Abraham Lincoln Biography (Name Is Everything)

Abraham Lincoln Biography:

“With  malice  toward    none;  with        charity for  all;  with firmness in    the right, as  God gives us to see   the      right, let us strive  on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds…. ” 

Abraham Lincoln:

Abraham Lincoln was born Feb  12, 1809, in a single-room log cabin, Hardin County, Kentucky.           His    family      upbringing      was modest;  his   parents     from   Virginia  were neither wealthy or well known. At an early age,   the young     lincolnAbraham   lost    his mother,          and his   father   moved  away   to Indiana.         Abraham       had            to   work  hard splitting    logs   and  other   manual     labour. But,  he also  had  a   thirst         for knowledge and           worked very  hard   to excel     in          his studies.                   This   led  him                       to   become self-trained   as     a lawyer.     He  spent eight years working on the Illinois court circuit; his  ambition, drive, and capacity for hard work     were     evident  to       all          around him. Lincoln became    respected    on the      legal circuit        and       he         gained   the       nickname ‘Honest    Abe.’            He   often                encouraged neighbours    to      mediate                         their           own conflicts   rather   than   pursue    full            legal litigation. Lincoln  also had  a  good  sense of     humour    and    was deprecating    about his looks.

“If I   were   two-faced,   would   I be  wearing this one?”

Work  colleagues    and   friends noted   that Lincoln  had a capacity  to          defuse  tense and argumentative situations, though the use    of  humour  and his   capacity    to take an  optimistic   view  of     human nature. He loved to tell  stories  to illustrate a serious point   through the use         of         humour    and parables.     Lincoln                   was      shy           around women  but   after a difficult  courtship, he married    Mary  Todd       in  1842. Mary Todd shared many  of     her   husband’s     political thinking    but    they     also    had                  different temperaments       – with Mary  more  prone to swings in her emotions. They had four children,       who    Lincoln     was   devoted   to. Although      three       died  before              reaching maturity  –  which   caused much       grief  to both    parents.              As  a        lawyer,   Abraham developed   a   capacity   for  quick    thinking and oratory.  His interest  in public   issues encouraged        him           to       stand    for    public office.       In     1847,   he     was    elected  to  the House of Representatives  for Illinois and served from 1847-49. During his period in Congress,        Lincoln     criticised      President Folk’s handling of the  American-Mexican War,    arguing      Polk   used     patriotism and military glory to  defend the   unjust action of   taking      Mexican    territory.             However, Lincoln’s     stance                              was                  politically unpopular and he was not re-elected.

Lawyer:

braham_Lincoln_by_ByersAfter                                 his political  career     appeared       to be over, he returned to working as a lawyer in Illinois. However,       the      1850s     saw  the          slavery question              re-emerge           as      a  prominent divisive national issue.    Lincoln  abhorred slavery  and  from    a    political perspective wished to prevent slavery being extended and ultimately     be  phased      out. He    gave influential  speeches, which     drew on   the Declaration of Independence to prove the Founding  Fathers  had  intended    to      stop the         spread             of slavery.      In        particular, Lincoln    used    a          novel  argument             that although society       was   a long        way from equality, America  should   aspire  towards the   lofty  statement  in the Declaration   of Independence.

“We    hold  these truths  to be  self-evident: That all men are created equal”

Lincoln      had      a          strong               capacity        for empathy.  He would      try to   see  problems from everyone’s point of view – including southern           slaveholders.     He  used           this concept   of    empathy to       speak        against slavery.

“I    have    always    thought             that       all   men should be              free; but     if           any   should  be slaves, it should be first those who desire it      for         themselves,  and   secondly, those who  desire     it     for  others.     When     I      hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” 

Lincoln’s       speeches                              were        notable because           they                      drew          on  both   legal precedents but also easy to       understand parables,    which struck  a    chord with  the public.   In      1858,  Lincoln  was  nominated as    Republican candidate for  the  Senate. He   undertook    a        series   of         high-profile debates with    the  Democratic incumbent Stephen                    Douglass.   Douglass     was in favour      of   allowing    the                extension       of slavery    – if  citizens  voted  for     it. Lincoln opposed the extension of slavery.  During this    campaign,     he       gave    one                    of   his best-remembered       speeches,                        which reflected     on       the           divisive nature                   of America. 

“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. ” (House Divided) 

In        this House Divided     speech,         Lincoln gave     a                  prophetic    utterance        to         the potential  for  slavery to divide   the  nation. Although   he          lost    this          1858              Senate election, his  debating    skills   and     oratory caused him to become well known within the  Republican party.      On     February        27, 1860.  Lincoln was also     invited  to   give  a notable address  at Cooper  Union in  New York.    The East Coast  was  relatively  new territory for Lincoln; many in the audience thought  his     appearance    awkward        and even   ugly,  but his  calls    for    moral  clarity over   the  wrongness  of     slavery  struck   a chord with his East coast audience. 

“Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.” (Cooper Union address) 

The    reputation                 he         gained    on                 the campaign trail and speeches on the  East coast  caused him  to be put forward as a candidate for the Republican nominee for President             in  1860.           Lincoln         was      an outsider  because            he      had    much       less experience than other leading candidates such as Steward, Bates   and    Chase,     but after finishing    second   on   the  first ballot he    went     on  to    become              unexpectedly nominated. After    a     hard-fought, divisive campaign   of 1860,   Lincoln  was     elected the   first     Republican      President         of       the United      States.   Lincoln’s        support  came entirely from   the   North  and    West  of  the country.    The   south   strongly         disagreed with       Lincoln’s   position       on  slavery     The election of Lincoln     as  President in 1861, sparked       the   South   to     secede  from  the North. Southern independence sentiment had been   growing for      many    years,    and the     election  of       a president  opposed    to slavery     was       the    final straw.        However, Lincoln     resolutely                          opposed                        the breakaway   of  the    South, and this  led    to the          American    civil    war             with     Lincoln committed       to        preserving        the         Union. Lincoln   surprised many by         including    in his cabinet the main rivals from the 1860 Republican    campaign.       It  demonstrated Lincoln’s  willingness   and  ability     to work with    people of   different               political       and personal             approaches. This    helped        to keep     the           Republican           party    together. Abraham-linconThe Civil    War  was  much more               costly                    than             many         people anticipated              and          at       times                 Lincoln appeared   to be losing the  support  of the general  population.  But, Lincoln’s patient leadership,   and willingness  to work   with unionist   Democrats         held         the      country together. Lincoln     oversaw        many  of  the military aspects of the war and promoted the general Ulysses S Grant to command the northern forces.  Initially, the war was primarily             about           the           secession            of southern states   and     the    survival    of the Union, but as the war progressed, Lincoln increasingly   made    the    issue   of      ending slavery     paramount.   On        September    22, 1862, Lincoln  issued   the         Emancipation Proclamation  that    declared the freedom of slaves within the Confederacy. 

“All          persons held as slaves    within      any State   or  designated  part   of    a  State,  the people  whereof shall  then be  in rebellion against the United  States,       shall be then, thenceforward,           and                forever                  free” (Emancipation Proclamation) 

The   Proclamation       came  into       force    on January  1, 1863. Towards  the end  of the year,   many black    regiments  were raised to help the Union army.

Gettysburg address:

After   a difficult    opening       two        years,  by 1863,       the    tide   of    war started    to  swing towards the Union forces – helped by the victory at the  Battle of Gettysburg in  July 1863.   Lincoln  felt  able       to    redefine       the goals     of             the  civil    war    to     include     the ending of slavery. 

Dedicating   the  ceremony   at     Gettysburg on       November                         19,              1863,        Lincoln declared:

“Four      score       and   seven   years      ago  our fathers  brought forth on this continent, a new       nation,   conceived    in       Liberty,     and dedicated  to the  proposition that all men are  created equal.     that       we     here   highly resolve    that     these       dead  shall  not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new   birth of freedom  —  and that        government of   the   people,      by   the people,  for     the people,       shall     not perish from the earth.”

Abraham      Lincoln,        Gettysburg   Address November 19, 1863

Eventually,   after     four   years    of    attrition, the Federal forces secured the surrender of       the     defeated   south.  The      union   had been  saved and  the   issue of slavery had been brought to a head.

After the Civil War:

In  the   aftermath    of  the  civil war, Lincoln sought to reunite the country – offering a generous  settlement  to the  south.  When asked how      to    deal       with       the    southern states, Lincoln replied.  “Let ’em  up easy.” Lincoln       was     opposed by  more        radical factions who  wanted  greater  activism in the   south    to   ensure civil  rights for freed slaves. 

On    January      31,        1865,     Lincoln      helped pass    through    Congress  a   bill   to  outlaw slavery.         The     Thirteenth  Amendment to the      United    States                   Constitution      was officially  signed into law   on December 6, 1865.

Some      northern            abolitionists                             and Republicans wanted Lincoln to go further and          implement    full     racial    equality     on issues    of   education     and  voting       rights. Lincoln was unwilling to  do  this (it was a minority      political          view     for        the        time) Frederick     Douglass,               a    leading       black activist   (who  had escaped from  slavery) didn’t    always agree  with the policies        of Lincoln but after meeting Lincoln, he said enthusiastically of the President.

“He    treated  me   as  a  man; he   did  not let me feel for a moment that there  was any difference   in the  color  of   our   skins!  The President   is   a    most   remarkable   man.    I am satisfied now  that he is doing  all that circumstances will permit him to do.” 

Assassination:

Five days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee           and the  Confederate  Army, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes    Booth while   visiting   Ford’s         Theatre.     Lincoln’s death       was  widely mourned     across    the country. 

Posterity:

Lincoln     is     widely       regarded       as  one     of America’s most influential and important presidents.      As well as   saving the   Union and          promoting      Republican                      values, Lincoln     was   viewed  as  embodying        the ideals of honesty and integrity.

“Posterity                will call       you                           the  great emancipator,  a   more  enviable     title   than any crown could be, and greater than any merely mundane treasure.”

Giuseppe Garibaldi, 6 August 1863.

“Five  score years ago, a  great  American, in  whose      symbolic   shadow      we        stand today,                 signed            the                      Emancipation Proclamation.    This     momentous   decree came as  a great    beacon   light of hope to millions   of   Negro    slaves  who had    been seared   in        the flames         of                        withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.”