Abraham Lincoln :: essays research papers

Abraham capital of NebraskaAbraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. Born in a logarithmcabin in the backwoods, Lincoln was almost entirely self-educated. In 1831 hesettled in New Salem, Ill., and worked as a storekeeper, surveyor, andpostmaster while poring over law. The story of his brief love affair there withAnne Rutledge is now discredited. In 1834 he was elected to the statelegislature, and in 1836 he became a lawyer. He served one term (184749) inCongress as a Whig in 1855 he sought to become a senator merely failed. In 1856 hejoined the new Republican Party. He ran again in 1858 for the Senate againstStephen A. Douglas, and in a spirited campaign he and Douglas engaged in septetdebates. Lincoln was not an abolitionist, but he regarded slavery as an mephistophelean andopposed its extension. Although he lost the election, he had by now do a namefor himself, and in 1860 he was nominated by the Republicans for president. Heran against a divided Democratic party and was elected with a minority of thepopular vote. To the South, Lincolns election was a signal for secession. ByInauguration daytime seven states had seceded, and four more seceded after he issueda call to the militia. It is generally agreed that Lincoln handled the vastproblems of the Civil War with achievement and vigor. Besides conducting the war, hefaced opposition in the North from paper abolitionists, who considered him toomild, and from conservatives, who were gloomy over the prospects of success inthe war. His cabinet was blood by internal hatred, and the progress of the warwent against the North at first. In 1863 he moved to free the slaves by issuingthe Emancipation Proclamation, but preserving the Union remained his main waraim. His thoughts on the war were beautifully uttered in the GettysburgAddress (1863). In 1864 Lincoln ran for reelection against George B. McClellanand won, partly because of the favorable hitch of military affairs after his