and tell stories all the time.”

The Pigeon Creek farm was near the Ohio River, and Lincoln often earned money ferrying
passengers and baggage to riverboats waiting in midstream. In 1828, when he was 19, he was
hired by the local merchant James Gentry to take a cargo-laden flatboat down the Mississippi
River to New Orleans.
 B.Move to Illinois

In 1830 another epidemic of milk sick was rumored to be breaking out in Indiana. Already the
Hanks family had moved west to Illinois, and their enthusiastic letters describing their new home
rekindled the pioneering spirit in Thomas Lincoln. In March 1830 the Lincoln family set out for
the Illinois country. They settled at the junction of woodland and prairie on the north bank of the
Sangamon River, 16 km (10 mi) west of what is now Decatur, Illinois. Lincoln helped his father
build a log cabin and fence in 4 hectares (10 acres) to grow corn. Then he hired out to neighbors,
helping them to split rails. That year, Lincoln attended a political rally and was persuaded to
speak on behalf of a local candidate. It was his first political speech. A witness recalled that
Lincoln “was frightened but got warmed up and made the best speech of the day.”

In 1831 Lincoln made a second trip to New Orleans. He was hired, along with his stepbrother
and a cousin, by Denton Offutt, a Kentucky trader and speculator, to build a flatboat and take it
down the Mississippi with a load of cargo. The pay was 50 cents a day plus a fee of $60.
According to legend, Lincoln saw his first slave auction in New Orleans. Referring to the
practice of slavery, he is thought to have said, “If I ever get a chance to hit that thing, I'll hit it
hard.”

C.
New Salem

Denton Offutt was impressed with Lincoln's abilities. When they returned to Illinois, he hired

Lincoln as a clerk in a general store in New Salem, a small community near the growing town of
Springfield, Illinois. The pay was $15 a month, plus the use of the store as sleeping quarters.

Although he was a newcomer in New Salem, Lincoln soon became one of its most popular
citizens. He won the respect and fellowship of the local ruffians by besting their strong man, Jack
Armstrong, in a wrestling match. And he soon earned the friendship of the more peaceable
citizens of the community by his good humor, intelligence, and integrity. As in all small towns of
the day, the general store was an informal meeting place. Customers who came to buy at Offutt's
store would usually linger to exchange anecdotes and jokes with his clerk. Lincoln, an avid
newspaper reader, enjoyed the popular frontier pastime of discussing politics. Because he could
read and write, Lincoln was often called on to draw up legal papers for the less literate citizens of
New Salem.

Clerking in a store gave Lincoln time to read all the books, newspapers, and political tracts that
came his way. Always endeavoring to improve his education, he studied books on grammar and
acquired a lifelong taste for the poetry of English poet and playwright William Shakespeare and
Scottish poet Robert Burns. Novels, however, held little interest for him, and he later admitted
that he never was able to finish one in his entire life. Lincoln also joined the local debating
society. A member had this reaction to Lincoln's first debate: “A perceptible smile at once lit up
the face of the audience, for all anticipated the relation of some humorous story. But he opened
up discussion in splendid style, to the infinite astonishment of his friends. . . . He pursued the
question with reason and argument so pithy and forcible that all were amazed.”

III
EARLY POLITICAL CAREER
.
A.
First Campaign

When Lincoln returned to New Salem in 1832, election day was two weeks away. It was a
presidential election year, and political parties had formed around the contending candidates.
Followers of Andrew Jackson, who was seeking a second term as president, called themselves
Democrats. Followers of U.S. Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky called themselves National
Republicans and later Whigs. Lincoln supported Clay, who had long been his political idol. He
remained a faithful Whig until the party disintegrated over the question of slavery in the 1850s.

Lincoln's program, as published in the Sangamon, Illinois, Journal, called for the construction of
canals and roads, better schools, and a low interest rate to stimulate local economic growth. In
his brief campaign, Lincoln spoke from tree stumps in village squares, visited farmers in their
homes and fields, and shook hands and exchanged stories with as many people as he could meet.
Nevertheless, he was defeated. There were 13 county candidates running for four legislative
seats. Lincoln finished eighth. In his own precinct, however, he got 277 out of 300 votes even
though the precinct voted overwhelmingly to support the Democrat, Jackson, for the presidency.

B.
Postmaster

After his defeat, Lincoln opened a general store in New Salem with William F. Berry as his
partner. But Berry misused the profits, and in a few months the venture failed. Berry died in
1835, leaving Lincoln responsible for debts amounting to $1100. It took him several years to pay
them off.

After the general store failed, Lincoln was appointed postmaster of New Salem. The appointment
came from Jackson's Democratic administration. Lincoln's Whig views were well known, but, as
Lincoln explained it, the postmaster's job was “too insignificant to make his politics an
objection.” As postmaster, Lincoln earned $60 a year plus a percentage of the receipts on
postage. He ran an informal post office, often doing favors for friends, such as undercharging
them for mailing letters. The job gave him time to read, and he made a habit of reading all the
newspapers that came through the office. To augment his income, he became the deputy
surveyor of Sangamon County.

C.
Illinois Legislator
In 1834 Lincoln again ran for representative to the Illinois legislature. By then he was known
throughout the county, and many Democrats gave him their votes. He was elected in 1834 and
reelected in 1836, 1838, and 1840. As a member of the Whig minority he became the protégé of
the Whig floor leader, Representative John T. Stuart of Springfield. When Stuart ran for a seat in
the Congress of the United States in 1836, Lincoln replaced him as floor leader. Stuart also
encouraged Lincoln to study law, which Lincoln did between legislative sessions.

Lincoln's main achievement as a state legislator was the transfer of the state capital from
Vandalia to Springfield. In this effort he acted as the leader of Sangamon County's delegation of
seven representatives and two state senators, a group called the Long Nine because they were all
tall men. Lincoln devised a strategy whereby the Sangamon delegation supported the projects of
other legislators in return for their support of Springfield as the capital city. In American politics
this kind of aid is called logrolling, a term derived from frontier families' tradition of helping
each other to build log cabins.

Lincoln's other votes in the state legislature reflected his Whig background. He supported the
business interests in the state and defended the pro-business national platform of Henry Clay.
Lincoln's experience in the Illinois legislature sharpened his political skills. He was adept at
logrolling, skilled in debate, and expert in the art of political maneuver.

In 1837 Lincoln took his first public stand on slavery when the Illinois legislature voted to
condemn the activities of the abolition societies that wanted an immediate end to slavery by any
means. Lincoln and a colleague declared that slavery was “founded on both injustice and bad
politics, but the promulgation of abolitionist doctrine tends rather to increase than abate its evil.”
Lincoln was against slavery, but he favored lawful means of achieving its destruction.
Throughout his political career, Lincoln avoided extreme abolitionist groups.

D.
Early Law Practice

Meanwhile, Lincoln continued his study of law, and in 1836 he became a licensed attorney. The
following year he became a junior partner in John T. Stuart's law firm and moved from New
Salem to Springfield. Lincoln was extremely poor and arrived in Springfield on a borrowed
horse with all his belongings in two saddlebags. A Springfield storekeeper, Joshua Fry Speed,
whom Lincoln later called “my most intimate friend,” gave Lincoln free lodging.

1
Courtship and Marriage
.
  
Mary Todd Lincoln

Mary Todd Lincoln

Mary Todd Lincoln has been described as a short, lively woman who came from a
prominent Lexington, Kentucky, family of slaveholders. Her husband, U.S. President
Abraham Lincoln, is supposed to have said that while God made do with one d, the Todds
demanded two.
Encarta Encyclopedia
THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE
Full Size

According to a now discredited legend, while in New Salem, Lincoln was said to have been in
love with Ann Rutledge, the beautiful young daughter of a local innkeeper. When she died in
1835, Lincoln was said to be “plunged in despair.” The frequent lapses into melancholy that
marked his adult years were said to be a result of this tragic death. But Lincoln in his later years
never referred to Ann Rutledge, and authorities are unanimous in agreeing that the Lincoln-
Rutledge romance is a myth.

Indeed, less than 18 months after Ann's death, Lincoln proposed marriage to Mary Owens, a

Kentucky girl who also lived in New Salem. Theirs was not an ardent love affair, but having
made his proposal, Lincoln felt he could not honorably break it off. Much to his relief, Mary
turned him down. Later she explained, “I thought Mr. Lincoln was deficient in those little links
which make up the chain of a woman's happiness.”

In 1840, Lincoln met a cultured, high-strung Kentucky woman named Mary Todd, who was
staying with a married sister in Springfield. After a long courtship, they were married on
November 4, 1842. A week later, Lincoln wrote a fellow lawyer, “Nothing new here, except my
marrying, which to me, is a matter of profound wonder.”

Late in 1843 the Lincolns moved from their simple rented quarters to a modest frame house in
Springfield that Lincoln bought for $1500. Of their four boys, only the eldest, Robert Todd
Lincoln, reached adulthood. He was born in 1843 and died in 1926. Edward Baker Lincoln was
born in 1846 and died at the age of four. William Wallace, called Willie, was born in 1850 and
died in the White House, the presidential mansion, shortly before his 12th birthday. Lincoln's
favorite son, Thomas, whom he affectionately called Tad, was born in 1853, grew up in the
White House, and died at the age of 18.

In contrast with the sweet, loving Ann Rutledge of legend, Mary Todd Lincoln has unfairly been
pictured as a shrew who made Lincoln's life miserable. Certainly she was spoiled, haughty, and
temperamental. The death of her children caused her much anguish, and after Willie's death she
was often hysterical. Lincoln was devoted to her, however, and there is no evidence that theirs
was not a happy marriage. On those occasions when she became upset, Lincoln treated her with
patience and understanding. He, for his part, was careless in his personal habits and subject to
extreme depression. What he and his wife had in common was ambition. Mary aided her
husband's political career immeasurably.

2.
Frontier Lawyer

At the time of his marriage, Lincoln was earning $1200 to $1500 a year from his law practice, a
good income for the time and place. When the law firm of Stuart and Lincoln dissolved in 1841,
Stephen T. Logan, an able and experienced lawyer, took Lincoln in as junior partner. In 1844 the
firm of Logan and Lincoln also dissolved, and Lincoln formed a lifelong partnership with a
young lawyer named William H. Herndon.

Lawsuits on the Illinois frontier usually dealt with such trivial matters as crop damage caused by
wandering livestock, ownership of hogs and horses, small debts, libel, and assault and battery.
The Springfield courts were in session only a small part of the year. For three months each spring
and fall, lawyers and judges rode the circuit, holding court at rural county seats. Lincoln rode the
eighth judicial circuit, the largest in the state, covering 15 counties and about 12,900 sq km
(about 8000 sq mi).

The local sessions of the circuit court were major events on the frontier. The particulars of each
case were well known to the townspeople and were subject to heated debate. Courtroom conduct
was informal, and more often than not a case was won on a lawyer's speaking ability rather than
the legal merits of his case. The judge and the lawyers were treated as celebrities, and Lincoln,
because of his storytelling abilities and skill as a lawyer, was popular on the circuit. Ever the
politician, he used this opportunity to meet new people and advance his political career.

Lincoln still had political ambitions, but he now looked beyond the statehouse to the U.S.
Congress. In 1843 he wrote a fellow politician, “Now if you should hear any one say that
Lincoln don't want to go to Congress, I wish you as a personal friend of mine, would tell him you
have reason to believe he is mistaken. The truth is, I would like to go very much.”

The Whigs were a minority party in Illinois, and there was competition among the Whig
politicians over the nomination for U.S. representative for the Seventh Congressional District,
where Whigs were in the majority. Lincoln sought the nomination in 1842 and 1844 and received
it in 1846. He went on to defeat the Democratic candidate, the Methodist preacher Peter
Cartwright, in the election of November 1846.

E.
United States
Congressman

Congressman Abraham Lincoln

 

Congressman Abraham Lincoln

This is the first known photograph of United States President Abraham Lincoln. It was
taken not long after his election, in 1846, to represent the seventh congressional district of
Illinois in the U.S. Congress.
Encarta Encyclopedia
Culver Pictures
Full Size

Congressman-elect Lincoln was a popular, masterful politician in Illinois. Having succeeded in

the rough-hewn Illinois legislature, he was confident that he would make his mark in Congress.
Once in Washington, D.C., however, Lincoln became one of many unknown freshman
congressmen. The inner councils of government were closed to him, as was the Washington
social life that Mary Lincoln was looking forward to. However, Lincoln never lost confidence in
himself. He wrote Herndon, “As you are all so anxious for me to distinguish myself, I have
concluded to do so before long.” The Lincolns, with their two sons, lived quietly in a modest
boardinghouse. Lincoln had a small body of friends with whom he could relax and discuss
politics. Among them was Alexander H. Stephens, the Whig congressman from Georgia, who
later became vice president of the Confederate States of America.

1.
Spot Resolutions
James K. Polk, a Democrat, was president while Lincoln was in Congress. Lincoln joined other
Whigs in attacking Polk for starting the Mexican War. Congress had declared war against
Mexico in May 1846 upon Polk's contention that Mexicans had fired on American soldiers in
U.S. territory.

In December 1847 Lincoln challenged the truth of this contention. He introduced a resolution

questioning whether the spot on which the firing took place was actually in U.S. territory. In
another resolution he claimed that the American troops were on that spot in violation of the
orders of their commanding officer, General Zachary Taylor. The next month, Lincoln supported
a Whig resolution declaring that the Mexican War had been “unnecessarily and
unconstitutionally . . . begun by the President.”

Lincoln's “spot resolutions” made little impression either on Congress or on the president, but

they caused an uproar in Illinois, where the war was approved of by most voters. Lincoln was
denounced as a traitor, and opposition newspapers gleefully called him Spotty Lincoln.
However, despite his opinion of the war, once war was declared, Lincoln voted for all
appropriations in support of it.

2.
Actions on Slavery

The extension of slavery into the territories was an important question during Lincoln's term in
Congress. He supported the Wilmot Proviso, which proposed that slavery be prohibited in any
territory acquired from Mexico. Lincoln also put forward a program for the abolition of slavery
in Washington, D.C. Although Lincoln's proposal never came up before Congress, it exemplified
his opposition to slavery and the moderate means by which he wanted to achieve abolition. The
proposal called for the emancipation of children born into slavery after January 1, 1850. These
children would be placed in apprenticeship programs to learn a trade. The emancipation of other
slaves would be voluntary, and the slaveholders would be compensated for their loss. Finally, the
voters of Washington would have to approve the plan before it went into effect. Lincoln believed
that Congress did not have the power to abolish slavery in the individual states. But where
Congress did have the power, as in Washington, and where the electorate was agreeable, Lincoln
thought it should abolish slavery.

3.
Whig Politics

In the presidential election of 1848, Lincoln decided to back the popular war hero Zachary
Taylor, rather than his idol Henry Clay, for the Whig nomination. Lincoln's reasons were wholly
practical. “Mr. Clay's chance for an election is just no chance at all,” he wrote. “In my judgment
we can elect nobody but General Taylor.” Lincoln campaigned for Taylor in Massachusetts and
Illinois. Taylor won the election, but much to Lincoln's disappointment, the Democratic
presidential candidate, Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan, carried Illinois.
Lincoln wanted to run for a second term in Congress, but it was traditional that the Whig
candidate from the Seventh Congressional District in Illinois serve only one term. Further,
Lincoln's antiwar position made him unpopular at home, and his former law partner Stephen
Logan, running on Lincoln's record, was defeated. Lincoln discovered that the incoming Whig
administration had little use for his services. He was offered nothing better than the governorship
of far-off Oregon Territory. Lincoln rejected the appointment, and, thoroughly dejected and
believing that his political career was over, returned to Springfield to renew his practice of law.

F.
Return to Law Practice

Lincoln's law partner, William Herndon, had kept the firm going while Lincoln was in Congress.
Now the two men built up their practice until it was one of the largest in Illinois. As senior
partner, Lincoln made frequent appearances before the federal court in Chicago and the state
supreme court in Springfield. He also continued to ride the circuit for six months each year.
From the fall term of 1849 to the fall term of 1860 he missed only two sessions on the circuit, a
record no other lawyer matched.

Riding the circuit was an important, if unspectacular, stage in Lincoln's development from

partisan politician to statesman. The long solitary journeys between county seats, first by horse
or buggy and then by train, gave him opportunity for quiet thought. He reread Shakespeare, and
for mental discipline he studied Euclidean mathematics. Politics, national affairs, and abstract
ideas occupied his mind. Lincoln also enjoyed the companionship of the other lawyers and of
circuit judge David Davis, whom he later appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The migratory life of the circuit lawyer also enabled Lincoln to renew old acquaintances and
make new ones.

Because he did not always have enough time to prepare an adequate case in the circuit courts,
Lincoln often had to depend on his natural shrewdness and oratorical ability to sway a jury. His
most celebrated circuit case was his defense of Duff Armstrong, the son of his New Salem friend
Jack Armstrong, on a murder charge. When a witness testified that bright moonlight had enabled
him to see Duff commit the murder, Lincoln produced an almanac and proved that the moon had
not been shining brightly at the time. In summing up the case, Lincoln described with great
emotion his friendship with the boy's father. The jury voted for acquittal.

Lincoln soon became one of the most respected lawyers in the state. The briefs he presented
before the more formal state and federal courts were carefully documented and marked by
unassailable logic. Lincoln argued many important cases. He often represented the interests of
the growing corporations in Illinois. In Illinois Central Railroad v. County of McLean he
successfully pleaded that a county could not tax a railroad. In another important case, Hurd v.
Rock Island Bridge Company, he argued that a railroad had the right to build a bridge across a
stream used for navigation. Despite his prominence as a lawyer, however, Lincoln was careless
about his dress, and he sometimes carried important papers inside his battered stovepipe hat.
 1.
Antislavery Leader

Lincoln was losing interest in politics when, in 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

The act aroused Lincoln, in his words, “as he had never been before.” The act created the
territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and stated that each territory could be admitted as a state
“with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission.” The
author of the act, Senator Stephen A. Douglas, the leading Democrat of Illinois, called this
program popular sovereignty because it allowed the voters in these territories to decide for
themselves whether slavery would be allowed. The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the old
dividing line between free and slave states as set by the Missouri Compromise of 1820.

With the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, a new Lincoln emerged into the world of politics.
Although he was as ambitious for political office as ever, he was now, for the first time in his
career, devoted to a cause. He became a forceful spokesman for the antislavery forces.
A
First Year in Office
.

Even before election day, Southern militants were threatening to secede from the Union if

Lincoln was elected. In December, with the Republican victory final, South Carolina seceded.
By February, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had followed. These
states joined together to form the Confederate States of America, also known as the Confederacy.
President Buchanan did nothing to stop the secessionist movement, and President-elect Lincoln
was not yet in a position to intercede. Lincoln remained silent on the issue, believing that, in
time, Union sentiment would reassert itself in the South and the secession of the seven states
would come to an end.

On February 11, 1861, Lincoln bade farewell to his neighbors in Springfield and set out for
Washington, D.C. He now had a beard, which he had grown at the suggestion of a young girl
during the campaign. Alluding to the troubled days ahead, he told his friends, “Today I leave
you; I go to assume a task more difficult than that which devolved upon General Washington.
Unless the great God who assisted him, shall be with and aid me, I must fail. But if the same
omniscient mind, and almighty arm that directed and protected him, shall guide and support me,
I shall not fail, I shall succeed. Let us all pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake us
now.”

On the way to Washington, Lincoln made many short speeches, but he did not commit himself to
a specific policy regarding the South. Because of a rumor of an assassination plot against him in
Baltimore, he was secretly spirited through that city and into Washington by night. The
opposition press ridiculed this undignified entry of the president-elect into the capital.

1.
First Inaugural Address

On March 4, 1861, Lincoln was sworn in as the 16th president of the United States. Ironically, he
received the oath of office from Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Roger B. Taney, whose
decision in the Dred Scott Case was a direct cause of the crisis Lincoln now faced.

Lincoln's inaugural address was aimed at allaying Southern fears. His opening words were, “I
have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states
where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” But
he flatly rejected the right of any state to secede from the Union, and he announced that he would
“hold, occupy, and possess” the property and places belonging to the federal government. Such a
threat was necessary because the rebellious states had already seized federal forts, arsenals and
customhouses within their boundaries. Even with this threat, Lincoln's tone was moderate. “The
government will not assail you,” he addressed the South. “You can have no conflict, without
being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the
government, while I shall have the most solemn one to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ it.”
 2.
Lincoln's Cabinet

Abraham Lincoln’s Cabinet

 

To his Cabinet, Lincoln appointed his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination and other
leading Republicans. He made Seward secretary of state, Chase secretary of the treasury,
Cameron secretary of war, and Bates attorney general. Gideon Welles of Connecticut became
secretary of the navy, and Caleb B. Smith of Indiana became secretary of the interior.
Montgomery Blair of Maryland was named postmaster general.

After one month in office, Lincoln still had not decided on a policy of action against the
secessionist states. Seward, therefore, decided to supply the president with one. In a memo
entitled “Some Thoughts for the President's Consideration,” Seward suggested that the
administration should provoke a war with a foreign nation so as to unite the country in a wave of
patriotism. Seward also suggested that he, rather than Lincoln, might be better equipped to
formulate the administration's policy. Lincoln tactfully put his presumptuous Secretary of State
in his place. Seward knew he had met his match. “Executive force and vigor are rare qualities,”
he wrote his wife. “The President is the best of us.” In time, Seward was to become Lincoln's
most trusted aide.

Lincoln also had to contend with Chase's presidential ambitions and Cameron's inefficiency. He

kept Chase in the Cabinet for four years and then appointed him chief justice of the Supreme
Court. But in January 1862 he replaced Cameron with Edwin M. Stanton, who had been
Buchanan's attorney general. With the exception of Cameron, Lincoln's Cabinet appointments
were good. An inefficient administrator himself, he was able to delegate less important
administrative tasks to his Cabinet while he worked on more important issues.

3.
Fort Sumter
Lincoln feared that taking direct action against the Confederacy would lead to the secession of
Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. But events at Fort Sumter forced him to act.
Fort Sumter was located at the entrance to the harbor of Charleston and was occupied by a small
detachment of federal troops commanded by Major Robert Anderson. The South demanded the
evacuation of the fort because it was in Confederate territory. Because Major Anderson was
short on supplies and could not get any in Charleston, a direct confrontation was unavoidable.
Early in April, Lincoln decided to send supplies to the fort by sea. Hoping that the ships would
be able to land at the fort peacefully, he informed the governor of South Carolina of his
intention. The governor notified Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

4.
The Civil War
Begins

Lincoln Prize
 

Lincoln Prize
The Lincoln Prize is awarded annually by the Lincoln and Soldiers Institute at Gettysburg
College for the finest scholarly work on Abraham Lincoln, the American Civil War
soldier, or a related subject.
Encarta Encyclopedia
© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Full Size

Davis and his cabinet instructed Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard to

demand the fort's surrender. Anderson refused this ultimatum, and at 4:30 AM on April 12, 1861,
Beauregard's guns opened fire on Fort Sumter. Lincoln's relief party was unable to land supplies,
and two days later Anderson surrendered the fort.

Lincoln reacted promptly. Using the language and authority of a militia act of 1795, he declared
that in seven states the federal laws were being opposed “by combinations too powerful to be
suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.” To quell this insurrection he asked
the loyal states to provide 75,000 militia for three months' service. He also called a special
session of Congress to convene on July 4. The Civil War had begun.

The North immediately rallied around its president. His old opponent, Stephen Douglas, called at
the White House and agreed to tour Illinois to rally public support. Lincoln's call for arms,
however, caused Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas to join their sister slave
states in the Confederacy. The border states, Kentucky, Missouri, and Maryland, remained in the
Union, although many of their people sympathized with and fought for the Confederacy.

5.
Emergency Measures

Lincoln now took decisive measures to win the war. No American president had ever faced such
a crisis, and Lincoln had to find for himself the necessary powers by which he could pursue the
war and uphold his oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution of the United States.
Recognizing the problem, Lincoln said, “It became necessary for me to choose whether, using
only the existing means, agencies, and processes which Congress had provided, I should let the
Government fall at once into ruin or whether, availing myself of the broader powers conferred by
the Constitution in cases of insurrection, I would make an effort to save it.” Lincoln found the
necessary powers in the constitutional clause making him “Commander in Chief of the Army and
Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several states.” He told some visitors to the
White House, “As commander in chief in time of war, I suppose I have a right to take any
measure which may subdue the enemy.”

Using this power, Lincoln took a number of vital steps before Congress convened. Besides

summoning the militia, he ordered a blockade of the Confederacy's ports, expanded the regular
army beyond its legal limit, directed government expenditures in advance of congressional
appropriations, and suspended the legal right of habeas corpus. The suspension of this
constitutional guarantee, by which a person could not be imprisoned indefinitely without being
charged with some specific crime, aroused much opposition throughout the country. Although
Lincoln himself made no concentrated effort to suppress political opposition, which at times was
extremely vocal, the repeal of habeas corpus enabled overzealous civil and military authorities to
imprison thousands of people who were vocal in their opposition to the war against the South.

During the war, in the case Ex parte Merryman, Chief Justice Taney ordered Lincoln to grant a
writ of habeas corpus to a Southern agitator who had been arbitrarily jailed by military
authorities in Maryland. Lincoln ignored the order. After the war, in the case Ex parte Milligan,
in an opinion written by David Davis, the Supreme Court ruled that a president could not
suspend habeas corpus without the consent of Congress.

6.
Lincoln and the Union
By his executive orders, Lincoln showed that he was going to be a strong president. But his
executive leadership went far beyond the mere administration of the war. By word and deed he
became, to many people in the North, a symbol of the Union. Without this strong belief in the
Union, the war could not have been won. Despite the superior manpower and resources of the
North, the Confederacy had one great advantage. This was the same advantage George
Washington had had against the British in the American Revolution. It is far more expensive and
time consuming to invade an area than it is to defend it. The North had to carry the battle to the
South and defeat the rebel army. This meant that progress in the war was slow at first, and
Lincoln used all the persuasive powers at his command to prevent the North from becoming
disillusioned.

Lincoln never lost sight of his responsibility to preserve the Union. Even the crusade against
slavery remained a secondary purpose of the war. “What I do about slavery and the colored
race,” he wrote to newspaper publisher Horace Greeley, “I do because I believe it helps to save
the Union.” By this sentiment, Lincoln was able to sustain the spirit of the North through
numerous defeats and failures in the bloodiest war the world had yet known. Lincoln never
recognized the Confederacy as an independent nation. He considered the Southern states only to
be in rebellion against the federal government.

Beyond preservation of the Union lay an even more profound issue, the future of democracy
throughout the world. The United States had long been a symbol of hope to democrats the world
over, and Lincoln realized that the future of representative government might depend on the
outcome of the war. “This is essentially a people's contest,” Lincoln told Congress. It was the
destiny of the Union “to demonstrate to the world that those who can fairly carry out an election
can also suppress a rebellion; and ballots are the rightful successors to bullets...”

7.
Wartime President

Lincoln had little military training or experience, but was often called upon to make decisions
that would ordinarily be made by professional military people. Although the advice he got on
military matters was often conflicting, most of his decisions were good. Political considerations
played an important part in shaping Lincoln's military strategy.

During the spring and summer of 1861 many people in the North called for military action
against the South. The North expected a brief struggle and an easy victory. But the first Union
offensive put an end to this optimism. In July, Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, leading the
federal Army of the Potomac, was defeated in Virginia in the first Battle of Bull Run, or First
Manassas, as it is called in the South. For the first time the North realized that it faced a long,
hard war. After this defeat, Lincoln removed McDowell and placed Major General George B.
McClellan in command of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan soon restored the army's morale
and whipped it into a superb fighting force.

Despite his strong distaste for war, Lincoln was not afraid to wage total war to achieve total
victory. Finding a general who was both competent and willing to carry the fight to the
Confederacy was his greatest military problem. He had to appoint many politicians to important
field commands and, while some made excellent soldiers, others blundered tragically. McClellan
was a capable professional soldier but proved overly cautious after his strong start. When
Lincoln finally settled on General Ulysses S. Grant as his overall commander in 1864, he never
wavered in giving Grant his complete support, although victory came slowly and the casualties
were appallingly high.

8.
The Jacobins

Early in the war a group of radical Republicans, called the Jacobins, began to oppose Lincoln's

policies. The Jacobins called for immediate action against the South, freeing of the slaves, and
punitive measures against Southern leaders. Some of them thought the war should be fought as a
holy crusade to destroy the evil, slaveholding South. Others wanted merely to extend Republican
influence into the South by taking political power away from the white man and giving it to the
freed black population. They confidently expected that blacks would thereafter vote Republican.

The Jacobins also believed that Lincoln had usurped congressional power in his conduct of the
war. They controlled the joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War, led by the
radical Senator Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio, and used it to try to dictate the direction of the war.
The Jacobins were especially opposed to McClellan, who was a conservative Democrat. Despite
continuous pressure, Lincoln supported the general. He told McClellan, “...you must not fight till
you are ready.”

9.
The Trent Affair

In the winter of 1861 the Union became involved with Britain in an incident, known as the Trent
Affair, that almost led to war. The Confederacy had sent James Murray Mason and John Slidell
to Britain and France to win support for the Southern cause. After slipping through the Northern
blockade to Cuba, they boarded the British ship Trent. On its first day at sea the ship was stopped
and searched by a Union naval captain, Charles Wilkes, and the two Southerners were taken off
the ship as prisoners. Wilkes's act was a violation of the international law over which the United
States had gone to war with Britain in 1812. Britain demanded an apology and the release of the
two prisoners. Wilkes was a hero in the North, and many Union partisans were demanding war
against Britain. Lincoln patiently let the agitators have their say. Then he released the Southern
envoys, and Britain agreed to accept Lincoln's assurance that Wilkes had acted without authority.
In this way, Lincoln averted what might have been a fatal conflict with Britain.

B.
Second Year in Office
In the spring of 1862, McClellan began the so-called Peninsular Campaign. He advanced by way
of the peninsula between the James and York rivers in Virginia, with the Confederate capital of
Richmond, Virginia, as his goal. Fearing an attack on Washington by Confederate forces led by
General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, Lincoln diverted 40,000 of McClellan's troops for the
defense of the capital. But the Army of the Potomac was still larger than its adversary. McClellan
advanced on Confederate troops protecting Richmond, and his army fought well in the resulting
Seven Days' Battle. McClellan, however, was unwilling to commit his troops for a decisive
offense, and he ordered a retreat even though he had suffered fewer casualties than his opponent.
In August the Confederates led by General Robert E. Lee defeated Major General John Pope's
Army of Virginia in the second Battle of Bull Run. Finally, in September, the Union won a
minor victory at the Battle of Antietam in Maryland. Lincoln chose this opportunity to issue his
Emancipation Proclamation.

1.
Emancipation Proclamation

Discussing the Proclamation

 

Discussing the Proclamation

This painting by F. Carpenter portrays President Lincoln discussing the Emancipation
Proclamation with his cabinet. The proclamation, formally issued on January 1, 1863,
officially declared all slaves in rebel territory to be “forever free.”
Encarta Encyclopedia
Corbis
Full Size
Lincoln had given much thought to the problem of slavery, and he was under continual pressure
from the Jacobins and the abolitionists to free the slaves. On April 16, 1862, he signed a bill that
abolished slavery in Washington, D.C., with compensation to the slaveholders and voluntary
colonization in tropical lands for the slaves. This bill was similar to the one Lincoln proposed in
Congress years earlier.

As much as Lincoln abhorred slavery, the political situation prevented him from freeing the
slaves elsewhere. The slaveholding border state of Kentucky was key to Union policy. Because
of its strategic location on the Ohio River, which would have made an easily defended border for
the South, it had to be kept in the Union. And, in his inaugural address, Lincoln had promised not
to interfere with slavery. To do so would have meant the loss of Maryland, Missouri, and
Kentucky to the Confederacy. Consequently, in 1861, when Major General John C. Frémont
freed the slaves in his military district in Missouri, and in May 1862, when Major General David
Hunter freed the slaves in his southern military district, Lincoln rescinded their orders. His
patience was rewarded, for the border states remained loyal.

Emancipation Proclamation
 

Emancipation Proclamation
On January 1, 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, ordering that all slaves in rebel territory be freed. The Proclamation marked
a radical departure in policy, but reflected the overwhelming public sentiment in the North.
About 3 million people were freed by the terms of the document, which is regarded as one
of the most important state documents of the United States.
Encarta Encyclopedia
THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE
Full Size

By July 1862, through a combination of military pressure, arrest of dissenters, and respect for

neutrals, the border states appeared to be safely in the Union. At this time Lincoln informed the
Cabinet of his decision to emancipate (free) the slaves. On Seward's advice, he withheld the
proclamation until it could be coupled with the announcement of a Union military victory.

On September 22, 1862, immediately after Antietam, Lincoln issued his preliminary

Proclamation of Emancipation. In this document, Lincoln announced that on January 1, 1863, all
slaves residing in a rebellious state would “be then, thenceforward, and forever free...” With this
100-day warning, Lincoln gave the rebellious states an opportunity to rejoin the Union with
slavery intact. Lincoln did not have the power to free the slaves except as a necessity of war. The
proclamation was a military decree, directed only at those states at war with the Union.

The Emancipation Proclamation was formally issued on January 1, 1863. It did not affect border
states in the Union or areas in the rebellious states under federal control. For these states, Lincoln
encouraged voluntary, compensated emancipation. To assure the legality of emancipation,
Lincoln pressed for the passage of a constitutional amendment that would bar slavery from the
United States forever. Later, acceptance of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution became a
condition whereby Southern states were readmitted to the Union.

2.
Effects of Emancipation

The Emancipation Proclamation hastened the defeat of the Confederacy because it deprived the

South of much-needed labor. About 3.5 million black slaves, out of a total population of 9.5
million, had grown the food and fiber needed by the Confederate Army. They had also dug
trenches, built fortifications and served as teamsters for the army. In the proclamation, Lincoln
invited the blacks to join the Union Army. Almost 186,000 former slaves did so. Most of them
served behind the lines, thus freeing regular soldiers for active duty. Those who saw action
fought bravely.

The Emancipation Proclamation also isolated the Confederacy from potential allies in Europe.

As the North suffered defeat after defeat, France and Britain threatened to recognize the
Confederate government and give it aid. The cause of Union doubtless meant nothing to the
people of these countries, but the cause of freedom did. Freeing the slaves brought them and their
governments over to the Northern side.

3.
A Succession of Defeats

From the high point of Antietam, the political and military situation worsened. In the autumn
elections the Republicans lost control of five states, including Illinois. The North was becoming
tired of the war.

When McClellan refused to take the offensive after Antietam, Lincoln replaced him with Major
General Ambrose E. Burnside. In December 1862, Burnside was defeated by Lee at
Fredericksburg, Virginia. Union casualties exceeded 12,000, and the cry went up for new
political and military leadership. The war also went badly in the West. Major General Don C.
Buell was sent to take eastern Tennessee, where Union sentiment was strong. Like McClellan,
however, he was too cautious and the Confederate army of General Braxton Bragg, eluded him.
Lincoln then replaced him with Major General William S. Rosecrans. In December, “Old Rosey”
repulsed Bragg at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, but the battle losses were so great that his army was
out of action for months.

4.
Cabinet Crisis

In December 1862, Lincoln faced a crisis in his Cabinet. Secretary of the Treasury Chase had
sought the support of the Jacobins to strengthen his chances for the Republican presidential
nomination of 1864. These radical Republicans, looking for an opportunity to discredit Lincoln,
turned against Secretary of State Seward, a former radical who now agreed with the president on
most matters. They demanded that Seward be removed from the Cabinet and replaced as
secretary of state by Chase. Lincoln needed Seward in the Cabinet, but he also needed Chase and
the support of the radical wing of the party. It took all of Lincoln's great political skill to remain
in control of his Cabinet and party.

Seward, unwilling to embarrass the president, resigned at once. Lincoln then called a meeting in

which the other Cabinet members and the Jacobin senators were present. Confronted with his
fellow Cabinet members, Chase could not attack Seward and Lincoln as he had done in private
with the senators. Chase offered to resign. Lincoln refused to accept either his or Seward's
resignation, and the two men returned to their posts. Chase and his allies now knew that in
Lincoln they faced a skilled and resolute politician.

5.
Growth of the Union

The Civil War stimulated industry and agriculture in the North and West. The Union grew at a
rapid rate. Between 1861 and 1865, 800,000 Europeans immigrated to the North, and 300,000
emigrants traveled west to settle in California and Oregon. To promote settlement, Lincoln
signed three important acts in 1862. The Homestead Act offered settlers 65 hectares (160 acres)
of Western land each (see Homestead Laws). The settler had only to reside on and use the land
for five years and pay a nominal fee to the government. The Morrill Act gave the states free land
to establish agricultural and mechanical colleges. The Pacific Railway Act incorporated the
Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads for the construction of a transcontinental railroad,
which had long been a national goal to speed the development of the West. During Lincoln's
administration, Kansas, Nevada, and West Virginia (the part of Virginia loyal to the Union) were
granted statehood.

C.
Third Year in Office

After Fredericksburg, Lincoln replaced Burnside with Major General Joseph Hooker, who was
promptly defeated at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia. The soldiers fought bravely, but
once again their generals failed them. Now Lee turned his army north to invade Pennsylvania.
Lincoln replaced Hooker with Major General George G. Meade.

The two armies met at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania during the first days of July
1863. Meade chose to stay on the defensive, and for three days his Army of the Potomac
repulsed Lee's assaults. On July 5, Lee retreated. His army had been beaten badly. Meade's
troops had also suffered heavy casualties, and he let Lee get away. On the day Lee withdrew,
Lincoln received word that General Grant had captured Vicksburg, Mississippi, the key
Confederate fort on the Mississippi River (see Vicksburg, Campaign of). In November, Grant
won a resounding victory at the Battle of Chattanooga, in Tennessee. Here at last was a general
who would fight.

1.
The Draft

Antidraft Riot
 

Antidraft Riot
Rioting lasted for five days in New York City when people rebelled against an 1863 draft
law that gave the rich the option not to serve. The mostly foreign-born laborers, who could
not afford to pay for substitutes to fight for them in the Civil War, damaged many
buildings, including the black children’s orphanage pictured here.
Encarta Encyclopedia
Culver Pictures
Full Size

In 1862 the Confederacy issued a draft (conscription) call for all men between the ages of 18 and
45. In March 1863 the North passed a conscription act of its own. By its terms all men between
the ages of 20 and 45 were liable to military service. However, any man who was called for the
draft could avoid it by hiring a substitute or paying $300 to the government.

Prior to the draft the Union depended on the states to fill assigned quotas with volunteers. By
offering sizable bounties, this system had worked well. Because of the bounty and a desire “to
see this thing through,” many volunteers reenlisted for the duration of the war. These veterans
formed the nucleus of the Union Army. Out of an army of 1.8 million, only 46,347 were draftees.
Another 73,607 were substitutes for men who had been called for the draft. This was only 6
percent of the Union forces. In the South, the draft system provided 20 percent of the forces:
120,000 draftees and 70,000 substitutes.

Many groups rightfully denounced the conscription act as a rich man's law. Indeed, many
wealthy men were able to bribe poorer men to take their place in the army. Violent opposition
from workingmen and immigrants flared in many places. Draft riots broke out for five days in
New York City, and troops returning from Gettysburg had to be called in to quell the
disturbance. Although Lincoln was upset by these riots, he dared not suspend the draft.

2.
Reconstruction

Lincoln gave frequent consideration to the problem of reconstructing the governments of the

rebel states and restoring them to their rightful place in the Union. Whenever Union armies
gained control in a rebellious area, he encouraged the local people to form a government loyal to
the Union. On December 8, 1863, Lincoln offered his Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction to the Southern people. This pronouncement is often called Lincoln's 10 percent
plan of Reconstruction after one of its provisions.

In this document, Lincoln offered a full pardon, or amnesty, to any Southerner, with the

exception of certain leaders, who would take an oath to support “the Constitution of the United
States and the Union of the States thereunder.” Furthermore, those who took the oath in each
state could vote to form a new state government. Lincoln promised to recognize the new
government if two conditions were met: the new government accepted the elimination of slavery
as required by the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863; and the number of those voting
for the new government was at least 10 percent of those who had voted in the 1860 presidential
election.

Lincoln was convinced that Reconstruction, or restoration, as he preferred to call it, was for the
president to carry out. Congressional leaders thought otherwise. The Jacobins had a plan of
reconstruction all their own, expressed in the Wade-Davis bill of July 1864. It was designed to
punish the South for past transgressions and to make it subservient to the Republican Party of the
North. The bill limited voting on new state constitutions to those who had never joined the rebel
cause, required a loyalty oath by the majority of a state's citizens, and permanently deprived
former rebel leaders of the right to vote. Lincoln killed the bill by using his pocket veto, and as
long as he lived this plan made little headway.

3.
Financing the War
The Union was faced with the problem of raising huge sums of money to fight the war. New
federal taxes were levied on legal documents, inheritances, and personal income, and the tariff
was raised. The federal government also began printing paper money, which people called
greenbacks because of the color of the ink. By 1863, $450 million worth of greenbacks were in
use. The greenbacks' value was based only on the government's declaration of value. By contrast,
the national bank notes that were also in circulation could be exchanged for their face value in
gold. The value of a greenback varied and was usually lower than that of gold. At one point,
$1.00 in gold was worth $2.85 in greenbacks. The increase in the money supply also caused
prices to rise.

Bonds were another way to raise money. In February 1863, Lincoln signed the National Banking
Act to make it easier to sell government bonds. The act also provided for a system of federally
chartered, privately owned national banks that could issue notes (the national bank notes) backed
by government bonds. The credit extended by the national banks increased the money supply
while the conditions imposed by their charters created a safe, uniform national currency. Each
bank was required by its charter to maintain adequate cash reserves, redeem notes issued by any
other national bank, and stay within credit limits set by a federal official, the comptroller of the
currency.

As revised the next year, this act was the basis of the American banking system until the Federal
Reserve System began in 1913. It ended the era when state-chartered banks issued their own
currency, which had been the system since President Andrew Jackson closed the government's
central bank, the Second Bank of the United States, in 1836. However, instead of returning to a
central bank, the nation now had private banks that were centrally regulated from Washington.

4.
Gettysburg Address

On November 19, 1863, Lincoln was called upon to deliver a “few appropriate remarks” at the
ceremony dedicating a military cemetery at the Gettysburg battle site. The distinguished orator
Edward Everett made the main address. It lasted two hours. Then Lincoln spoke. Although his
speech was brief, it was a masterpiece. In it he rededicated the war effort to the principles of
democracy. (For the text of this great speech, see Gettysburg Address).

D.
Fourth Year in Office

Besides the terrible burden of war, Lincoln endured many personal trials while in the White
House. The strain of war was almost too much for Mrs. Lincoln. Four of her brothers were killed
fighting for the Confederacy. A final blow, the death of her son Willie in 1862, left her mentally
ill and morbidly preoccupied with death. She refused to allow her eldest son, Robert, to enter the
army. He remained a civilian until the closing days of the war, when Lincoln secured him a
relatively safe position on General Grant's staff.
Although weary and saddened by Willie's death and the terrible toll of the war, Lincoln
continued to devote full time to his duties. His amazing physical strength enabled him to work
long hours, but in spite of his many duties he found time to talk with the many visitors who
called at the White House. Nothing was too small to escape his attention. He made a special
effort to review death sentences by military courts-martial. He often sent urgent notes to his
military commander about particular cases, and wherever possible he urged leniency. “Let him
fight instead of being shot,” read one such note. And to Stanton he wrote, “Injustice has probably
been done in this case, Sec. of War please examine it.”

1.
Final Military Strategy

In March 1864, Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general and commander in chief of all

Union armies. Grant gave Major General William Tecumseh Sherman full command in the West
while he himself came east to lead Meade's Army of the Potomac against Lee's veterans. Grant's
overall strategy was bold. Instead of going after key Southern cities, he decided to attack
principal Southern armies. Grant's objective was Lee, while Sherman was “to go for Joe
Johnston,” the commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee. In so doing, Sherman was to
strike toward Atlanta, Georgia, and then march across Georgia to the sea, destroying the
resources of the Confederacy as he went. The strategy was similar to the modern concept of total
war, and a man with less determination than Lincoln would have shied away from such a
commitment to destruction.

2.
Presidential Nominations

Democrats and radical Republicans were dissatisfied with Lincoln's policies. The radicals first
favored Chase and then Frémont for the 1864 presidential election. A splinter group did, in fact,
nominate Frémont for president. But the moderate Republicans remained faithful to their leader,
and, because the radicals could not get support for their candidate, Lincoln was unanimously
nominated for president by the official Republican convention. Senator Andrew Johnson, a
Democrat from Tennessee and the only congressman from a secessionist state to remain loyal to
the Union, was nominated for vice president. The platform called for a constitutional amendment
abolishing slavery.

The Democrats nominated General McClellan as their presidential candidate. He was immensely

popular with the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac, and many people believed that Lincoln
had been unjustified in relieving him of his command after Antietam. The Democratic platform
called for an immediate end to the war, which was characterized as “four years of failure.”
However, McClellan, who favored continuing the war, disavowed his party's platform.

3. Election of 1864
Campaign Badges, 1864
 

Campaign Badges, 1864

These metal badges were worn during Abraham Lincoln’s United States presidential
campaign in 1864.
Encarta Encyclopedia
Corbis
Full Size

In the spring and summer of 1864, Lincoln did not think he would win the election. Grant's
offensive was stalled at Petersburg, Virginia, and Sherman had not yet delivered a decisive blow
against Johnston. In July, Washington itself was briefly threatened by a Confederate force under
General Jubal Early. The Jacobins, as always, were a continual source of trouble for Lincoln. In
August, U.S. Senator Benjamin F. Wade and U.S. Representative Henry W. Davis published a
manifesto bitterly denouncing Lincoln's lenient Reconstruction policy.

Finally, in September the political and military situation took a turn for the better. Moderate
Republicans prevailed on Frémont to withdraw from the race, and the party united behind
Lincoln. Sherman took Atlanta and forced the Confederates to retreat north to Tennessee. Major
General Philip Sheridan, on orders from Grant, destroyed the Shenandoah Valley, the
breadbasket of Lee's army. Victory seemed near at last.

Under these conditions, Lincoln won an easy victory. He had 212 electoral votes to McClellan's
21. The Democrats carried only Kentucky, Delaware, and New Jersey. Lincoln polled 2,206,938
popular votes to McClellan's 1,803,787. Even the soldier vote went to Lincoln, or “Father
Abraham,” as he was called.

4.
Hampton Roads Conference
In December, Major General George H. Thomas's army smashed the Confederate Army of
Tennessee at the Battle of Nashville. In December, Sherman took Savannah, Georgia, and began
his march north to join Grant's army, which was ready for a final breakthrough at Petersburg. In
February 1865, Lincoln and Seward met with Lincoln's old friend, Confederate Vice President
Stephens, and two other Southern representatives at Hampton Roads, Virginia, to discuss peace
terms. Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy as an independent nation, and he insisted on
the restoration of the Union without slavery. He offered pardons to all former Confederates and
promised to recommend compensation of slave owners for their losses. But even these terms
were unacceptable to the South (see Hampton Roads Conference).

V.
SECOND TERM AS PRESIDENT

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural

 

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural

United States President Abraham Lincoln gave his second inaugural address on March 4,
1865. Lincoln can be seen standing just to the left of the white lectern, center, reading from
his notes. His assassin, John Wilkes Booth, observed from the balcony behind the
president.
Encarta Encyclopedia
Culver Pictures
Full Size

At his second inaugural on March 4, 1865, Lincoln made a speech that stands among the greatest
pronouncements in history. At the threshold of victory, Lincoln spoke only of peace and of
ending the nation's sectional differences. His closing lines are among the most eloquent in the
English language: “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 a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all
nations.”

Sidebars
HISTORIC DOCUMENTS
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
United States President Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address on March 4,
1865. On the verge of victory in the American Civil War (1861-1865), Lincoln emphasized the
need for reconciliation between the North and the South. Several weeks later Lincoln was
assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., by the actor John Wilkes Booth, a supporter
of the Southern cause. Lincoln’s speech is regarded as one of the most eloquent in United States
history.
open sidebar
A. Surrender at Appomattox Court House

In the closing days of March, Sherman and Grant met with Lincoln to discuss terms of surrender.
Lincoln told his generals that he hoped to get the troops of both sides back to their farms, stores,
and families as speedily as possible. In early April, Grant took Petersburg and the Union army
entered Richmond. Lincoln made a short trip to the fallen Confederate capital, and he was
cheered wildly by freed slaves and Union soldiers. A Union general asked Lincoln how the
conquered people of Richmond should be treated, and Lincoln answered, “If I were in your
place, I'd let 'em up easy, let 'em up easy.” On April 9, 1865, just as Lincoln returned to
Washington, Lee surrendered his army to Grant at Appomattox Court House, a village in
Virginia. The war was all but over.

Two days later, Lincoln addressed a celebrating crowd gathered outside the White House. Again
he called for national unity and goodwill toward the defeated South. He appealed to his audience
to “join in doing the acts necessary to restoring the practical relations between these states and
the Union.”

B.
Assassination of Lincoln
Lincoln Is Killed
 

Lincoln Is Killed
On April 14, 1865, in Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., actor John Wilkes Booth shot
United States President Abraham Lincoln in the head. The President died the next day at
7:20 AM.
Encarta Encyclopedia
Corbis
Full Size

Standing in that crowd listening to Lincoln speak was an angry, half-crazed actor with pro-
Southern sympathies, John Wilkes Booth. Booth had planned for some time to kidnap Lincoln
and take him to Richmond. However, when Richmond fell, Booth decided on murder. He
planned to assassinate Lincoln on Good Friday, April 14, 1865.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.