Category: Abraham Lincoln

Introduction:

Abraham Lincoln, widely revered as one of the greatest presidents in American history, is known for his leadership during the Civil War and his advocacy for human rights and equality. However, his views on animal rights are often less discussed. This essay aims to critically analyze Abraham Lincoln’s perspective on animal rights, examining his statements and actions that shed light on his stance.

Body:

Limited Historical Context:

It is important to note that the concept of animal rights as we understand it today was not widely discussed during Lincoln’s time. The animal rights movement, with its focus on the ethical treatment of animals, did not gain significant traction until the 20th century. Therefore, while we can examine Lincoln’s views on animal welfare, it is challenging to gauge his position within the context of modern animal rights discourse.

Lincoln’s Compassion for Animals:

Several accounts suggest that Lincoln possessed a compassionate disposition towards animals. He was known to be a lover of animals and frequently intervened to protect them from harm. Stories recounting his rescue of stranded animals and his refusal to hunt or harm them demonstrate a sense of empathy and respect for their well-being.

Utilitarian Perspective:

Lincoln’s views on animals seem to align with a utilitarian perspective, focusing on their instrumental value rather than intrinsic rights. He recognized the importance of animals in sustaining human life and acknowledged their usefulness in agriculture and transportation. However, this utilitarian stance does not necessarily imply a comprehensive recognition of their rights or protection from unnecessary harm.

Lack of Explicit Statements on Animal Rights:

While Lincoln’s compassion for animals is evident, it is important to note that he did not make explicit statements on animal rights or advocate for legal protections specifically aimed at animals. His primary focus was on issues related to human rights, such as slavery and equality. Therefore, we must exercise caution in attributing a fully formed stance on animal rights to Lincoln based solely on his actions and anecdotes.

Conclusion:

Abraham Lincoln’s stance on animal rights is a complex and nuanced subject. While he exhibited compassion and empathy towards animals, his views must be understood within the historical context of the time and the limited discourse on animal rights during his era. While Lincoln’s actions may indicate a general concern for animal welfare and a utilitarian perspective, his lack of explicit statements on animal rights leaves room for interpretation. It is important to recognize that the modern concept of animal rights, encompassing the recognition of intrinsic value and protection from harm, was not widely discussed during Lincoln’s lifetime. As such, while Lincoln’s compassion for animals is commendable, it is crucial to approach his stance on animal rights with caution and avoid making definitive claims that may go beyond the available evidence.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Actions speak louder than words”? This phrase from Abraham Lincoln can often be directed to movies, trailers, plays, and any other kind of visual media. Powerful words and images are often conveyed in visual media to depict a bigger message that the director, producer, or author is trying to say. Producers, playwrights, and authors all have a common goal of sparking a strong emotion in the audience. In the movie trailer, Lincoln, directed by Steven Spielberg, images are more effective than words because more than half of the people in the world are visual learners and it is much easier to remember images than to remember words.

Steven Spielberg’s movie trailer, Lincoln, gives the audience many examples of words and images by showing the iniquitous behavior during the time of the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln says “This settles the fate for all coming time. Not only of the millions now in bondage but of unborn millions to come.” This quote shows strong connotation because Lincoln even goes into the future and mentions the millions of people that are still unborn. This shows that Abraham not only cares about the people living during the time of this monstrosity, but he also cares about the people that will have to live with the consequences of whatever happens. A strong and powerful image shown in the movie trailer is the depiction of the battle being fought and the only bright color shown was the flag. This image tells the audience that through the dark times, America was still alive and that the rights of every citizen were being fought for. Both of these examples of words and images from Lincoln portray strong emotional effects.

Although many powerful words are used in the movie trailer, Lincoln, images are proven to be more effective because of the high percentage of people that are visual learners and the fact that images are much easier to process than words. Sixty-five percent of the world is visual learners. This fact shows that more than half of people can understand images better than they can understand words. Visual learners understand and process information better if they actually see it through an image. Steven Spielberg portrayed this through the visual of the congress arguing. Spielberg knows that the audience can not hear every word that every person is saying, so he uses strong body language and facial expressions to show that the congress was having a harsh and important discussion. Images are easier to process than words. In fact, a person can process an image 60,000 times faster than words. Many times, words are not able to describe the exact setting and emotion that a picture can. This is portrayed through the image of the battlefield where only the flag has bright colors. Words could never describe the emotions that this image could make a person feel.

In Steven Spielberg’s movie trailer, Lincoln, images are more effective than words because more than half of the people in the world are visual learners and it is much easier to remember images than to remember words. Images are proven to have a higher emotional toll on people than words do. It could take a thousand words just to try and portray just one image that is being shown. Words can be powerful, but it is all about what someone does and through their actions that people really follow and understand what message the words are trying to portray. In conclusion, images are more effective than words because of the strong emotional feelings that they portray that words cannot.

The lives of two great historical men, Julius Caesar and Abraham Lincoln, have many unique differences and similarities. The similarities between the two are compared by their lives history. Both individuals were once leaders in the past who shared a large amount of power in their countries, with people still looking up to them in today’s society. There is the background of Julius Caesar, Abraham Lincoln, then we will look at the the two backgrounds comparatively. The birth of Julius Caesar in approximately 100 B.C. marked a new chapter in Roman history. A series of men aspired to become the absolute leader of Rome, but Julius Caesar was the only one who seemed likely to achieve that. The citizens of Rome whom favored democratic leadership more feared that Caesar would enslave Roman citizens.

This eventually lead to a group of conspirators, which was comprised of approximately 60 men including Marcus Brutus, coming together planning for what became the assassination of Julius Caesar. As he gained more power, more people began to hate him. Caesar wanted to control as much land and power as possible. After only a year of ruling Rome, he was assassinated by his own senators at a meeting in a hall next to Pompey’s Theatre in approximately 44 B.C. leaving his son Caesarion without a father. Abraham Lincoln, born in 1809 had a huge life ahead of him. He became a self taught lawyer, legislator, and a vocal opponent of slavery. Later he became the 16th president of the United States with the Civil War soon to follow. Although Lincoln only had a brief, undistinguished service in the Black Hawk War, he quickly surprised many people when he proved to be a capable wartime leader. He learned quickly about strategy and tactics during the dawn of the Civil War. Lincoln, being a speaker against slavery, had many enemies early on in his political life.

By the time he was elected president, seven southern states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate states of America. After Lincoln won the re-election in 1864 he addressed the need to reconstruct the South and rebuild the Union in his second inaugural address in 1865. A couple months later Lincoln presented a speech on the lawn of the White House urging the audience he had to welcome the seven southern states back into the Union. Tragically he did not live to fulfill this reconstruction of the Union. A few days later he was assassinated in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth. A group of three conspirators met in a bar in Washington to plot the abduction of the president, but when the president had changed his plans the day that they had planned to abduct him, the plan failed. The same three conspirators altered the plan to kill president Abraham Lincoln, vice president Andrew Johnson, and secretary of state William Seward on the same evening. One of the men backed out of his part which was to assassinate the vice president. The secretary was stabbed many times before the man fled away.

Then, president Lincoln was shot in the back of the head and died. Although these two historical men are from two totally different time periods they have their similarities along with their differences. Even though they both had a large amount of power in their countries, Caesar wanted to control more land and power while Lincoln wanted the reform the Union and abolish slavery. Both powerful leaders began to have more enemies as they gained more power in their countries for different reasons. In Lincoln’s case many people in the eduzaurus.com 1 / 2 south began to be against him for wanting to abolish slavery. In Caesar’s case more and more people began to disagree with him because of the amount of power he was gaining.

They feared him having too much power would lead to him enslaving the Roman citizens. With both of them having enemies this lead to their assassinations. Caesar was assassinated by a group of 60 men, while Lincoln was assassinated by one man. Lincoln was assassinated after serving 5 years as president while Caesar only served one year as dictator. To compare these two you must look at each of their backgrounds then compare both of them together. Caesar was a powerful man who wanted more power and land, while Lincoln only wanted a better country for his citizens and to reform the Union. There are many other great leaders of the past whether that be from 50 B.C. or from 1860, that many people from todays society still look up to today.

The Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment brought about by the Civil War were important milestones in the long process of ending legal slavery in the United States. This essay describes the development of those documents through various drafts by Lincoln and others and shows both the evolution of Abraham Lincoln’s thinking and his efforts to operate within the constitutional boundaries of the presidency.

Almost from the beginning of his administration, abolitionists and radical Republicans pressured Abraham Lincoln to issue an Emancipation Proclamation. Although Lincoln personally abhorred slavery, he felt confined by his constitutional authority as president to challenge slavery only in the context of necessary war measures. He also worried about the reactions of those in the loyal border states where slavery was still legal. Lincoln is said to have summed up the importance of keeping the border states in the Union by saying ‘I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.’

Events early in the war quickly forced Northern authorities to address the issue of emancipation. In May 1861, just a month into the war, three slaves (Frank Baker, Shepard Mallory, and James Townsend) owned by Confederate Colonel Charles K. Mallory escaped from Hampton, Virginia, where they had been put to work on behalf of the Confederacy, and sought protection within Union-held Fortress Monroe before their owner sent them further south. When Col. Mallory demanded their return under the Fugitive Slave Law, Union General Benjamin F. Butler instead appropriated the fugitives and their valuable labor as ‘contraband of war.’ The Lincoln administration approved Butler’s action, and soon other fugitive slaves (often referred to as ‘contrabands’) sought freedom behind Union lines.

‘Stampede of slaves from Hampton to Fortress Monroe,’ Harper’s Weekly, August 17, 1861. Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

The increasing number of fugitives and questions about their status eventually prompted action by the United States Congress. On August 6, 1861, Congress passed the First Confiscation Act, which negated owners’ claims to escaped slaves whose labor had been used on behalf of the Confederacy. In 1862 Congress also acted against slavery in areas under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Congress abolished slavery in the federal District of Columbia on April 16 with a compensated emancipation program. This action must have been particularly satisfying to President Lincoln, who as Congressman Lincoln had in the late 1840s drafted a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. Finding the measure lacking support, Lincoln never introduced it. Congress further outlawed slavery in federal territories in June 1862.

Some Union commanders took matters into their own hands, declaring emancipation by proclamation. In September 1861, General John C. Frémont attempted to address the ‘disorganized condition’ in the Department of the West by declaring martial law and proclaiming free the slaves of active Confederate sympathizers in Missouri. Frémont failed to inform first President Lincoln, who requested Frémont amend his proclamation to conform to the 1861 Confiscation Act. When Frémont refused, Lincoln publicly ordered him to do so, which helped calm anxiety expressed from the border states, but angered those who supported Frémont’s actions. Although he knew Frémont had exceeded his authority in freeing slaves in Missouri, Lincoln continued to urge the border slave states to explore legal emancipation measures of their own. He also remained hopeful that voluntary colonization options for former slaves would address the concerns of many white Americans about where emancipated slaves would go. While several pieces of emancipation-related legislation included funds for colonization outside of the United States, the few actual attempts at colonization during the Civil War failed. Furthermore, most former slaves had no interest in leaving their homeland.

Like Frémont, General David Hunter also tried his hand at emancipation when in May 1862 he declared slaves free in his Department of the South, which included Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Once again, Lincoln felt compelled to overrule a commander who overstepped his authority with regard to emancipation. Although in revoking Hunter’s action, Lincoln suggested that the power to determine such military necessities belonged to the president.

Draft Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, July 22, 1862.

In principle, Lincoln approved of emancipation as a war measure, but he postponed executive action against slavery until he believed he had both the legal authority to do so and broader support from the American public. Two pieces of congressional legislation passed on July 17, 1862, provided the desired signal. The Second Confiscation Act included provisions that freed the slaves of disloyal owners, authorized the president to employ African Americans in the suppression of the rebellion, and called for exploring voluntary colonization efforts. The Militia Act authorized the employment of African Americans in the military, emancipated those who were enslaved, and freed their families, if owned by those disloyal to the Union. Not only had Congress relieved the administration of considerable strain with its limited initiative on emancipation, but it also had demonstrated an increasing public acceptance of emancipation as a military act.

By July 1862 Lincoln had written what he termed his ‘Preliminary Proclamation.’ He discussed his thoughts for an emancipation proclamation with cabinet secretaries William H. Seward and Gideon Welles on July 13, 1862, while sharing a carriage ride from the funeral of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton’s infant son James. Welles later recalled External that neither he nor Seward were prepared to offer opinions on a subject that Seward thought ‘involved consequences so vast and momentous,’ but he agreed with Seward’s initial impression that the measure was both ‘justifiable’ and perhaps ‘expedient and necessary.’

Edwin M. Stanton’s notes of the reaction of the cabinet to Abraham Lincoln’s introduction of his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, July 22, 1862. Edwin McMasters Stanton Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

Nine days later, on July 22, Lincoln again raised the issue of emancipation in a cabinet meeting, at which he read the content of his preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. In addition to reiterating his support for gradual emancipation in the loyal states, the draft proclamation declared that as of January 1, 1863, ‘all persons held as slaves within any state or states, wherein the constitutional authority of the United States shall not then be practically recognized, submitted to, and maintained, shall then, thenceforward, and forever, be free.’ Whereas the Confiscation Acts freed the slaves of individual owners who demonstrated disloyalty, Lincoln’s proclamation freed slaves of all owners residing in geographic areas engaged in rebellion as ‘a fit and necessary military measure.’

The reaction of Lincoln’s cabinet members was mixed. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, correctly interpreting the proclamation as a military measure designed both to deprive the Confederacy of slave labor and bring additional men into the Union army, advocated its immediate release. Attorney General Edward Bates, a conservative, opposed civil and political equality for blacks but gave his support. Welles feared the unintended consequences of emancipation, but remained silent, as did Interior secretary Caleb Smith. Postmaster General Montgomery Blair foresaw defeat in the fall elections and opposed the proclamation. Treasury secretary Salmon P. Chase supported the measure, which he noted in his diary went further than his own recommendations, but his tepid enthusiasm for the proclamation was surprising given his history as an outspoken opponent of slavery. Secretary of State Seward expressed concern about the diplomatic implications of emancipation and noted the lack of recent Union military victories, which might cause the proclamation to be interpreted as an act of desperation. Better to wait for success on the battlefield, Seward counseled, and issue the proclamation from a position of strength. Lincoln agreed, and the course was set.

Abraham Lincoln to Horace Greeley, Friday, August 22, 1862 (Clipping from Aug. 23, 1862 Daily National Intelligencer, Washington, D.C.)

While Lincoln waited for his generals to secure a victory, New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley provided Lincoln with an opportunity to test public reaction to emancipation as a war measure. In an open letter to President Lincoln published on August 20 under the heading ‘The Prayer of Twenty Millions,’ Greeley urged Lincoln to recognize slavery as the root cause of the war and act boldly with regard to emancipation. Although he already had a draft emancipation proclamation prepared, Lincoln responded with his own open letter to Greeley, which he published in the National Intelligencer in Washington, D.C. Lincoln stated plainly that the goal of his administration’s policies, including those related to slavery, was to save the Union. ‘My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.’ Lincoln carefully noted that this represented his official position. He intended ‘no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men every where could be free.’

The bloodiest single day of the Civil War occurred on September 17, 1862, as Confederates in Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia battled the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Union General George B. McClellan, at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. While the Battle of Antietam was not quite the decisive Union triumph Lincoln hoped for, Lee’s retreat was victory enough for Lincoln to issue the emancipation proclamation on which he had continued to labor since July. Lincoln read the revised proclamation to his cabinet on September 22, 1862. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles recorded in his diary that the president was open to criticism of the document itself, but that ‘he was satisfied it was right . . . his mind was fixed—his decision made’ regarding the issuance of the proclamation.

The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation of September 22, 1862, stated that the slaves in all areas designated as being in rebellion as of January 1, 1863, would ‘be then, thenceforward, and forever free.’ The preliminary proclamation also reiterated Lincoln’s support for compensated emancipation and voluntary colonization of ‘persons of African descent.’ Newspapers in the Confederate states predictably denounced the proclamation. The Memphis (Tenn.) Daily Appeal labeled it unconstitutional and ‘plainly a proposition to incite domestic insurrection.’ The Charlotte, North Carolina, Western Democratcarried the briefest of notices of the proclamation and brushed aside its significance. ‘No one in the South cares for that—Lincoln might as well proclaim to the moon.’ Some in the North thought the preliminary proclamation more serious, but still ill conceived. The Indiana State Sentinel deemed it a ‘blunder’ and ‘disastrous’ in promoting colonization schemes that would deprive the United States of valuable labor and leave loyal taxpayers to foot the bill. But others were elated by Lincoln’s proclamation. The Chicago Tribune reprinted laudatory responses from newspapers across the North. Lincoln retained among his papers a number of letters of support for the proclamation, including one from B. S. Hedrick, who identified himself as a Southerner and formerly a professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina. ‘In my opinion the whole question of the War is reduced to this. Can the power of the United States Gov’t either conquer or exterminate slavery?’ Hedrick asked. ‘If it can, then that should be done, and the sooner the better. If not—we fight with no object.’

In anticipation of the January 1, 1863, deadline of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln provided the cabinet on December 30 with the text of the revised Final Emancipation Proclamation, soliciting opinions and necessary alterations. The Final Emancipation Proclamation differed significantly from the previous versions. It designated the areas considered to still be in rebellion, but also those under Union control and thus exempted from the proclamation. The exempted areas included parishes in Louisiana and the city of New Orleans, several cities and counties in Virginia, and all of the counties in what would become the new state of West Virginia. Slaves living in those Union-occupied exempted areas were considered outside of the president’s war powers, and would remain enslaved after January 1. Lincoln urged those freed by the proclamation to ‘abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense’ and to ‘labor faithfully for reasonable wages.’ Unlike the previous preliminary proclamations, the final proclamation announced that African-American men would ‘be received into the armed service of the United States.’ And unlike the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, gone was any mention of compensated emancipation or colonization. Lincoln also incorporated Secretary Chase’s suggestion of closing the document with an acknowledgment of the proclamation as an ‘act of justice’ and invoking God and the ‘judgment of mankind’ in supporting the effort.

January 1, 1863, was a ‘mild and bright day’ in Washington. Lincoln had sent the manuscript of the proclamation to the State Department in the morning for copying, and Secretary Seward brought the official version to the White House for Lincoln’s signature. Lincoln noticed an error in the document that required amending, which was not accomplished before the annual New Year’s reception at the White House, at which Lincoln shook hundreds of hands. Seward and his son Frederick brought the corrected proclamation to the White House later in the day for the president’s signature. Frederick Seward recalled External Lincoln saying ‘I never in my life felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper.’ Lincoln steadied his tired arm as signed the document, telling witnesses that any sign of a tremor in his handwriting would be interpreted as a mental reservation about the proclamation. And with a signature that was ‘clear, bold, and firm,’ Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Eliza Quincy described to Mary Lincoln her feelings upon hearing that President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation

With the issuance of the Final Emancipation Proclamation the war for the Union also became a war to free the slaves. As was the case with the preliminary proclamation in September, the issuance of the final proclamation received a mixed reception, especially in the North. Abolitionists greeted the news with jubilation. Eliza Quincy wrote to Mary Lincoln that ‘the thought of the millions upon millions of human beings whose happiness was to be affected & freedom secured by the words of President Lincoln, was almost overwhelming.’ Benjamin Rush Plumly could not remember a more ‘devout ‘Thanksgiving” as he witnessed the celebration of African Americans in Philadelphia at the news of the proclamation. Hamilton Gray of Kentucky, however, warned Lincoln that Kentuckians loyal to the Union did not accept the Emancipation Proclamation as a military necessity, and there was word that the Kentucky legislature urged the governor to reject the proclamation. The New York Herald considered the proclamation ‘unnecessary, unwise and ill-timed, impracticable, outside the constitution and full of mischief,’ noting that Lincoln freed slaves only in areas where he exerted little practical authority. ‘But let us hope that this proclamation will prove nothing worse than a nullity and a harmless tub to the abolition whale,’ the Herald’s editors opined. Emancipation, even as a war measure, faced continued opposition months later in Lincoln’s hometown of Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln understood that many of his neighbors supported the Union, but resented fighting for the cause of freedom. ‘You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you; but, no matter. Fight you, then exclusively to save the Union,’ Lincoln urged his neighbors in a statement he sent to his friend James Conkling to be read at a Union meeting in September. ‘I issued the proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union. Whenever you shall have conquered all resistence to the Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting, it will be an apt time then for you to declare you will not fight to free negroes.’

Abraham Lincoln’s draft response to Albert G. Hodges, April 4, 1864

The president still found it necessary in 1864 to explain and defend his actions with regard to emancipation, which remained unpopular with many Northerners. In an April 4, 1864 letter to Albert G. Hodges, editor of the Commonwealth newspaper in Frankfort, Kentucky, Lincoln was careful to distinguish his own opinions from the actions he felt constitutionally justified in taking. ‘I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel,’ he began. ‘And yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling.’ His presidential oath bound him to ‘preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,’ and each step in the process of emancipation was in the interest of preserving the nation, and thus preserving the Constitution. To highlight this, Lincoln used the word ‘indispensable’ six times to distinguish the criteria on which he acted, until emancipation became militarily an ‘indispensable necessity.’ In his letter to Hodges, Lincoln also credited a higher power in determining the events of the war. ‘I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.’ Lincoln’s clear explanation of his presidential evolution on emancipation even won praise from a frequent critic, Horace Greeley. ‘We are known not to favor his renomination,’ Greeley’s April 29 editorial in the New York Tribune began, but ‘few men who have ever lived who could have better explained and commended his course and attitude with regard to Slavery than he has done in his late letter to Mr. Hodges of Kentucky.’

Frederick Douglass responded to Lincoln’s suggestion that slaves escape the Confederacy in the event he failed to be reelected in November 1864

Greeley’s editorial demonstrated that Abraham Lincoln’s popularity was not universal even within the Republican Party as the 1864 presidential campaign got underway. With the Union military effort stalled on several fronts, with the Democrats’ delay in naming a candidate and platform, and with emancipation being interpreted as a primary obstacle to a negotiated peace with the Confederates, some political advisors feared Lincoln’s chances for reelection and suggested in August that he consider other options. In response, Lincoln even went so far as to draft instructions for a proposed peace conference, at which ‘remaining questions’ like slavery would be ‘left for adjustment by peaceful modes.’ Ultimately Lincoln and his cabinet determined that this course would be, as Lincoln’s secretary John G. Nicolay noted, ‘worse than losing the Presidential contest—it would be ignominiously surrendering it in advance.’ As it was, Lincoln’s concern about reelection prompted him to write a secret memorandum pledging to cooperate with the president-elect to save the union before the March 4, 1865, inauguration, and discussed with Frederick Douglass plans to help slaves in the Confederacy escape while there was still time.

The despair of August turned to hope in September as William T. Sherman’s troops captured Atlanta, Georgia, Philip H. Sheridan advanced in the Shenandoah Valley, and the Democrats faced their own divisions in the candidacy of George B. McClellan and a controversial party platform. Lincoln triumphed in the November election. Although the dire plans and pledges made in August could now be abandoned, the process of ending slavery was not complete. As a wartime measure, the status of the Emancipation Proclamation would be in question after the war, and slavery still remained legal in Union-controlled areas in the Confederacy as well as the border slave states in the United States. Only an amendment to the United States Constitution could end slavery irrevocably.

Ceremonial copy of the proposed Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, signed by Abraham Lincoln and all members of Congress who voted for the joint resolution

The United States Senate had passed a joint resolution on April 8, 1864, calling for an amendment to the Constitution that ended slavery, but the House of Representatives had failed to pass it. Pressure on Republican leadership in the House to pass the resolution intensified, and the resolution finally succeeded on January 31, 1865. The proposed amendment stated that ‘Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,’ and authorized Congress to enforce the amendment with appropriate legislation. Although not legally required to do so, Lincoln personally signed the joint resolution, signaling the importance he placed on the amendment. He also signed several ceremonial copies of the resolution produced in honor of the occasion. The amendment was sent to the states for ratification on February 1, and Abraham Lincoln’s home state of Illinois became the first state to ratify the proposed Thirteenth Amendment.

Abraham Lincoln did not live to see the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment. Nineteen states had ratified it when he was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford’s Theatre on the night of April 14, 1865. Lincoln died the following morning. On December 6, 1865, Georgia became the twenty-seventh state to ratify the amendment, achieving the three-fourths of the states necessary to validate the amendment, which Secretary of State William H. Seward did on December 18.

The Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment brought about by the Civil War were important milestones in the long process of ending legal slavery in the United States. Defining the meaning of freedom, however, continued long after the war ended.

“The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation before the Cabinet.” Painted by F.B. Carpenter; engraved by A.H. Ritchie, 1866. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

Many of the key manuscripts that record the progression of the Emancipation Proclamation from the first known draft in July 1862 to the final version of January 1, 1863 survive today.

Abraham Lincoln’s handwritten draft Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation of July 22, 1862 is part of the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Artist Francis Bicknell Carpenter imagined the scene of President Lincoln first introducing the document to his cabinet in the 1864 painting First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, which now hangs over the west staircase of the Senate Wing in the United States Capitol. Carpenter worked on the painting at the White House for several months in 1864, and was able to consult with and observe President Lincoln. More information about the painting is available online on the United States Senate website. The painting was reproduced in numerous engravings, including those produced by A.H. Ritchie in 1866 (see LC-DIG-pga-02502 and LC-DIG-pga-03452).

Lincoln’s handwritten manuscript copy of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation External of September 22, 1862, is held by the New York State Library in Albany, New York. Abraham Lincoln donated the manuscript for a raffle held at the Albany (N.Y.) Relief Bazaar sponsored by the Albany Army Relief Association in 1864, where it was won by abolitionist Gerrit Smith. The New York State Legislature purchased the manuscript in 1865, and placed it in the New York State Library. More information on the provenance of this document is available online External.

The official engrossed copies of both the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation of September 22, 1862, and the Final Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, are held by the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C., as part of Record Group 11, General Records of the U.S. Government. A reproduction of the official engrossed copy of the Final Emancipation Proclamation is included in the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress.

Several documents containing comments and corrections on the Final Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln solicited from his cabinet members in December 1862 can be found in the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. These include the memoranda provided to President Lincoln by Attorney General Edward Bates, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, and Secretary of State William H. Seward.

The handwritten manuscript of the Final Emancipation Proclamation no longer exists. In October 1863, Mary A. Livermore wrote to Abraham Lincoln requesting that he donate the manuscript to the Northwestern Sanitary Fair in Chicago, where it would be sold to raise money for soldiers’ aid provided by the Northwestern Branch of the United States Sanitary Commission. Mrs. Livermore hoped that the document ultimately would be donated to the Chicago Historical Society for preservation. Her request was echoed by Lincoln’s associates Isaac N. Arnold and Owen Lovejoy. Lincoln thought that his name would be most remembered for having issued the proclamation, and as he explained to the ladies planning the fair, ‘I had some desire to retain the paper.’ ‘But if it shall contribute to the relief or comfort of the soldiers,’ he concluded, ‘that will be better,’ and he sent the precious manuscript. The manuscript copy of the Final Emancipation Proclamation was purchased at the Northwestern Sanitary Fair by Thomas Bryan, who presented it to the Soldiers’ Home in Chicago, rather than the Chicago Historical Society. Unfortunately, the manuscript was destroyed in the Chicago Fire of 1871. Fortunately, before sending the original manuscript proclamation, Lincoln wisely had the document photographed for posterity, and a lithographic copy is part of the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Surviving photographs of the document show it primarily in Lincoln’s own hand. The superscription and ending are in the hand of a clerk, and the printed insertions were cut from the September draft.

“Abraham Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation,” Cincinnati: The Strobridge Lith. Co., 1888. Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

The Final Emancipation Proclamation has been reproduced numerous times and in many different styles and formats. At the Great Central Sanitary Fair held in Philadelphia in June 1864, forty-eight limited-edition prints of the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by Lincoln, Seward, and John G. Nicolay, were offered for ten dollars apiece to raise money for soldiers’ aid. At that price, however, not all of these Leland-Boker edition prints sold. The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana in the Rare Books and Special Collections Division, and the Prints & Photographs Division of the Library of Congress offer many examples of printings of the Emancipation Proclamation produced during and after the Civil War.

Many historic figures prolong their legacy or importance through books, memorials, or museums. Abraham Lincoln is one of the most prestigious and important people in U.S history and for someone with a great amount of recognition, a biography is usually written about them.There are multiple different biographies out there highlighting Lincoln’s life, accomplishments etc. However, I believe that it is the best biography over the 16th president and not only does William E. Gienapp explain about Lincoln, he also includes deep information on the civil war occuring during his presidency.

William E. Gienapp was a distinguished author, Harvard University professor, and a widely known historian. He was born on February 27, 1944 in Texas and both of his parents were involved in the educational field. William spent the majority of his childhood outside of Des Moines, Iowa and then when he became a teenager, his family moved to California. He is most definitely qualified to write over this time period and Abraham Lincoln’s life. The reason I say this is because he has spent his whole life studying/embracing history and was a professor at one of the best universities in the U.S. Usually with biographies, the author tries to highlight them in a bias sense because the book is about that person. There are no apparent biases I could find because there are few sources. However in the book, he doesn’t glorify anyone in particular when it comes to a dispute in history, etc.

After reading through the book, I realized that there are very few inaccuracies- which explains the biography’s high praise in the history community. However, I will list small inaccuracies that are somewhat impactful when it comes to the true history of the time period. For example, the book gives a description of what happened after the polls on election day and states that after Lincoln walks outside the Illinois State Journal- he can hear the Republicans signing a significant song to do with their party. “As he walked home to tell his wife the news, jubilant republicans back at the courthouse square were singing one of the most popular songs of the concluded campaign.” (Page 71 Line 26). The song talked about is “Ain’t you glad you joined the republicans” and was involved in campaigns during that time. After scouting through other sources of information, there is no proof that a group of republicans were signing this song at that exact time period and may have just been put in off of other people’s stories.

This biography was very accurate when it came to explaining each time period/event and everything that concerned Lincoln in general. I feel like it covered the subject of Civil War America better than Lincoln because it lists off specific dates, detailed descriptions of the battles, and explanations of the internal/external conflict. For Example, this is one of the detailed parts: “Lincoln finally issued General War Order One on January 27, 1862, an utterly impractical directive which ordered all Union armies to advance on or before February 22.” (Page 102 Line 25). In my opinion, Gienapp does a great job at piecing the two subjects together to really emphasize Lincoln’s perspective on what currently was going on and his campaign/presidency.

My mindset going into reading this biography was that it was going to be really boring and I would have to push myself to finish it. However, I really enjoyed it and I think I have a new found curiosity for history. Everyone should read this biography to get a better grasp on what happened back then and now I see why this book has received so much praise. The Civil War and Abraham Lincoln are significant subjects that everyone should be educated about because it talks about our nation’s history and how we got to where we are today.

Kat Smutz’s book, The American Civil War, is about the Civil War and the details on what happened from the beginning to the end of the war. Abraham Lincoln was elected as the sixteenth president on November 6, 1860. The Civil War started at 4:30 Friday morning, on the 12th of April, 1861.The first actual engagement was the bombardment of Fort Sumter, between Union and Confederate forces. This was not for the benefit of slaves, but for the preservation of the Union.

Abraham Lincoln knew that the nation was going to be in pieces during the war. He needed to create an Army to fight through the Civil War. Brevet Lieutenant General Winfield Scott was a commanding general of the Armies of the United States when war came. Scott managed to supervise recruitment and training to build the army in order to wage war with the South. Who then knew he was going to have to step down and requested Lincoln that a man named Robert Edward Lee needed to be his top commander. Lee’s personal opinions which were that his home state of Virginia would follow the slave states and opt for secession, left him in a confusing position when he was offered the command of the major general of the Union Army. He did not want to go against his state so that is why he resigned later on in the future. Lincoln’s priority was to keep the Union together and was always searching for a general who would end the war quickly. Scott’s health forced him to resign after the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run in Virginia. Winfield Scott was replaced by General George B. McClellan. This general had shown great promise because he was very confident. He then spent too much time planning and preparing, to where the opportunity to face the enemy had passed. General Ulysses S. Grant was then in the position as the general and was popular with his men, but not with other officers. Grant did not fit in well, but he got the job done.

In the months of January and February 1861, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas all secede from the Union. On February 4, in Montgomery, Alabama there was a convention held to form a provisional government and adopt a constitution that protects slavery. Former US senator from Mississippi, Jefferson Finis Davis is the provisional president of the Confederate States of America. Alexander Spephens from Georgia is his vice president. February 18th Davis and Stephans were inaugurated. On March 4, 1861, Lincoln was sworn in as president. Winfield Scott offers General Robert E. Lee the position in common with the Union Army. When the Confederate States of America declares a state of war May 6, Arkansas secedes, and Lee resigns from the Union Army because he can’t raise his hand against his state and family. The First Battle of Bull Run took place July 21, 1861, and was the first major battle of the Civil War. Missouri is prevented from seceding from the Union when Lincoln declares martial law and suspends the writ of habeas corpus. The writ of habeas corpus is a writ issued by a court directing one who holds another in custody to produce the person before the court for a specified purpose.

The USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia engaged in a battle at Hampton Roads that ended in a stalemate on March 9, 1862. In 1862 the Federal Income Tax Act was approved as President Abraham Lincoln called for 300,000 volunteers for a three year service. The Battle of Second Bull Run, led Confederate Troops to victory August 28-30. Then, Lee takes the war north across the Potomac into Maryland. The bloodiest day of the American Civil War goes down on September 17, 1862, in Sharpsburg, Maryland also known as the Battle of Antietam. A preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was issued freeing only slaves held in the Confederate States on September 22, 1862. At the end of 1862, the USS Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras.

In the year of 1863 of the Civil War, the year started out with Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation. The US Congress approved the Federal Draft Act on March 3. In Chancellorsville, Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson was wounded by his own men, and then died eight days later. General Lee had then lost one of his best generals. On July 1, the Battle of Gettysburg started in Pennsylvania, which only lasted 3 days. In the city of New York hundreds are killed during draft riots. The town of Lawrence, Kansas gets raided by William Quantrill and his band of guerrillas. Abraham Lincoln attended the dedication of the memorial in Gettysburg where his comments became known as the Gettysburg Address.

January 19, 1864, Arkansas adopts an anti-slavery constitution. In February 1864, CSS Hunley sank the USS Housatonic off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Sherman began his march toward the city of Atlanta, Georgia on May 7. Abraham Lincoln was elected for a second term as president of the United States in the year of 1864. The Siege of Atlanta begins in the middle of July. On August 5, 1864, David Farragut defeated the Confederate Navy in the Battle of Mobile Bay. November 8, Abraham Lincoln is re-elected into presidency with Andrew Johnson being his vice-president. The March to the Sea started when Sherman abandoned Atlanta in November.

At the end of January 1865, the US House of Representatives passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery throught the United States. Sherman occupies Charleston, South Carolina, without resistance. March 4, 1865 Lincoln was inaugurated for his second term of presidency. The Confederate Congress authorized the recruitment of African American soldiers on March 13. McLean moved from his home near the battlefield of Bull Run to escape the war, but then he later said the war began in his front yard and ended in his front parlour. On April 9, Lee surrendered to Grant at the home of Wilmer McLean in Appomattox, Virginia. Four years later to the day April 26, 1865, when he yielded at Fort Sumter, Major Robert Anderson returned to accept surrender of the fort. Later that evening, Lincoln was fatally shot on April 26, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. Abraham Lincoln later died after being shot, so Andrew Johnson is now President of the United States. Boston Corbett then shoots John Wilkes Booth in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia. On May 13, 1865, the last shots of the American Civil War were fired in the Battle of Palmito Hill in Texas. Johnstom proclaims amnesty for all Southern citizens who pledge allegiance to the US. In the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, eight people are convicted of conspiracy by a military tribunal. Half are sentenced to prison terms and the other half are executed. Mary Surratt, an American boarding house owner in Washington D.C. is executed and found guilty of conspiracy. She was the first woman to be executed by the Federal government. The Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery is declared ‘in effect’.

The book The American Civil War by Kat Smutz, is a story that would be necessary to read if you are wanting to know the details, timeline, and what happened during the Civil War. Kat Smutz was a very good author and gave a very good amount of details about the American Civil War.

Who is your leader and what leadership role/s has this person had?

For this term, I have chosen Abraham Lincoln as my leader. His hard work and passion for his commitment have made me select him as my leader. Abraham Lincoln was a great example and inspiring leader to select him as a role model and knowledge leader and he can handle a conflict and any situation in a smooth way. Because of his certain characteristic qualities, he holds a special place in the world’s leaders list.

Early life and leadership roles:

Lincoln was an American respected political leader ever and lawyer who served as the first man for the United States of America. As a 16 president of USA he led the nation through its greatest morals and political crises in the American Civil War. His hard work and his leadership skill helped him to fight against slavery and finally achieved it, strengthened the federal government, and by his ideology he has modernized the US economy. His journey toward the first man was remarkable. Born on 12 February 1809 as a second child to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. They were very poor and Thomas Lincoln’s father witnessed his father’s death in an Indian raid and settled in Kentucky doing hard jobs for a living. Lincoln was primarily self-educated, with irregular teaching from voyaging instructors over a year he turned and showed long-lasting enthusiasm towards education. In his early career, he joined a partner Offutt at general stores as a salesman. The business struggled a lot in the initial stages and continued for a long period of time, where he sold his share and that march he decided to join the politics, running for Illinois general assembly supporting improvements on Sangamon River. He could get the attention of the crowd with his speeches but lack of education powerful friends and money he lost the general elections. Lincoln stopped his campaign in the middle so as to serve as a captain in the Military during the black hawk war. He observed support from the crowd in his first speech and has become a tough competitor and tossed him. Later he served as New Salem’s postmaster and surveyor later on, but continued his eager approach to his activity on reading and decided to become Lawyer (Self Taught) “I studied with Nobody”. In 1849 he returned to his law practice and was very annoyed by the opening of additional lands of slavery as a result of the Kansan-Nebraska Act. In the year 1854, he returned to politics as a leader in the new Republican Party and reached the debate with the national audience against Stephan Douglas. As a leader of the modern republic, Lincoln has stood in the center with friends and opponents on both sides. His Gettysburg address made a historic for nationalism and Republicans equal rights and democracy. Elected as president his main challenging part was the civil war and his leadership skills he concurred the civil war with a lot of ups and downs and is remembered as a United States martyr hero and ranked as the best president of the US by both scholars and public.

What is your interest in this leader? Why do you want to choose this person?

When you talk about Abraham Lincoln, people would rather call him America’s greatest hero. Lincoln was the person who can inspire his people by telling the stories and with his inspiring words. But more importantly because of his certain characteristic qualities people like to admire him a lot and want to set an example by considering him as a role model. He has established himself as a true leader. Knowing about him and his leadership skill will definitely inspire me and applying his skills will make me reach good heights in the future. So that is the reason I have chosen Lincoln as my leader.

What preliminary comprehensive sources have you found to support your weekly research? In other words, do you have sufficient materials and references to continue to assess and analyze this person and his/her leadership style, traits, and behaviors throughout this course?

Being a prominent leader and inspiring personality I have found a lot of journals and books written on him which might be helping me out in getting the complete information. Yes, I have enough materials and references to continue to access and analyze Abraham Lincoln.

Citations and references to this Unit 1, 2, and 3 reading materials that support your choice. Specifically, how did your leader display (or not display) aspects of Fundamentals of Leadership (Unit 1), Effective Thinking (Unit 2), and Emotional Intelligence (Unit 3)?

Fundamentals of leadership

Leadership is the influencing process between leaders and followers to achieve organizational objectives through change Robert N Lussier (2015). In the book, the author has discussed five key elements which will support the leadership definition and the five key elements would be. Influence, Organizational objective, people, change, and leader followers. It is hard to find all the key elements of a good leader. Influencing is the process of a leader communicating ideas, gaining acceptance of them, and motivating followers to support and implement the ideas through change Robert N Lussier (2015). In Lincoln’s leadership to win a civil war he needs to influence his people and army in order to win the war. Being a lawyer and having good knowledge of the law he has waited for the time and expanded the reach of presidential authority. He influences his people through his speeches and motivational lessons. This makes there people to have trust in the leader which is the biggest achievement and one of the most important qualities of the leader. There are some particular qualities that made Lincoln great. He has the capacity to listen to different points of view in analyzing particular issues. From the book Team of Rivals, Kearns has noticed that Lincoln has this skill. In his leadership, he created an atmosphere where cabinet members were free to disagree without any fear of a relationship. And he also knows how to stop the decision, before taking the final decision. The best quality for a leader is to accept the mistake. Lincoln use to acknowledge their errors and learn from them and will be taking all precautions before taking any wise decision and make sure that he will be applying the learning he has learned from his previous mistakes. That’s the way he has established culture in his administration. In hard times taking credit as a leader when the team is in failure is a good positive sign for the team to make them believe that they still have faith in success. And giving credit to the team for success is the best quality true leader and Abraham Lincoln showed up the same key factor with his team. When mistakes were made by his cabinet members Lincoln stood up for his team and when serious questions were raised toward him he use to take the blame himself rather than passing it over to the cabinet. When making a high-performance team, as a leader one should know their own strength and weakness, Lincoln has a tendency to give more chances to the people because he was aware and want to recoup for his weakness. As an example, George Mc Cleland, commander in chief of the army refuse to follow the directions about the war effort and Lincoln eventually set a deadline and removed him from the position. Lincoln was very particular about his vision and has the ability to convey his message to his people. He made the concepts simple and communicate with understanding to his countrymen. When he won the civil war and won in reelection, Lincoln did not focus on his achievements but rather focused on the people to get them together with his inspirational words. As I conclude Lincoln as a leader who was self-taught and had good decision-making skills, interpersonal skills, and team management skills has helped him to remain a remarkable leader. Even after his dearth

People are still attracted to his character.

Effective thinking.

Lincoln was a great political thinker and know how to better poster his origination to success. With his great vision and wisdom so he can anticipate well in advance organization. Identifying the key factor will create an easy way to solve an issue. Brilliant leaders can hold two opposing ideas in their minds at once. Lincoln is good at creating unexpected solutions. Rather than settling for A and B, Lincoln forges a third way which contains elements for both but improves on each. Effective thinking is a skill that uses awareness, conscious thoughts, and unconscious inputs to identify primary needs and how to address the issue in an effective way. Lincoln used to be very patient and while he was about to lose hope, he used to be alone and thin and analyze the issue and use to get the possible outcome so as to get it resolved. The purpose of effective thinking is to handle the issue and make sense of our surrounding in order to decide what would be the best possible solution for any problem. Lincoln knows the importance of creating bonds with the electorate, from the initial day he tries to gain respect from the known person and try to establish a friendly environment where civilians can address him for any help. Lincoln is not born a leader, Lincoln as a president has not had any experience in leading a team but no governor or general had raised any questions about his leadership. It is all about your skills and emotions that we need to use. In order to win any person, we need to win his heart.

Emotional Intelligence:

Great leaders move us, they ignite our passion and inspire the best in us. Great leadership works on Emotions James Lewis, (2003). Character is like a tree and reputation is like a shadow. We think about the shadow but the real thing is a tree. The explanations behind his prosperity have been broadly discussed, and there is acceptable proof to recommend that Lincoln had an elevated level of passionate insight that permitted him to defeat innumerable obstructions that would have halted most people. Lincoln used to keep his vision in constant focus. To achieve this thing he need to have the best and most trusted people around regardless of the way that a significant number of them couldn’t help contradicting him and freely scrutinizing him. As he was continually being tested, he needed to forgo the needs of right and put his sense of self and individual emotions aside for the advancement of others and his nation. If others has better ideas and solutions he use to listen to them and would be ready to change his mind if he needed to. Lincoln as a leader has the ability to manage his own emotions. When his subordinates challenge him, Lincoln was able to control his emotions and he never use to fight back and show anger towards them. At the point when Lincoln felt outrage he would compose a letter and not send it until he got an opportunity to calm down, typically the following day. By doing so a true leader will not humiliate the feelings of others which would be a good sign in any team. Lincoln was a great listener, and the individuals who were in contact with him generally felt heard, despite the fact that he didn’t generally concur with them. He had a talent for communicating in plain language and was an incredible storyteller. He never talked over his crowd, and he utilized similitudes to come to his meaningful conclusion in a manner that his audience members comprehended and acknowledged. He had the capacity to take complex thoughts and put them into terms that everybody had the option to get a handle on. Lincoln use to understand the need of others. Lincoln had the capacity to bring individuals of contrasting assessments together and was an extraordinary middle person he had the capacity to repair walls with his adversaries.

Toward the finish of the Civil War, he put it all on the line to not mortify a crushed adversary through his words and activities. He treated their pioneer, General Lee, with respect and permitted the Confederate officers to get back with the entirety of their assets separated from their weapons. He opposed calls from certain individuals from his bureau and others to manage the South and somewhat centered around ways that he could recuperate old injuries.

Lincoln is an exemplar and model than any other person in world history. He holds a special place in Americans’ memory of his great accomplishments but more importantly of certain character qualities. As a leader, he has exhibited his leadership, emotional intelligence, and effective thinking which is been explained above. Selecting Abraham Lincoln as my leader for the organizational leadership Couse will definitely help me to know more about his leadership styles and help me to relate my learning with his leadership skills.

References

1. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). Project Management Institute, 2001.
2. Bradberry, T., & Greaves, J. (2009). Emotional intelligence 2.0. TalentSmart.
3. Burger, E. B., & Starbird, M. (2012). The 5 elements of effective thinking. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
4. Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Penguin, 2013.
5. Kotter, John P. Leading Change. Harvard Business Review Press, 2012.
6. Lewis, James P. Project Leadership. McGraw-Hill, 2003.
7. Lussier, Robert N., and Christopher F. Achua. Leadership: Theory, Application & Skill Development. Cengage Learning, 2016.
8. Martin, How Successful Leaders Think

When Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, seven slave states seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America, with four more joinings when the North and South went to war. The nation was soon engulfed in a violent civil war, with Lincoln vowing to protect the Union, uphold the laws of the United States, and put an end to secession. The war lasted more than four years and resulted in the deaths of almost 600,000 Americans. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in the middle of the war, freeing all slaves in the Confederacy and turning the war from a fight to keep the Union together into a fight for freedom. He was the first Republican president, and his victory over the Confederacy put an end to the argument that state autonomy superseded federal power. Lincoln was assassinated less than a week after Confederate forces surrendered, leaving the country a more perfect Union and earning the adoration of most Americans as the country’s finest President.

Lincoln was born in a dirt-poor log cabin in Kentucky in 1809 and grew up in frontier Kentucky and Indiana, where he was mostly self-educated and had a fondness for jokes, hard work, and reading. He was a soldier in the Black Hawk War, learned himself law, and served as a Whig legislator in the Illinois state assembly in the 1830s and 1840s.In 1847, he moved from state politics to the United States House of Representatives, where he expressed his opposition to the United States’ war with Mexico. Lincoln abandoned the Whig Party in the mid-1850s to join the newly formed Republican Party. In a race for the United States Senate in 1858, he faced Senator Stephen Douglas, one of the most popular politicians in the country. Although Lincoln lost that election, his outstanding performance in a series of nationally broadcast debates against Douglas made him a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 1860.

During his 1860 presidential campaign for Unity and Freedom, Lincoln made it clear that he opposed slavery and was determined to keep it from spreading westward into the new territory obtained from Mexico in 1850. As a result of his electoral triumph, many Southern Democrats felt that it would only be a matter of time before Lincoln moved to abolish slavery in the South. Much of the white South favored secession rather than facing a future in which black people might become free citizens. This logic was founded on the idea of states’ rights, which granted states ultimate sovereignty.

Lincoln swore to keep the Union together, even if it meant going to war. He eventually gathered a Northern army and navy of about three million men to confront a Southern force of over two million men. A vast civil war tore the United States apart in battles fought from Virginia to California (but primarily in Virginia, the Mississippi River Valley, and along the border states). Lincoln used extralegal powers over the press to achieve victory, imposed martial law in areas where no military activity warranted it, used armed soldiers to quiet draught protests, and recruited soldiers to fight for the Union.No President in history had ever wielded such executive power, yet he did so not for personal gain, but to keep the Union together. Lincoln declined to put off national elections in 1864 as an example of his restricted personal goals, choosing to hold the election even if he lost the vote rather than damage the democratic foundation on which he based his authority. Lincoln has reelected convincingly thanks to the electoral support of Union soldiers, many of whom were given brief leave to come home and vote, and thanks to the dramatic success of Union troops in General Sherman’s fall of Atlanta.

When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, what began as a fight to preserve the Union and vindicate democracy became a battle for freedom and a war to eliminate slavery. Although the Proclamation did not free all slaves in the country, and no slaves outside the Confederacy were impacted, it was a significant symbolic gesture that associated the Union with freedom and the abolition of slavery. Lincoln also invited African males to join the Union armies as soldiers and sailors in the Proclamation. Nearly two hundred thousand African Americans had fought for the Union cause by the end of the war, and Lincoln referred to them as ‘invaluable’ in guaranteeing Union triumph.

Tragedies and Triumphs in Personal Life While the conflict raged, Lincoln’s personal agony was compounded by the death of his beloved son and his wife’s poor mental state. He was strongly impacted by the grief of war and personal loss, and he frequently communicated his anguish by turning to humor and speaking eloquently about the meaning of the great battle raging throughout the land. His Gettysburg Address, delivered after the Battle of Gettysburg, and his second inaugural address, delivered in 1865, are regarded as two of America’s greatest orations.

Almost all historians consider Lincoln to be the greatest president in American history because of the manner he led the country during the war and the impact his leadership had on the nation’s moral and political character. In times of crisis, he saw his presidential duty as unique under the Constitution. Lincoln believed that the president was the only branch of government with the authority to not only uphold, but also to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. In the end, however, Lincoln is judged on his greatest enduring achievements: the preservation of the Union, the vindication of democracy, and the abolition of slavery, all of which he accomplished by acting with malice toward no one in the quest for a more perfect and equal union

President Abraham Lincoln introduced Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 had only freed slaves that were held in the Confederate states and only in the portion of states not already under Union control.9 Lincoln truly abolished slavery when the Thirteenth amendment was put in place in 1865, ‘Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject their jurisdiction.’ 10 Lincoln took an active role to ensure the amendment was passed through Congress, despite the fact the Senate passed it in 1864, the House did not. Therefore, he took it to insist the passage be added to the Republican Party platform for the upcoming presidential elections, eventually, it was passed freeing four million slaves. Even though Lincoln had successfully achieved the 13th amendment and slaves were now free racism and discrimination continued throughout America, showing that he wasn’t that successful in achieving the civil rights for black but only allowing them to be free.

Woodrow Wilson was one of many presidents who did little to nothing to progress the Civil Rights, his administration pursued regressive policies which worked with Southern Democrats to segregate the federal government. After years of African American advances in the civil service, this resulted in a great step back meaning the Ku Klux Klan had a major revival. President Wilson aligned himself symbolically with the KKK by ordering a private screening of D.W. Griffith’s racist film Birth of a Nation. The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) and many others stepped forward to condemn Wilson’s segregationist racial agenda. 11 Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1905) had addressed the race problem but still lacked initiative and did little to change the issue, his solution was to proceed slowly toward social and economic equality. He cautioned against imposing radical changes in government policy and instead suggested a gradual adjustment in the attitudes of whites towards ethnic minorities. While Roosevelt believed in the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal, his administration took a long-term approach to improving civil rights.12 President Andrew Johnson had not contributed to the Civil Rights but instead opposed it alongside the 14th Amendment and even though he supported the end of slavery in the 1860s, he still classified himself as a white supremacist. During one of his first speeches as President he stated ’This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men’. Harry S Truman supported civil rights and had accomplished some major achievements in Civil Rights, in 1948 he issued two executive orders banning segregation in the armed forces and guaranteeing fair employment practices in the civil service. Despite the fact it took two years for the military to push through the law, a few African Americans soon became officers and the number of frontline troops had increased during the Korean War. Since Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman was the only president that had addressed Civil Rights, and his huge support for the civil rights committee wanted the federal government to use its authority to end segregation, lynching be a federal offense, and voting rights introduced for African Americans; he had called for the implementation of all the recommendations in his state union speeches of 1947 and 48.13 John F Kennedy supported racial integration and civil rights through his speeches. In 1961 he signed Executive Order 10925 which required government contractors to take affirmative action to ensure all employees are treated equally irrespective of their race, creed, color, or national origin, and his executive order 11063 in 1962 banned segregation in federally funded housing. 14 Kennedy had also made many black appointments to the federal bureaucracy; there were five black federal judges alongside 40 black people to top posts. His proposal to provide equal access to public schools and other facilities, and greater protection of voting rights became part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which was signed by Lydon B Johnson. 15

President John F Kennedy’s speech was his first and only major civil rights address, in his speech, he states ‘One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until its citizens are free.’ 16 Kennedy challenges the American people by linking the fate of African American citizenship to the larger question of national identity and freedom ‘will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.’ The candid tone and formality of the speech suggest that he is trying to reach all audiences as it was broadcasted nationwide.

Kennedy delivered his speech on June 11, 1963; this was 100 years after Lincoln put forth the Emancipation Proclamation (Kennedy was trying to portray himself as Lincoln, who was then seen as the greatest successor) the significance of the speech being delivered on the day shows the lack of progress America has done for equality because, in the same year, the Birmingham campaign took place where African Americans were clubbed by police officers, attacked by their dogs, blasted by high-pressure fire hoses and beaten; they were protesting for desegregation in Alabama. However, Martin Luther King was Arrested which led to further protests. This speech was historic as it soon led to the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. John Kennedy was one of the Presidents that contributed a massive amount to the progression of Civil Rights Since Lincoln, he met with Civil Right Leaders, including Martin Luther King and his wife, and put forward the Civil Rights Act of 1964 alongside this 89% of African American’s approved of his Presidency. As the protests and marches got more frequent Kennedy started to address the situation more and addressed that civil rights were a moral issue. This source is valuable as it’s an in-depth speech on the current racial affairs in America, Kennedy’s status and power means that he was going to reach a wide audience and people will listen so his talking about a serious topic means that more white Americans will hear the truth.

You would consider Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas as lifelong enemies. They competed for many things such as the success of their political schemes, respect for their peers, for women’s liking, debated for the United States Senate seat, debated on the office of President of the United States, etc.

Stephen Douglas was born on April 23, 1813, in Vermont. His father was a doctor and passed away when Stephen was an infant. He had a great education. Douglas had a temporary apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker before he moved to Illinois to practice law. He was accepted to the bar in 1834 and entered politics as a “Jacksonian” Democrat. “He was elected to the office of state attorney in 1835, and the state legislate in 1836.” (Leidner 2012).

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Kentucky. Like Douglas, Lincoln lost a parent as well, his mother, at a young age. He received little education, compared to Douglas, but self-taught himself by borrowing books from his peers. Unlike Douglas, Lincoln entered politics, specifically for the state legislature in 1832, as a Whig candidate. He failed at first, but then he was elected state representative and took office in the capital of Vandalia in 1834.

Mary Todd, one of Springfield’s prettiest “belles” who lived with her older sister, began entertaining many of Springfield’s bachelors. Her sister and her’s home was a social center visited by many, including both Lincoln and Douglas. Douglas proposed, but Mary refused as her heart went out to Lincoln.

In total, seven major debates occurred between Lincoln and Douglas during the 1858 Illinois state election campaign. The primary issue was slavery in all of these debates. The start of the debates between Lincoln and Douglas happened in Vandalia, Illinois. In the early 1840s, Springfield politicians met regularly in a room above a dry goods store in order to engage in informal debates. In this type of environment, Lincoln felt comfortable and was able to crack jokes, tell tall tales, etc. However, Douglas was the opposite of Lincoln in this manner. He was not capable of a funny story and could only provide dry discussions. Douglas recommended they move their informal debates from the store to the streets, as he wanted a more public form.

Douglas was intrigued by gaining southern support for the development of the Nebraska Territories. He thought if he could get through the old Missouri Compromise of 1820, he might be able to gain Southern political support. He introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act which proclaimed popular sovereignty in the territories. Lincoln believed the Act’s intent was to spread slavery. Due to Douglas’s plans, Lincoln decided to run against Douglas for the senate seat in 1858. In the Senate election, neither Douglas’s nor Lincoln’s names appeared on any ballots. Douglas ended up beating Lincoln in the debates as his party sustained a 54 to 46 majority.

Two years later, the two met again, but this time for the presidential campaign. The northern Democrats chose Douglas, the southern Democrats chose John Breckenridge, and the Republicans chose Lincoln and John Bell. A Democratic split occurred due to the issue of slavery in the territories, causing a Republican victory to be almost certain. Lincoln stayed home and avoided all public speeches for his “campaign” and allowed his supporters to speak for him, while Douglas campaigned fiercely.

In the end, Lincoln easily won. Throughout all the bitterness and fighting that occurred between the two, they did show a sign of friendship. At Lincoln’s inauguration, Lincoln had nowhere to set his cane and hat, so Douglas stepped forward to do so. Douglas died from typhoid fever on June 3, 1861, in Chicago, Illinois. Lincoln died from assassination on April 14, 1865.