Category: Abraham Lincoln

Honest Abe, as many of us call him, got elected on November 6, 1860. The guy who issued the Emancipation Proclamation, the guy who fought for the rights of slaves to be free, who thought secession illegal, and who was willing to use force to defend Federal law and the union (1). All of this was part of Abraham Lincoln’s journey to becoming president, and I’m here to tell you his steps to becoming the 16th president.

Lincoln, at a young age, stood out from the rest of the crowd. He was tall and slim, also very intelligent, witty, and honest. He became quite popular in the town of New Salem. As time went on in this new town he lived in, he announced his candidacy for the state legislature. After throwing that out there, the Black Hawk War broke out and volunteered to fight in it. He didn’t see much action going on, but this prevented him from campaigning for office. Now back home in New Salem, he began his campaign, but there was little time due to him being off at war. He lost, but that didn’t stop him. He refocused and began studying law on his own, and Lincoln participated in political functions to learn.

Lincoln ran again and won. He was a young legislator but took on controversial positions, such as “opposing the spread of slavery to the territories” (6). He, at this point after several speeches, was not in favor of many (the South). After running four terms, Lincoln decided to leave office and come back 5 years later to win the Whig nomination seat. Later on, he then campaigned for Whig presidential candidate Zachary Taylor. He retired and focused more on law, and became a successful lawyer within the state representing all kinds of clients. Overall Lincoln did a ton before his road to the presidency, which explains why he was a good president because his road to the presidency was not easy.

1858 were debates between Lincoln and Douglas, his enemy out of many. Lincoln’s biggest focus during this was to basically expand the U.S. and be against slavery. Douglas on the other hand stated, “Government was made by our fathers on white basis… made by white men and their posterity forever.”(8). During these debates, they criticized their different morals regarding slavery. But with one of many of Lincoln’s speeches, he gave the message that without the nation being with slaves or without, slavery would not be resolved. He boldly declared that slavery was unethical, and violated the Declaration of Independence “all men are created equal”. Douglas obviously opposed everything Lincoln had said and argued that Lincoln was an extremist with his policies, which would result in racial equality. This resulted in Lincoln having a greater national reputation. He won the states, especially in New York (13), which made him a leader and was later sworn on, what is called now “The Lincoln bible”

On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office for the second time. The setting itself reflected how much had changed in the past four years. When Lincoln delivered his First Inaugural Address, the new Capitol dome, which replaced the original wooden one, was only half-complete. Now the Statue of Freedom crowned the finished edifice, symbolizing the reconstitution of the nation on the basis of universal liberty. For the first time in American history, companies of black soldiers marched in the inaugural parade.

It must have been very tempting for Lincoln to use his address to review the progress of the war and congratulate himself and the nation on the impending victory with the end of slavery and bloodshed in sight. Instead, he delivered a speech of almost unbelievable brevity and humility. He began by stating that there was no need for an “extended address” or an elaborate discussion of “the progress of our arms.” He refused to make any prediction as to when the war would end. One week after the inauguration, Senator Thomas A. Bayard of Delaware wrote that he had “slowly and reluctantly” come to understand the war’s “remote causes.” He did not delineate them as Lincoln chose to do in his Second Inaugural Address. Slavery, Lincoln stated, was the reason for the war:

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves. Not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war.

Lincoln, as always, was forthright yet chose his words carefully. Referring to the slaves as “one-eighth of the whole population” suggested that they were part of the nation, not an exotic, unassimilable element, as he had once viewed them. “Peculiar,” of course, was how Southerners themselves had so often described slavery. “Powerful” evoked Republicans’ prewar rhetoric about Slave Power. To say that slavery was the cause placed responsibility for the bloodshed in the South. Yet Lincoln added simply, “and the war came,” seemingly avoiding the assignment of blame. The war, Lincoln continued, had had unanticipated consequences:

Neither party expected the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding.

The “astounding” outcome, of course, was the destruction of slavery. Countless Northern ministers had pointed to this as evidence of divine sanction for the Union war effort. Lincoln took a different approach. Rejecting self-congratulation, he offered a remarkably philosophical reflection on the war’s larger meaning:

If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bond man’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said: “the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.”

Despite having promised not to judge the South, Lincoln, of course, does so in this address. He reiterates his condemnation of slavery as a theft of labor, combining this with the most direct allusion in all his writings to the institution’s physical brutality. Lincoln was reminding the country that the “terrible” violence of the Civil War had been preceded by two and a half centuries of the terrible violence of slavery. Yet Lincoln calls it “American slavery,” not Southern slavery in the passage above: his point being that the nation as a whole was guilty of this sin.

Lincoln had long favored monetary compensation to the owners of emancipated slaves. The Second Inaugural Address, however, implicitly shifts the moral equation from what was due to slaveholders to the nation’s obligation to the slaves. This passage, one of the most remarkable in American letters, echoes the abolitionists’ view of slavery as a national evil deeply embedded in all the institutions of society and of the war itself as a “judgment of the Almighty” for this sin. Lincoln’s words, an Illinois newspaper observed, “might claim paternity of Wendell Phillips.” Indeed, the radical editors of the Chicago Tribune pointed out that they had said much the same thing as Lincoln two and a half years earlier in a piece entitled “Justice of the Almighty,” even as they acknowledged that their exposition was not “so admirably condensed” as Lincoln’s. The Tribune had referred to the likely destruction of “the sum total of profit that has been derived from slaveholding,” and how “our own sufferings” were “balanced” by the “bloodshed and tears” of two centuries of slavery.

Not for the first time, Lincoln had taken ideas that circulated in anti-slavery circles and distilled them into something uniquely his own. Through the delivery of the Second Inaugural Address, he was asking the entire nation to confront unblinkingly the legacy of the long history of bondage. What were the requirements of justice in the face of those 250 years of unpaid labor? What was necessary to enable the former slaves, their children, and their descendants to enjoy the pursuit of happiness he had always insisted was their natural right but that had been so long denied to them? Lincoln did not live to provide an answer. But even implicitly raising these questions suggested the magnitude of the task that lay ahead.

After the passage in which Lincoln, like Puritan preachers of old, struggles to understand the causes of God’s anger with his chosen people, he closes his Second Inaugural with the eloquent words most often remembered:

With malice toward none; with charity for all; . . . let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.

Lincoln had been thinking a great deal about the process of reconciliation. In the first weeks of 1865, he had urged military commanders and Governor Thomas C. Fletcher to encourage the people of Missouri to abandon their internecine violence and let bygones be bygones rather than seeking vengeance. Neighborhood meetings, Lincoln suggested, should be held where all would agree to forget “whatever they may heretofore have thought, said or done . . . Each leaving all others alone, solves the problem.” Left unresolved in Lincoln’s Missouri initiative and in the Second Inaugural itself was the tension between mercy to the former slaveowners and justice to the former slaves. Would the pursuit of one inevitably vitiate the other? “Equality before the law,” the Radical Republican leader Charles Sumner insisted, must precede forgiveness. “Then, at last, will come reconciliation, and not before.”

Frederick Douglass, who was in the audience, called the Second Inaugural “more like a sermon than a state paper.” In a speech of only 700 words, Lincoln referred to God or the Almighty eight times and liberally quoted and paraphrased the Bible. Lincoln, of course, had long since acquired a deep knowledge of the Bible. And during the war, while he never joined a church, he seems to have undergone a spiritual awakening. Especially after the death of his young son Willie in 1862, Lincoln moved away from his earlier religious skepticism. Lincoln had long believed that a remote higher power controlled human destiny. He now concluded that God intervened directly in the world, although in ways men could not always fathom. Yet he managed to see the war as a divine punishment for slavery while avoiding the desire for blame and vengeance. If Lincoln’s Second Inaugural was a sermon, it was quite different from those that Northerners had grown accustomed to hearing during the Civil War.

After the address, Douglass repaired with some 5,000 other persons to the White House. When he stepped forward to offer congratulations, Lincoln clasped his hand and said, “My dear Sir, I am glad to see you.” Douglass called the speech a “sacred effort.” Not every listener was as kind. Particularly harsh was the New York World, which printed the speech “with a blush of shame.” It was an “odious libel,” the editors complained, to equate the blood that “trickled from the lacerated backs of the negroes” with the carnage of “the bloodiest war in history.” Many Republicans also found the speech puzzling. Why, they asked, had Lincoln not promised an end to the war and laid out “some definite line of policy” regarding Reconstruction? A few contemporaries recognized the greatness of the address. Charles Francis Adams Jr., the colonel of a black regiment, wrote to his father, the ambassador in London: “That rail-splitting lawyer is one of the wonders of the day. . . . This inaugural strikes me in its grand simplicity and directness as being for all time the historical keynote of this war.” Overall, as Lincoln himself recognized, the address was “not immediately popular,” although he remained confident that it would “wear as well—perhaps better than—anything I have produced.” Lincoln thought he knew why people did not like his speech: “Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them.” Yet even in its critical reception, everyone could agree with George Templeton Strong as he noted in his diary that the Second Inaugural was “unlike any American state paper of this century.”

To what extent did presidents aid the pursuit of equality for African Americans between 1865-1968?

Some Presidents aided the pursuit of equality for African Americans, and some did things to go against it as they were for slavery. Civil rights politics in the United States has its roots in the movement to end discrimination against African Americans. Though slavery was abolished and former slaves were officially granted political rights after the Civil War, in most Southern states African Americans continued to be systematically excluded from public life, leading them to become perpetual second-class citizens. The advancement of Civil rights was a very hard and tiring process. All major advancements were due to the president’s support and key ideologies which helped the African American community. To assess the validity of the statement I will be discussing the majority of the presidents throughout the time period. Each president did something different. Although some hindered the pursuit of equality in the race for equality. Some presidents aided more than others, helping the black community.

The beginning of reformation for civil rights began with Abraham Lincoln. He was the first president to introduce changes to the government giving slaves more freedom. The emancipation proclamation said that all southern states were to free slaves at once so that slavery was no longer a thing in America. Yet this wasn’t the case. Slaves had nowhere to go, no family, or any other means to do work. They were essentially forced to stay with their past owners. Although they had a thing called sharecropping where the farm owner would give the slaves a bit of land and in exchange they worked for him. Many slaves had large debts and for them to be able to live they had to plant crops in the land they were given. Many people that loaned the former slaves money put high-interest rates on the repayments. It is key to understand that Lincoln wasn’t an abolitionist himself. He didn’t believe that black people should have the same rights as white people. Above that the civil war was fundamentally a conflict over slavery. However, the way Lincoln viewed it emancipation would have had to be gradual. The most important thing for him was to prevent the southern states from separating and forming their own state. Although the emancipation proclamation didn’t free all enslaved slaves. Border states such as Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri didn’t have their slaves freed immediately as Lincoln tried to gain the trust of the white people. Now although he did in practice do all that for slaves there were many loopholes for people to go by.

After Lincoln’s assassination it was time for a new president, this president was much less pro-slavery. The president was Andrew Johnson, who was against the abolition of slavery. He quickly focused on quickly restoring the southern states to the union. He granted amnesty to most former confederates and allowed the rebel states to elect new governments. These governments soon brought in black codes. The black codes were restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African American slaves and ensure the availability of a cheap labor force after slavery was abolished after Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation. During Johnsons’ time in the white house, he introduced reconstruction. Nearly all the southern Confederate states would bring in their own black codes, in 1865 and 1866. While the codes granted African American rights, they were very limited in their labor and activity. Black people could buy and own property, marry, make contracts, and testify in court. Some stats limited the type of property that black people could have. Johnson did something good for the black community though. He brought in the 14th Amendment in 1868. The 14th Amendment gave all of us citizens equal protection of the law. The amendment also gave all of the people in the USA citizenship no matter if they were a slave or not. The military reconstruction act of 1867 laid out the process for readmitting southern states into the union. The main points of the military reconstruction were to create 5 military districts in the seceded states. Each of these districts was headed by military officials who had the power to appoint and remove state officials. All states were required to ratify the 14th Amendment before readmission. After 1867 large amounts of whites turned to violence in response to the revolutionary changes of radical reconstruction. Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan targeted local leaders, black and white, and other African Americans who challenged and went against white authority.

After Johnson’s presidency ended in 1869 Ulysses s Grant became president. Many people see Grant as having actually freed the slaves after Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation. Grant passed the 15th Amendment in 1870. The amendment stated that all black men had the right to vote. Above that social and economic segregation were added back to black America’s loss of political power. Grant passed the civil rights act of 1875 which disallowed racial discrimination in public areas and facilities such as restaurants and transportation. The act also made it illegal for anyone to deny services such as accommodation on the basis of color and race. The civil rights act gave courts more work to do as cases of discrimination were being brought up and resolved in courts. All the cases were tried in federal courts rather than in state-level courts.

The end of the reconstruction occurred in 1877. During this time Rutherford B Hayes was president. Many argue that he did a lot of bad for African Americans. Things such as the Jim Crow laws, these introduced separation into almost every part of America. Things such as drinking fountains, restaurants, and transportation were being segregated into white and colored categories. Our military was also segregated. Usually, the facilities for blacks were inferior to those of the whites despite the 14th amendment saying ‘separate but equal. Not only facilities were segregated but interracial marriage was also prohibited. Both parties that were caught no matter whether white or black, would be punished accordingly. Another thing introduced was the Grandfather clause. A grandfather clause is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from the new rule are said to have grandfather rights or acquired rights or to have been grandfathered in.

Woodrow Wilson being the president from 1913-21 did a lot of negative things for African Americans. The introduction of federal segregation in 1913 is one of them. Wilson received General Albert Burleson’s plan to segregate the railway mail service. ‘Burleson reported that he found it intolerable that white and black employees had to work together and share drinking glasses and washrooms.’1

By the end of 1913 black employees in several federal departments had been separated and or screened off. Work areas, toilets, and lunchrooms were all separated into white and colored sections. Wilson defended his doings by stating that this was in the best interest of black workers. He said that this was only harmful to those who saw that segregation between blacks and whites was a humiliation. Above that the segregation in federal employment was seen as a major pushback on the rights of the black workers, this also seems to push that the official presidential view was for the Jim Crow policies and rules that were set in motion like in the South. Woodrow dealt with a riot in his run as president too. In 1919 the Red Summer began following World War I. The re-birth of the Ku Klux Klan in the South resulted in 64 lynching’s in 1918 and 83 in 1919, race riots began to break out in Washington, Knoxville, Tennessee, Longview, Texas, and Arkansas. In the north, the worst riots were witnessed in Chicago and Omaha. The Chicago racial tension was caused by the pressure for adequate housing, the black population had increased from 44000 to more than 100000. The riot’s main cause was when a black boy was killed on July 27th. He was swimming in Lake Michigan and drifted into an area reserved for the whites, he was stoned and drowned. When the local police refused to arrest the culprit, crowds began to gather and the riot began. 23 blacks were killed, 537 injured and more than 1000 black families were made homeless.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first good president African Americans had in a while. He tried to help the black community as much as he could. He made severe attempts to end lynchings.

When discussing film history, it is impossible not to mention the Birth of a Nation in said discussion. It really was the first film to show the true power that cinema could have both as an artistic medium as well as its impact on the viewer’s opinions and viewpoints, as discussed by Leon F. Litwack in his essay on the film, as saying that Birth of a Nation revealed “the extraordinary power of cinema to ‘teach’ history and to reflect and shape popular attitudes and stereotypes” (Litwack, 137).

In it, legendary director D. W. Griffith wove a story based on the book The Clansman by Richard Dixon Jr. that while completely false, was presented as fact to the watching public, the function being to show the North the terrible crimes endured by the white man during the Reformation after Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery and won the Civil War. Of course, the notion of such crimes is a complete fabrication, but this was presented as fact during Birth of a Nation, and unfortunately, this was eaten up by the public, who then too believed this to be true. To them, this racist notion proved to Northerners why the South did what they did to people of African descent, all the while affirming what the South already thought was reality. For a significant amount of the following decades, the film not only reinforced and justified racial stereotypes but created new ones as well. Not only this, but it also gave rise to one of the most infamous institutions in American history, The Ku Klux Klan. While it did not create the organization, it showed them as the heroes of the South and preservers of white integrity and allowed them to not only commit heinous acts while white folks averted their eyes, but allowed them to recruit a whole lot of people influenced by Birth of a Nation.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum of morals but also being manipulative, is John Ford’s Young Mr. Lincoln. While this film about the Great Emancipator is not about the presidential years of Abraham Lincoln when he was actually emancipating, it is more of a story of his character. This is especially of note, as the truth is stretched very far in this film as to the specifics of the crime the trial deals with, the centerpiece of the movie apart from Lincoln himself. However, historical accuracy is of little importance to the movie. What is important is maintaining the messianic nature that Lincoln held in the viewer, and even enhancing that viewpoint. It is shown that Lincoln by nature was a good person: compassionate, deeply caring, noble, and most importantly, having a strong sense of wrong and right; traits already known to the public but were shown in a new light. Lincoln was a theme of many plays, theater pieces, and movies at the time, and was made during a sort of Lincoln obsession that would shape the public’s view of him, regardless of the true history.

Unfortunately, despite the Emancipator’s growing popularity, it did not do much to combat the racism brought about by Birth of a Nation years earlier, as the movie has little to do with race or slavery, just Lincoln’s character. At the time the movie was released in 1939, however, there was much it did in relevance to current events. In the depths of the Great Depression, and with a World War on the horizon with all the dangerous ideologies and factions associated with it, Lincoln stood as a message to Americans to stand tall and push on, as Lincoln had done at the end of the film. Be like Lincoln, and we will prevail and win through all trials our enemies can put us through.

Young Mr. Lincoln, while it had themes of morality, was ultimately a story about Lincoln that had these themes associated with it. On the other hand, the 1927 film The Jazz Singer was more of a theme with a story built around it. As such, the themes of The Jazz Singer are very important in understanding the film. It came around during the Roaring 20s, a time of unheard-of freedom and social change, and technological and ideological progression. As it dealt with these themes, it is seen as a progressive film for its time, telling the story of the son of a Jewish cantor who wanted to sing jazz, the hottest music at the time, instead of becoming a cantor like his father. While it doesn’t tackle themes of race and racism at all, jazz was an interracial medium, and could therefore be seen as promoting equality on some minor level, which even at that time was very uncommon. The film tackled themes of religion, especially in terms of religion’s place in an age of advancing technology, and old tradition versus new style.

The effect that The Jazz Singer had on cinema is cemented and firmly documented. It was the first “talkie:” the first movie with fully synchronized music and speech, that effectively changed the history of film as we know it forever. The effect it had on the culture of people watching it upon its release is a bit harder to say. It can be credited with exposing more people to these new, more accepting ideologies, but it wasn’t radically doing so. Jazz was immensely popular at the time, so it wasn’t exactly breaking new ground. However, it did do an excellent service of putting the two opposing sides in perspective, as well as having them confront each other head-on with their arguments for their own side; whether the father or son is right, whether the old or new is right. The son is quoted as saying “You’re of the old world,” a sentiment that meant the new world was fast approaching, whether the old world liked it or not.

The new world that followed could hardly be called a favorable outcome. The Jazz Singer showcased a cultural shift happening in the twenties, while The Grapes of Wrath is about an economic shift, and a drastic one at that: the Great Depression that shortly followed the Roaring 20s. The movie The Grapes of Wrath was based on a grounded story of farmers stuck in the middle of the Dust Bowl and was originally a novel by John Steinbeck that many thought promoted a communist message. A year later, despite the controversy, the movie of the same name was released in 1940, directed by John Ford, who had previously directed Young Mr. Lincoln. More than being about the Joad family, the movie was about the injustice of capitalism and how it failed so many people. However, there is one scene at the end of the film that not only differs from the original novel but takes its meaning in a different direction.

With a new ending provided by Twentieth Century Fox chieftain Darryl F. Zanuck and approved by Steinbeck, it was changed to an ending with an air of optimism for the future that had a more patriotic message than the books. Ma Joad says “We’re the people that live. They can’t wipe us out or lick us. We are the people.” Aside from the obvious connection to the United States Constitution line “We the people,” the time when this movie was released was a time of great uncertainty in the United States. We weren’t sure if we were going to war with the rest of Europe, and though we were through the worst of the Depression, it was still lingering. Despite all the hardships of the characters, and despite capitalism having failed the Joad family, which is a direct link to sentiments felt in the Great Depression, they say as Americans we can prevail, no matter what the foe is: whether it is Communism, Nazis, or our own economy and government. It’s a very similar theme to what the same director expressed in the conclusion of Young Mr. Lincoln, trying to dissuade fears of the public in trying times. This makes sense as The Grapes of Wrath was released only a year after Young Mr. Lincoln, 1940 and 1939 respectively.

The paper targets to learn about the topic of building America from the perspective of Essay Option 1. This Essay Option revolves around the assertion of Joseph Ellis who cited that the U.S. Constitution now results from a term named as Second American Revolution. Moreover, the addition cited in his e-book ‘The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789’ is that a complete of 13 colonies have grown to be subordinated which also displays the history. The history of the years between the quit of the Revolution as well as the formation of the federal government. The Second Revolution will also be defined from the standpoint of the American Republic of 1776. In short, he proved Abraham Lincoln incorrect when stated about the Founding Fathers, and that they will carry a new country in a lasting sense.

In ‘The Quartet,’ Joseph Ellis who is also the creator of ‘Founding Brothers’ kept arguing that the United States did now not emerge as a country because it lacked the crucial foundation values that a united states homeland. Moreover, the phenomenon in accordance with him about American nationhood is exaggerated and overvalued. Rather, he said that American nationhood arose from the ‘Second American Revolution’ which is made up of creation, adoption, and effectuation from the United States Constitution. The politics be counted cited by using the quarter, and the period of the second American Revolution states that America is based on systematic dysfunctions and manipulated political processes. This technique led to Constitutional Convention, and its agenda rather was once set to the kingdom ratifying the convention, thus it failed to obtain a foundation. The issue is the constitutional agreement without an actual foundation that makes the u. s. a . lifestyle for a lasting period. [i][ii]

Furthermore, the convention and constitution gave upward jostle to the establishments and tactics to the reform of the United States movement and eventually ratifying and enforcing the statements. Political strategies worried in this are only, and in basic terms constructed based totally on wrongheaded, uncooperative, and unpredictable political leadership that has led to the long-term destruction of the country. According to my personal point of view, it is also referred to that the case of the United States and politics has resulted in modern-day troubles in the country. There is a motive that the United States is currently suffering due to a lack of an actual foundation. Several leaders did now not work in the desire of America, for example, Hamilton wanted a consolidated government however he was once unable to establish it.

He additionally failed to demand constitutional reform despite seven years of experience, conscious of his failure he additionally shared his draft with Madison of a constitution. Ellis raises large questions which may also be too bitter to comprehend, however, these are the real truths lying underneath the deep-rooted problem in the basis of the country. Joseph Ellis additionally failed to understand a relationship between national identification in the use of and the structure of government. He similarly believed each of the driving forces of u. s. a . have been now not in compliance with every other. And therefore, this similarly resulted in a lack of sense of identity in the people.

The book also addressed Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg. However, from different critiques of the book, it is noted that Honest Abe’s and Ellis’s calculations went wrong, and therefore their entire argument is invalid. I disagree with this announcement because the motive of such a giant economy is disturbed, and politically struggling is solely due to the fact of lack of an actual foundation. The 2nd American Revolution in accordance with the creator is a sensitive situation that reflects the refined thinking that America does lack a real foundation. According to different reviewers of the book, they said that Ellis had an increased impact on the last statements of the Constitution than each person else. Therefore, shortcomings had been rapidly observed as nicely as the idea of a limited government. Although, the book may also lack some necessary information or may additionally have put them wrongly, however, the book still serves as a vital section of American history. The American institution as nicely as its records is usually very distorted, and history itself can be effortlessly manipulated, however, the book was able to give a clear rationalization that later led to the concept of Constitutional involvement. [iii]

Joseph Ellis has authored countless books, however, this remained an important evolution in the thoughts of the political records of the country. A researcher states, ‘His 2nd argument is that 4 guys have been central to this transition from a confederation of very independent-minded states to a nation of Americans: namely, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. He similarly acknowledges a fundamental aiding cast consisting of Robert Morris, Gouverneur Morris, and Thomas Jefferson.’ [iv]

Overall, the American Revolution’s capability was the foundation of u. s . is led by using others, as a substitute for the very ordinary founding fathers. Joseph Ellis also diagnosed some fundamental issues for the duration of the e-book that mirrored his thinking of 13 colonies, and the constitutional involvement in the establishment of the country. I agree with the thought that it used to be the Second America Revolution that led to the basis ion of the country.

Hence, to support the idea, the creator even mentioned that Lincoln was traditionally incorrect, mainly when he asserted the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln, a scholar of the charter himself was a consummate baby-kisser who knew exactly what he was once doing yet his historic inaccuracies led to some problems. The notion of a collective identity is also a phase of the lack. He further reflected on the Constitution by stating, ‘This intended that politics in America used to be open to a whole classification of proficient men – girls have been nevertheless unimaginable as public figures – who would have languished in obscurity at some point of Europe due to the fact they lacked the appropriate bloodlines and inherited wealth.'[v]

He widely celebrated the thinking of diversity and similarly referred to that the American Foundation is severely rooted in racism, and classism and properly as separation of the outcasts from the journey of the country. A researcher similarly mentioned the Second American Revolution that ‘The Second American Revolution, by using contrast, pitted Americans in opposition to different Americans, Confederate slave owners, and got here on the heels of a bloody battle that ripped the state asunder and nonetheless sparks fighting today.’ Thus, these are some of the necessary findings from the essay. [vi]

Another point of the Second Revolution is mirrored in the constitution that they heavily relied on the importance of a police society, military, and polling places. These are some of the most vital aspects of the country’s current situation.

However, the Second Founder used to be still able to serve u. s . and store it from all types of threats that should have shaken the foundation. They are better-known, however, on a larger level, they were subsequently unsuccessful. The American Revolution heavily involves the violent and everlasting rebuilding of the USA that introduced a new, and powerful set of arguments involving citizenship, voting rights as properly as federal power. Hence, the dialogue has proved that the foundation of America and its establishment is primarily based on the Second American Revolution. [vii]

Conclusion

Hence, the paper has efficiently argued the subject of the Second American Revolution as well as its linkage to America’s foundation. There are some ways it impacted, ‘The political be counted noted by way of the quarter, and the term of 2d American Revolution states that America is based on systematic dysfunctions and manipulated political process. This manner led to Constitutional Convention, and its agenda relatively was once set to state the ratification of the convention, for that reason, it failed to achieve a foundation. The issue is the constitutional contract without an actual basis that makes USA lifestyles for a lasting period’ as cited earlier. Moreover, it is also found that the revolution is made up of creation, adoption, and effectuation from the United States Constitution. The political rely mentioned by the quarter, and the period of the 2d American Revolution states that America is based totally on systematic dysfunctions and manipulated political processes.

Abraham Lincoln is credited with being the American president who claimed to be the same man who modified the whole thing by way of selecting in opposition to slavery in America, regardless of the reputation and financial sources that slavery benefited from. An icon who represented a positive exchange but maybe he would no longer have made his well-known decision or determined to quit slavery if he hadn’t been motivated. Abraham Lincoln, though constantly in opposition to poverty and malnutrition as he did no longer come from rich households himself, knew that slavery was once now not so distinct from poverty, and perhaps even worse, at first he selected or chose no longer to intrude.

According to the sources, in the early tiers of his political affairs and profession as a senior statesman and a specialist in diplomacy, he chose not to speak about slavery in order not to offend the human beings who elected him in power. And frankly, regarded as the quality goes in his career had he spoken out in opposition to slavery from the start, he likely would never have made it to the presidency. Slavery pointed out via a number of dependable sources that quite a few states in the South had been threatening to withdraw from the union on suspicion of abolishing slavery. At the time, Lincoln was once nevertheless an elected president, and at some point during his inauguration, Lincoln made a speech reminding human beings that he can also no longer be in energy due to the fact of slavery or related issues.

Lincoln used to be quoted as saying, ‘I have no intention of interfering, without delay or indirectly, with the organization of slavery in the states the place it exists.’ However, time taught Lincoln something different, he realized and maybe had a revelation, a revelation that was distinctly influenced and inspired by a map he noticed and decided that slavery is in America both in the states that permit it and even in those states where it is not allowed, it ought to be banned and forgotten forever. What is this card and how precisely was it created to convince a man who in the beginning promised not to take part in the abolition talks and talks about slavery?

According to United States historians, the map used to be created through the United States Coast Survey in 1861 and used to be intended to exhibit the census of black slaves, or slaves in general, in America in the states where slavery is allowed and the states the place it is positioned Who drew the map, working on the course of the United States government, amassed data in 1860 before developing a last draft in 1861, generally prompted by means of slavery. According to sources, the map was capable to perceive or show the counties where slavery prevails with the aid of exhibiting them with darker colorings and locations with low slavery rates, it was once represented with the aid of mild hues.

The map effortlessly showed that slavery did now not bypass its time or die of natural causes, as Lincoln and his companions had in the past concept of Work Provided. Looking at this map, Lincoln realized that waiting for the moment slavery ended would by no means appear and that it may take more than selecting no longer to say anything to do the right thing. So Lincoln commenced the use of the map to locate methods to stop the obnoxious institution of slavery in America at the time.

Although Lincoln, who originally determined not to interfere, constantly expressed his contempt for slavery, he hated the idea and continually thought it was incorrect and pretty disastrous. He was once quoted as saying, ‘I am in opposition to slavery by way of nature. In an 1864 announcement he said that ‘if slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.’ This actually supposed that Lincoln had usually spoken out against slavery, but it regarded that he was once taking part in politics and was once silent for a whilst the card referred to above woke up his conscience. Even then, he still could not do anything until he realized that he could not free the slaves including which include who wanted. At first, he argued that slaves should be despatched again to Africa, then he was extraordinarily sure that slavery would possibly be gradual and would stop. That different source of motivation, a map made like any other map, was once in Lincoln’s hands as he sat in conferences to determine the fate of slaves in America.

Lincoln directed by Steven Spielberg, was made not too long ago in 2012. Because this film was produced relatively recently, the production quality was obviously more advanced than other movies about the civil war. Using more developed technology, props, costumes, etc. the portrayal of the time period of the 1860s was very accurate. The sets did very much look like they were shot in the 1860s, especially with the old decor in the white house and all the horse carriages in the outdoor scenes. Whereas in contrast, movies produced in the ’30s or ’40s were very simple in terms of production. If a movie was made in the ’40s, it would look like it because they were so limited in these factors.

The film highlights Lincoln’s struggles with continuing massacres on the battlefield as the Civil War kept on raging as well as Lincoln’s disputes with his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves and pass the 13th Amendment. His task was a race against time because the war could end at any moment, and if peace came before the amendment was passed, southern slaves who had been freed as a war measure would be re-enslaved and the southern states would be readmitted. Although he is assured the Republicans would vote yes, the amendment also requires support from a Democratic congressman, and so Lincoln and his team work to make sure he had all the needed votes, he was determined to pass this amendment as soon as he could. Lincoln’s struggle to pass the amendment before the war came to an end was portrayed very clearly in numerous scenes based on his body language and facial expressions, as he was always seen to be in a state of distress. His endeavors were also portrayed very clearly based on his conversations with his cabinet, his wife, etc. as he was always persistently pushing for the amendment to go through. The film made it very clear his intentions and point of view.

Visualizing the Scene Scenes involving war were always darker than other scenes; they had tones of grey, blue, and black, very gloomy colors. Scenes were also always depicted as rainy, cloudy, and foggy, it gave it a very eerie feel, as though death was in the air. In terms of sound, there was a lot of yelling coming from the soldiers. Being that the setting was on a battlefield, there was lots of damage, violence, blood, and of course, dead bodies practically everywhere; there were so many shots of dead bodies just sprawled across the battlefield. There was a specific scene towards the end of the film of Lincoln and his team going through the battlefield on horseback after the war ended, and Lincoln said he had never seen anything like it, as he was in disbelief as he traveled around. Visualizing the Society There was one scene in the courtroom of one of the congressmen saying something along the lines of “We might as well give voting rights to women” in response to giving black men the right to vote and the others reacted by laughing and booing. This is a clear indication of women’s positions in society and how they were seen as inferior to men. There were also no women in the courthouse, on the battlefield, or even outside, which revealed the gender roles at the time; women held no real positions in society.

Even the first lady just sat in the courtroom and watched as the voting occurred, and at home, she was always seen in corsets and dresses, with no indication of any real power. Being that this was the time of the Civil War, the major class issue was clearly the divide between blacks and whites. Black people were considered nothing more than property, a source of labor, and ultimately, money. The South’s economy was built solely upon slaves and their hard work, which was completely dismissed because the upper class wasn’t concerned with the immorality of the subject, just what they could get out of it, which is why it was a hard fight to win. Historical Analysis The historical background to the struggle over the 13th Amendment essentially, was that President Lincoln was determined to abolish slavery before the Civil War ended. He realized that his Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 was very limited in its extent and was very legally fragile. The end of the war meant that the legal status of slavery in slave states would remain unchanged. However, a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery would prevent this possibility. In 1864, a bill proposing a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery was introduced by Missouri Senator John Henderson. This passed the Senate but was rejected by the House of Representatives.

After Lincoln’s re-election in November, Lincoln set about trying to create alliances with Representatives in order to pass the amendment. President Lincoln had to deal with political rivalries, abolitionist demands for stronger legislation, and demand that he finish the war before making such a controversial move. Even members of his own cabinet were not completely on board with his plan. I think Steven Spielberg did an incredible job in terms of historical accuracy because this is exactly what was depicted in the film, the historical background and synopsis of the movie are practically identical. Even Spielberg’s portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln, Lincoln’s wife, and Lincoln’s oldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln was spot on. Mary was a very emotionally unstable and troubled woman, this affected Lincoln during his presidency. The dynamic that the couple shared was shown exceptionally well, as there were many scenes of the two arguing, and Mary often bursting into tears or breaking down. Robert ignored his parent’s objections to enlisting and dropped out of study at Harvard to join the ranks of Union soldiers and fight in the civil war.

This is shown previous times in the film as there were scenes of Robert and his father arguing about this very matter, as well as Mary being very much opposed to the idea, as she feared she would lose him. The only difference is how the movie portrayed Lincoln’s assassination, as it does not occur at Ford’s theatre. Lincoln was not at the theatre when he got assassinated in the movie, but in reality, he was shot during the show. However there was a scene of vice president Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s cabinet, and some of his closest friends standing by the president’s bedside, and in the film, it was announced that he was pronounced dead at 7:22 AM, so this part was completely historically accurate. I believe the value this film has in learning about the Civil War is getting to know Lincoln’s character and how many difficult obstacles he faced during his presidency, it reminds us how important Lincoln was to the history of the United States.

President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous address, “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions”, on January 27, 1838, at a juncture during which our country was amidst immense national strife. America’s Founding Fathers who had established the country had passed, and in their absence, the once idealistic nation of America had transformed and fallen into a place of violence, rioting, and turmoil, effectively leaving the fundamental principles of our country behind. In light of these events, Lincoln delivered his speech, more commonly known as the Lyceum Address, to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield to discuss the deteriorating state of the nation. In the speech, Lincoln points out that this decline was a result of people acting upon pure emotion and not abiding by the law, suggesting that the path to reviving the principles that this country was built from, was to re-establish reverence for the law and government. His proposal implies that the way to restore these fundamental morals and restore the integrity of America was to look to the legislation rather than act upon emotion, indicating that Lincoln was an adherent to the law who was fearful of the excessive emotion involved in issues persisting in the United States; moreover, his advocacy for the law is clearly seen in the Lyceum Address.

Despite the fact that Lincoln believes unbridled emotions can quickly lead to radical actions and violence, he places a greater emphasis on having reverence for the law throughout his speech. He touches upon the notion that emotions, when left unchecked can become disastrous, however, this is not the central claim of his address. Instead, Lincoln merely uses examples of hyper-emotionalism to supplement his main idea that restoration of respect for the law is essential in order to better the condition of America. For instance, he provides the harrowing example of McIntosh, a free, innocent mulatto man who was burned to death at the hands of unnecessary, anger-driven mob violence. This man’s murder is indicative of the exact lawlessness present in America that Lincoln focuses on; if people were in fact obeying the law, there would not be nearly as much chaos in the country. Pointing out that our forefathers had erected a “political edifice of liberty and equal rights,” Lincoln nurtures the idea that the fundamentals of this country, composed in the Constitution, were created in order to ensure that America would prosper as a peaceful and civil country (Lincoln 13). I believe that by laying down such a strong basis of his claim, rooted in our country’s history, Lincoln makes a compelling argument for why it is imperative that high regard for the government be restored as well as illustrates his lifelong dedication to the preservation and harmony of the union. Later in his speech, Lincoln rhetorically asks how we will combat the dangers and adversity in the country, ultimately concluding that encouraging “every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity, [to] swear by the blood of the Revolution, [and] never [to] violate in the least particular, the laws of the country…” (Lincoln 17) is the only simple solution to resolve the crisis. In my view, this “simple solution” is very idealistic and lacks legitimate grounding in actuality because it proposes an idea that, in theory, would resolve the violence and disobedience in America, but one that is very difficult to achieve. Nonetheless, it promulgates Lincoln’s beliefs and reveals who he is at this stage of his life— an obedient man of the law.

Critics may argue that the main focus of Lincoln’s address is not to promote lawfulness but to voice his concern about hyper-emotionalism, as he expresses his dismay towards excessive emotion, asserting that it clouds rationality and is a large cause of the chaos ensuing in the country. However, although he opens up his speech by describing atrocious occurrences of violence due to citizens’ discontent with the circumstances of the nation, rather than dwelling on the fact that much of the chaos is emotion-driven, Lincoln, uses these examples to simply support his claim. He reverts back to his love for the law and warns that “if the laws be continually despised and disregarded,” (Lincoln 17) the peoples’ detachment from their government would follow, ultimately leading to increased unrest in the country as a result of a virtually ineffective administration. Lincoln believes that the reason for the turmoil in the first place is because of the public’s failure to abide by constitutional laws, and he maintains that straying any further from the government and law would lead to a complete and utterly anarchic society. Furthermore, any argument claiming that Lincoln is not, in fact, concerned by excessive emotion, can be refuted because, in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Lincoln, author, and historian David Donald claims that Lincoln’s biggest worry was that uncontrolled emotions due to disregard of the law will lead to more violence and unrest in the country, thus simultaneously invalidating the counterclaim while also upholding the image of Lincoln’s lawfulness. In fact, Donald prefaces his analysis of Lincoln’s speech by stating that in it, “[Lincoln] had attacked hyper emotionalism in politics, warning that the nation’s ‘proud fabric of freedom’ was endangered by the passions of the people— ‘the jealousy, envy, and avarice, incident to nature’” (Donald 80), detailing that by breaking the law, they are in reality threatening very “freedom” that Lincoln wishes to reintroduce by means of the law.

Condemning and discouraging hyper-emotionalism, Lincoln advocates that having reverence for the law is a better solution than acting upon extreme feelings. The focus of Lincoln’s speech is specifically the law and the dangers caused by people not abiding by the law, as well as encouraging the audience to look towards reason rather than emotion to resolve the problems Lincoln emphasizes this point several times in his address. Additionally, Donald concentrates on how Lincoln repeatedly alludes to reason and order as a large part of the solution to conflicts in the country. Specifically, he references certain parts of the speech where Lincoln elaborates on this idea of reason in his speech to build on his claim promoting lawfulness, gathering that “he [Lincoln] proposed erecting a new ‘temple of liberty’ not resting on emotion and custom but carved ‘from the solid quarry of sober reason’” (Donald 82). He explains how Lincoln’s explicit argument is based on the requirement of lawfulness for the perpetuation of the original political institution and principles that our Founding Fathers had fought for. Lincoln encourages every American to perpetuate the legacy of the Revolution and to “…pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor…” (Lincoln 17) to support the Constitution and the laws it has established to foster an equal and just environment in the country, and in my opinion, Lincoln’s adamant repetition of having reverence for the law clearly displays his rightful nature and provides further insight on his persona.

Overall, Lincoln’s Lyceum Address not only helps us understand the context and condition of America in the 1830s, but it also explores a lot about what kind of a person Lincoln was in terms of his ideologies, temperament, and much more. Lincoln strived to uphold the Constitution established by our founders because he knew that it was intended to create a society of freedom and equality for the people, therefore he encouraged people to try and overlook excessive emotions and put their faith in the law in order to move past the savage state of America at the time. In my view, Lincoln’s strict advocacy for respecting the law is admirable and thoroughly exemplifies the strict, disciplined standard that he held himself to. Not only were many of the ideas he discusses in his speech applicable in Lincoln’s era but they can also be applied to today’s world as well in order to work towards combating the social injustice issues we face in America and make our nation a more equal and just society.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader” As stated by John Quincy Adams, “Leaders are the people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right.” Leaders are the ones who do not order their sub-coordinates but work with them together to achieve the predetermined goals of an organization. They work together to bring out the best in the sub-coordinates and motivate them to bring the best result to the organization. Abraham Lincoln is one of the greatest leaders and he was born on the twelfth (12th) February 1809 in Hodgenville, Kentucky. He is a self-educated lawyer in Illinois. Abraham Lincoln falls under trait leadership theory since he has the traits of intellective traits like being self-educated (intelligence) and was very knowledgeable. He also has social characteristics he was very friendly with everyone and very social. The reason for choosing him is he was one of the greatest leaders, he always stick to what he wanted to do even though he knew he will have to face consequences and was known as a very honest person.

Abraham Lincoln was well known for his social skills, communication skills with people, and for accepting criticism from people and taking advice for his own good. He was also known for his courage on top of that he was a knowledgeable man and was good at gaining the trust of people. He was good at motivating people, was a very honest man, and was good at taking up the responsibility and directing the people. His Communication skills led to the success of Abraham’s leadership. He was a very communicative person he knew how to talk with people and knew how to make the people listen to him. He knew how to make people listen to his talk by telling stories through which he could convey the message and dream to the people. Being a leader one must be very honest so that people can trust with their heart. Abraham was a very honest man, he knew how to deal with the circumstances and was very truthful to the people. Lincoln did what he thought was right according to the situation and this way it led to his success. He was a very responsible person. He took the mistakes as his own and work towards achieving them. He acknowledged all the mistakes of his sub-coordinates and every achievement he shared without keeping himself. He made sure his sub-coordinated are praised and given credit for their work so that they won’t get discouraged and would continue to work for him.

Being a leader, Lincoln was a responsible leader, he took account of everything his sub-coordinate did and apologized for the mistake his sub-coordinates did. He followed the democratic leadership style. He did what the people wanted to do being fair and square in whatever he did in every situation. He was a supportive leader he motivated his subordinates to take part in decision-making and had a lot of trust in his subordinates. Through this, they feel motivated to do their work and had a lot of efficiency in the work. Lincoln’s democratic leadership style was successful, as he was the kind of person who always motivated others and made them have faith in whatever he believed. Whenever he spoke he could make people listen to his talk. He always made sure he included his sub-coordinates in every decision he makes. Lincoln always respected other opinions and always included his sub- coordinate’s ideas and strategies in decision-making. Through his actions and his leadership style, he ended the slavery system and brought freedom to the country. Being a leader, it holds a lot of responsibility. Therefore, following democratic leadership is very effective. Through this leadership style, every member is included in the work and their thoughts and plans are considered in the decision-making. When they are informed about everything they feel more included and trust more in the leader. Every member is motivated to work in a group, being a leader when the members are being credited for their work and the achievements are being shared they are more interested in working together and there will be high efficiency in the work.

The leadership style that I have is Laissez-Faire leadership. I always allow my group members to make decisions and expect them to establish the targets and deadlines as I trust my group members are talented enough to make the best decision but I will be still responsible for the decision that they have made and provide them with needed resources.

References

1. Game learn. (2015). Retrieved from www.game-learn.com: http://www.game-learn.com
2. Mindtools. (1996-2019). Retrieved from www.mindtools.com: https://www.mindtools.com
3. Ramdas. (2019). Retrieved from www.goggle.com/search?q=ramdas,2019&ie=UTF-8&hl=en-bt&client=safari: http://ww.goggle.com/search?q=ramdas,2019&ie=UTF-8&hl=en-bt&client=safari
4. The democratic leadership style. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.teamworkdefination.com: http://www.teamworkdefination.com

Lincoln was a man that protected the Union and delivered the Emancipation Proclamation. Abe was born in meek surroundings, an insignificant log cabin with dirt floors in Hardin County, Kentucky. Rural farm life was backbreaking and tiring on the American frontiers during the early 1800s. Farm chores, hard work, and reading in the fireplace light extended adolescent Abe’s life until he became a juvenile. Abe was convinced that this life his father made for them wasn’t the world he wanted to stay in, he wanted change. Abraham moved to New Salem for a job he was offered, this move signified the start of his own life away from his family. The people Abraham met during this time left an imprint on his personality and guided him into the 16th president we all know and love.

Abraham’s father left an imprint on only one thing, but one thing that stuck with Abe; Thomas hated slavery. Thomas Lincoln, his father, was a stern man who Abe never liked much. Abe was born into an uneducated family. Thomas barely knew how to read or write his own name. Abe liked to stay inside and read, educating himself. Thomas thought otherwise, Thomas saw Lincoln as a lazy, selfish boy who didn’t want to do his part on the farm. Thomas slashed out at Abe for his actions, as reading was considered an act of rebellion by the family. The only person in his early years that supported Abe in his decision to educate himself was his birth mother, Nancy Hicks. Nancy encouraged him to continue reading and expanding his mind far beyond the farm fence, regardless of his father’s approval or not. “She had found time amidst her weary toil and the hard struggle of her busy life, not only to teach him to read and to write but to impress ineffaceably upon him that love of truth and justice, that perfect integrity and reverence for God, for which he was noted all his life. These virtues were ever associated in his mind with the most tender love and respect for his mother. ‘All that I am, or hope to be,’ he said, ‘I owe to my angel mother’ (Arnold 20). This bond between his mother and him was everything to him and when Nancy fell ill with “Milk sickness.” Abraham was devastated, at the time he was only nine years old. The death of his mother took a toll on everyone, Thomas started becoming sterner with Lincoln with his reading and lack of farm help. Abraham’s sister, Sarah, became the head of the house while the men were working in the field, this put tremendous stress on Sarah trying to do a two-woman job. This is when Thomas remarried to a widowed woman with three kids of her own, Sarah Bush Johnson. Abe and Sarah “… took an immediate liking to Abraham, and by all account the feeling was mutual” (Holzer 13). Sarah, just as his birth mother encouraged him to read and study, their bond was strong so even after Abe distanced himself from his father. Abraham would still come to visit his stepmom. Through tough times in his family, he even went as far as to help provide for Sarah when he was gone, but their bond was limited. Abraham never introduced her to Mary or his kids. Nancy and Sarah, both mother figures in his life helped mold Abraham into the honest and well-respected man we all know him as.

When Abraham came of age, he took all his belongings and left the farm life behind. Abraham had set out to create the life he has dreamed about off the farm. The opportunities in the small town of New Salem gave him an insight into what life outside the frontier was. Another companion and him were hired by a neighbor to take loads of produce by flatboat down the Ohio River, these unique opportunities and experiences beckoned him (Gienapp 9). This job took Abraham to places he had never thought of seeing, the Mississippi River and New Orleans. The architecture style and the urban style of life were all bright-eyed Lincoln could ever dream of. This was also Lincoln’s first contact with real slavery, regardless of this, Lincoln was still in awe of his surroundings. This started his yearning for more than what life was offering him. Once Lincoln returned home, he gave what earnings he made to his father and set off to fulfill a job offer he had received from Denton Offutt. Offutt was the first person to give Abraham a true chance to discover who he was. Their friendship started with a business but then blossomed into a beautiful friendship that helped shape Abe. Abraham really didn’t have a father figure that supported him in his decisions, Offutt was a sort of father figure to Abraham. When Lincoln moved to New Salem, he had few clothes that didn’t fit his odd stature properly and no money for a roof over his head. Offutt offered Lincoln a clerk position in his small general store in New Salem, as well as sharing a small room above the store for working there. The two lived together for some years, Offutt helped Abe with his depression and any issues or questions he had. Abraham often came to Offutt for advice on girls, since he was severely awkward around women. “In the spring of 1832, Offutt having failed, Lincoln was again out of employment” (Newton 33). Since becoming a general store clerk Abraham became close with all the townspeople, his intelligence and integrity charmed people. Later within a few months of living in New Salem, Abraham became ambitions drive him to announce his candidacy for the Illinois state legislature. After his announcement, the Black Hawk War broke out, and later he volunteered to fight in the war.

While Abraham was fighting in the Black Hawk War, he saw no action and his tour prevented him from resuming his campaign, he was also promoted to captain. During the war, Abraham met John Todd Stuart who was a major in his platoon. Over the course of the war, the two became very close friends, when the war had ended the two remained close walking miles talking to one another about the school, the war, family, etc. Since Abraham was out of work, he was unsure what job he would pick up next, he spoke to Stuart about becoming a blacksmith. Stuart voiced his disapproval of Abraham about his idea of blacksmithing. Stuart saw something in Abraham that Abe himself didn’t see; He saw his political potential. Stuart voiced to Abraham that he should take up law and study for the bar exam. Stuart was so faithful to Abe that he lent him his own law books, later that year Abraham would pass the bar becoming a lawyer. Stuart and Abraham became law partners from 1837-1841. Regardless of their disagreeing political views, they remained friends throughout the rest of Lincoln’s life. Stuart is frequently said as being against the Emancipation Proclamation, but Lincoln was conflicted with this as well. Both questioned whether the President had the power to outlaw slavery by decree, without Congress’s approval. This was the issue that was a formula for the future of Stuart’s political mindset, and after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, Stuart officially changed his political party from Republican to Democrat. Nonetheless, Stuart remained a frequent informal advisor to Lincoln throughout his years, frequently visiting the White House, and the two were never on bad terms with one another. After Lincoln was assassinated Stuart became and held the position of president of the Lincoln Monument Association until his death in 1885.

Through Abraham’s friendship with John Todd and close friends, he met his future wife Mary Ann Todd. “Physically attracted to women, he feared the intimacy of marriage and believed he could never make a woman happy” (Gienapp 34). Lincoln was the love child of the frontier; he lacked all the signs of a refined upper-class man. Abe lacked many refined manners, movements, small talk, and upper-class fashion; because of this he often sat in corners of social events quiet and kept to. When awkwardly trying to small talk with women, the one that didn’t catch his eye at first glance would be the one to change him for the better. Mary Todd was a highly educated political woman that came from a wealthy family, she was a very ambitious young woman. The way Mary held herself and flew with grace through political conversions put Abe in awe of her, she would talk for hours about politics and he would just listen. Abraham and Mary started a difficult courtship that would be on and off until they married unexpectedly on November 4, 1842. Mary and Abe by looks alone were two very different people, Mary was a short-tempered plump woman while Abe was slow to anger and a skinny tall man. Despite their noticeable differences they became engaged in 1840, but once engaged Lincoln fell into deep depressive thoughts uncertain of his true feelings and ability to make Mary happy. Lincoln broke the engagement for the first time a few days after it was public, they started courting. After the fact of calling off the engagement Lincoln fell terribly ill to where he couldn’t leave his bed, his friends worried that he would commit suicide and kept watch over him during this tough time. Lincoln slowly recovered but never truly regained his emotional balance as well as failing to regain his seat in the Springfield society. More than a year after Lincoln called off the engagement with Mary, a friend of Lincoln’s convinced him to resume the courtship with her. Once courting for a second time the thoughts of acting un-honorably and backing out of the original engagement pained Lincoln deeply. Without any notice Mary and Abraham became married on November 4, 1842; Abe was 33 and Mary was only 23 years old. After marriage, they rented a small cabin at the corner of 8th & Jackson for about $1,500. Their marriage was merely based on Abe’s promise of commitment to her than his true feelings, but through the years they truly fell in love. Mary was Abe’s anchor, helping him with proper manners, fashion, and small talk; Mary shaped Abe into a fine high-society political individual. Mary Todd might have scolded Abe on his table manners, but she was his pair of fresh eyes when it came to politics. Since Mary was very educated, she helped carve his campaign into a proper and truthful run. She influenced his political views and became his backbone when he needed it the most, from the death of their sons to the loss of campaigns and transition to high society. Mary continued to be by Abraham until his assassination on April 15th,1865.

Abraham Lincoln was a very influential man on his own, He changed American history for the better. Abraham was doubted by many but still pursued and fought for what he believed to be right. All the people Abe met and lost throughout his life helped him become the honorable and truthful man America knows as the 16th president of the United States. Without the influences of John Todd, the support of Denton Offutt, and the loving wisdom of Mary Todd Abraham might have stayed put on the farm or become a blacksmith for the rest of his life, these important people in his life helped change history. If Abraham had stayed put in Indiana African American slaves might still have been around today, and the Union might have never voiced their opinions; but through all of this, we cannot forget the sacrifice the soldiers from both the South and the Union made in the process of rewriting history. So as my final words of the great Abraham Lincoln, thank you for your determination to prove what was right; you will forever be remembered for your greatness and for being “Honest Abe”.