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Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth President of the United States of America, and he

effectively handled the Civil War to save the country. He was hugely influential in the

ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which effectively abolished American slavery

(Brinkley 56). Killed by Wilkes Booth, Lincoln was the first premier of the United States to be

assassinated. Before being elected president in 1861, he had a great record as an attorney and

legislator in Illinois, spending many terms in the state legislative body and one session in the

United States House of Representatives.

"During the Civil War, Abraham stated that he had every time considered slavery to be

immoral. He claimed he couldn't recall ever not thinking that way - and there's no justification to

dispute the veracity or integrity of that claim "Eric Graeber, a writer, says. " Lincoln spent many

years trying to find out what measures should be undertaken" (Guelzo 62). In The Fiery court

hearing: Lincoln and American Enslavement, Foner analyses the progression of Lincoln's ideas

on slavery. He illustrates how Lincoln's evolving views on slavery — and the status of liberated

slaves — matched America's own.

Slavery was ethically bad, according to Abraham Lincoln, but it was authorized by the

oldest law in the state, the Constitution. The country's forefathers, who battled with how to

confront slavery, did not publish the term "slavery" in the Legislature, but they did encompass

necessary components safeguarding the institution, such as a fugitive slave contract and the
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three-fifths preposition, which permitted Southern provinces to take enslaved individuals for

recognition in the federal government (Masur 8). Lincoln outlined his humanitarian,

constitutional, and social resistance to slavery more explicitly than ever in a three-hour address

in Peoria, Illinois, at the end of 1854—and then stated he didn't know precisely what could be

accomplished about it within the existing legislative system.

Abolitionists, on the other hand, recognized precisely what must be accomplished:

slavery should be eliminated immediately, and liberated oppressed individuals should be

integrated as equivalent parts of the community (Lincoln, 18). They weren't interested in

working inside the old political structure or the Constitution, which they considered as unfairly

preserving slaves and enslavers. Charles Bellamy Garrett, a renowned abolitionist, referred to the

Constitution as "a contract with destruction and a pact with Hell," and proceeded so far as to

torch a replica at a Massachusetts protest in 1855. Although Abraham regarded himself as

collaborating with abolitionists on a shared anti-slavery objective, he did not consider himself

one of them.

The Civil War was primarily a struggle for slavery. But, freedom, when it came, would

have to be slow, according to Abraham, because the most essential thing was to keep the

Southern insurrection from splitting the Union forever. However, when the Civil War reached its

second season in 1863, multitudes of enslaved individuals had escaped Southern estates to Union

forces, and the federal government lacked a defined policy for dealing with them (Masur 19).

Lincoln regarded independence as further undermining the Confederacy while presenting the

Union with a new reservoir of manpower to suppress the conflict. Lincoln commences by setting

his speech in the context of American history.

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On January 1, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which had no mention of

gradual emancipation, reparations for slave masters, or Black emigration and colonization,

policies Lincoln had previously advocated. Lincoln defended independence as a wartime

necessity, limiting it to the Confederate territories that were present in revolt (Lincoln, 26). The

six bordering slave regions, as well as all or portions of other Confederate jurisdictions held by

the Union Army, were exempted from the proclamation. Ultimately, the Emancipation

Proclamation set the ground for the United States to permanently abolish slavery. As Abraham

and his congressional allies understood that after the war, emancipation would have no

legislative foundation, they began pushing to secure a legislative modification ending slavery.

Both chambers of Congress had enacted the Thirteenth Amendment by the beginning of 1866,

and it was approved that December.

The Declaration of Independence is, of course, his benchmark. For him, it is the place of

genesis for the United States, and he derives a new standard for what it signifies to be an

American from this, and a specific interpretation of that Proclamation. According to Abraham,

"four score and seven years ago," something world-historical occurred: a bunch of men agreed to

create something unique without being compelled ("created in liberty"). They started to divest

themselves of their prior democratic structure, or, to use their terms, to maintain what they could

of their democratic structure while eliminating any destructive innovations they could (Lincoln,

63). This equated to severing the top of the political structure. The only aspects of the British

government that would survive would be republican: participation, the rule of law, common law,

and so on. The idea that all men are born identical was essential to European Enlightenment

thought. However, the meaning of "all mankind" has hovered over the Independence Declaration

from its inception. Whereas most people read "all men" to include mankind, some claim that
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Thomas and the other Proclamation writers intended to omit women and kids. Within the

framework of the periods, it is evident that "all men" was a code word for "humanity," and thus

those who utilized the Declaration of Independence to request equal opportunities for African

Americans and women, such as Elizabeth Cady Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr. seized both

the cultural and moral superiority.

“A New Birth of Freedom” was the term used after the American Civil War (Lincoln, 3).

In the opinion of President Lincoln, the Civil War gave America "a fresh beginning of

independence." (Heinrichs 12). During the conflict, the country started to grapple with the

abolition of oppression and to determine what it meant to be free. Abraham Lincoln was a one-

of-a-kind leader in American history. Even when political circumstances necessitated it, he was

never willing to separate himself from his fundamental moral feeling that enslavement was

wrong. He also did not consider himself to be a very righteous person, declining to join any

church since he disagreed with its belief systems. However, the Gettysburg Address

demonstrates that Lincoln's governance was founded on unwavering confidence that God's will

was evident and that complying with that plan was the best chance for the country (Lincoln, 93).

His apparent modesty at the Gettysburg dedicating events demonstrated that he carried on this

belief without even being self-righteous or manipulative, but with deep regard for the integrity of

the American public, responding to their core feeling of righteousness and decency. In doing so,

Abraham uttered the words "all men are born equal" a profoundly fresh, unparalleled meaning,

and the country a new birth of independence.

By conquering the Civil War and drafting the Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham

Lincoln had a brief impact on this society (Masur 16). He also had a significant impact on his

characters, such as his sincerity and practical wisdom. By accomplishing every one of these
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measures, he effectively ended enslavement in the United States and granted African-Americans

their freedom. Lincoln would be remembered in America. Lincoln is a legend since he abolished

enslavement and possessed positive character attributes. In conclusion, Abraham Lincoln is a

champion since he abolished slavery via his empathy, altruism, and integrity, and he granted

African-Americans their freedom.

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Works Cited

Brinkley, Alan et al. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. Ninth

ed. McGraw-Hill Education 2015.

Guelzo, Allen C. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America. New

York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.

Heinrichs, Ann. The Emancipation Proclamation 1863. Minneapolis, Minn.: Compass Point

Books, 2002.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865. The Gettysburg Address and Other Speeches. New

York :Penguin Books, 1995.

Masur, Louis P. Lincoln's Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the

Union. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012.