Lincoln Douglas Debates Classroom, Named "Best of the Web" in Nov. 2013 by NEH EDSITEMENT, July 31, 1846 Handbill on Infidelity (#16), July 1, 1850 Notes for a Law Lecture (#21), August 18, 1854 Letter to Richard Yates (#15), October 20, 1858 Letter to Norman B. Judd (#9), February 27, 1860 Cooper Union Speech (#20), January 11, 1837Speech Concerning the State Bank (#76), February 22, 1842Address to Washington Temperance Society (#121), February 25, 1842Letter to Joshua Speed (#78), October 5, 1842Letter to Joshua Speed (#79), January 12, 1848Speech on War With Mexico (#55), June 12, 1848Letter to William Herndon (#61), June 3, 1849Letter to Joseph Underwood (#136), July 28, 1849Letter to John Clayton (#130), July 1, 1854Fragment on Government (#103), September 8, 1854Letter to Richard Oglesby (#137), November 10, 1854Letter to Jonathan Scammon (#123), November 27, 1854Letter to Ichabod Codding (#124), August 11, 1855Letter to Owen Lovejoy (#96), August 24, 1855Letter to Joshua Speed (#138), September 8, 1856Letter to Fillmore Men (#105), August 1, 1858Definition of Democracy (#81), March 17, 1860Letter to E. Stafford (#125), March 24, 1860Letter to Samuel Galloway (#141), July 16, 1860Instructions for John Nicolay (#82), July 21, 1860Letter to Abraham Jonas (#144), September 1, 1862Meditation on Divine Will (#35), October 3, 1862Proclamation of Thanksgiving (#69), August 17, 1863Letter to James Hackett (#131), November 2, 1863Letter to James Hackett (#132), http://housedivided.dickinson.edu/sites/journal/2010/08/26/honest-abe/, http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.2629860.0018.10, http://www.lib.niu.edu/2009/iht09160116.html, http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.2629860.0016.203, Michael Burlingame, Honest Abe, multi-media excerpt from, Richard J. Carwardine, Lincoln, Evangelical Religion, and the American Political Culture in the Era of the Civil War,, Matthew Pinsker, Man of Consequence: Abraham Lincoln in the 1850s,, Mark E. Steiner, The Lawyer as Peacemaker: Law and Community in Abraham Lincolns Slander Cases,. House Divided Project The Radicals denounced his policy as too lenient, and passed their own plan, the 1864 WadeDavis Bill, which Lincoln vetoed. Explore 10 things you may not know about the 16th U.S. president. [357][o] Between 1999 and 2011, Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan have been the top-ranked presidents in eight public opinion surveys, according to Gallup. While Herbert Hoover is remembered by many for his perceived lack of government intervention in the first years of the Great Depression, he won the White House in 1928 in large part thanks to his successful handling of a series of crises more than a decade earlier. With the coming of the Black Hawk War (1832), he enlisted as a volunteer and was elected captain of his company. As Reagan made the transition from actor to public speaker to politician, he used the skills hed developed to craft a unique persona and way of addressing his audience (and later voters) to twice win election as governor of California. In March 1830 the Lincoln family undertook a second migration, this time to Illinois, with Lincoln himself driving the team of oxen. Meanwhile, Lincoln emboldened Grant with more troops and Republican party support. 10 Things You May Not Know About Abraham Lincoln - History [294], 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. Born. The identity of Lincoln's grandmother Bathsheba Herring, though without certainty, is the consensus of multiple Lincoln biographers. The pledge read as follows: This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union [] I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free. The political documents sometimes involve campaign experiences, but we have tried to exclude general campaign materials from this category (you will find them in The Railsplitter theme) and instead have concentrated here on moments in Lincolns political career when his ethics seemed to be in jeopardy by the circumstances of his first chosen profession. Lincoln warned. She ran the household with an even hand, treating both sets of children as if she had borne them all; but she became especially fond of Abraham, and he of her. [89] Twice a year he appeared for 10 consecutive weeks in county seats in the Midstate county courts; this continued for 16 years. Six feet four inches tall, he was rawboned and lanky but muscular and physically powerful. Lincoln Sought the Republican Nomination in 1860 Samuel Freeman Miller supported Lincoln in the 1860 election and was an avowed abolitionist. This was a principle to which he remained true all of his life. "[139], Historian David Herbert Donald described the speech as "a superb political move for an unannounced presidential aspirant. Just over one month after Lincoln assumed the presidency, the Confederate States attacked Fort Sumter, a U.S. fort in South Carolina. Once there, he taught himself law, opened a law practice, and earned the nickname "Honest Abe.". [71] Lincoln emerged as a formidable trial combatant during cross-examinations and closing arguments. [356], In surveys of U.S. scholars ranking presidents conducted since 1948, the top three presidents are Lincoln, Washington, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, although the order varies. The family then migrated west, passing through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lincoln created the Secret Service hours before his assassination. The National Banking Act created the system of national banks. [347] Many soldiers and religious leaders from the north, though, felt the fight for liberty and freedom of slaves was ordained by their moral and religious beliefs. In the four-way presidential race of 1860, Lincoln got more votes than any other candidate. The night he was shot, he and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, were watching a play in Washington, D.C. Historians disagree on who initiated the move; Thomas Lincoln had no obvious reason to do so. Night attack on Fort Stevens, while President Lincoln was there, on July 11, 1864. The campaign trail anecdote dovetails nicely into Lincoln's lasting legacy as "Honest Abe." He got the nickname years earlier in . Lincoln managed his own successful re-election campaign. The Lincoln memorial postage stamp of 1866 was issued by the U.S. Post Office exactly one year after Lincoln's death. The youngest, Thomas "Tad" Lincoln, was born on April 4, 1853, and survived his father but died of heart failure at age 18 on July 16, 1871. When she asked where he was going Abe replied "I don't have five dollars" and she exclaimed "You are the most honest S.O.B. His fathers second wife adored Lincoln and is said to have stoked his love of learning. Allen C. Guelzo states that Lincoln was a "classical liberal democratan enemy of artificial hierarchy, a friend to trade and business as ennobling and enabling, and an American counterpart to Mill, Cobden, and Bright", whose portrait Lincoln hung in his White House office. [2] He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk, to its namesake, Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1638. When it was done, 303 had been given death sentences that were subject to Presidential review. To illustrate this theme within the Lincoln canon, we have pulled together a variety of documents mainly from Lincolns pre-presidential years that focus on his core beliefs and particular challenges to them. President Abraham Lincoln Biography | American Battlefield Trust In a letter to Tennessee military governor Andrew Johnson 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". (This was his second visit to that city, his first having been made in 1828, while he still lived in Indiana.) Minnesota's Governor had made Sibley a Colonel United States Volunteers to command the US force tasked with fighting the war and that eventually defeated Little Crow's forces at the Battle of Wood Lake. Grant then assumed command of Meade's army. [30], As a teen, Lincoln took responsibility for chores and customarily gave his father all earnings from work outside the home until he was 21. At one point the gunfire came dangerously close to the president. Thats in part because of his assassination by John Wilkes Booth, which happened to occur on Good Fridaya connection that has been drawn time and again. ``They knew how to keep warm!''. Booth hoped to revive the Confederate cause by killing Lincoln. That doomed amendment would have protected slavery in states where it already existed. He considered blacksmithing as a trade but finally decided in favour of the law. [231], Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the Gettysburg battlefield cemetery on November 19, 1863. [154] 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 100,000200,000 copies. En route to his inauguration, Lincoln addressed crowds and legislatures across the North. Lincoln led the Union through the American Civil War to defend the nation as a constitutional union and succeeded in abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal . ", Abraham Lincoln Sr.(1744-1786), Kentucky's Abraham Lincoln, Kentucky Historical Society, 100 West Broadway, Frankfort, Kentucky, Captain Abraham Lincoln of the Illinois militia, Renee Hylton, National Guard Bureau, 111 S. George Mason Dr. Lincoln did not accept the Chippewa offer, as he had no means to control the outcome and women and children were considered legitimate casualties in native American warfare. And James Rutledge, who came from South Carolina, opened the ``town tavern,'' which in those days meant a hotel -- a place to sleep, eat, and get your horse cared for at 37 cents a day. Douglas's argument was more legal in nature, claiming that Lincoln was defying the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court as exercised in the Dred Scott decision. [101] In his 1852 eulogy for Clay, Lincoln highlighted the latter's support for gradual emancipation and opposition to "both extremes" on the slavery issue. Our work isn't possible without your support. 1. There, as a squatter on public land, he hastily put up a half-faced campa crude structure of logs and boughs with one side open to the weatherin which the family took shelter behind a blazing fire. [113] At the June 1856 Republican National Convention, though Lincoln received support to run as vice president, John C. Frmont and William Dayton comprised the ticket, which Lincoln supported throughout Illinois. Two years after LBJ won his Senate seat, Richard Nixon was running a brutal campaign of his own in California. [373] Defenders of Lincoln, such as authors Dirck and Cashin, retorted that he was not as bad as most politicians of his day[374] and that he was a "moral visionary" who deftly advanced the abolitionist cause, as fast as politically possible. In an effort to shed the weight, Taft consulted a British dietician who put him on a restricted (for Taft, anyway) diet of high proteins and low carbs and insisted he keep a food diary. The Confederate government evacuated Richmond and Lincoln visited the conquered capital. (Lincoln opposed the spread of slavery in the United States.) [375] Dirck stated that few Civil War scholars take Bennett seriously, pointing to his "narrow political agenda and faulty research". Lincoln is the only president to have obtained a patent. Get the scoop on why we celebrate the Fourth of July! Height. In 1854, he was angered by the KansasNebraska Act, which opened the territories to slavery, and he re-entered politics. [67] In 1837, he declared, "[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. [163] The upper South and border states (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Arkansas) initially rejected the secessionist appeal. He believed in his own integrity and worked diligently to maintain his reputation as an honest politician and lawyer -something that was not always easy in either of those fields. The oft-told story of Taft getting stuck in a White House bathtub isnt true, but he did have specially designed and sized tubs installed for his use. He was shot during his eventual capture and died from his wounds. During this time, the newly formed Confederate States of America began seizing federal military bases in the south. A throng of passengers began to press the young man backwards, and he fell into the open space between the platform and a moving train. Many others gathered along the tracks as the train passed with bands, bonfires, and hymn singing[315] or in silent grief. Secession sentiment was strong in Missouri and Maryland, but did not prevail; Kentucky remained neutral. Biographer James G. Randall dissected Lincoln's successful techniques:[194]. He elevated Henry Halleck in July and appointed John Pope as head of the new Army of Virginia. David Davis was Lincoln's campaign manager in 1860 and had served as a judge in the Illinois court circuit where Lincoln practiced. His Amnesty Proclamation of December 8, 1863, offered pardons to those who had not held a Confederate civil office and had not mistreated Union prisoners, if they were willing to sign an oath of allegiance. Lincoln and his wife attended the play Our American Cousin on the evening of April 14, just five days after the Union victory at the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse. But when the votes in three Southern states seemed too close to call, a Congressional committee was convened and just days before inauguration day, Hayes was declared the winner. [59] Although the economy was booming, the business struggled and went into debt, causing Lincoln to sell his share. Now Northerners and Southerners were close to war. From his earliest days he must have had some familiarity with the Bible, for it doubtless was the only book his family owned. Realizing Clay was unlikely to win the presidency, he supported General Zachary Taylor for the Whig nomination in the 1848 presidential election. [336] On the day Lincoln was assassinated, he reportedly told his wife he desired to visit the Holy Land. Because no president had ever died in office, few worried that Tyler would succeed the head of the ticket, William Henry Harrison. [112], Violent political confrontations in Kansas continued, and opposition to the KansasNebraska Act remained strong throughout the North. [228], With the abolition of slavery in the rebel states now a military objective, Union armies advancing south liberated all three million slaves in the Confederacy. Like Jackson, he had little formal education, and in 1808 he joined the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant. Abraham Lincoln - The Truth About Honest Abe | World History [366] He had long been known as the Great Emancipator,[369] but, by the late 1960s, some African American intellectuals, led by Lerone Bennett Jr., denied that Lincoln deserved that title. [106] At that time, senators were elected by the state legislature. Therefore we must take a man whose opinions are known. Lincoln commented on his thought process, "We need the strongest men of the party in the Cabinet. Americas 16th president came from famously humble origins, born in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky. His appearance in the popular 1940 film Knute Rockne: All American as Notre Dame football player George Gipp earned him another nickname for his deathbed plea that his team win one for the Gipper.. [24] His stepmother acknowledged he did not enjoy "physical labor", but loved to read. If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new cause to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God. . [240], Grant in 1864 waged the bloody Overland Campaign, which exacted heavy losses on both sides. How did Abraham Lincoln cause the Civil War? Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809 in a backwoods cabin in Kentucky. [210], McClellan then resisted the president's demand that he pursue Lee's withdrawing army, while General Don Carlos Buell likewise refused orders to move the Army of the Ohio against rebel forces in eastern Tennessee. [6][c] Thomas then worked at odd jobs in Kentucky and Tennessee before the family settled in Hardin County, Kentucky, in the early 1800s. Defeated only once in approximately 300 matches, Lincoln reportedly talked a little smack in the ring. Honest Abe | Lincoln's Writings - Dickinson College Journalist Noah Brooks reported, "No man ever before made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York audience. [91] He later represented a bridge company against a riverboat company in Hurd v. Rock Island Bridge Company, a landmark case involving a canal boat that sank after hitting a bridge. Lincoln did not note what his children were doing or had done. He shot Lincoln in the back of the head, then fled the theater. 12 Presidential Nicknames and Their Unusual Origins, Photo: ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images, Photo: Universal History Archive/Getty Images, Every Candidate in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Race, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. In 1861, Lincoln signed the second and third Morrill Tariffs, following the first enacted by Buchanan. [149], As the Slave Power tightened its grip on the national government, most Republicans agreed with Lincoln that the North was the aggrieved party. He believed in his own integrity and worked diligently to maintain his reputation as an honest politician and lawyer something that was not always easy in either of those fields. He also hired John George Nicolay as his personal secretary, who would remain in that role during the presidency. He was the first Republican president and his victory was entirely due to his support in the North and West. ", "Did Mercury in 'Little Blue Pills' Make Abraham Lincoln Erratic? 717.245.1865, Board of Advisors [72], True to his record, Lincoln professed to friends in 1861 to be "an old line Whig, a disciple of Henry Clay". [18], Overcoming financial challenges, Thomas in 1827 obtained clear title to 80 acres (32ha) in Indiana, an area which became the Little Pigeon Creek Community. He would be a clerk, a storeowner, postmaster, and surveyor. [292] In 1862, Congress created the Department of Agriculture. Just as the Republican Party of the 1850s absorbed certain elements of Jacksonianism, so Lincoln, whose Whiggery had always been more egalitarian than that of other Whigs, found himself absorbing some of them as well. [140] In response to an inquiry about his ambitions, Lincoln said, "The taste is in my mouth a little. Earlier that same year Lincoln called for the end of the enslavement of people in his Emancipation Proclamation speech. "Honest Abe" was a nickname that Abraham Lincoln embraced with pride. . While many Democrats hoped that Dred Scott would end the dispute over slavery in the territories, the decision sparked further outrage in the North. Lincoln was taller (at six feet four inches) than any other president. Mary kept house with the help of a hired servant and a relative. [173] The president-elect evaded suspected assassins in Baltimore. [203] McClellan then took months to plan his Virginia Peninsula Campaign. Sibley dismissed another when overwhelming proof surfaced exonerating the man.