Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( February 12 , 1809 – April 15 , 1865 ) was the 16th President of the United States , serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865 . Lincoln led the United States through its greatest constitutional , military , and moral crisis — the American Civil War — preserving the Union , abolishing slavery , strengthening the national government and modernizing the economy . Reared in a poor family on the western frontier , Lincoln was self - educated , and became a country lawyer , a Whig Party leader , Illinois state legislator during the 1830s , and a one - term member of the United States House of Representatives during the 1840s . He promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks , canals , railroads and tariffs to encourage the building of factories ; he opposed the war with Mexico in 1846 . After a series of highly publicized debates in 1858 during which he opposed the expansion of slavery , Lincoln lost the U . S . Senate race in Illinois to his archrival , Stephen A . Douglas . Lincoln , a moderate from a swing state , secured the Republican Party presidential nomination in 1860 . With almost no support in the South , Lincoln swept the North and was elected president in 1860 . His election prompted seven southern slave states to declare their secession from the Union and form the Confederacy . The departure of the Democratic politicians to lead the Confederacy gave Lincoln ' s party firm control of Congress . The Republican politicians promptly enacted much of their party platform , including a high tariff , free land for colleges in every state ( Morrill Act of 1862 ) , new banking laws , free land for settlers ( Homestead Act of 1862 ) , free land for the transcontinental railroad , and a new US Department of Agriculture . No formula for compromise or reconciliation was found regarding slavery . Lincoln explained in his second inaugural address : " Both parties deprecated war , but one of them would make war rather than let the Nation survive , and the other would accept war rather than let it perish , and the war came . " When the North enthusiastically rallied behind the national flag after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April 12 , 1861 , Lincoln concentrated on the military and political dimensions of the war effort . His goal was now to reunite the nation . He suspended " habeas corpus " , arresting and temporarily detaining thousands of suspected secessionists in the border states without trial . Lincoln averted British recognition of the Confederacy by defusing the " Trent " affair in late 1861 . His numerous complex moves toward ending slavery centered on the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 , using the Army to protect escaped slaves , encouraging the border states to outlaw slavery , and helping push through Congress the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , which permanently outlawed slavery . Lincoln closely supervised the war effort , especially the selection of top generals , including commanding general Ulysses S . Grant . Lincoln brought leaders of the major factions of his party into his cabinet and pressured them to cooperate . Lincoln ' s Navy set up a naval blockade that shut down the South ' s normal trade , helped take control of Kentucky and Tennessee , and gained control of the Southern river system using gunboats . He tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond , Virginia . Each time a general failed , Lincoln substituted another until finally Grant succeeded in 1865 . An exceptionally astute politician deeply involved with power issues in each state , Lincoln reached out to War Democrats and managed his own re - election in the 1864 presidential election . As the leader of the moderate faction of the Republican party , Lincoln found his policies and personality were " blasted from all sides " : Radical Republicans demanded harsher treatment of the South , War Democrats desired more compromise , Copperheads despised him , and irreconcilable secessionists plotted his death . Politically , Lincoln fought back with patronage , by pitting his opponents against each other , and by appealing to the American people with his powers of oratory . His Gettysburg Address of 1863 became the most quoted speech in American history . It was an iconic statement of America ' s dedication to the principles of nationalism , republicanism , equal rights , liberty , and democracy . At the close of the war , Lincoln held a moderate view of Reconstruction , seeking to reunite the nation speedily through a policy of generous reconciliation in the face of lingering and bitter divisiveness . Six days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E . Lee , however , Lincoln was assassinated by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth . Lincoln ' s death was the first assassination of a U . S . president and sent the nation into mourning . Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as one of the greatest U . S . presidents . Family and childhood . Early life . Abraham Lincoln was born February 12 , 1809 , the second child of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Lincoln ( née Hanks ) , in a one - room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm in Hardin County , Kentucky ( now LaRue County ) . He is descended from Samuel Lincoln , who arrived in Hingham , Massachusetts , from Norfolk , England , in the 17th century . Lincoln ' s paternal grandfather and namesake , Abraham , had moved his family from Virginia to Kentucky , where he was ambushed and killed in an Indian raid in 1786 , as his children , including Lincoln ' s father Thomas , looked on . Thomas was left to make his own way on the frontier . Lincoln ' s mother , Nancy , was the daughter of Lucy Hanks , and was born in what is now Mineral County , West Virginia , then part of Virginia . Lucy moved with Nancy to Kentucky . Nancy Hanks married Thomas , who became a respected citizen . He bought or leased several farms , including Knob Creek Farm . The family attended a Separate Baptists church , which had restrictive moral standards and opposed alcohol , dancing , and slavery . Thomas enjoyed considerable status in Kentucky — where he sat on juries , appraised estates , served on country slave patrols , and guarded prisoners . By the time his son Abraham was born , Thomas owned two farms , several town lots , livestock , and horses . He was among the richest men in the county . However , in 1816 , Thomas lost all of his land in court cases because of faulty property titles . The family moved north across the Ohio River to free ( i . e . , non - slave ) territory and made a new start in what was then Perry County but is now Spencer County , Indiana . Lincoln later noted that this move was " partly on account of slavery " but mainly due to land title difficulties . In Indiana , when Lincoln was nine , his mother Nancy died of milk sickness in 1818 . After the death of Lincoln ' s mother , his older sister , Sarah , took charge of caring for him until their father remarried in 1819 ; Sarah later died in her 20s while giving birth to a stillborn son . Thomas Lincoln ' s new wife was the widow Sarah Bush Johnston , the mother of three children . Lincoln became very close to his stepmother , and referred to her as " Mother " . As a pre - teen , he did not like the hard labor associated with frontier life . Some in his family , and in the neighborhood , for a time considered him to be lazy . As he grew into his teens , he willingly took responsibility for all chores expected of him as one of the boys in the household and became an adept axeman in his work building rail fences . He attained a reputation for brawn and audacity after a very competitive wrestling match to which he was challenged by the renowned leader of a group of ruffians , " the Clary ' s Grove boys " . Lincoln also agreed with the customary obligation of a son to give his father all earnings from work done outside the home until age 21 . In later years , Lincoln occasionally loaned his father money . Lincoln became increasingly distant from his father , in part because of his father ' s lack of education . While young Lincoln ' s formal education consisted approximately of a year ' s worth of classes from several itinerant teachers , he was mostly self - educated and was an avid reader and often sought access to any new books in the village . He read and reread the " King James Bible , " Aesop ' s " Fables , " Bunyan ' s " Pilgrim ' s Progress , " Defoe ' s " Robinson Crusoe , " and Franklin ' s " Autobiography . " In 1830 , fearing a milk sickness outbreak along the Ohio River , the Lincoln family moved west , where they settled on public land in Macon County , Illinois , another free , non - slave state . In 1831 , Thomas relocated the family to a new homestead in Coles County , Illinois . It was then that , as an ambitious 22 - year - old who was now old enough to make his own decisions , Lincoln struck out on his own . Canoeing down the Sangamon River , Lincoln ended up in the village of New Salem in Sangamon County . In the spring of 1831 , hired by New Salem businessman Denton Offutt and accompanied by friends , he took goods by flatboat from New Salem to New Orleans via the Sangamon , Illinois , and Mississippi rivers . After arriving in New Orleans — and witnessing slavery firsthand — he walked back home . Marriage and children . Lincoln ' s first romantic interest was Ann Rutledge , whom he met when he first moved to New Salem ; by 1835 , they were in a relationship but not formally engaged . She died at the age of 22 on August 25 , 1835 , most likely of typhoid fever . In the early 1830s , he met Mary Owens from Kentucky when she was visiting her sister . Late in 1836 , Lincoln agreed to a match with Mary if she returned to New Salem . Mary did return in November 1836 , and Lincoln courted her for a time ; however , they both had second thoughts about their relationship . On August 16 , 1837 , Lincoln wrote Mary a letter suggesting he would not blame her if she ended the relationship . She never replied and the courtship ended . In 1840 , Lincoln became engaged to Mary Todd , who was from a wealthy slave - holding family in Lexington , Kentucky . They met in Springfield , Illinois , in December 1839 and were engaged the following December . A wedding set for January 1 , 1841 , was canceled when the two broke off their engagement at Lincoln ' s initiative . They later met again at a party and married on November 4 , 1842 , in the Springfield mansion of Mary ' s married sister . While preparing for the nuptials and feeling anxiety again , Lincoln , when asked where he was going , replied , " To hell , I suppose . " In 1844 , the couple bought a house in Springfield near Lincoln ' s law office . Mary Todd Lincoln kept house , often with the help of a relative or hired servant girl . Robert Todd Lincoln was born in 1843 and Edward Baker Lincoln ( Eddie ) in 1846 . Lincoln " was remarkably fond of children " , and the Lincolns were not considered to be strict with their children . Edward died on February 1 , 1850 , in Springfield , probably of tuberculosis . " Willie " Lincoln was born on December 21 , 1850 , and died on February 20 , 1862 . The Lincolns ' fourth son , Thomas " Tad " Lincoln , was born on April 4 , 1853 , and died of heart failure at the age of 18 on July 16 , 1871 . Robert was the only child to live to adulthood and have children . His last descendant , grandson Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith , died in 1985 . The deaths of their sons had profound effects on both parents . Later in life , Mary struggled with the stresses of losing her husband and sons , and Robert Lincoln committed her temporarily to a mental health asylum in 1875 . Abraham Lincoln suffered from " melancholy " , a condition which now is referred to as clinical depression . Lincoln ' s father - in - law was based in Lexington , Kentucky ; he and others of the Todd family were either slave owners or slave traders . Lincoln was close to the Todds , and he and his family occasionally visited the Todd estate in Lexington . He was an affectionate , though often absent , husband and father of four children . Early career and militia service . In 1832 , at age 23 , Lincoln and a partner bought a small general store on credit in New Salem , Illinois . Although the economy was booming in the region , the business struggled and Lincoln eventually sold his share . That March he began his political career with his first campaign for the Illinois General Assembly . He had attained local popularity and could draw crowds as a natural raconteur in New Salem , though he lacked an education , powerful friends , and money , which may be why he lost . He advocated navigational improvements on the Sangamon River . Before the election , Lincoln served as a captain in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War . Following his return , Lincoln continued his campaign for the August 6 election for the Illinois General Assembly . At , he was tall and " strong enough to intimidate any rival " . At his first speech , when he saw a supporter in the crowd being attacked , Lincoln grabbed the assailant by his " neck and the seat of his trousers " and threw him . Lincoln finished eighth out of 13 candidates ( the top four were elected ) , though he received 277 of the 300 votes cast in the New Salem precinct . Lincoln served as New Salem ' s postmaster and later as county surveyor , all the while reading voraciously . He then decided to become a lawyer and began teaching himself law by reading Blackstone ' s " Commentaries on the Laws of England " and other law books . Of his learning method , Lincoln stated : " I studied with nobody " . His second campaign in 1834 was successful . He won election to the state legislature ; though he ran as a Whig , many Democrats favored him over a more powerful Whig opponent . Admitted to the bar in 1836 , he moved to Springfield , Illinois , and began to practice law under John T . Stuart , Mary Todd ' s cousin . Lincoln became an able and successful lawyer with a reputation as a formidable adversary during cross - examinations and closing arguments . He partnered with Stephen T . Logan from 1841 until 1844 , when he began his practice with William Herndon , whom Lincoln thought " a studious young man " . He served four successive terms in the Illinois House of Representatives as a Whig representative from Sangamon County . In the 1835 – 36 legislative session , he voted to expand suffrage to white males , whether landowners or not . He was known for his " free soil " stance of opposing both slavery and abolitionism . He first articulated this in 1837 , saying , " [ The ] Institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy , but the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils . " He closely followed Henry Clay in supporting the American Colonization Society program of making the abolition of slavery practical by helping the freed slaves to settle in Liberia in Africa . Congressman Lincoln . From the early 1830s , Lincoln was a steadfast Whig and professed to friends in 1861 to be , " an old line Whig , a disciple of Henry Clay " . The party , including Lincoln , favored economic modernization in banking , protective tariffs to fund internal improvements including railroads , and espoused urbanization as well . In 1846 , Lincoln was elected to the U . S . House of Representatives , where he served one two - year term . He was the only Whig in the Illinois delegation , but he showed his party loyalty by participating in almost all votes and making speeches that echoed the party line . Lincoln , in collaboration with abolitionist Congressman Joshua R . Giddings , wrote a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia with compensation for the owners , enforcement to capture fugitive slaves , and a popular vote on the matter . He abandoned the bill when it failed to garner sufficient Whig supporters . On foreign and military policy , Lincoln spoke out against the Mexican – American War , which he attributed to President Polk ' s desire for " military glory — that attractive rainbow , that rises in showers of blood " . Lincoln also supported the Wilmot Proviso , which , if it had been adopted , would have banned slavery in any U . S . territory won from Mexico . Lincoln emphasized his opposition to Polk by drafting and introducing his Spot Resolutions . The war had begun with a Mexican slaughter of American soldiers in territory disputed by Mexico and the U . S . ; Polk insisted that Mexican soldiers had " invaded " our territory " and shed the blood of our fellow - citizens on our " own soil " . Lincoln demanded that Polk show Congress the exact spot on which blood had been shed and prove that the spot was on American soil . Congress never enacted the resolution or even debated it , the national papers ignored it , and it resulted in a loss of political support for Lincoln in his district . One Illinois newspaper derisively nicknamed him " spotty Lincoln " . Lincoln later regretted some of his statements , especially his attack on the presidential war - making powers . Realizing Clay was unlikely to win the presidency , Lincoln , who had pledged in 1846 to serve only one term in the House , supported General Zachary Taylor for the Whig nomination in the 1848 presidential election . Taylor won and Lincoln hoped to be appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office , but that lucrative patronage job went to an Illinois rival , Justin Butterfield , considered by the administration to be a highly skilled lawyer , but in Lincoln ' s view , an " old fossil " . The administration offered him the consolation prize of secretary or governor of the Oregon Territory . This distant territory was a Democratic stronghold , and acceptance of the post would have effectively ended his legal and political career in Illinois , so he declined and resumed his law practice . Prairie lawyer . Lincoln returned to practicing law in Springfield , handling " every kind of business that could come before a prairie lawyer " . Twice a year for 16 years , 10 weeks at a time , he appeared in county seats in the midstate region when the county courts were in session . Lincoln handled many transportation cases in the midst of the nation ' s western expansion , particularly the conflicts arising from the operation of river barges under the many new railroad bridges . As a riverboat man , Lincoln initially favored those interests , but ultimately represented whoever hired him . In fact , he later represented a bridge company against a riverboat company in a landmark case involving a canal boat that sank after hitting a bridge . In 1849 , he received a patent for a flotation device for the movement of boats in shallow water . The idea was never commercialized , but Lincoln is the only president to hold a patent . In 1851 , he represented the Alton & Sangamon Railroad in a dispute with one of its shareholders , James A . Barret , who had refused to pay the balance on his pledge to buy shares in the railroad on the grounds that the company had changed its original train route . Lincoln successfully argued that the railroad company was not bound by its original charter in existence at the time of Barret ' s pledge ; the charter was amended in the public interest to provide a newer , superior , and less expensive route , and the corporation retained the right to demand Barret ' s payment . The decision by the Illinois Supreme Court has been cited by numerous other courts in the nation . Lincoln appeared before the Illinois Supreme Court in 175 cases , in 51 as sole counsel , of which 31 were decided in his favor . From 1853 to 1860 , another of Lincoln ' s largest clients was the Illinois Central Railroad . Lincoln ' s most notable criminal trial occurred in 1858 when he defended William " Duff " Armstrong , who was on trial for the murder of James Preston Metzker . The case is famous for Lincoln ' s use of a fact established by judicial notice in order to challenge the credibility of an eyewitness . After an opposing witness testified seeing the crime in the moonlight , Lincoln produced a " Farmers ' Almanac " showing the moon was at a low angle , drastically reducing visibility . Based on this evidence , Armstrong was acquitted . Lincoln rarely raised objections in the courtroom ; but in an 1859 case , where he defended a cousin , Peachy Harrison , who was accused of stabbing another to death , Lincoln angrily protested the judge ' s decision to exclude evidence favorable to his client . Instead of holding Lincoln in contempt of court as was expected , the judge , a Democrat , reversed his ruling , allowing the evidence and acquitting Harrison . Republican politics 1854 – 60 . Slavery and a " House Divided " . By the 1850s , slavery was still legal in the southern United States , but had been generally outlawed in the northern states , such as Illinois . Lincoln disapproved of slavery , and the spread of slavery to new U . S . territory in the west . He returned to politics to oppose the pro - slavery Kansas – Nebraska Act ( 1854 ) ; this law repealed the slavery - restricting Missouri Compromise ( 1820 ) . Senior Senator Stephen A . Douglas of Illinois had incorporated popular sovereignty into the Act . Douglas ' provision , which Lincoln opposed , specified settlers had the right to determine locally whether to allow slavery in new U . S . territory , rather than have such a decision restricted by the national Congress . Eric Foner ( 2010 ) contrasts the abolitionists and anti - slavery Radical Republicans of the Northeast who saw slavery as a sin , with the conservative Republicans who thought it was bad because it hurt white people and blocked progress . Foner argues that Lincoln was a moderate in the middle , opposing slavery primarily because it violated the republicanism principles of the Founding Fathers , especially the equality of all men and democratic self - government as expressed in the Declaration of Independence . On October 16 , 1854 , in his " Peoria Speech " , Lincoln declared his opposition to slavery , which he repeated en route to the presidency . Speaking in his Kentucky accent , with a very powerful voice , he said the Kansas Act had a " " declared " indifference , but as I must think , a covert " real " zeal for the spread of slavery . I cannot but hate it . I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself . I hate it because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world . . . " In late 1854 , Lincoln ran as a Whig for the U . S . Senate seat from Illinois . At that time , senators were elected by the state legislature . After leading in the first six rounds of voting in the Illinois assembly , his support began to dwindle , and Lincoln instructed his backers to vote for Lyman Trumbull , who defeated opponent Joel Aldrich Matteson . The Whigs had been irreparably split by the Kansas – Nebraska Act . Lincoln wrote , " I think I am a Whig , but others say there are no Whigs , and that I am an abolitionist , even though I do no more than oppose the " extension " of slavery . " Drawing on remnants of the old Whig party , and on disenchanted Free Soil , Liberty , and Democratic Party members , he was instrumental in forging the shape of the new Republican Party . At the 1856 Republican National Convention , Lincoln placed second in the contest to become the party ' s candidate for vice president . In 1857 – 1858 , Douglas broke with President James Buchanan , leading to a fight for control of the Democratic Party . Some eastern Republicans even favored the reelection of Douglas for the Senate in 1858 , since he had led the opposition to the Lecompton Constitution , which would have admitted Kansas as a slave state . In March 1857 , the Supreme Court issued its decision in " Dred Scott v . Sandford " ; Chief Justice Roger B . Taney opined that blacks were not citizens , and derived no rights from the Constitution . Lincoln denounced the decision , alleging it was the product of a conspiracy of Democrats to support the Slave Power . Lincoln argued , " The authors of the Declaration of Independence never intended ' to say all were equal in color , size , intellect , moral developments , or social capacity ' , but they ' did consider all men created equal — equal in certain inalienable rights , among which are life , liberty , and the pursuit of happiness ' . " After the state Republican party convention nominated him for the U . S . Senate in 1858 , Lincoln delivered his House Divided Speech , drawing on : " A house divided against itself cannot stand . I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free . I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided . It will become all one thing , or all the other . " The speech created an evocative image of the danger of disunion caused by the slavery debate , and rallied Republicans across the North . The stage was then set for the campaign for statewide election of the Illinois legislature which would , in turn , select Lincoln or Douglas as its U . S . senator . Lincoln – Douglas debates and Cooper Union speech . The Senate campaign featured the seven Lincoln – Douglas debates of 1858 , the most famous political debates in American history . The principals stood in stark contrast both physically and politically . Lincoln warned that " The Slave Power " was threatening the values of republicanism , and accused Douglas of distorting the values of the Founding Fathers that all men are created equal , while Douglas emphasized his Freeport Doctrine , that local settlers were free to choose whether to allow slavery or not , and accused Lincoln of having joined the abolitionists . The debates had an atmosphere of a prize fight and drew crowds in the thousands . Lincoln stated Douglas ' popular sovereignty theory was a threat to the nation ' s morality and that Douglas represented a conspiracy to extend slavery to free states . Douglas said that Lincoln was defying the authority of the U . S . Supreme Court and the " Dred Scott " decision . Though the Republican legislative candidates won more popular votes , the Democrats won more seats , and the legislature re - elected Douglas to the Senate . Despite the bitterness of the defeat for Lincoln , his articulation of the issues gave him a national political reputation . In May 1859 , Lincoln purchased the " Illinois Staats - Anzeiger , " a German - language newspaper which was consistently supportive ; most of the state ' s 130 , 000 German Americans voted Democratic but there was Republican support that a German - language paper could mobilize . On February 27 , 1860 , New York party leaders invited Lincoln to give a speech at Cooper Union to a group of powerful Republicans . Lincoln argued that the Founding Fathers had little use for popular sovereignty and had repeatedly sought to restrict slavery . Lincoln insisted the moral foundation of the Republicans required opposition to slavery , and rejected any " groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong " . Despite his inelegant appearance — many in the audience thought him awkward and even ugly — Lincoln demonstrated an intellectual leadership that brought him into the front ranks of the party and into contention for the Republican presidential nomination . Journalist Noah Brooks reported , " No man ever before made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York audience . " Historian Donald described the speech as a " superb political move for an unannounced candidate , to appear in one rival ' s ( William H . Seward ) own state at an event sponsored by the second rival ' s ( Salmon P . Chase ) loyalists , while not mentioning either by name during its delivery " . In response to an inquiry about his presidential intentions , Lincoln said , " The taste " is " in my mouth a little . " 1860 Presidential nomination and campaign . On May 9 – 10 , 1860 , the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in Decatur . Lincoln ' s followers organized a campaign team led by David Davis , Norman Judd , Leonard Swett , and Jesse DuBois , and Lincoln received his first endorsement to run for the presidency . Exploiting the embellished legend of his frontier days with his father ( clearing the land and splitting fence rails with an ax ) , Lincoln ' s supporters adopted the label of " The Rail Candidate " . On May 18 , at the Republican National Convention in Chicago , Lincoln ' s friends promised and manipulated and won the nomination on the third ballot , beating candidates such as William H . Seward and Salmon P . Chase . A former Democrat , Hannibal Hamlin of Maine , was nominated for Vice President to balance the ticket . Lincoln ' s success depended on his reputation as a moderate on the slavery issue , and his strong support for Whiggish programs of internal improvements and the protective tariff . On the third ballot Pennsylvania put him over the top . Pennsylvania iron interests were reassured by his support for protective tariffs . Lincoln ' s managers had been adroitly focused on this delegation as well as the others , while following Lincoln ' s strong dictate to " Make no contracts that bind me " . Most Republicans agreed with Lincoln that the North was the aggrieved party , as the Slave Power tightened its grasp on the national government with the " Dred Scott " decision and the presidency of James Buchanan . Throughout the 1850s , Lincoln doubted the prospects of civil war , and his supporters rejected claims that his election would incite secession . Meanwhile , Douglas was selected as the candidate of the Northern Democrats . Delegates from 11 slave states walked out of the Democratic convention , disagreeing with Douglas ' position on popular sovereignty , and ultimately selected John C . Breckinridge as their candidate . As Douglas and the other candidates went through with their campaigns , Lincoln was the only one of them who gave no speeches . Instead , he monitored the campaign closely and relied on the enthusiasm of the Republican Party . The party did the leg work that produced majorities across the North , and produced an abundance of campaign posters , leaflets , and newspaper editorials . There were thousands of Republican speakers who focused first on the party platform , and second on Lincoln ' s life story , emphasizing his childhood poverty . The goal was to demonstrate the superior power of " free labor " , whereby a common farm boy could work his way to the top by his own efforts . The Republican Party ' s production of campaign literature dwarfed the combined opposition ; a " Chicago Tribune " writer produced a pamphlet that detailed Lincoln ' s life , and sold 100 , 000 to 200 , 000 copies . Presidency . 1860 election and secession . On November 6 , 1860 , Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States , beating Democrat Stephen A . Douglas , John C . Breckinridge of the Southern Democrats , and John Bell of the new Constitutional Union Party . He was the first president from the Republican Party . His victory was entirely due to the strength of his support in the North and West ; no ballots were cast for him in 10 of the 15 Southern slave states , and he won only two of 996 counties in all the Southern states . Lincoln received 1 , 866 , 452 votes , Douglas 1 , 376 , 957 votes , Breckinridge 849 , 781 votes , and Bell 588 , 789 votes . Turnout was 82 . 2 percent , with Lincoln winning the free Northern states , as well as California and Oregon . Douglas won Missouri , and split New Jersey with Lincoln . Bell won Virginia , Tennessee , and Kentucky , and Breckinridge won the rest of the South . Although Lincoln won only a plurality of the popular vote , his victory in the electoral college was decisive : Lincoln had 180 and his opponents added together had only 123 . There were fusion tickets in which all of Lincoln ' s opponents combined to support the same slate of Electors in New York , New Jersey , and Rhode Island , but even if the anti - Lincoln vote had been combined in every state , Lincoln still would have won a majority in the Electoral College . As Lincoln ' s election became evident , secessionists made clear their intent to leave the Union before he took office the next March . On December 20 , 1860 , South Carolina took the lead by adopting an ordinance of secession ; by February 1 , 1861 , Florida , Mississippi , Alabama , Georgia , Louisiana , and Texas followed . Six of these states then adopted a constitution and declared themselves to be a sovereign nation , the Confederate States of America . The upper South and border states ( Delaware , Maryland , Virginia , North Carolina , Tennessee , Kentucky , Missouri , and Arkansas ) listened to , but initially rejected , the secessionist appeal . President Buchanan and President - elect Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy , declaring secession illegal . The Confederacy selected Jefferson Davis as its provisional President on February 9 , 1861 . There were attempts at compromise . The Crittenden Compromise would have extended the Missouri Compromise line of 1820 , dividing the territories into slave and free , contrary to the Republican Party ' s free - soil platform . Lincoln rejected the idea , saying , " I will suffer death before I consent . . . to any concession or compromise which looks like buying the privilege to take possession of this government to which we have a constitutional right . " Lincoln , however , did tacitly support the proposed Corwin Amendment to the Constitution , which passed Congress before Lincoln came into office and was then awaiting ratification by the states . That proposed amendment would have protected slavery in states where it already existed and would have guaranteed that Congress would not interfere with slavery without Southern consent . A few weeks before the war , Lincoln sent a letter to every governor informing them Congress had passed a joint resolution to amend the Constitution . Lincoln was open to the possibility of a constitutional convention to make further amendments to the Constitution . En route to his inauguration by train , Lincoln addressed crowds and legislatures across the North . The president - elect then evaded possible assassins in Baltimore , who were uncovered by Lincoln ' s head of security , Allan Pinkerton . On February 23 , 1861 , he arrived in disguise in Washington , D . C . , which was placed under substantial military guard . Lincoln directed his inaugural address to the South , proclaiming once again that he had no intention , or inclination , to abolish slavery in the Southern states : The President ended his address with an appeal to the people of the South : " We are not enemies , but friends . We must not be enemies . . . The mystic chords of memory , stretching from every battlefield , and patriot grave , to every living heart and hearthstone , all over this broad land , will yet swell the chorus of the Union , when again touched , as surely they will be , by the better angels of our nature . " The failure of the Peace Conference of 1861 signaled that legislative compromise was implausible . By March 1861 , no leaders of the insurrection had proposed rejoining the Union on any terms . Meanwhile , Lincoln and nearly every Republican leader agreed that the dismantling of the Union could not be tolerated . Beginning of the war . The commander of Fort Sumter , South Carolina , Major Robert Anderson , sent a request for provisions to Washington , and the execution of Lincoln ' s order to meet that request was seen by the secessionists as an act of war . On April 12 , 1861 , Confederate forces fired on Union troops at Fort Sumter , forcing them to surrender , and began the war . Historian Allan Nevins argued that the newly inaugurated Lincoln made three miscalculations : underestimating the gravity of the crisis , exaggerating the strength of Unionist sentiment in the South , and not realizing the Southern Unionists were insisting there be no invasion . William Tecumseh Sherman talked to Lincoln during inauguration week and was " sadly disappointed " at his failure to realize that " the country was sleeping on a volcano " and that the South was preparing for war . Donald concludes that , " His repeated efforts to avoid collision in the months between inauguration and the firing on Ft . Sumter showed he adhered to his vow not to be the first to shed fraternal blood . But he also vowed not to surrender the forts . The only resolution of these contradictory positions was for the confederates to fire the first shot ; they did just that . " On April 15 , Lincoln called on all the states to send detachments totaling 75 , 000 troops to recapture forts , protect Washington , and " preserve the Union " , which , in his view , still existed intact despite the actions of the seceding states . This call forced the states to choose sides . Virginia declared its secession and was rewarded with the Confederate capital , despite the exposed position of Richmond so close to Union lines . North Carolina , Tennessee , and Arkansas also voted for secession over the next two months . Secession sentiment was strong in Missouri and Maryland , but did not prevail ; Kentucky tried to be neutral . Troops headed south towards Washington to protect the capital in response to Lincoln ' s call . On April 19 , secessionist mobs in Baltimore that controlled the rail links attacked Union troops traveling to the capital . George William Brown , the Mayor of Baltimore , and other suspected Maryland politicians were arrested and imprisoned , without a warrant , as Lincoln suspended the writ of " habeas corpus " . John Merryman , a leader in the secessionist group in Maryland , petitioned Chief Justice Roger B . Taney to issue a writ of " habeas corpus , " saying holding Merryman without a hearing was unlawful . Taney issued the writ , thereby ordering Merryman ' s release , but Lincoln ignored it . Then and throughout the war , Lincoln came under heavy attack from antiwar Democrats , called Copperheads . Assuming command for the Union in the war . After the fall of Fort Sumter , Lincoln realized the importance of taking immediate executive control of the war and making an overall strategy to put down the rebellion . Lincoln encountered an unprecedented political and military crisis , and he responded as commander - in - chief , using unprecedented powers . He expanded his war powers , and imposed a blockade on all the Confederate shipping ports , disbursed funds before appropriation by Congress , and after suspending " habeas corpus " , arrested and imprisoned thousands of suspected Confederate sympathizers . Lincoln was supported by Congress and the northern public for these actions . In addition , Lincoln had to contend with reinforcing strong Union sympathies in the border slave states and keeping the war from becoming an international conflict . The war effort was the source of continued disparagement of Lincoln , and dominated his time and attention . From the start , it was clear that bipartisan support would be essential to success in the war effort , and any manner of compromise alienated factions on both sides of the aisle , such as the appointment of Republicans and Democrats to command positions in the Union Army . Copperheads criticized Lincoln for refusing to compromise on the slavery issue . Conversely , the Radical Republicans criticized him for moving too slowly in abolishing slavery . On August 6 , 1861 , Lincoln signed the Confiscation Act that authorized judiciary proceedings to confiscate and free slaves who were used to support the Confederate war effort . In practice the law had little effect , but it did signal political support for abolishing slavery in the Confederacy In late August 1861 , General John C . Frémont , the 1856 Republican presidential nominee , issued , without consulting Washington , a proclamation of martial law in Missouri . He declared that any citizen found bearing arms could be court - martial ed and shot , and that slaves of persons aiding the rebellion would be freed . Frémont was already under a cloud with charges of negligence in his command of the Department of the West compounded with allegations of fraud and corruption . Lincoln overruled Frémont ' s proclamation . Lincoln believed that Fremont ' s emancipation was political ; neither militarily necessary nor legal . After Lincoln acted , Union enlistments from Maryland , Kentucky , and Missouri increased by over 40 , 000 troops . The Trent Affair of late 1861 threatened war with Great Britain . The U . S . Navy illegally intercepted a British merchant ship , the " Trent " , on the high seas and seized two Confederate envoys ; Britain protested vehemently while the U . S . cheered . Lincoln resolved the issue by releasing the two men and war was successfully averted with Britain . Lincoln ' s foreign policy approach had been initially hands off , due to his inexperience ; he left most diplomacy appointments and other foreign policy matters to his Secretary of State , William Seward . Seward ' s initial reaction to the " Trent " affair , however , was too bellicose , so Lincoln also turned to Senator Charles Sumner , the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and an expert in British diplomacy . To learn technical military terms , Lincoln borrowed and studied Henry Halleck ' s book , " Elements of Military Art and Science " from the Library of Congress . Lincoln painstakingly monitored the telegraphic reports coming into the War Department in Washington , D . C . He kept close tabs on all phases of the military effort , consulted with governors , and selected generals based on their past success ( as well as their state and party ) . In January 1862 , after many complaints of inefficiency and profiteering in the War Department , Lincoln replaced Simon Cameron with Edwin Stanton as War Secretary . Stanton was one of many conservative Democrats ( he supported Breckenridge in the 1860 election ) who became anti - slavery Republicans under Lincoln ' s leadership . In terms of war strategy , Lincoln articulated two priorities : to ensure that Washington was well - defended , and to conduct an aggressive war effort that would satisfy the demand in the North for prompt , decisive victory ; major Northern newspaper editors expected victory within 90 days . Twice a week , Lincoln would meet with his cabinet in the afternoon , and occasionally Mary Lincoln would force him to take a carriage ride because she was concerned he was working too hard . Lincoln learned from his chief of staff General Henry Halleck , a student of the European strategist Jomini , of the critical need to control strategic points , such as the Mississippi River ; he also knew well the importance of Vicksburg and understood the necessity of defeating the enemy ' s army , rather than simply capturing territory . General McClellan . After the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run and the retirement of the aged Winfield Scott in late 1861 , Lincoln appointed Major General George B . McClellan general - in - chief of all the Union armies . McClellan , a young West Point graduate , railroad executive , and Pennsylvania Democrat , took several months to plan and attempt his Peninsula Campaign , longer than Lincoln wanted . The campaign ' s objective was to capture Richmond by moving the Army of the Potomac by boat to the peninsula and then overland to the Confederate capital . McClellan ' s repeated delays frustrated Lincoln and Congress , as did his position that no troops were needed to defend Washington . Lincoln insisted on holding some of McClellan ' s troops in defense of the capital ; McClellan , who consistently overestimated the strength of Confederate troops , blamed this decision for the ultimate failure of the Peninsula Campaign . Lincoln removed McClellan as general - in - chief and appointed Henry Wager Halleck in March 1862 , after McClellan ' s " Harrison ' s Landing Letter " , in which he offered unsolicited political advice to Lincoln urging caution in the war effort . McClellan ' s letter incensed Radical Republicans , who successfully pressured Lincoln to appoint John Pope , a Republican , as head of the new Army of Virginia . Pope complied with Lincoln ' s strategic desire to move toward Richmond from the north , thus protecting the capital from attack . However , lacking requested reinforcements from McClellan , now commanding the Army of the Potomac , Pope was soundly defeated at the Second Battle of Bull Run in the summer of 1862 , forcing the Army of the Potomac to defend Washington for a second time . The war also expanded with naval operations in 1862 when the CSS " Virginia " , formerly the USS " Merrimack " , damaged or destroyed three Union vessels in Norfolk , Virginia , before being engaged and damaged by the USS " Monitor " . Lincoln closely reviewed the dispatches and interrogated naval officers during their clash in the Battle of Hampton Roads . Despite his dissatisfaction with McClellan ' s failure to reinforce Pope , Lincoln was desperate , and restored him to command of all forces around Washington , to the dismay of all in his cabinet but Seward . Two days after McClellan ' s return to command , General Robert E . Lee ' s forces crossed the Potomac River into Maryland , leading to the Battle of Antietam in September 1862 . The ensuing Union victory was among the bloodiest in American history , but it enabled Lincoln to announce that he would issue an Emancipation Proclamation in January . Having composed the Proclamation some time earlier , Lincoln had waited for a military victory to publish it to avoid it being perceived as the product of desperation . McClellan then resisted the President ' s demand that he pursue Lee ' s retreating and exposed army , while his counterpart General Don Carlos Buell likewise refused orders to move the Army of the Ohio against rebel forces in eastern Tennessee . As a result , Lincoln replaced Buell with William Rosecrans ; and , after the 1862 midterm elections , he replaced McClellan with Republican Ambrose Burnside . Both of these replacements were political moderates and prospectively more supportive of the Commander - in - Chief . Burnside , against the advice of the president , prematurely launched an offensive across the Rappahannock River and was stunningly defeated by Lee at Fredericksburg in December . Not only had Burnside been defeated on the battlefield , but his soldiers were disgruntled and undisciplined . Desertions during 1863 were in the thousands and they increased after Fredericksburg . Lincoln brought in Joseph Hooker , despite his record of loose talk about the need for a military dictatorship . The mid - term elections in 1862 brought the Republicans severe losses due to sharp disfavor with the administration over its failure to deliver a speedy end to the war , as well as rising inflation , new high taxes , rumors of corruption , the suspension of " habeas corpus , " the military draft law , and fears that freed slaves would undermine the labor market . The Emancipation Proclamation announced in September gained votes for the Republicans in the rural areas of New England and the upper Midwest , but it lost votes in the cities and the lower Midwest . While Republicans were discouraged , Democrats were energized and did especially well in Pennsylvania , Ohio , Indiana , and New York . The Republicans did maintain their majorities in Congress and in the major states , except New York . The Cincinnati " Gazette " contended that the voters were " depressed by the interminable nature of this war , as so far conducted , and by the rapid exhaustion of the national resources without progress " . In the spring of 1863 , Lincoln was optimistic about upcoming military campaigns to the point of thinking the end of the war could be near if a string of victories could be put together ; these plans included Hooker ' s attack on Lee north of Richmond , Rosecrans ' on Chattanooga , Grant ' s on Vicksburg , and a naval assault on Charleston . Hooker was routed by Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May , but continued to command his troops for some weeks . He ignored Lincoln ' s order to divide his troops , and possibly force Lee to do the same in Harper ' s Ferry , and tendered his resignation , which Lincoln accepted . He was replaced by George Meade , who followed Lee into Pennsylvania for the Gettysburg Campaign , which was a victory for the Union , though Lee ' s army avoided capture . At the same time , after initial setbacks , Grant laid siege to Vicksburg and the Union navy attained some success in Charleston harbor . After the Battle of Gettysburg , Lincoln clearly understood that his military decisions would be more effectively carried out by conveying his orders through his War Secretary or his general - in - chief on to his generals , who resented his civilian interference with their own plans . Even so , he often continued to give detailed directions to his generals as Commander - in - Chief . Emancipation Proclamation . Lincoln understood that the Federal government ' s power to end slavery was limited by the Constitution , which before 1865 , committed the issue to individual states . He argued before and during his election that the eventual extinction of slavery would result from preventing its expansion into new U . S . territory . At the beginning of the war , he also sought to persuade the states to accept compensated emancipation in return for their prohibition of slavery . Lincoln believed that curtailing slavery in these ways would economically expunge it , as envisioned by the Founding Fathers , under the constitution . President Lincoln rejected two geographically limited emancipation attempts by Major General John C . Frémont in August 1861 and by Major General David Hunter in May 1862 , on the grounds that it was not within their power , and it would upset the border states loyal to the Union . On June 19 , 1862 , endorsed by Lincoln , Congress passed an act banning slavery on all federal territory . In July 1862 , the Second Confiscation Act was passed , which set up court procedures that could free the slaves of anyone convicted of aiding the rebellion . Although Lincoln believed it was not within Congress ' s power to free the slaves within the states , he approved the bill in deference to the legislature . He felt such action could only be taken by the Commander - in - Chief using war powers granted to the president by the Constitution , and Lincoln was planning to take that action . In that month , Lincoln discussed a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation with his cabinet . In it , he stated that " as a fit and necessary military measure , on January 1 , 1863 , all persons held as slaves in the Confederate states will thenceforward , and forever , be free " . Privately , Lincoln concluded at this point that the slave base of the Confederacy had to be eliminated . However Copperheads argued that emancipation was a stumbling block to peace and reunification . Republican editor Horace Greeley of the highly influential " New York Tribune " fell for the ploy , and Lincoln refuted it directly in a shrewd letter of August 22 , 1862 . The President said the primary goal of his actions as president ( he used the first person pronoun and explicitly refers to his " official duty " ) was preserving the Union : The Emancipation Proclamation , issued on September 22 , 1862 , and put into effect on January 1 , 1863 , declared free the slaves in 10 states not then under Union control , with exemptions specified for areas already under Union control in two states . Lincoln spent the next 100 days preparing the army and the nation for emancipation , while Democrats rallied their voters in the 1862 off - year elections by warning of the threat freed slaves posed to northern whites . Once the abolition of slavery in the rebel states became a military objective , as Union armies advanced south , more slaves were liberated until all three million of them in Confederate territory were freed . Lincoln ' s comment on the signing of the Proclamation was : " I never , in my life , felt more certain that I was doing right , than I do in signing this paper . " For some time , Lincoln continued earlier plans to set up colonies for the newly freed slaves . He commented favorably on colonization in the Emancipation Proclamation , but all attempts at such a massive undertaking failed . A few days after Emancipation was announced , 13 Republican governors met at the War Governors ' Conference ; they supported the president ' s Proclamation , but suggested the removal of General George B . McClellan as commander of the Union Army . Enlisting former slaves in the military was official government policy after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation . By the spring of 1863 , Lincoln was ready to recruit black troops in more than token numbers . In a letter to Andrew Johnson , the military governor of Tennessee , encouraging him to lead the way in raising black troops , Lincoln wrote , " The bare sight of 50 , 000 armed and drilled black soldiers on the banks of the Mississippi would end the rebellion at once " . By the end of 1863 , at Lincoln ' s direction , General Lorenzo Thomas had recruited 20 regiments of blacks from the Mississippi Valley . Frederick Douglass once observed of Lincoln : " In his company , I was never reminded of my humble origin , or of my unpopular color " . Gettysburg Address . With the great Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 , and the defeat of the Copperheads in the Ohio election in the fall , Lincoln maintained a strong base of party support and was in a strong position to redefine the war effort , despite the New York City draft riots . The stage was set for his address at the Gettysburg battlefield cemetery on November 19 , 1863 . Defying Lincoln ' s prediction that " the world will little note , nor long remember what we say here , " the Address became the most quoted speech in American history . In 272 words , and three minutes , Lincoln asserted the nation was born not in 1789 , but in 1776 , " conceived in Liberty , and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal " . He defined the war as an effort dedicated to these principles of liberty and equality for all . The emancipation of slaves was now part of the national war effort . He declared that the deaths of so many brave soldiers would not be in vain , that slavery would end as a result of the losses , and the future of democracy in the world would be assured , that " government of the people , by the people , for the people , shall not perish from the earth " . Lincoln concluded that the Civil War had a profound objective : a new birth of freedom in the nation . General Grant . Meade ' s failure to capture Lee ' s army as it retreated from Gettysburg , and the continued passivity of the Army of the Potomac , persuaded Lincoln that a change in command was needed . General Ulysses S . Grant ' s victories at the Battle of Shiloh and in the Vicksburg campaign impressed Lincoln and made Grant a strong candidate to head the Union Army . Responding to criticism of Grant after Shiloh , Lincoln had said , " I can ' t spare this man . He fights . " With Grant in command , Lincoln felt the Union Army could relentlessly pursue a series of coordinated offensives in multiple theaters , and have a top commander who agreed on the use of black troops . Nevertheless , Lincoln was concerned that Grant might be considering a candidacy for President in 1864 , as McClellan was . Lincoln arranged for an intermediary to make inquiry into Grant ' s political intentions , and being assured that he had none , submitted to the Senate Grant ' s promotion to commander of the Union Army . He obtained Congress ' s consent to reinstate for Grant the rank of Lieutenant General , which no officer had held since George Washington . Grant waged his bloody Overland Campaign in 1864 . This is often characterized as a war of attrition , given high Union losses at battles such as the Battle of the Wilderness and Cold Harbor . Even though they had the advantage of fighting on the defensive , the Confederate forces had " almost as high a percentage of casualties as the Union forces " . The high casualty figures of the Union alarmed the North ; Grant had lost a third of his army , and Lincoln asked what Grant ' s plans were , to which the general replied , " I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer . " The Confederacy lacked reinforcements , so Lee ' s army shrank with every costly battle . Grant ' s army moved south , crossed the James River , forcing a siege and trench warfare outside Petersburg , Virginia . Lincoln then made an extended visit to Grant ' s headquarters at City Point , Virginia . This allowed the president to confer in person with Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman about the hostilities , as Sherman coincidentally managed a hasty visit to Grant from his position in North Carolina . Lincoln and the Republican Party mobilized support for the draft throughout the North , and replaced the Union losses . Lincoln authorized Grant to target the Confederate infrastructure — such as plantations , railroads , and bridges — hoping to destroy the South ' s morale and weaken its economic ability to continue fighting . Grant ' s move to Petersburg resulted in the obstruction of three railroads between Richmond and the South . This strategy allowed Generals Sherman and Philip Sheridan to destroy plantations and towns in Virginia ' s Shenandoah Valley . The damage caused by Sherman ' s March to the Sea through Georgia in 1864 was limited to a swath , but neither Lincoln nor his commanders saw destruction as the main goal , but rather defeat of the Confederate armies . As Neely ( 2004 ) concludes , there was no effort to engage in " total war " against civilians , as in World War II . Confederate general Jubal Anderson Early began a series of assaults in the North that threatened the Capital . During Early ' s raid on Washington , D . C . in 1864 , Lincoln was watching the combat from an exposed position ; Captain Oliver Wendell Holmes shouted at him , " Get down , you damn fool , before you get shot ! " After repeated calls on Grant to defend Washington , Sheridan was appointed and the threat from Early was dispatched . As Grant continued to wear down Lee ' s forces , efforts to discuss peace began . Confederate Vice President Stephens led a group to meet with Lincoln , Seward , and others at Hampton Roads . Lincoln refused to allow any negotiation with the Confederacy as a coequal ; his sole objective was an agreement to end the fighting and the meetings produced no results . On April 1 , 1865 , Grant successfully outflanked Lee ' s forces in the Battle of Five Forks and nearly encircled Petersburg , and the Confederate government evacuated Richmond . Days later , when that city fell , Lincoln visited the vanquished Confederate capital ; as he walked through the city , white Southerners were stone - faced , but freedmen greeted him as a hero . On April 9 , Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox and the war was effectively over . 1864 re - election . Lincoln was a master politician , bringing together — and holding together — all the main factions of the Republican Party , and bringing in War Democrats such as Edwin M . Stanton and Andrew Johnson as well . Lincoln spent many hours a week talking to politicians from across the land and using his patronage powers — greatly expanded over peacetime — to hold the factions of his party together , build support for his own policies , and fend off efforts by Radicals to drop him from the 1864 ticket . At its 1864 convention , the Republican Party selected Andrew Johnson , a War Democrat from the Southern state of Tennessee , as his running mate . To broaden his coalition to include War Democrats as well as Republicans , Lincoln ran under the label of the new Union Party . When Grant ' s 1864 spring campaigns turned into bloody stalemates and Union casualties mounted , the lack of military success wore heavily on the President ' s re - election prospects , and many Republicans across the country feared that Lincoln would be defeated . Sharing this fear , Lincoln wrote and signed a pledge that , if he should lose the election , he would still defeat the Confederacy before turning over the White House : While the Democratic platform followed the " Peace wing " of the party and called the war a " failure " , their candidate , General George B . McClellan , supported the war and repudiated the platform . Lincoln provided Grant with more troops and mobilized his party to renew its support of Grant in the war effort . Sherman ' s capture of Atlanta in September and David Farragut ' s capture of Mobile ended defeatist jitters ; the Democratic Party was deeply split , with some leaders and most soldiers openly for Lincoln . By contrast , the National Union Party was united and energized as Lincoln made emancipation the central issue , and state Republican parties stressed the perfidy of the Copperheads . Lincoln was re - elected in a landslide , carrying all but three states , and receiving 78 percent of the Union soldiers ' vote . On March 4 , 1865 , Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address . In it , he deemed the high casualties on both sides to be God ' s will . Historian Mark Noll concludes it ranks " among the small handful of semi - sacred texts by which Americans conceive their place in the world " . Lincoln said : Reconstruction . Reconstruction began during the war , as Lincoln and his associates anticipated questions of how to reintegrate the conquered southern states , and how to determine the fates of Confederate leaders and freed slaves . Shortly after Lee ' s surrender , a general had asked Lincoln how the defeated Confederates should be treated , and Lincoln replied , " Let ' em up easy . " In keeping with that sentiment , Lincoln led the moderates regarding Reconstruction policy , and was opposed by the Radical Republicans , under Rep . Thaddeus Stevens , Sen . Charles Sumner and Sen . Benjamin Wade , political allies of the president on other issues . Determined to find a course that would reunite the nation and not alienate the South , Lincoln urged that speedy elections under generous terms be held throughout the war . His Amnesty Proclamation of December 8 , 1863 , offered pardons to those who had not held a Confederate civil office , had not mistreated Union prisoners , and would sign an oath of allegiance . As Southern states were subdued , critical decisions had to be made as to their leadership while their administrations were re - formed . Of special importance were Tennessee and Arkansas , where Lincoln appointed Generals Andrew Johnson and Frederick Steele as military governors , respectively . In Louisiana , Lincoln ordered General Nathaniel P . Banks to promote a plan that would restore statehood when 10 percent of the voters agreed to it . Lincoln ' s Democratic opponents seized on these appointments to accuse him of using the military to ensure his and the Republicans ' political aspirations . On the other hand , the Radicals denounced his policy as too lenient , and passed their own plan , the Wade - Davis Bill , in 1864 . When Lincoln vetoed the bill , the Radicals retaliated by refusing to seat representatives elected from Louisiana , Arkansas , and Tennessee . Lincoln ' s appointments were designed to keep both the moderate and Radical factions in harness . To fill Chief Justice Taney ' s seat on the Supreme Court , he named the choice of the Radicals , Salmon P . Chase , who Lincoln believed would uphold the emancipation and paper money policies . After implementing the Emancipation Proclamation , which did not apply to every state , Lincoln increased pressure on Congress to outlaw slavery throughout the entire nation with a constitutional amendment . Lincoln declared that such an amendment would " clinch the whole matter " . By December 1863 , a proposed constitutional amendment that would outlaw slavery was brought to Congress for passage . This first attempt at an amendment failed to pass , falling short of the required two - thirds majority on June 15 , 1864 , in the House of Representatives . Passage of the proposed amendment became part of the Republican / Unionist platform in the election of 1864 . After a long debate in the House , a second attempt passed Congress on January 31 , 1865 , and was sent to the state legislatures for ratification . Upon ratification , it became the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 6 , 1865 . As the war drew to a close , Lincoln ' s presidential Reconstruction for the South was in flux ; having believed the federal government had limited responsibility to the millions of freedmen . He signed into law Senator Charles Sumner ' s Freedman ' s Bureau bill that set up a temporary federal agency designed to meet the immediate material needs of former slaves . The law assigned land for a lease of three years with the ability to purchase title for the freedmen . Lincoln stated that his Louisiana plan did not apply to all states under Reconstruction . Shortly before his assassination , Lincoln announced he had a new plan for southern Reconstruction . Discussions with his cabinet revealed Lincoln planned short - term military control over southern states , until readmission under the control of southern Unionists . Redefining the republic and republicanism . The successful reunification of the states had consequences for the name of the country . The term " the United States " has historically been used , sometimes in the plural ( " these United States " ) , and other times in the singular , without any particular grammatical consistency . The Civil War was a significant force in the eventual dominance of the singular usage by the end of the 19th century . In recent years , historians such as Harry Jaffa , Herman Belz , John Diggins , Vernon Burton and Eric Foner have stressed Lincoln ' s redefinition of republican values . As early as the 1850s , a time when most political rhetoric focused on the sanctity of the Constitution , Lincoln redirected emphasis to the Declaration of Independence as the foundation of American political values — what he called the " sheet anchor " of republicanism . The Declaration ' s emphasis on freedom and equality for all , in contrast to the Constitution ' s tolerance of slavery , shifted the debate . As Diggins concludes regarding the highly influential Cooper Union speech of early 1860 , " Lincoln presented Americans a theory of history that offers a profound contribution to the theory and destiny of republicanism itself . " His position gained strength because he highlighted the moral basis of republicanism , rather than its legalisms . Nevertheless , in 1861 , Lincoln justified the war in terms of legalisms ( the Constitution was a contract , and for one party to get out of a contract all the other parties had to agree ) , and then in terms of the national duty to guarantee a republican form of government in every state . Burton ( 2008 ) argues that Lincoln ' s republicanism was taken up by the Freedmen as they were emancipated . In March 1861 , in his First Inaugural Address , Lincoln explored the nature of democracy . He denounced secession as anarchy , and explained that majority rule had to be balanced by constitutional restraints in the American system . He said " A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations , and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments , is the only true sovereign of a free people . " Other enactments . Lincoln adhered to the Whig theory of the presidency , which gave Congress primary responsibility for writing the laws while the Executive enforced them . Lincoln only vetoed four bills passed by Congress ; the only important one was the Wade - Davis Bill with its harsh program of Reconstruction . He signed the Homestead Act in 1862 , making millions of acres of government - held land in the West available for purchase at very low cost . The Morrill Land - Grant Colleges Act , also signed in 1862 , provided government grants for agricultural colleges in each state . The Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864 granted federal support for the construction of the United States ' First Transcontinental Railroad , which was completed in 1869 . The passage of the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Acts was made possible by the absence of Southern congressmen and senators who had opposed the measures in the 1850s . Other important legislation involved two measures to raise revenues for the Federal government : tariffs ( a policy with long precedent ) , and a new Federal income tax . In 1861 , Lincoln signed the second and third Morrill Tariff , the first having become law under James Buchanan . Also in 1861 , Lincoln signed the Revenue Act of 1861 , creating the first U . S . income tax . This created a flat tax of 3 percent on incomes above $ 800 ( $ in current dollar terms ) , which was later changed by the Revenue Act of 1862 to a progressive rate structure . Lincoln also presided over the expansion of the federal government ' s economic influence in several other areas . The creation of the system of national banks by the National Banking Act provided a strong financial network in the country . It also established a national currency . In 1862 , Congress created , with Lincoln ' s approval , the Department of Agriculture . In 1862 , Lincoln sent a senior general , John Pope , to put down the " Sioux Uprising " in Minnesota . Presented with 303 execution warrants for convicted Santee Dakota who were accused of killing innocent farmers , Lincoln conducted his own personal review of each of these warrants , eventually approving 39 for execution ( one was later reprieved ) . President Lincoln had planned to reform federal Indian policy . In the wake of Grant ' s casualties in his campaign against Lee , Lincoln had considered yet another executive call for a military draft , but it was never issued . In response to rumors of one , however , the editors of the " New York World " and the " Journal of Commerce " published a false draft proclamation which created an opportunity for the editors and others employed at the publications to corner the gold market . Lincoln ' s reaction was to send the strongest of messages to the media about such behavior ; he ordered the military to seize the two papers . The seizure lasted for two days . Lincoln is largely responsible for the institution of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States . Before Lincoln ' s presidency , Thanksgiving , while a regional holiday in New England since the 17th century , had been proclaimed by the federal government only sporadically and on irregular dates . The last such proclamation had been during James Madison ' s presidency 50 years before . In 1863 , Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November of that year to be a day of Thanksgiving . In June 1864 , Lincoln approved the Yosemite Grant enacted by Congress , which provided unprecedented federal protection for the area now known as Yosemite National Park . Lincoln ' s declared philosophy on court nominations was that " we cannot ask a man what he will do , and if we should , and he should answer us , we should despise him for it . Therefore we must take a man whose opinions are known . " Lincoln made five appointments to the United States Supreme Court . Noah Haynes Swayne , nominated January 21 , 1862 and appointed January 24 , 1862 , was chosen as an anti - slavery lawyer who was committed to the Union . Samuel Freeman Miller , nominated and appointed on July 16 , 1862 , supported Lincoln in the 1860 election and was an avowed abolitionist . David Davis , Lincoln ' s campaign manager in 1860 , nominated December 1 , 1862 and appointed December 8 , 1862 , had also served as a judge in Lincoln ' s Illinois court circuit . Stephen Johnson Field , a previous California Supreme Court justice , was nominated March 6 , 1863 and appointed March 10 , 1863 , and provided geographic balance , as well as political balance to the court as a Democrat . Finally , Lincoln ' s Treasury Secretary , Salmon P . Chase , was nominated as Chief Justice , and appointed the same day , on December 6 , 1864 . Lincoln believed Chase was an able jurist , would support Reconstruction legislation , and that his appointment united the Republican Party . Judicial appointments . Other judicial appointments . Lincoln appointed 32 federal judges , including four Associate Justices and one Chief Justice to the Supreme Court of the United States , and 27 judges to the United States district courts . Lincoln appointed no judges to the United States circuit court s during his time in office . States admitted to the Union . West Virginia , admitted to the Union June 20 , 1863 , contained the former north - westernmost counties of Virginia that seceded from Virginia after that commonwealth declared its secession from the Union . As a condition for its admission , West Virginia ' s constitution was required to provide for the gradual abolition of slavery . Nevada , which became the third State in the far - west of the continent , was admitted as a free state on October 31 , 1864 . Assassination . John Wilkes Booth was a well - known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland ; though he never joined the Confederate army , he had contacts with the Confederate secret service . In 1864 , Booth formulated a plan ( very similar to one of Thomas N . Conrad previously authorized by the Confederacy ) to kidnap Lincoln in exchange for the release of Confederate prisoners . After attending an April 11 , 1865 , speech in which Lincoln promoted voting rights for blacks , an incensed Booth changed his plans and became determined to assassinate the president . Learning that the President , First Lady , and head Union general Ulysses S . Grant would be attending Ford ' s Theatre , Booth formulated a plan with co - conspirators to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson , Secretary of State William H . Seward and General Grant . Without his main bodyguard , Ward Hill Lamon , Lincoln left to attend the play " Our American Cousin " on April 14 . Grant , along with his wife , chose at the last minute to travel to Philadelphia instead of attending the play . Lincoln ' s bodyguard , John Parker , left Ford ' s Theater during intermission to join Lincoln ' s coachman for drinks in the Star Saloon next door . The now unguarded President sat in his state box in the balcony . Seizing the opportunity , Booth crept up from behind and at about 10 : 13 pm , aimed at the back of Lincoln ' s head and fired at point - blank range , mortally wounding the President . Major Henry Rathbone momentarily grappled with Booth , but Booth stabbed him and escaped . After being on the run for 10 days , Booth was tracked down and found on a farm in Virginia , some south of Washington , D . C . After a brief fight with Union troops , Booth was killed by Sergeant Boston Corbett on April 26 . An Army surgeon , Doctor Charles Leale , was sitting nearby at the theater and immediately assisted the President . He found the President unresponsive , barely breathing and with no detectable pulse . Having determined that the President had been shot in the head , and not stabbed in the shoulder as originally thought , he made an attempt to clear the blood clot , after which the President began to breathe more naturally . The dying President was taken across the street to Petersen House . After remaining in a coma for nine hours , Lincoln died at 7 : 22 am on April 15 . Presbyterian minister Phineas Densmore Gurley , then present , was asked to offer a prayer , after which Secretary of War Stanton saluted and said , " Now he belongs to the ages . " Lincoln ' s flag - enfolded body was then escorted in the rain to the White House by bareheaded Union officers , while the city ' s church bells rang . President Johnson was sworn in at 10 : 00 am , less than 3 hours after Lincoln ' s death . The late President lay in state in the East Room , and then in the Capitol Rotunda from April 19 through April 21 . For his final journey with his son Willie , both caskets were transported in the executive coach " United States " and for three weeks the " Lincoln Special " funeral train decorated in black bunting bore Lincoln ' s remains on a slow circuitous waypoint journey from Washington D . C . to Springfield , Illinois stopping at many cities across the North for large - scale memorials attended by hundreds of thousands , as well as many people who gathered in informal trackside tributes with bands , bonfires and hymn singing or silent reverence with hat in hand as the railway procession slowly passed by . Religious and philosophical beliefs . As a young man , Lincoln was clearly a religious skeptic , or , in the words of a biographer , even an iconoclast . Later in life , Lincoln ' s frequent use of religious imagery and language might have reflected his own personal beliefs or might have been a device to appeal to his audiences , who were mostly evangelical Protestants . He never joined a church , although he frequently attended with his wife , but he was deeply familiar with the Bible , quoted it and praised it . In the 1840s Lincoln subscribed to the Doctrine of Necessity , a belief that asserted the human mind was controlled by some higher power . In the 1850s , Lincoln acknowledged " providence " in a general way , and rarely used the language or imagery of the evangelicals ; he regarded the republicanism of the Founding Fathers with an almost religious reverence . When he suffered the death of his son Edward , Lincoln more frequently acknowledged his own need to depend on God . The death of his son Willie in February 1862 may have caused Lincoln to look toward religion for answers and solace . After Willie ' s death , Lincoln considered why , from a divine standpoint , the severity of the war was necessary . He wrote at this time that God " could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest . Yet the contest began . And having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day . Yet the contest proceeds . " On the day Lincoln was assassinated , he reportedly told his wife Mary at Ford ' s Theatre he desired to visit the Holy Land . Historical reputation . In surveys of scholars ranking Presidents since the 1940s , Lincoln is consistently ranked in the top three , often # 1 . A 2004 study found that scholars in the fields of history and politics ranked Lincoln number one , while legal scholars placed him second after Washington . Of all the presidential ranking polls conducted since 1948 , Lincoln has been rated at the very top in the majority of polls : Schlesinger 1948 , Schlesinger 1962 , 1982 Murray Blessing Survey , " Chicago Tribune " 1982 poll , Schlesinger 1996 , CSPAN 1996 , Ridings - McIver 1996 , " Time " 2008 , and CSPAN 2009 . Generally , the top three presidents are rated as 1 . Lincoln ; 2 . George Washington ; and 3 . Franklin D . Roosevelt , although Lincoln and Washington , and Washington and Roosevelt , occasionally are reversed . President Lincoln ' s assassination made him a national martyr and endowed him with a recognition of mythic proportion . Lincoln was viewed by abolitionists as a champion for human liberty . Republicans linked Lincoln ' s name to their party . Many , though not all , in the South considered Lincoln as a man of outstanding ability . Schwartz argues that Lincoln ' s reputation grew slowly in the late 19th century until the Progressive Era ( 1900 – 1920s ) when he emerged as one of the most venerated heroes in American history , with even white Southerners in agreement . The high point came in 1922 with the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial on the Mall in Washington . In the New Deal era liberals honored Lincoln not so much as the self - made man or the great war president , but as the advocate of the common man who doubtless would have supported the welfare state . In the Cold War years , Lincoln ' s image shifted to emphasize the symbol of freedom who brought hope to those oppressed by communist regimes . By the 1970s Lincoln had become a hero to political conservatives for his intense nationalism , support for business , his insistence on stopping the spread of human bondage , his acting in terms of Lockean and Burkean principles on behalf of both liberty and tradition , and his devotion to the principles of the Founding Fathers . As a Whig activist , Lincoln was a spokesman for business interests , favoring high tariffs , banks , internal improvements , and railroads in opposition to the agrarian Democrats . William C . Harris found that Lincoln ' s " reverence for the Founding Fathers , the Constitution , the laws under it , and the preservation of the Republic and its institutions undergirded and strengthened his conservatism " . James G . Randall emphasizes his tolerance and especially his moderation " in his preference for orderly progress , his distrust of dangerous agitation , and his reluctance toward ill digested schemes of reform " . Randall concludes that , " he was conservative in his complete avoidance of that type of so - called ' radicalism ' which involved abuse of the South , hatred for the slaveholder , thirst for vengeance , partisan plotting , and ungenerous demands that Southern institutions be transformed overnight by outsiders . " By the late 1960s , liberals , such as historian Lerone Bennett , were having second thoughts , especially regarding Lincoln ' s views on racial issues . Bennett won wide attention when he called Lincoln a white supremacist in 1968 . He noted that Lincoln used ethnic slurs , told jokes that ridiculed blacks , insisted he opposed social equality , and proposed sending freed slaves to another country . Defenders , such as authors Dirck and Cashin , retorted that he was not as bad as most politicians of his day ; and that he was a " moral visionary " who deftly advanced the abolitionist cause , as fast as politically possible . The emphasis shifted away from Lincoln - the - emancipator to an argument that blacks had freed themselves from slavery , or at least were responsible for pressuring the government on emancipation . Historian Barry Schwartz wrote in 2009 that Lincoln ' s image suffered " erosion , fading prestige , benign ridicule " in the late 20th century . On the other hand , Donald opined in his 1996 biography that Lincoln was distinctly endowed with the personality trait of negative capability , defined by the poet John Keats and attributed to extraordinary leaders who were " content in the midst of uncertainties and doubts , and not compelled toward fact or reason " . Lincoln has often been portrayed by Hollywood , almost always in a flattering light . Memorials . Lincoln ' s portrait appears on two denominations of United States currency , the penny and the $ 5 bill . His likeness also appears on many postage stamps and has been memorialized in many town , city , and county names , including the capital of Nebraska . The most famous and most visited memorials are the Lincoln Memorial in Washington , D . C . ; Lincoln ' s sculpture on Mount Rushmore ; Ford ' s Theatre and Petersen House ( where he died ) in Washington and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum , located in Springfield , Illinois , not far from Lincoln ' s home and his tomb . Barry Schwartz , a sociologist who has examined America ' s cultural memory , argues that in the 1930s and 1940s , the memory of Abraham Lincoln was practically sacred and provided the nation with " a moral symbol inspiring and guiding American life " . During the Great Depression , he argues , Lincoln served " as a means for seeing the world ' s disappointments , for making its sufferings not so much explicable as meaningful " . Franklin D . Roosevelt , preparing America for war , used the words of the Civil War president to clarify the threat posed by Germany and Japan . Americans asked , " What would Lincoln do ? " However , he also finds that since World War II , Lincoln ' s symbolic power has lost relevance , and this " fading hero is symptomatic of fading confidence in national greatness " . He suggested that postmodernism and multiculturalism have diluted greatness as a concept .