Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln (b. on February 12, 1809, in Hodgenville, Kentucky) was the 16th president of the United States. He served from 1861 until his death on April 15, 1865, one day after he was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth. He was 56 when he died.

Lincoln was a member of the Republican Party. His vice presidents were Hannibal Hamlin (1861-1865) and Andrew Johnson (1865), who succeeded him upon his death.

Lincoln was president during the American Civil War, which began after the southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America in 1861. During the Civil War, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared African-American slaves in states still in rebellion were free. This excluded border states and some southern states. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to the northern states and effectively ended the Civil War on April 9, 1865, just days before Lincoln was assassinated.

Prior to serving as president, Lincoln worked as a lawyer and served in the Illinois State Legislature and the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Whig Party. He ran for the United States Senate in 1858 and lost to incumbent Stephen Douglas (D-Ill.).^[1]

Biography[edit]

Timeline of life events[edit]

Below is an abbreviated outline of Lincoln's professional and political career:^[1]

1809: Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky
1830: Moved to Macon County, Illinois
1832: Served as a captain in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War
1834: Elected to the Illinois State Legislature as a member of the Whig Party
1837: Began practicing law in Springfield, Illinois
1847-1849: Served in the United States House of Representatives
1856: Joined the Republican Party
1858: Unsuccessfully challenged incumbent U.S. Sen. Stephen Douglas (D-Ill.)
1860: Elected president of the United States
1861: Southern states seceded from the Union and attacked federal troops at Fort Sumter, starting the American Civil War
1863: Issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in the southern states
1864: Re-elected as president of the United States
April 9, 1865: American Civil War effectively ended with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee
April 15, 1865: Died after being shot by John Wilkes Booth

Before the presidency[edit]

Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky on February 12, 1809, to pioneer Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. His mother died when he was nine years old, and his father married Sarah Bush Johnston. The family moved to Illinois in 1830. At 22 years old, Lincoln began working as a manual laborer and moved to New Salem, Illinois. He was selected as a captain in the Illinois Militia when the Black Hawk Wars began in 1832, but he never saw any fighting.

In 1834, Lincoln began his political career as a member of the Illinois State Legislature. He was a member of the Whig Party, which supported government-sponsored infrastructure and protective tariffs. He was admitted to the state bar in 1837 and moved to Springfield, Illinois, to become a lawyer. He began a law practice with William Herndon in 1844. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846, where he opposed the Mexican-American War. He did not seek re-election in 1848 and returned to Springfield to practice law.

Lincoln joined the newly formed Republican Party in 1856, which was founded on opposition to slavery. In 1858, he ran against sitting U.S. Sen. Stephen Douglas (D-Ill.) and participated in a series of public debates focused on slavery. The state legislature chose Douglas over Lincoln for the U.S. Senate seat, but the race led him into national politics. Lincoln was selected as the 1860 Republican nominee for president at the Republican National Convention on May 18, 1860. In the general election in November, he faced Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas. Lincoln won a plurality of the popular vote (about 40 percent) and a majority of electoral votes (180 of 303). His support was concentrated in the northern states and the far western states of California and Oregon.^[2]^[1]

Presidency[edit]

After Lincoln was elected president on an anti-slavery platform, seven southern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas) seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. After Lincoln was inaugurated in April 1861, the Confederates laid siege to Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, and the American Civil War began. Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia later joined the Confederacy. Battles between the Union and the Confederacy began in 1861 and continued through 1865. The battles occurred in multiple theaters of conflict, including the eastern Virginia region and western Mississippi region.

During the war, Lincoln and the United States Congress (which no longer contained representatives from the southern states) passed several major pieces of legislation, including the Homestead Act, the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, the National Banking Act, and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery after it was ratified by the states in December 1865. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which declared that slaves in the southern states, who were mostly of African descent, were free. In November 1863, Lincoln gave the famous Gettysburg Address several months after the Union armies repelled a southern invasion in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.^[3] Lincoln faced re-election in 1864 and was challenged by former Union General George B. McClellan (D). He won a majority of the popular vote and 212 of 233 electoral votes.^[4]

The war effectively ended on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at the courthouse in Appomattox, Virginia. On April 14, Lincoln was shot in the head by actor John Wilkes Booth, a southern sympathizer, at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. He died on April 15 and was succeeded by Vice President Andrew Johnson.^[1]

Personal[edit]

Lincoln was married to Mary Todd Lincoln from 1842 until his death in 1865. Together they had four sons: Robert, Edward, Tad, and Willie. Only Robert survived to adulthood as the other three died of illness early in life.

Elections[edit]

1864 presidential election[edit]

In 1864, Lincoln defeated George McClellan (D) in the general election for the United States presidency.

U.S. presidential election, 1864
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Electoral votes
	Republican	Abraham Lincoln/Andrew Johnson Incumbent	55.1%	2,213,665	212
	Democratic	George McClellan/George H. Pendleton	44.9%	1,805,237	21
Total Votes				4,018,902	233
Election results via: 1864 official election results

1860 presidential election[edit]

In 1860, Lincoln defeated North Democrat Stephen Douglas, Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell in the general election for the United States presidency.

U.S. presidential election, 1860
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Electoral votes
	Republican	Abraham Lincoln/Hannibal Hamlin	39.8%	1,866,452	180
	Northern Democratic	Stephen A. Douglas/Herschel V. Johnson	29.5%	1,382,713	12
	Southern Democratic	John C. Breckinridge/Joseph Lane	18.1%	847,953	72
	Constitutional Union	John Bell/Edward Everett	12.6%	592,906	39
Total Votes				4,690,024	303
Election results via: 1860 official election results

State of the Union addresses[edit]

Every year in office, the president of the United States addresses Congress on the present state of affairs as well as the administration's goals for the coming year.^[5] Following are transcripts from Lincoln's State of the Union addresses.

External links[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

Political offices
Preceded by James Buchanan (D)	President of the United States 1861-1865	Succeeded by Andrew Johnson (R)

[bio-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 Biography.com, "Abraham Lincoln," accessed April 13, 2018

[2] 270towin.com, "1860 Presidential Election," accessed April 13, 2018

[3] Presidential Power, "Abraham Lincoln Timeline, accessed April 13, 2018

[4] 270towin.com, "1864 Presidential Election," accessed April 13, 2018

[5] Congressional Research Service, "The President’s State of the Union Address: Tradition, Function, and Policy Implications," January 24, 2014

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