Abraham Lincoln

This article is about the American president. For other uses, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation).

Abraham Lincoln (/ˈlɪŋkən/;[2] February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American statesman and lawyer who served as the 16th president of the United States (1861–1865). Lincoln led the nation through its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis in the American Civil War.[3][4] He preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the U.S. economy.

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln in November 1863

16th President of the United States

In office

March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865

Vice President

Hannibal Hamlin

Andrew Johnson

Preceded by

James Buchanan

Succeeded by

Andrew Johnson

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives

from Illinois's 7th district

In office

March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849

Preceded by

John Henry

Succeeded by

Thomas L. Harris

Member of the

Illinois House of Representatives

from Sangamon County

In office

December 1, 1834 – December 4, 1842

Personal details

Born

February 12, 1809

Sinking Spring Farm, Kentucky, U.S.

Died

April 15, 1865  (aged 56)

Washington, D.C., U.S.

Cause of death

Assassination  (gunshot wound to the head)

Resting place

Lincoln Tomb

Political party

Whig (before 1854)

Republican (1854–1864)

National Union (1864–1865)

Height

6 ft 4 in (193 cm)[1]

Spouse(s)

Mary Todd (m. 1842)

Children

RobertEdwardWillieTad

Mother

Nancy Hanks

Father

Thomas Lincoln

Signature

Military service

Allegiance

United States

Illinois

Branch/service

Illinois Militia

Years of service

1832

Rank

Captain[a]

Private[a]

Battles/wars

American Indian Wars

Black Hawk War

Battle of Kellogg's Grove

Battle of Stillman's Run

Lincoln was born in poverty in a log cabin and was raised on the frontier primarily in Indiana. He was self-educated and became a lawyer, Whig Party leader, Illinois state legislator, and U.S. Congressman from Illinois. In 1849 he returned to his law practice but became vexed by the opening of additional lands to slavery  as a result of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. He reentered politics in 1854, becoming a leader in the new Republican Party and he reached a national audience in the 1858 debates against Stephen Douglas. Lincoln ran for President in 1860, sweeping the North in victory. Pro-slavery elements in the South equated his success with the North's rejection of their right to practice slavery, and southern states began seceding from the union. To secure its independence, the new Confederate States of America fired on Fort Sumter, a U.S. fort in the South, and Lincoln called up forces to suppress the rebellion and restore the Union.

As the leader of moderate Republicans, Lincoln stood in the center of the factions with friends and opponents on both sides. War Democrats rallied a large faction of former opponents into his moderate camp, but they were countered by Radical Republicans, who demanded harsh treatment of the Southern traitors. Anti-war Democrats (called "Copperheads") despised him. There were irreconcilable pro-Confederate elements who plotted his assassination. Lincoln managed the factions by pitting them against each other, by carefully distributing political patronage, and by appealing to the American people.[5]:65–87 His Gettysburg Address  became a historic clarion call for nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. Lincoln scrutinized the strategy and tactics in the war effort, including the selection of generals and the naval blockade  of the South's trade. He suspended habeas corpus, and he averted British intervention by defusing the Trent Affair. He engineered the end to slavery with his Emancipation Proclamation and his order that the Army protect escaped slaves. He also encouraged border states to outlaw slavery, and promoted the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which outlawed slavery across the country.

Lincoln managed his own successful re-election campaign.