Abraham Lincoln#Assassination

{{Main|Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln}}

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a log cabin on Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=20–22}} The second child of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, he was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from England to Massachusetts in 1638. The family through subsequent generations migrated west, passing through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.{{sfn|Warren|2017|pp=3–4}} Lincoln was also a descendant of the Harrison family of Virginia; his paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln, moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Kentucky.{{efn|The identity of Lincoln's grandmother Bathsheba Herring, though without certainty, is the consensus of multiple Lincoln biographers. She was the daughter of Alexander and Abigail Herring (née Harrison).{{sfn|Harrison|1935|p=276}}}} The captain was killed in an Indian raid in 1786.{{sfn|Warren|2017|p=4}} Thomas, Abraham's father, then worked at odd jobs in Kentucky and Tennessee before the family settled in Hardin County, Kentucky, in the early 1800s.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=21}} Lincoln's mother Nancy Lincoln is widely assumed to have been the daughter of Lucy Hanks.{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|p=79}} Thomas and Nancy married on June 12, 1806, and moved to Elizabethtown, Kentucky.{{sfn|Warren|2017|p=9}} They had three children: Sarah, Abraham, and Thomas, who died as an infant.{{sfn|Warren|2017|pp=9–10}}

Thomas Lincoln bought multiple farms in Kentucky but could not get clear property titles to any, losing hundreds of acres in legal disputes.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=22–24}} In 1816, the family moved to Indiana, where the land surveys and titles were more reliable.{{sfn|Warren|2017|p=13}} They settled in an "unbroken forest"{{sfn|Warren|2017|p=26}} in Little Pigeon Creek Community, Indiana.{{sfn|Warren|2017|pp=16, 43}} In Kentucky and Indiana, Thomas worked as a farmer, cabinetmaker, and carpenter.{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|pp=34, 156}} At various times he owned farms, livestock, and town lots, appraised estates, and served on county patrols. Thomas and Nancy were members of a Separate Baptist Church, which "condemned profanity, intoxication, gossip, horse racing, and dancing." Most of its members opposed slavery.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=24}} Overcoming financial challenges, Thomas in 1827 obtained clear title to {{convert|80|acre|ha}} in Little Pigeon Creek Community.{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|pp=24, 104}}

On October 5, 1818, Nancy Lincoln died from milk sickness, leaving 11-year-old Sarah in charge of a household including her father, nine-year-old Abraham, and Nancy's 19-year-old orphan cousin, Dennis Hanks.{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|pp=22–23, 77}} Ten years later, on January 20, 1828, Sarah died while giving birth to a stillborn son, devastating Lincoln.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=34, 116}} On December 2, 1819, Thomas married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow with three children of her own. Abraham became close to his stepmother and called her "Mother".{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=26–27}}

Lincoln was largely self-educated.{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|pp=10, 33}} His formal schooling was from itinerant teachers. It included two short stints in Kentucky, where he learned to read, but probably not to write. In Indiana at age seven,{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=23}} due to farm chores, he attended school only sporadically, for a total of less than 12 months by age 15.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p= 29}} Nonetheless, he remained an avid reader and retained a lifelong interest in learning.{{sfn|Madison|2014|p=110}}

When Lincoln was a teen, his "father grew more and more to depend on him for the 'farming, grubbing, hoeing, making fences' necessary to keep the family afloat. He also regularly hired his son out to work ... and by law, he was entitled to everything the boy earned until he came of age".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=32, quoting Beveridge, Albert J. Abraham Lincoln: 1809–1858 (1928), vol. 1, p. 67}} Lincoln was tall, strong, and athletic, and became adept at using an ax.{{sfn|Warren|2017|pp=134–135}} He and some friends took goods by flatboat to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he first witnessed slave markets.

In March 1830, fearing another milk sickness outbreak, several members of the extended Lincoln family, including Abraham, moved west to Illinois and settled in Macon County.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=36}}{{efn|Historians disagree on who initiated the move; Thomas Lincoln had no obvious reason to do so. One possibility is that other members of the family, including Dennis Hanks, may not have matched Thomas's stability and steady income.{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|pp=38–40}}}} Abraham became increasingly distant from Thomas, in part due to his father's lack of interest in education;{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|p=71}} he would later refuse to attend his father's deathbed or funeral.

{{Further|Lincoln family|Health of Abraham Lincoln|Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln}}

File:Mary,_Willie,_and_Tad_Lincoln,_c1860.jpg

Speculation persists that Lincoln's first romantic interest was Ann Rutledge, whom he met when he moved to New Salem. However, witness testimony, given decades afterward, lacked any specific recollection of a romance between the two.{{Cite magazine | last=Gannett | first=Lewis | date=Winter 2005 | title='Overwhelming Evidence' of a Lincoln-Ann Rutledge Romance?: Reexamining Rutledge Family Reminiscences | url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0026.104/--overwhelming-evidence-of-a-lincoln-ann-rutledge-romance?rgn=main;view=fulltext | magazine=Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association| pages=28–41 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403014805/https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0026.104/--overwhelming-evidence-of-a-lincoln-ann-rutledge-romance?rgn=main;view=fulltext | archive-date=April 3, 2017}} Rutledge died on August 25, 1835. Lincoln took the death very hard: He sank into a serious depression and said that he could not bear the idea of rain falling on Ann's grave, which gave rise to speculation that he had been in love with her.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=55–58}}{{Cite news | url=https://www.npr.org/2005/10/26/4976127/exploring-abraham-lincolns-melancholy | title=Exploring Abraham Lincoln's 'Melancholy' | last=Siegel|first= Robert | date=October 26, 2005 | accessdate=February 17, 2023|publisher=NPR}}

In the early 1830s, he met Mary Owens from Kentucky.{{sfn|Thomas|2008|pp=56–57, 69–70}} Late in 1836, Lincoln agreed to a match with Owens if she returned to New Salem. Owens arrived that November and he courted her, but they both had second thoughts. On August 16, 1837, he wrote Owens a letter saying he would not blame her if she ended the relationship, and she never replied.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=67}}

In 1839, Lincoln met Mary Todd in Springfield, Illinois, and the following year they became engaged.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=80–86}} She was the daughter of Robert Smith Todd, a wealthy lawyer and businessman in Lexington, Kentucky.{{sfn|Lamb|Swain|2008|p=3}} Their wedding, which was set for January 1, 1841, was canceled because Lincoln did not appear, but they reconciled and married on November 4, 1842, in the Springfield home of Mary's sister.{{sfn|Sandburg|1926|pp=260,290–291}} While anxiously preparing for the nuptials, he was asked where he was going and replied, "To hell, I suppose".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=93}}

In 1844, the couple bought a house in Springfield near his law office.{{sfn|Baker|1989|p=142}} The marriage was turbulent; Mary was verbally abusive and at times physically violent towards her husband.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=v. 1 p. 202}} They had four sons. The eldest, Robert Todd Lincoln, was born in 1843, and was the only child to live to maturity. Edward Baker Lincoln (Eddie), born in 1846, died February 1, 1850, probably of tuberculosis. Lincoln's third son, "Willie" Lincoln, was born on December 21, 1850, and died of a fever at the White House on February 20, 1862. The youngest, Thomas "Tad" Lincoln, was born on April 4, 1853, and died of edema at age 18 on July 16, 1871.{{sfnm|White|2009|1pp=179–181, 476|Manning|2016|2pp=24, 34, 58, 73, 75, 139, 181}}

Lincoln "was remarkably fond of children",{{sfn|White|2009|p=126}} and the Lincolns were not considered to be strict with their own.{{sfnm|Baker|1989|1p=120|Manning|2016|2pp=39, 42}} The deaths of Eddie and Willie had profound effects on both parents. Lincoln suffered from "melancholy", a condition now thought to be clinical depression.{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200510/lincolns-clinical-depression |title=Lincoln's Great Depression |first=Joshua Wolf |last=Shenk |date=October 2005 |work=The Atlantic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009044732/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/10/lincoln-apos-s-great-depression/4247/ |archive-date=October 9, 2011 |url-status=live |access-date=October 8, 2009}} Later in life, Mary struggled with the stresses of losing her husband and sons, and in 1875 Robert committed her to an asylum.{{sfn|Steers|2010|p=341}}

{{Further|Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln|Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War}}

In 1831, Thomas moved the family to a new homestead in Coles County, Illinois, after which Abraham struck out on his own.{{sfn|Manning|2016|p=12}} He made his home in New Salem, Illinois, for six years.{{sfn|Thomas|2008|pp=23–53}} During 1831 and 1832, Lincoln worked at a general store in New Salem, Illinois.{{sfn|Winkle|2001|pp=86–95}} He gained a reputation for strength and courage after winning a wrestling match with the leader of ruffians known as the Clary's Grove boys.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=40-41}}

In 1832, he declared his candidacy for the Illinois House of Representatives, but interrupted his campaign to serve as a captain in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War.{{sfn|Winkle|2001|pp=86–95}} When Lincoln returned home from the war, he planned to become a blacksmith, but instead purchased a New Salem general store in partnership with William Berry. Because a license was required to sell customers beverages, Berry obtained bartending licenses for Lincoln and himself, and in 1833 the Lincoln-Berry General Store became a tavern as well.{{sfn|Meacham|2022|p=38}} They offered a wide range of alcoholic beverages as well as food, including takeout dinners. But Berry became an alcoholic, was often too drunk to work, and Lincoln ended up running the store by himself.{{Cite web |last=Blazeski |first=Goran |date=October 15, 2016 |title=Abraham Lincoln was the only President who was also a licensed bartender |url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/10/15/abraham-lincoln-was-the-only-president-who-was-also-a-licensed-bartender/?chrome=1&A1c=1 |access-date=March 4, 2022 |website=The Vintage News}} Although the economy was booming, the business struggled and went into debt, prompting Lincoln to sell his share.{{sfn|Meacham|2022|p=38}}

In his political campaigning, Lincoln advocated for navigational improvements on the Sangamon River. He could draw crowds as a raconteur, but lacked the requisite formal education, powerful friends, and money, and lost the election.{{cite book|chapter-url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=hN7QQgAACAAJ}}|title=Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln Volume 3 |chapter=The Improvement of Sangamon River|last=Lincoln|first=Abraham|editor-first=Marion Mills |editor-last=Miller |orig-date=1832|year=2014|publisher=Wildside Press|isbn=978-1-4344-2497-6}}{{sfn|Winkle|2001|pp=114–116}}

Lincoln served as New Salem's postmaster and later as county surveyor, but continued his voracious reading and decided to become a lawyer.{{cite book |last=Stone |first=Zofia |date=2016 |title=Abraham Lincoln: A Biography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hlw1DgAAQBAJ&pg=PT16 |publisher=Alpha Editions |page=16 |isbn=978-9-3863-6727-3}} Rather than studying in the office of an established attorney, as was the custom, Lincoln borrowed legal texts from attorneys John Todd Stuart and Thomas Drummond, purchased books including Blackstone's Commentaries and Chitty's Pleadings, and read law on his own. He later said of his legal education that "I studied with nobody."{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=53–55}}

File:Abes House.JPG in Springfield, Illinois, where he resided from 1844 until becoming president in 1861]]

Lincoln's second state house campaign in 1834, this time as a Whig, was a success over a powerful Whig opponent.{{sfn|White|2009|p=59}} Then followed his four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives for Sangamon County.{{sfn|Simon|1990|p=283}} He championed construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and later was a Canal Commissioner.{{cite web|url=http://abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/abraham-lincoln-in-depth/abraham-lincoln-and-internal-improvements/#imc|title=Abraham Lincoln and Internal Improvements|last=Weik|first=Jesse William|work=Abraham Lincoln's Classroom|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212045823/http://abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/abraham-lincoln-in-depth/abraham-lincoln-and-internal-improvements/#imc|archive-date=February 12, 2015|url-status=live|access-date=February 12, 2015}} He voted to expand suffrage beyond white landowners to all white males, but opposed both slavery and abolition.{{sfn|Simon|1990|p=130}} In 1837, he declared, "slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy, but the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils."{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=134}} He echoed Henry Clay's support for the American Colonization Society which advocated a program of abolition in conjunction with settling freed slaves in Liberia.{{sfn|Foner|2010|p=17–19, 67}}

He was admitted to the Illinois bar on September 9, 1836,{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=64}}{{cite web |url=https://www.iardc.org/Lawyer/PrintableDetails/b838e3e7-a864-eb11-b810-000d3a9f4eeb |title=Abraham Lincoln |website=Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), the Supreme Court of Illinois |access-date=July 2, 2023 |archive-date=July 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702123429/https://www.iardc.org/Lawyer/PrintableDetails/b838e3e7-a864-eb11-b810-000d3a9f4eeb |url-status=dead}} and moved to Springfield and began to practice law under John T. Stuart, Mary Todd's cousin.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=71, 79, 108}} Lincoln emerged as a formidable trial combatant during cross-examinations and closing arguments. He partnered several years with Stephen T. Logan, and in 1844, began his practice with William Herndon, "a studious young man".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=17}} On January 27, 1838, Abraham Lincoln, then 28 years old, delivered his first major speech at the Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, after the murder of anti-slavery newspaper editor Elijah Parish Lovejoy. Lincoln, decrying such violence, warned that, though we should not "expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow", lawlessness could. "If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher", said Lincoln.{{Cite book|url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln1/1:130?rgn=div1;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=lyceum|title=Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 1.|first=Abraham|last=Lincoln|date=November 18, 2001|page=109}}

Lincoln professed to friends in 1861 to be "an old line Whig, a disciple of Henry Clay".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=222}} Their party favored economic modernization in banking, and tariffs to fund internal improvements including railroads, and urbanization.{{sfn|Boritt|Pinsker|2002|pp=137–153}} In 1843, Lincoln sought the Whig nomination for Illinois's 7th district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; he was defeated by John J. Hardin, though he prevailed with the party in limiting Hardin to one term. Lincoln not only pulled off his strategy of gaining the nomination in 1846, but also won the election. The only Whig in the Illinois delegation, he participated in almost all votes and made speeches that toed the party line.{{sfn|Oates|1974|p=79}} He was assigned to the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads and the Committee on Expenditures in the War Department.{{cite web|title=US Congressman Lincoln – Abraham Lincoln Historical Society|url=http://www.abraham-lincoln-history.org/us-congressman-lincoln/|publisher=Abraham-lincoln-history.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215191236/http://www.abraham-lincoln-history.org/us-congressman-lincoln/|archive-date=December 15, 2018|access-date=February 2, 2019}} Lincoln teamed with Joshua R. Giddings on a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, but dropped the bill when it eluded Whig support.{{sfnm|Harris|2007|1p=54|Foner|2010|2p=57}}{{Cite web |title=LINCOLN, Abraham {{!}} US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives |url=https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/L/LINCOLN,-Abraham-(L000313)/ |access-date=July 1, 2022 |website=history.house.gov |language=en}}

Lincoln spoke against the Mexican–American War, for which he said President James K. Polk "had some strong motive—what, I will not stop now to give my opinion concerning—to involve the two countries in a war, and trusting to escape scrutiny, by fixing the public gaze upon the exceeding brightness of military glory—that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood".{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2006|pp=181–183}}[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln1/1:444?rgn=div1;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=attractive+rainbow Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Vol. 1, p. 439] He supported the Wilmot Proviso, a failed proposal to ban slavery in any U.S. territory won from Mexico.{{sfn|Holzer|2004|p=63}} Lincoln emphasized his opposition to Polk by drafting and introducing his Spot Resolutions. The war had begun with a killing of American soldiers in disputed territory, and Polk insisted that Mexican soldiers had "invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil";{{sfn|Oates|1974|pp=79–80}} Lincoln demanded that Polk tell Congress the exact spot, "implying that this spot was actually Mexican soil". The resolution cost Lincoln political support in his district, and newspapers derisively nicknamed him "spotty Lincoln". Lincoln later regretted some of his statements, especially his attack on presidential war-making powers.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=128}}

Lincoln had pledged in 1846 to serve only one term in the House. Realizing Clay was unlikely to win the presidency, he supported General Zachary Taylor for the Whig nomination in the 1848 presidential election.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=124–126}} Taylor won and Lincoln hoped in vain to be appointed Commissioner of the United States General Land Office.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=140}} The administration offered to appoint him secretary or governor of the Oregon Territory as consolation.{{cite book |last=Arnold |first=Isaac Newton |date=1885 |title=The Life of Abraham Lincoln |volume=2 |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=3zgDAAAAYAAJ|page=81}}|publisher=Janses, McClurg, & Company |page=81}} This would have disrupted his legal and political career in Illinois, so he declined and resumed his law practice.{{sfn|Harris|2007|pp=55–57}}

{{See also|List of cases involving Abraham Lincoln}}

In his Springfield practice, Lincoln handled "virtually every kind of business that could come before a prairie lawyer".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=96}} Twice a year for sixteen years he appeared for 10 consecutive weeks in county seats in the Midstate county courts.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=105–106, 158}} Lincoln handled transportation cases in the midst of the nation's western expansion, particularly river barge conflicts under the many new railroad bridges. As a riverboat man, Lincoln initially favored those interests, but he represented whoever hired him.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=142–143}} He 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.{{Cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=o30wBAAAQBAJ}}|title=Lincoln's Greatest Case: The River, the Bridge, and the Making of America|last=McGinty|first=Brian|date=February 9, 2015|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-87140-785-6}} In 1849 he received a patent for a flotation device for the movement of boats in shallow water. The idea was never commercialized, but it made Lincoln the only president to hold a patent.{{cite web |title= Abraham Lincoln's Patent Model: Improvement for Buoying Vessels Over Shoals |publisher= Smithsonian Institution |url= http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_213141 |access-date= April 28, 2017 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170825232337/http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_213141 |archive-date= August 25, 2017 |df= mdy-all}} Lincoln appeared before the Illinois Supreme Court in 175 cases; he was sole counsel in 51 cases, of which 31 were decided in his favor.{{sfn|Richards|2015|p=440}} From 1853 to 1860, one of his largest clients was the Illinois Central Railroad.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=155–156, 196–197}} His legal reputation gave rise to the nickname "Honest Abe".{{Cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=5GJ6Un1JA_8C}}|title=The Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln|last=Library|first=Philosophical|date=November 9, 2010|publisher=Open Road Media|isbn=978-1-4532-0281-4}}

Lincoln represented William "Duff" Armstrong in his 1858 trial for the murder of James Preston Metzker.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=150–151}} The case is famous for Lincoln's use of a fact established by judicial notice to challenge the credibility of an eyewitness. After a witness testified to seeing the crime in the moonlight, Lincoln produced a Farmers' Almanac showing the Moon was at a low angle, drastically reducing visibility. Armstrong was acquitted.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=150–151}} In an 1859 murder case, Lincoln elevated his profile with his defense of Simeon Quinn "Peachy" Harrison, who was a third cousin;{{efn|Lincoln was a descendant of the Harrisons through his grandmother, Bathsheba Herring.{{sfn|Harrison|1935|pp=280–286, 350–351}}}} Harrison was also the grandson of Lincoln's political opponent, Rev. Peter Cartwright.{{sfn|Harrison|1935}} Harrison was charged with the murder of Greek Crafton who, as he lay dying, confessed to Cartwright that he had provoked Harrison.{{Cite news |last1=Mitgang |first1=Herbert |date=February 10, 1989 |title=THE LAW; Lincoln as Lawyer: Transcript Tells Murder Story |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/10/nyregion/the-law-lincoln-as-lawyer-transcript-tells-murder-story.html |access-date=November 13, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}} Lincoln angrily protested the judge's initial decision to exclude Cartwright's testimony about the confession as hearsay. Lincoln argued that the testimony involved a dying declaration and was not subject to the hearsay rule. Instead of holding Lincoln in contempt of court as expected, the judge, a Democrat, admitted the testimony into evidence, resulting in Harrison's acquittal.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=150–151}}

{{Main|Political career of Abraham Lincoln (1849–1861)}}

{{Further|Slave states and free states|Abraham Lincoln and slavery}}

File:Face_detail,_Abraham_Lincoln_O-10_by_Jackson,_1858_(cropped).jpg with Stephen Douglas over slavery]]

The Compromise of 1850 failed to alleviate tensions over slavery between the slave-holding South and the free North.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=175–176}} As the slavery debate in the Nebraska and Kansas territories became particularly acrimonious, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas proposed popular sovereignty as a compromise; the measure would allow the electorate of each territory to decide the status of slavery. The legislation alarmed many Northerners, who sought to prevent the spread of slavery, but Douglas's Kansas–Nebraska Act narrowly passed Congress in May 1854.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=188–190}} Lincoln's Peoria Speech of October 1854, in which he declared his opposition to slavery,{{sfn|Thomas|2008|pp=148–152}} was one of over 170 speeches he delivered in the next six years on the topic of excluding slavery from the territories. Lincoln's attacks on the Kansas–Nebraska Act marked his return to political life.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=203–205}}

Nationally, the Whigs were irreparably split by the Kansas–Nebraska Act and other ineffective efforts to compromise on the slavery issue. Reflecting on the demise of his party, Lincoln wrote in 1855, "I think I am a whig; but others say there are no whigs, and that I am an abolitionist.... I now do no more than oppose the extension of slavery."{{sfn|White|2009|p=215}} The new Republican Party was formed as a northern party dedicated to antislavery, drawing from the antislavery wing of the Whig Party and combining Free Soil, Liberty, and antislavery Democratic Party members,{{sfn|McGovern|2009|pp=38–39}} Lincoln resisted early Republican entreaties, fearing that the new party would become a platform for extreme abolitionists.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=203–204}} Lincoln held out hope for rejuvenating the Whigs, though he lamented his party's growing closeness with the nativist Know Nothing movement.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=191–194}} In 1854, Lincoln was elected to the Illinois legislature, but before the term began the following January he declined to take his seat so that he would be eligible to run in the upcoming U.S. Senate election.{{Cite web |title=Notice that Abraham Lincoln declines to serve in the General Assembly (1854) |url=https://www.ilsos.gov/departments/archives/online_exhibits/100_documents/1854-lincoln-declines-ga.html |website=Office of the Illinois Secretary of State}}{{Cite book |last=Oates |first=Stephen |title=With Malice Toward None: A Biography of Abraham Lincoln |year=1977 |pages=118–120}}{{sfn|White|2009|pp=203–205}} At that time, senators were elected by state legislatures.{{sfn|Oates|1974|p=119}} After leading in the first six rounds of voting, he was unable to obtain a majority. Lincoln instructed his backers to vote for Lyman Trumbull, an antislavery Democrat who had received few votes in the earlier ballots. Lincoln's decision to withdraw enabled his Whig supporters and Trumbull's antislavery Democrats to combine and defeat the mainstream Democratic candidate, Joel Aldrich Matteson.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=205–208}}

Violent political confrontations in Kansas continued, and opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act remained strong throughout the North. As the 1856 elections approached, Lincoln joined the Republicans and attended the Bloomington Convention, where the Illinois Republican Party was established. The convention platform endorsed Congress's right to regulate slavery in the territories and backed the admission of Kansas as a free state. Lincoln gave the final speech of the convention, calling for the preservation of the Union.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=216–221}} At the June 1856 Republican National Convention, though Lincoln received support to run as vice president, John C. Frémont and William Dayton were on the ticket, which Lincoln supported throughout Illinois. The Democrats nominated James Buchanan and the Know-Nothings nominated Millard Fillmore.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=224–228}} Buchanan prevailed, while Republican William Henry Bissell won election as Governor of Illinois, and Lincoln became a leading Republican in Illinois.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=229–230}}{{efn|Eric Foner contrasts the abolitionists and anti-slavery Radical Republicans of the Northeast, who saw slavery as a sin, with the conservative Republicans, who thought it was bad because it hurt white people and blocked progress. Foner argues that Lincoln was in the middle, opposing slavery primarily because it violated the republicanism principles of the Founding Fathers, especially the equality of all men and democratic self-government as expressed in the Declaration of Independence.{{sfn|Foner|2010|pp=84–88}}}}

{{Main|Dred Scott v. Sandford}}

Dred Scott was a slave whose master took him from a slave state to a territory that was free as a result of the Missouri Compromise. After Scott was returned to the slave state, he petitioned a federal court for his freedom. His petition was denied in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857).{{Efn|Although the name of the Supreme Court case is Dred Scott v. Sandford, the respondent's surname was actually "Sanford". A clerk misspelled the name, and the court never corrected the error.{{Cite journal| last=Vishneski|first=John| year=1988| title=What the Court Decided in Dred Scott v. Sandford|journal= The American Journal of Legal History|volume=32|issue=4|pages=373–390|jstor= 845743|publisher=Temple University|doi=10.2307/845743 | issn = 0002-9319 }}}} In his opinion, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote that Black people were not citizens and derived no rights from the Constitution, and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional for infringing upon slave owners' "property" rights. While many Democrats hoped that Dred Scott would end the dispute over slavery in the territories, the decision sparked further outrage in the North.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=236–238}} Lincoln denounced it as the product of a conspiracy of Democrats to support the Slave Power.{{sfn|Zarefsky|1993|pp=69–110}} He argued that the decision was at variance with the Declaration of Independence, which stated that all men were equal "in certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".{{sfn|Jaffa|2000|pp=299–300}}

File:Lincoln O-17 by Brady, 1860.png taken February 27, 1860, the day of Lincoln's Cooper Union speech in New York City]]

{{Further|Lincoln–Douglas debates|Cooper Union speech}}

In 1858, Douglas was up for re-election in the U.S. Senate, and Lincoln hoped to defeat him. Many in the party felt that a former Whig should be nominated in 1858, and Lincoln's 1856 campaigning and support of Trumbull had earned him a favor.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=247–248}} Some eastern Republicans supported Douglas for his opposition to the Lecompton Constitution and admission of Kansas as a slave state.{{sfn|Oates|1974|pp=138–139}} Many Illinois Republicans resented this eastern interference. For the first time, Illinois Republicans held a convention to agree upon a Senate candidate, and Lincoln won the nomination with little opposition.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=247–250}} Lincoln accepted the nomination with great enthusiasm and zeal. After his nomination he delivered his House Divided Speech: "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."{{sfn|White|2009|p=251}} The speech created a stark image of the danger of disunion.{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=98}} When informed of Lincoln's nomination, Douglas stated, "[Lincoln] is the strong man of the party ... and if I beat him, my victory will be hardly won."{{sfn|White|2009|pp=257–258}}

The Senate campaign featured seven debates between Lincoln and Douglas. These are the most famous political debates in American history; they had an atmosphere akin to a prizefight and drew thousands.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=214–218}} Lincoln warned that the Slave Power was threatening the values of republicanism, and he accused Douglas of distorting Jefferson's premise that all men are created equal. In his Freeport Doctrine, Douglas argued that, despite the Dred Scott decision, which he claimed to support,{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=202, 219, 232}} local settlers, under the doctrine of popular sovereignty, should be free to choose whether to allow slavery within their territory, and he accused Lincoln of having joined the abolitionists.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=214–224}} Lincoln's argument assumed a moral tone, as he claimed that Douglas represented a conspiracy to promote slavery. 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.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=223}}

Though the Republican legislative candidates won more popular votes, the Democrats won more seats, and the legislature re-elected Douglas. However, Lincoln's articulation of the issues had given him a national political presence.{{sfn|Carwardine|2003|pp=89–90}} In May 1859, Lincoln purchased the Illinois Staats-Anzeiger, a German-language newspaper that was consistently supportive; most of the state's 130,000 German Americans voted for Democrats, but the German-language paper mobilized Republican support.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=242, 412}} In the aftermath of the 1858 election, newspapers frequently mentioned Lincoln as a potential Republican presidential candidate. While Lincoln was popular in the Midwest, he lacked support in the Northeast and was unsure whether to seek the office.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=291–293}} In January 1860, Lincoln told a group of political allies that he would accept the presidential nomination if offered and, in the following months, William O. Stoddard's Central Illinois Gazette, the Chicago Press & Tribune, and other local papers endorsed his candidacy.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=307–308}} Over the coming months Lincoln made nearly fifty speeches along the campaign trail, and quickly became the champion of the Republican Party. However, despite his overwhelming support in the Midwest, he was less appreciated in the East. Horace Greeley, editor of the New-York Tribune, wrote an unflattering account of Lincoln's compromising position on slavery and his reluctance to challenge the court's Dred Scott ruling, which was used against him by his political rivals.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=200}}{{sfn|Morse|1893|p=112}}

On February 27, 1860, powerful New York Republicans invited Lincoln to give a speech at Cooper Union, in which he argued that the Founding Fathers had little use for popular sovereignty and had repeatedly sought to restrict slavery. He insisted that morality required opposition to slavery and rejected any "groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong".{{sfn|Jaffa|2000|p=473}} Many in the audience thought he appeared awkward and even ugly.{{sfn|Holzer|2004|pp=108–111}} But Lincoln demonstrated intellectual leadership, which brought him into contention. Journalist Noah Brooks reported, "No man ever before made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York audience".{{sfnm|Carwardine|2003|1p=97|Holzer|2004|2p=157}} Historian David Herbert Donald described the speech as "a superb political move for an unannounced presidential aspirant."{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=240}} In response to an inquiry about his ambitions, Lincoln said, "The taste is in my mouth a little".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=241}}

{{Main|1860 United States presidential election}}

File:The Rail Candidate.jpg illustration, which depicted Lincoln's platform in the 1860 presidential campaign as being held up by a slave and his party]]

On May 9–10, 1860, the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in Decatur.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=244}} Lincoln's followers organized a campaign team led by David Davis, Norman Judd, Leonard Swett, and Jesse DuBois, and Lincoln received his first endorsement.{{sfn|Oates|1974|pp=175–176}} Exploiting his embellished frontier legend (clearing land and splitting fence rails), Lincoln's supporters adopted the label of "The Rail Candidate".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=245}} On May 18 at the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Lincoln won the nomination on the third ballot. A former Democrat, Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, was nominated for vice president to balance the ticket. Lincoln's success depended on his campaign team, his reputation as a moderate on the slavery issue, and his strong support for internal improvements and the tariff.{{sfn|Luthin|1944|pp=609–629}}

Throughout the 1850s, Lincoln had doubted the prospects of civil war, and his supporters rejected claims that his election would incite secession.{{sfn|Boritt|Pinsker|2002|pp=10, 13, 18}} When Douglas was selected as the candidate of the Northern Democrats, delegates from eleven slave states walked out of the Democratic convention; they opposed Douglas's position on popular sovereignty, and selected incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge as their candidate.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=253}} A group of former Whigs and Know Nothings formed the Constitutional Union Party and nominated John Bell of Tennessee. Lincoln and Douglas competed for votes in the North, while Bell and Breckinridge primarily found support in the South.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=247–248}} Before the Republican convention, the Lincoln campaign began cultivating a nationwide youth organization, the Wide Awakes, which it used to generate popular support to spearhead voter registration drives, thinking that new voters and young voters tended to embrace new parties.{{cite book|title=Lincoln for President: An Unlikely Candidate, An Audacious Strategy, and the Victory No One Saw Coming|last=Chadwick|first=Bruce|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=2PQqZzyw4uAC|page=l49}}|pages=147–149|publisher=Sourcebooks|date=2009|isbn=978-1-4022-4756-9}} People of the Northern states knew the Southern states would vote against Lincoln and rallied supporters for Lincoln.Murrin, John (2006). Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People. Clark Baxter. p. 464. {{ISBN|978-0-495-91588-1}}

As Douglas and the other candidates campaigned, Lincoln gave no speeches, relying on the enthusiasm of the Republican Party. The party did the legwork that produced majorities across the North. Republican speakers focused first on the party platform, and second on Lincoln's life story, emphasizing his childhood poverty. The goal was to demonstrate the power of "free labor", which allowed a common farm boy to work his way to the top by his own efforts.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=254–256}} 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 100,000–200,000 copies.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=254}} Though he did not give public appearances, many sought to visit and write to Lincoln. In the runup to the election, he took an office in the Illinois state capitol to deal with the influx of attention. He also hired John George Nicolay as his personal secretary, who would remain in that role during the presidency.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=251–252|p=}}

On November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected the 16th president. He was the first Republican president and his victory was entirely due to his support in the North and West. No ballots were cast for him in 10 of the 15 Southern slave states, and he won only two of 996 counties in all the Southern states.{{sfn|Mansch|2005|p=61}}{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=256}} Lincoln received 1,866,452 votes, or 39.8 percent of the total in a four-way race, carrying the free Northern states, as well as California and Oregon, and winning the Electoral vote decisively.{{sfn|White|2009|p=350}}

{{Multiple image|total_width=500px|image1=Flickr_-_USCapitol_-_Abraham_Lincoln's_First_Inauguration.jpg|alt1=A large crowd in front of a large building with many pillars.|caption1=Lincoln's first inaugural at the United States Capitol on March 4, 1861 with the Capitol dome above the rotunda still under construction.|image2=18610304 Affairs of the Nation - Abraham Lincoln inauguration - The New York Times.jpg|caption2=Headines in The New York Times following Lincoln's first inauguration portended imminent hostilities; less than six weeks later, the Confederate Army attacked Fort Sumter, launching the American Civil War.{{cite news |title=Affairs of the Nation / The Change of Administration To-Day |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-times-mar-04-1861-p-1/ |work=The New York Times |date=March 4, 1861 |page=1}}}}

{{Main|Presidency of Abraham Lincoln}}

{{Main|Presidential transition of Abraham Lincoln}}

{{Further|Secession winter|Baltimore Plot}}

The South was outraged by Lincoln's election, and in response secessionists implemented plans to leave the Union before he took office in March 1861.{{sfn|Edgar|1998|p=350}} On December 20, 1860, South Carolina adopted an ordinance of secession; by February 1, 1861, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1p=267|Potter|1977|p2=498}} Six of these states declared themselves to be a sovereign nation, the Confederate States of America, selecting Jefferson Davis as its provisional president.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1p=267|White|2009|2p=369}} The upper South and border states (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Arkansas) initially rejected the secessionist appeal.{{sfn|White|2009|p=362}} President Buchanan and President-elect Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy, declaring secession illegal.{{sfn|Potter|1977|pp=520, 569–570}} On February 11, 1861, Lincoln gave a particularly emotional farewell address upon leaving Springfield; he would never return to Springfield alive.{{cite web|title=Broadside, 'President Lincoln's Farewell Address to His Old Neighbors, Springfield, February 12, 1861' – The Henry Ford|url=https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/236607/|access-date=December 5, 2020|website=thehenryford.org|language=en}}{{cite web|title=Lincoln's Farewell Address |website=Illinois History & Lincoln Collections|date=January 27, 2018 |url=https://publish.illinois.edu/ihlc-blog/2018/01/27/lincolns-farewell-address/|access-date=December 5, 2020|language=en-US}}

Lincoln and the Republicans rejected the proposed Crittenden Compromise as contrary to the Party's platform of free-soil in the territories.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=360–361}} Lincoln said, "I will suffer death before I consent ... to any concession or compromise which looks like buying the privilege to take possession of this government to which we have a constitutional right".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=268}} Lincoln supported the Corwin Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which passed Congress and was awaiting ratification by the required three-fourths of the states when Lincoln took office, whereupon Southern states began to secede. That doomed amendment would have protected slavery in states where it already existed.{{sfnm|Vorenberg|2001|1p=22|Vile|2003|2pp=280–281}} On March 4, 1861, in his first inaugural address, Lincoln said that, because he holds "such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable".{{Cite web|url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln1.asp|title=Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States : from George Washington 1789 to George Bush 1989|website=avalon.law.yale.edu}}

File:Lincoln LadyPNG.jpg

Due to secessionist plots, unprecedented attention to security was given to him and his train. En route to his inauguration, Lincoln addressed crowds and legislatures across the North.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=273–277}} The president-elect evaded suspected assassins in Baltimore. He traveled in disguise, wearing a soft felt hat instead of his customary stovepipe hat and draping an overcoat over his shoulders while hunching slightly to conceal his height. On February 23, 1861, he arrived in Washington, D.C., which was placed under substantial military guard. Many in the opposition press criticized his secretive journey; opposition newspapers mocked Lincoln with caricatures showing him sneaking into the capital.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=277–279}} Lincoln directed his inaugural address to the South, proclaiming once again that he had no inclination to abolish slavery in the Southern states:

{{Blockquote|Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States, that by the accession of a Republican Administration, their property, and their peace, and personal security, are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so."|First inaugural address, 4 March 1861{{Cite book|url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln4|title=Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 4.|first=Abraham|last=Lincoln|date=March 8, 2001|page=333}}{{sfn|Sandburg|2002|p=212}}|source=}} Lincoln cited his plans for banning the expansion of slavery as the key source of conflict between North and South, stating "One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute." The president ended his address with an appeal to the people of the South: "We are not enemies, but friends.... The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=283–284}} The failure of the Peace Conference of 1861 signaled that legislative compromise was impossible. By March 1861, no leaders of the insurrection had proposed rejoining the Union on any terms. Meanwhile, Lincoln and the Republican leadership agreed that the dismantling of the Union could not be tolerated.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=268, 279}}

{{Main|Presidency of Abraham Lincoln#Foreign policy|Diplomacy of the American Civil War}}

{{Infobox U.S. Cabinet

| Name = Lincoln

| President = Abraham Lincoln

| President date = 1861–1865

| Vice President = Hannibal Hamlin

| Vice President date = 1861–1865

| Vice President 2 = Andrew Johnson

| Vice President date 2 = 1865

| State = William H. Seward

| State date = 1861–1865

| Treasury = Salmon P. Chase

| Treasury date = 1861–1864

| Treasury 2 = William P. Fessenden

| Treasury date 2 = 1864–1865

| Treasury 3 = Hugh McCulloch

| Treasury date 3 = 1865

| War = Simon Cameron

| War date = 1861–1862

| War 2 = Edwin M. Stanton

| War date 2 = 1862–1865

| Justice = Edward Bates

| Justice date = 1861–1864

| Justice 2 = James Speed

| Justice date 2 = 1864–1865

| Post = Montgomery Blair

| Post date = 1861–1864

| Post 2 = William Dennison Jr.

| Post date 2 = 1864–1865

| Navy = Gideon Welles

| Navy date = 1861–1865

| Interior = Caleb Blood Smith

| Interior date = 1861–1862

| Interior 2 = John Palmer Usher

| Interior date 2 = 1863–1865

| source ={{cite web |author=Summers, Robert |title=Abraham Lincoln |url=http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/alincoln.html |work=Internet Public Library 2 (IPL2) |publisher=U. Michigan and Drexel U. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002203536/http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/alincoln.html |archive-date=October 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |access-date=December 9, 2012}}

}}

In the selection and use of his cabinet Lincoln employed the strengths of his rivals in a manner that emboldened his presidency. Lincoln commented on his thought process, "We need the strongest men of the party in the Cabinet. We needed to hold our own people together. I had looked the party over and concluded that these were the very strongest men. Then I had no right to deprive the country of their services."{{sfn|Goodwin|2005|p=319}} Goodwin described the group in her biography of Lincoln as a Team of Rivals.{{sfn|Goodwin|2005}} Lincoln named his main political rival, William H. Seward, as Secretary of State and left most diplomatic issues in Seward's portfolio. However, Lincoln did select some top diplomats as part of his patronage policy.Neill F. Sanders, "'When A House Is on Fire': The English Consulates and Lincoln's Patronage Policy." Lincoln Herald (1981), 83#4, p. 579.

Lincoln's philosophy on court nominations was that "we cannot ask a man what he will do, and if we should, and he should answer us, we should despise him for it. Therefore we must take a man whose opinions are known."{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=471}} Lincoln made five appointments to the Supreme Court. Noah Haynes Swayne was an anti-slavery lawyer who was committed to the Union. Samuel Freeman Miller supported Lincoln in the 1860 election and was an avowed abolitionist. David Davis was Lincoln's campaign manager in 1860 and had served as a judge in the Illinois court circuit where Lincoln practiced. Democrat Stephen Johnson Field, a previous California Supreme Court justice, provided geographic and political balance. Finally, Lincoln appointed his Treasury Secretary, Salmon P. Chase, as Chief Justice. Lincoln believed Chase was an able jurist, would support Reconstruction legislation, and that his appointment would unite the Republican Party.{{sfn|Blue|1987|p=245}}

{{Main|American Civil War|Battle of Fort Sumter}}

File:Abraham_Lincoln_-_NARA_-_528325.jpg

In early April 1861, Major Robert Anderson, commander of the Union's Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, sent a request for provisions to Washington. Lincoln's order to meet that request was seen by the secessionists as an act of war. On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on Union troops at Fort Sumter. Historian Allan Nevins argued that the newly inaugurated Lincoln made three miscalculations: underestimating the gravity of the crisis, exaggerating the strength of Unionist sentiment in the South, and overlooking Southern Unionist opposition to an invasion.{{sfn|Nevins|1959|p=5:29}} William Tecumseh Sherman talked to Lincoln during inauguration week and was "sadly disappointed" at his failure to realize that "the country was sleeping on a volcano" and that the South was preparing for war.{{sfn|Sherman|1990|pp=185–186}} Donald concludes:

His repeated efforts to avoid collision in the months between inauguration and the firing on Fort Sumter showed he adhered to his vow not to be the first to shed fraternal blood. But he had also vowed not to surrender the forts.... The only resolution of these contradictory positions was for the Confederates to fire the first shot.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=293}}

On April 15, Lincoln called on the states to send a total of 75,000 volunteer troops to recapture forts, protect Washington, and "preserve the Union", which, in his view, remained intact despite the seceding states. This call forced states to choose sides. Virginia seceded and was rewarded with the designation of Richmond as the Confederate capital, despite its exposure to Union lines. North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas followed. Secession sentiment was strong in Missouri and Maryland, but did not prevail; Kentucky remained neutral.{{sfn|Oates|1974|p=226}} The Fort Sumter attack rallied Americans north of the Mason-Dixon line to defend the nation. As states sent regiments south, on April 19 Baltimore mobs in control of the rail links attacked Union troops who were changing trains. Local leaders' groups later burned critical rail bridges to the capital and the Army responded by arresting local Maryland officials. Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in an effort to protect the troops trying to reach Washington.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|Coles|2002|p=174}}

John Merryman, a Maryland officer hindering the U.S. troop movements, petitioned Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney to issue a writ of habeas corpus. In June, in Ex parte Merryman, Taney, not ruling on behalf of the Supreme Court,"One significant point of disagreement among historians and political scientists is whether Roger Taney heard Ex parte Merryman as a U.S. circuit judge or as a Supreme Court justice in chambers." White, Jonathan W., Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman, Louisiana State University Press, 2011, pp. 38–39. issued the writ, believing that Article I, section 9 of the Constitution authorized only Congress and not the president to suspend it. But Lincoln invoked nonacquiescence and persisted with the policy of suspension in select areas.{{sfn|Harris|2011|pp=59–71}}{{sfn|Neely|1992|pp=3–31}} Under the suspension, 15,000 civilians were detained without trial; several, including Copperhead leader Clement L. Vallandigham, were tried in military courts for "treasonable" actions, an approach which was highly criticized.

{{Main|Eastern theater of the American Civil War|Western theater of the American Civil War}}

{{Further|Trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War|Lower seaboard theater of the American Civil War}}

Lincoln took executive control of the war and shaped the Union military strategy. He responded to the unprecedented political and military crisis as commander-in-chief by exercising unprecedented authority. He expanded his war powers, imposed a blockade on Confederate ports, disbursed funds before appropriation by Congress, suspended habeas corpus, and arrested and imprisoned thousands of suspected Confederate sympathizers. Lincoln gained the support of Congress and the northern public for these actions. Lincoln also had to reinforce Union sympathies in the border slave states and keep the war from becoming an international conflict.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=303–304|Carwardine|2003|2pp=163–164}} It was clear from the outset that bipartisan support was essential to success, and that any compromise alienated factions on both sides of the aisle. Copperheads (anti-war Democrats) criticized Lincoln for refusing to compromise on slavery; the Radical Republicans (who demanded harsh treatment against secession) criticized him for moving too slowly in abolishing slavery.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=315–339, 417}} On August 6, 1861, Lincoln signed the Confiscation Act of 1861, which authorized judicial proceedings to confiscate and free slaves who were used to support the Confederates. The law had little practical effect, but it signaled political support for abolishing slavery.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1p=314|Carwardine|2003|2p=178}}

File:RunningtheMachine-LincAdmin.jpg, Edwin Stanton, William Seward, Gideon Welles, Lincoln, and others]]

Internationally, Lincoln wanted to forestall foreign military aid to the Confederacy.{{sfn|Boritt|Pinsker|2002|pp=213–214}} He relied on his combative Secretary of State William Seward while working closely with Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Charles Sumner.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=322}} In the 1861 Trent Affair, which threatened war with Britain, the U.S. Navy illegally intercepted a British mail ship, the Trent, on the high seas and seized two Confederate envoys; Britain protested vehemently. Lincoln ended the crisis by releasing the two diplomats. Biographer James G. Randall dissected Lincoln's successful techniques:{{cite book|first=James Garfield|last= Randall|title=Lincoln the President: Springfield to Gettysburg|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Vi8aAQAAIAAJ|page=50}}|year=1946|page=50|publisher= Da Capo Press}} quoted in Peraino, Kevin (2013) Lincoln in the World: The Making of a Statesman and the Dawn of American Power. pp. 160–61. {{ISBN|978-0-307-88720-7}}

{{Blockquote|his restraint, his avoidance of any outward expression of truculence, his early softening of State Department's attitude toward Britain, his deference toward Seward and Sumner, his withholding of his paper prepared for the occasion, his readiness to arbitrate, his golden silence in addressing Congress, his shrewdness in recognizing that war must be averted, and his clear perception that a point could be clinched for America's true position at the same time that full satisfaction was given to a friendly country.}}

Lincoln painstakingly monitored reports coming into the War Department. He tracked all phases of the effort, consulting with governors and selecting generals based on their success, their state, and their party. In January 1862, after complaints of inefficiency and profiteering in the War Department, Lincoln replaced War Secretary Simon Cameron with Edwin Stanton. Stanton centralized the War Department's activities, auditing and canceling contracts, saving the federal government $17,000,000.{{sfn|Oates|1974|p=115}} Stanton worked more often and more closely with Lincoln than did any other senior official. "Stanton and Lincoln virtually conducted the war together", say Thomas and Hyman.{{Cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=WTGTAAAAIAAJ|page=385}}|title=Stanton: The Life and Times of Lincoln's Secretary of War|last1=Thomas|first1=Benjamin Platt|last2=Hyman|first2=Harold Melvin|date=1962|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|pages= 71, 87, 229–30, 385 (quote)}}

Lincoln's war strategy had two priorities: ensuring that Washington was well-defended and conducting an aggressive war effort for a prompt, decisive victory.{{efn|Major Northern newspapers, however, demanded more—they expected victory within 90 days.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=295–296}}}} Twice a week, Lincoln met with his cabinet. Occasionally, Lincoln's wife, Mary, prevailed on him to take a carriage ride, concerned that he was working too hard.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=391–392}} For his edification Lincoln relied on a book by his chief of staff General Henry Halleck, Elements of Military Art and Science. Lincoln began to appreciate the critical need to control strategic points, such as the Mississippi River.{{sfn|Ambrose|1996|pp=7, 66, 159}} Lincoln saw the importance of Vicksburg and understood the necessity of defeating the enemy's army, rather than merely capturing territory.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=432–436}} In directing the Union's war strategy, Lincoln valued the advice of Gen. Winfield Scott, even after his retirement as Commanding General of the United States Army. In June 1862, Lincoln made an unannounced visit to West Point, where he spent five hours consulting with Scott regarding the handling of the war and the staffing of the War Department.{{cite news |date=June 26, 1862 |title=The President at West Point |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-president-lincoln-at/102390793/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008054113/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-president-lincoln-at/102390793/ |archive-date=October 8, 2024 |access-date=October 8, 2024 |newspaper=The New York Times|page=8 |via=Newspapers.com |quote=the President and Gen. Scott spent several hours in discussing the state of military affairs, the doings and misdoings of certain Generals, the desirability of continuing the existing Departmental divisions, the necessity of further enlistments, the prospect of the armies of the Potomac and of the Virginia valleys . . . .}}{{cite news |date=June 25, 1862 |title=The President at West Point |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/brooklyn-evening-star-president-lincoln/102386846/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008054305/https://www.newspapers.com/article/brooklyn-evening-star-president-lincoln/102386846/ |archive-date=October 8, 2024 |access-date=October 8, 2024 |newspaper=Brooklyn Evening Star|page=3 |via=Newspapers.com |quote=they were in earnest conversation for five hours. |agency=Copy from N.Y. Express}}

File:Maryland, Antietam, President Lincoln on the Battlefield - NARA - 533297.jpg officers on October 3, 1862 following the Battle of Antietam, including left to right: Col. Delos Sackett; 4. Gen. George W. Morell; 5. Alexander S. Webb, Chief of Staff, V Corps; 6. McClellan;. 8. Jonathan Letterman; 10. Lincoln; 11. Henry J. Hunt; 12. Fitz John Porter; 15. Andrew A. Humphreys; 16. Capt. George Armstrong Custer]]

{{main|George B. McClellan}}

After the Union rout at Bull Run and Winfield Scott's retirement, Lincoln appointed Major General George B. McClellan general-in-chief.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=318–319}} McClellan spent months planning his Virginia Peninsula Campaign. McClellan's slow progress frustrated Lincoln, as did his position that no troops were needed to defend Washington. McClellan, in turn, blamed the failure of the campaign on Lincoln's reservation of troops for the capital.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=349–352}} In 1862, Lincoln removed McClellan for the general's continued inaction. He elevated Henry Halleck and appointed John Pope as head of the new Army of Virginia.{{cite web|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/henry-w-halleck|title=Henry W. Halleck|date=June 15, 2011|website=American Battlefield Trust|access-date=October 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008062810/https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/henry-w-halleck|archive-date=October 8, 2018|url-status=live}} Pope satisfied Lincoln's desire to advance on Richmond from the north, thereby protecting Washington from counterattack.{{sfn|Nevins|1947|pp=159–162}} But in the summer of 1862 Pope was soundly defeated at the Second Battle of Bull Run, forcing the Army of the Potomac back to defend Washington.{{sfn|Nevins|1959|pp=159–162}}

Despite his dissatisfaction with McClellan's failure to reinforce Pope, Lincoln restored him to command of all forces around Washington.{{sfn|Goodwin|2005|pp=478–479}} Two days later, General Robert E. Lee's forces crossed the Potomac River into Maryland, leading to the Battle of Antietam.{{sfn|Goodwin|2005|pp=478–480}} That battle, a Union victory, was among the bloodiest in American history.{{sfn|Goodwin|2005|p=481}} A crisis of command occurred for Lincoln when 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. Lincoln replaced Buell with William Rosecrans and McClellan with Ambrose Burnside. The appointments were both politically neutral and adroit on Lincoln's part.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=389–390}} Against presidential advice Burnside launched an offensive across the Rappahannock River and was defeated by Lee at Fredericksburg in December. Desertions during 1863 came in the thousands and increased after Fredericksburg, so Lincoln replaced Burnside with Joseph Hooker.{{sfnm|Nevins|1947|1pp=433–444|Donald|1996|2pp=429–431}} In the spring of 1863, Lincoln ordered attacks by Hooker on Lee north of Richmond, Rosecrans on Chattanooga, Grant on Vicksburg, and a naval assault on Charleston.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=422–423}} Hooker was routed by Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May, then resigned and was replaced by George Meade.{{sfn|Nevins|1947|pp=432–450}} Meade followed Lee north into Pennsylvania and defeated him in the Gettysburg campaign but then failed to effectively block Lee's orderly retreat to Virginia, despite Lincoln's demands. At the same time, Grant captured Vicksburg and gained control of the Mississippi River.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=444–447}}

{{Main|Abraham Lincoln and slavery|Emancipation Proclamation}}

File:Emancipation proclamation.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln, an 1864 portrait by Francis Bicknell Carpenter (clickable image—use cursor to identify)|alt=A dark-haired, bearded, middle-aged man holding documents is seated among seven other men.

poly 269 892 254 775 193 738 130 723 44 613 19 480 49 453 75 434 58 376 113 344 133 362 143 423 212 531 307 657 357 675 409 876 Edwin Stanton

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poly 625 555 595 620 699 625 730 550 Emancipation Proclamation

poly 120 80 120 300 3 300 3 80 Portrait of Simon Cameron

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Before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, two Union generals issued their own emancipation orders, but Lincoln overrode both: he found that the decision to emancipate was not within the generals' power, and that it might upset loyal border states enough for them to secede.{{sfn|Guelzo|1999|pp=290–291}} However, in June 1862, Congress passed an act banning slavery in all federal territories, which Lincoln signed.[https://www.freedmen.umd.edu/freeterr.htm Text of Law Enacting Emancipation in the Federal Territories] In July, the Confiscation Act of 1862 was enacted.[https://www.freedmen.umd.edu/conact2.htm Text of the Second Confiscation Act] Its section 9 freed slaves "within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States". On July 22, 1862, Lincoln reviewed a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation with his cabinet.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=364–365}} Copperheads argued that emancipation was a stumbling block to peace and reunification, but Republican editor Horace Greeley of the New-York Tribune, in his public letter, "The Prayer of Twenty Millions", implored Lincoln to embrace emancipation.{{sfn|McPherson|1992|p=124}}Lundberg, James M. (2019). Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, p. 116. In a public letter of August 22, 1862, Lincoln replied to Greeley, writing that while he personally wished all men could be free, his first obligation as president was to preserve the Union:{{sfn|Guelzo|2004|pp=147–153}}

{{Blockquote|My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.}}

On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation,{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation/transcript.html|title=Transcript of the Proclamation|date=October 6, 2015|website=National Archives}} freeing the slaves in 10 states not then under Union control,{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/anjo/learn/historyculture/johnson-and-tn-emancipation.htm|title=Andrew Johnson and Emancipation in Tennessee – Andrew Johnson National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)|website=nps.gov}} with exemptions specified for areas under such control.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=379}} Lincoln's comment on signing the Proclamation was: "I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper."{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=407}} With the abolition of slavery in the rebel states now a military objective, Union armies advancing south "enable[d] thousands of slaves to escape to freedom".{{cite journal |last1=McPherson |first1=James M. |title=Who Freed the Slaves? |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |date=March 1995 |volume=139 |issue=1 |page=9|jstor=986716 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/986716 |access-date=June 5, 2024 |issn=0003-049X}} The Emancipation Proclamation having stated that freedmen would be "received into the armed service of the United States," enlisting these freedmen became official policy. In a letter to Tennessee military governor Andrew Johnson, Lincoln wrote, "The bare sight of fifty thousand armed, and drilled black soldiers on the banks of the Mississippi would end the rebellion at once".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=431}} By the end of 1863, at Lincoln's direction, General Lorenzo Thomas "had enrolled twenty regiments of African Americans" from the Mississippi Valley.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=431}}

{{Main|Gettysburg Address}}

File:Gettysburg_Address_in_the_Lincoln_Memorial.JPG]]

Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the Gettysburg battlefield cemetery on November 19, 1863.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=453–460}} In 272 words, taking only three minutes, Lincoln asserted that the nation was "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal". He defined the war as dedicated to the principles of liberty and equality for all. He declared that the deaths of so many soldiers would not be in vain, that the future of democracy would be assured, and that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=460–466|Wills|2012|2pp=20, 27, 105, 146}} The Address became the most quoted speech in American history.{{sfn|Bulla|Borchard|2010|p=222}}

After victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving holiday, to be celebrated on the 26th, the final Thursday of November 1863.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=471}}

{{main|Ulysses S. Grant}}

General Ulysses Grant's victories at the Battle of Shiloh and in the Vicksburg campaign impressed Lincoln. Responding to criticism of Grant after Shiloh, Lincoln said, "I can't spare this man. He fights."{{sfn|Thomas|2008|p=315}} Meade's failure to capture Lee's army after Gettysburg and Grant's success at Chattanooga persuaded Lincoln to promote Grant to commander of all Union armies. Grant then waged the bloody Overland Campaign, which exacted heavy losses on both sides.{{sfn|McPherson|2009|p=113}} Amid the turmoil of military actions, on June 30, 1864, Lincoln signed into law the Yosemite Grant enacted by Congress, which provided unprecedented federal protection for the area now known as Yosemite National Park.{{cite book|last=Schaffer|first=Jeffrey P.|title=Yosemite National Park: A Natural History Guide to Yosemite and Its Trails|publisher=Wilderness Press|page=48|year=1999|isbn=978-0-89997-244-2}} According to Rolf Diamant and Ethan Carr, "[T]he Yosemite Grant was a direct consequence of the war ... an embodiment of the ongoing process of remaking government ... an intentional assertion of a steadfast belief in the eventual Union victory."Diamant, Rolf, and Carr, Ethan. Olmsted and Yosemite: Civil War, Abolition, and the National Park Idea. Library of America Landscape History, 2022, pp. 54-55.

Grant's army moved steadily south. Lincoln traveled to Grant's headquarters at City Point, Virginia, to confer with Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman.{{cite web |url=http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_about/whitehouse_collection/whitehouse_collection-art-06.html |title=The Peacemakers |publisher=The White House Historical Association |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927000627/http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_about/whitehouse_collection/whitehouse_collection-art-06.html |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |url-status=dead |access-date=May 3, 2009}} Lincoln reacted to Union losses by mobilizing support throughout the North.{{sfn|Thomas|2008|pp=422–424}} Lincoln authorized Grant to target infrastructure—plantations, railroads, and bridges—to weaken the South's morale and fighting ability. He emphasized defeat of the Confederate armies over destruction for its own sake.{{sfn|Neely|2004|pp=434–458}} As Grant continued to weaken Lee's forces, efforts to discuss peace began. At one point, Confederate Vice President Stephens led a meeting with Lincoln, Seward, and others at Hampton Roads. Lincoln refused to negotiate with the Confederacy as a coequal.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=565}} In early April, the Confederate government evacuated Richmond and Lincoln visited the conquered capital, whereupon on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Grant at Appomattox.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=589}}

{{Main|Economic history of the United States Civil War}}

File:US-$1-LT-1862-Fr-16c.jpg

After the Battle of Fort Sumter, Lincoln and Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase faced the challenge of funding a wartime economy. Congress quickly approved Lincoln's request to assemble a 500,000-man army, but it initially resisted raising taxes.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|pp=27–28}} After the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861, which imposed the first U.S. federal income tax. The act created a flat tax of three percent on incomes above $800 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|800|1861|r=-2}}}} in current dollars). This taxation reflected the increasing amount of wealth held in stocks and bonds rather than property, which the federal government had taxed in the past.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|pp=30–35}} As the average urban worker made approximately $600 per year, the income tax burden fell primarily on the rich.{{sfn|Paludan|1994|pp=111–112}} Lincoln also signed the second and third Morrill Tariffs, the first having become law in the final months of Buchanan's tenure. These tariffs raised import duties considerably and were designed both to raise revenue and to protect domestic manufacturing against foreign competition. During the war, the tariff also helped manufacturers offset the burden of new taxes.{{sfn|Paludan|1994|pp=113–114}} Throughout the war, Congress debated whether to raise additional revenue primarily by increasing tariff rates, which most strongly affected rural areas in the West, or by increasing income taxes, which most strongly affected wealthier individuals in the Northeast.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|p=85}}

The revenue measures of 1861 proved inadequate for funding the war, forcing Congress to pass further bills to generate revenue.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|pp=37–38}}

In February 1862, Congress passed the Legal Tender Act, which authorized the minting of $150 million of "greenbacks"—the first banknotes issued by the U.S. government since the end of the American Revolution. Greenbacks were not backed by gold or silver, but rather by the government's promise to honor their value. By the end of the war, $450 million worth of greenbacks were in circulation.{{sfn|Paludan|1994|pp=109–110}} Congress also passed the Revenue Act of 1862, which established an excise tax affecting nearly every commodity,{{sfn|Paludan|1994|p=111}} as well as the first national inheritance tax. The Revenue Act of 1862 also added a progressive tax structure to the federal income tax, implementing a tax of five percent on incomes above $10,000.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|pp=40–42}} To collect these taxes, Congress created the Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.{{cite journal|last1=Pollack|first1=Sheldon D.|title=The First National Income Tax, 1861–1872|journal=Tax Lawyer|date=2014|volume=67|issue=2|url=https://udel.edu/~pollack/Downloaded%20SDP%20articles,%20etc/academic%20articles/The%20First%20National%20Income%20Tax%2012-18-2013.pdf}} Despite these new measures, funding the war continued to be a challenge.Weisman (2002), pp. 81–82. The government continued to issue greenbacks and borrow large amounts of money, and the U.S. national debt grew from $65 million in 1860 to $2 billion in 1866.{{sfn|Paludan|1994|pp=109–110}} The Revenue Act of 1864 represented a compromise between those who favored a more progressive tax structure and those who favored a flat tax.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|pp=84–88}} It established a five-percent tax on incomes greater than $600, a ten-percent tax on incomes above $10,000, and it raised taxes on businesses. In early 1865, Congress levied a tax of ten percent on incomes above $5000.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|pp=90–91}} By the end of the war, the income tax constituted about one-fifth of the federal government's revenue. Though intended as a temporary wartime measure, the income tax set a precedent for expanded federal taxation in peacetime.{{Cite book |last=Brownlee |first=W. Elliot |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9bisd10xEqcC |title=Federal Taxation in America: A Short History |date=2004-05-03 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-54520-4 |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/yankee-leviathan-the-origins-of-central-state-authority-in-america-1859-1877-book/page/n9/mode/2up|last=Bensel|first=Richard Franklin|author-link=Richard Bensel |title=Yankee Leviathan: The Origins of Central State Authority in America, 1859-1877 |date=1990}}

Lincoln also took action against rampant fraud during the war, enacting the False Claims Act of 1863. This law, also known as the "Lincoln Law," made it possible for private citizens to file false claims (qui tam) lawsuits on behalf of the U.S. government and also protect the U.S. government from contractors providing faulty goods to the Union army.{{Cite web|date=2019-06-17|title=The False Claims Act|url=https://www.justice.gov/civil/false-claims-act|access-date=2021-04-27|website=justice.gov|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=How A Law From The Civil War Fights Modern-Day Fraud|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/10/01/352819369/how-a-law-from-the-civil-war-fights-modern-day-fraud|access-date=2021-04-27|website=NPR.org|language=en}} Any person who submitted a false claim would have to pay double the amount of the government's damages plus $2,000 per false claim.{{Cite web |title=The False Claims Act: A Primer |url=https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/civil/legacy/2011/04/22/C-FRAUDS_FCA_Primer.pdf |access-date=March 13, 2025 |website=United States Department of Justice}} Hoping to stabilize the currency, Chase convinced Congress to pass the National Banking Act in February 1863, as well as a second banking act in 1864. Those acts established the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to oversee "national banks" subject to federal, rather than state, regulation. In return for investing a third of their capital in federal bonds, these national banks were authorized to issue federal banknotes. After Congress imposed a tax on private banknotes in March 1865, federal banknotes became the dominant form of paper currency in the United States.{{sfn|Paludan|1994|pp=111–112}}

{{Further|Diplomacy of the American Civil War|History of U.S. foreign policy, 1861–1897}}

In addition to Seward, Lincoln selected other top diplomats as part of his patronage policy.Neill F. Sanders, "'When A House Is on Fire': The English Consulates and Lincoln's Patronage Policy." Lincoln Herald (1981) 83#4, p. 579. He closely monitored the Trent Affair in late 1861 to avoid war with Britain.Kevin Peraino, Lincoln in the World: The Making of a Statesman and the Dawn of American Power (2014), pp. 138–169. Seward's main role was to keep Britain and France from supporting the Confederacy; he convinced them that Washington would declare war on them if they did.Peraino, Lincoln in the World, pp. 3–16. At the start of the war, Russia was the lone great power to support the Union, while the other European powers had varying degrees of sympathy for the Confederacy. Lincoln's policy succeeded: all foreign nations were officially neutral throughout the Civil War, with none recognizing the Confederacy.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=226–229}} Although they remained neutral, the European powers, especially France and Britain, factored into the American Civil War in various ways. European leaders saw the division of the United States as having the potential to eliminate, or at least greatly weaken, a growing rival. They looked for ways to exploit the inability of the U.S. to enforce the Monroe Doctrine. Spain invaded the Dominican Republic in 1861, while France established a puppet regime in Mexico.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=224–229}} However, many in Europe also hoped for a quick end to the war, both for humanitarian reasons and because of the economic disruption it caused.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=240–241}}

Lincoln's foreign policy was deficient in 1861 in terms of appealing to European public opinion. The European aristocracy (the dominant class in every major country) was "absolutely gleeful in pronouncing the American debacle as proof that the entire experiment in popular government had failed." Union diplomats had to explain that United States was not committed to the ending of slavery, and instead they argued that secession was unconstitutional. Confederate spokesmen, on the other hand, were more successful by ignoring slavery and instead focusing on their struggle for liberty, their commitment to free trade, and the essential role of cotton in the European economy.Don H. Doyle, The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War (2014), pp. 8 (quote), 69–70 However, the Confederacy's hope that cotton exports would compel European interference did not come to fruition, as Britain found alternative sources of cotton and experienced economic growth in industries that did not rely on cotton.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=235–236}} Though the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately end the possibility of European intervention, it rallied European public opinion to the Union by adding abolition as a Union war goal. Any chance of a European intervention in the war ended with the Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, as European leaders came to believe that the Confederate cause was doomed.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=242–246}}

{{Main|Dakota War of 1862}}

The Lincoln administration faced difficulties guarding Western settlers, railroads, and telegraph from Native American attacks.{{sfn|Nichols|1974|pp=3–4}} On August 17, 1862, the Dakota War broke out in Minnesota. Hundreds of settlers were killed and 30,000 were displaced from their homes.{{sfn|Bulla|Borchard|2010|p=480}} Some feared incorrectly that it might represent a Confederate conspiracy to start a war on the Northwestern frontier.{{sfn|Nichols|1974|pp=4–5,7}} Lincoln ordered thousands of Confederate prisoners of war be sent to put down the uprising.{{sfnm|Burlingame|2008|1loc=v. 2 p. 481|Nichols|1974|2p=7}} When the Confederacy protested, Lincoln revoked the policy and none arrived in Minnesota. Lincoln sent General John Pope as commander of the new Department of the Northwest two weeks into the hostilities.{{sfn|Nichols|1974|p=7}}{{sfn|Bulla|Borchard|2010|p=481}} Before he arrived, the Fond Du Lac band of Chippewa sent Lincoln a letter asking to go to war for the United States against the Sioux, so Lincoln could send Minnesota's troops to fight the South.Mille Lacs Band letter, The Weekly Pioneer and Democrat September 19, 1862, in St Paul, p. 3 [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016751/1862-09-19/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=1862&index=6&rows=20&words=Chippewas+LETTER&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1862&proxtext=+Chippewa+letter&y=11&x=8&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1] Shortly after, a Mille Lacs Band chief offered the same.Mille Lacs Band offer to fight Sioux, Goodhue Republican Vol. 6 No. 3, September 12, 1863, [https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=8d737bc5-02b5-460f-9a00-7407263f57a4%2Fmnhi0031%2F1E137A56%2F62091201]{{cite book|last=Carley|first=Kenneth|title=The Dakota War of 1862|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press|year=2001|page=209}} The Chippewa specified they wanted to use the Indigenous rules of warfare.{{cite book|last=Carley|first=Kenneth|title=The Sioux Uprising of 1862|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press|year=1976|page=175}} That meant there would be no prisoners of war, no surrender, no peace agreement.{{cite book|editor-last=Perman|editor-first=Michael|editor2-last=Taylor|editor2-first=Amy Murrell|title=The Civil War and Reconstruction: A Documentary Reader|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=2013|page=105}} Lincoln did not accept the Chippewa offer, as he could not control the Chippewa, and women and children were considered legitimate casualties in native American warfare.{{cite book|last=Nichols|first=David A.|title=Lincoln and the Indians: Civil War Policy and Politics|publisher=University of Missouri Press|year=1978|page=121}}

Serving under Pope was Minnesota Congressman Henry H. Sibley. Minnesota's governor had made Sibley a Colonel United States Volunteers to command the U.S. force tasked with fighting the war and that eventually defeated Little Crow's forces at the Battle of Wood Lake.{{sfn|Bulla|Borchard|2010|p=481}} During the war, Dakota warriors killed 358 white settlers, 77 soldiers, and 36 volunteer militia and armed civilians.Clodfelter, Micheal (1998). The Dakota War: The United States Army Versus the Sioux, 1862–1865. Jefferson, North Carolina and London: McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-2726-4.Wingerd, North Country (2010) p. 400 n 4. Thousands of white settlers fled the area.Anderson, Gary Clayton (2019). Massacre in Minnesota: The Dakota War of 1862, the Most Violent Ethnic Conflict in American History. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8061-6434-2}}{{Rp|107}} Dakota warriors also took hundreds of "mixed-blood" and white hostages, almost all women and children.{{Cite web|title=During the War|url=https://www.usdakotawar.org/history/war/during-war|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-30|website=The US–Dakota War of 1862|date=August 22, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103054646/http://www.usdakotawar.org:80/history/war/during-war |archive-date=November 3, 2012 }}Brown, Samuel J. (1897). "Chapter IX, Narrative 1 (Samuel J. Brown's Recollections)". Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press (published 1988). pp. 222–223, 225. ISBN 978-0-87351-216-9. The total number of Dakota casualties is unknown, but 150 Dakota warriors died in battle. On September 26, 1862, 269 hostages were released to Sibley's troops at Camp Release.Nelson, Emma (August 16, 2012). "Dayton declares remembrance of U.S.–Dakota War". MN Daily. Retrieved August 26, 2022. Interned at Fort Snelling, approximately 2,000 Dakota surrendered or were taken into custody,Monjeau-Marz, Corinne L. (2005). Dakota Indian Internment at Fort Snelling, 1862–1864. Prairie Smoke Press. pp. 9, 30, 37, 57. ISBN 978-0-9772718-1-8. including at least 1,658 non-combatants.Brown, Samuel J. (1897). "Chapter IX, Narrative 1 (Samuel J. Brown's Recollections)". Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press (published 1988). pp. 222–223, 225. ISBN 978-0-87351-216-9.{{Rp|233}}

In less than six weeks, a military commission, composed of officers from the Minnesota volunteer infantry, sentenced 303 Dakota warriors to death. Lincoln pardoned all but 39, and, with one getting a reprieve, the remaining 38 were executed in the largest mass execution in U.S. history.Lincoln, Abraham. [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln5/1:1154?rgn=div1;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=551 To the Senate, December 11, 1862, in Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln]{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=394}} Less than four months later, Lincoln issued the Lieber Code, which governed wartime conduct of the Union Army, by defining command responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://opil.ouplaw.com/display/10.1093/law:epil/9780199231690/law-9780199231690-e2126|last=Labuda|first=Patryk|title=Lieber Code|encyclopedia=Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Law|date=September 2014}} Congressman Alexander Ramsey told Lincoln in 1864 that he would have gotten more re-election support in Minnesota had he executed all 303. Lincoln responded, "I could not afford to hang men for votes."{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=v. 2 p. 483}}

File:Harper's_weekly_(1865)_(14577952769).jpg at the nearly completed U.S. Capitol on March 4, 1865]]

{{Main|1864 United States presidential election}}

Lincoln ran for reelection in 1864, while uniting the main Republican factions along with War Democrats Edwin M. Stanton and Andrew Johnson. Lincoln used conversation and his patronage powers—greatly expanded from peacetime—to build support and fend off the Radicals' efforts to replace him.{{sfnm|Fish|1902|1pp=53–69|Tegeder|1948|2pp=77–90}} At its convention, the Republican Party selected Johnson as his running mate. To broaden his coalition to include War Democrats as well as Republicans, Lincoln ran under the label of the new National Union Party.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=494–507}} Grant's bloody stalemates damaged Lincoln's re-election prospects, and many Republicans feared defeat; Lincoln rejected pressure for a peace settlement. Lincoln prepared a confidential memorandum pledging that, if he should lose the election, he would "co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterward".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=529}} At the next cabinet meeting, Lincoln "asked each member to sign his name on the back of the document", but he did not allow them to read it.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=530}}

Victories at Atlanta and in the Shenandoah Valley turned public opinion, and Lincoln was re-elected. On March 4, 1865, Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address. Historian Mark Noll places the speech "among the small handful of semi-sacred texts by which Americans conceive their place in the world;" it is inscribed in the Lincoln Memorial.{{sfn|Noll|2002|p=426}} Lincoln closed his speech with these words:

{{Blockquote|Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether". 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; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.{{Cite book|url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln8/1:711.1?hi=0;rgn=div2;singlegenre=All;size=25;sort=occur;start=1;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=fondly|title=Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 8.|first=Abraham|last=Lincoln|date=February 13, 1953}}}}

{{Main|Reconstruction era}}

Reconstruction preceded the war's end, as Lincoln and his associates considered the reintegration of the nation, and the fates of Confederate leaders and freed slaves. When a general asked Lincoln how the defeated Confederates were to be treated, Lincoln replied, "Let 'em up easy."{{sfn|Thomas|2008|pp=509–512}} Lincoln's main goal was to keep the union together, so he proceeded by focusing not on whom to blame, but on how to rebuild the nation.{{Cite book|title=Forged in Crisis: The Making of Five Legendary Leaders|last=Koehn|first=Nancy|publisher=Scribner|year=2017|isbn=978-1-5011-7444-5|page=191}} Lincoln led the moderates in Reconstruction policy and was opposed by the Radicals, under Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner and Benjamin Wade, who otherwise remained Lincoln's allies. Determined to reunite the nation and not alienate the South, Lincoln urged that speedy elections under generous terms be held. 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 signed an oath of allegiance.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=471–472}}

As Southern states fell, they needed leaders while their administrations were restored. In Tennessee and Arkansas, Lincoln respectively appointed Johnson and Frederick Steele as military governors. In Louisiana, Lincoln ordered General Nathaniel P. Banks to promote a plan that would reestablish statehood when 10 percent of the voters agreed, and only if the reconstructed states abolished slavery. Democratic opponents accused Lincoln of using the military to ensure his and the Republicans' political aspirations. The Radicals denounced his policy as too lenient, and passed their own plan, the 1864 Wade–Davis Bill, which Lincoln vetoed. The Radicals retaliated by refusing to seat elected representatives from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=485–486}}

After implementing the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln increased pressure on Congress to outlaw slavery nationwide with a constitutional amendment. By December 1863 an amendment was brought to Congress.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=554}} The Senate passed it on April 8, 1864, but the first vote in the House of Representatives fell short of the required two-thirds majority. Passage became part of Lincoln's reelection platform, and after his reelection, the second attempt in the House passed on January 31, 1865.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=562–563}} After ratification by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states, it became the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 6, 1865.{{cite web |title=Primary Documents in American History: 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment.html |publisher=Library of Congress |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111010110013/http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment.html |archive-date=October 10, 2011 |url-status=live |access-date=October 20, 2011}}

File:Lincoln and Johnsond.jpg, a former tailor, and Lincoln, with Johnson saying, "Take it quietly Uncle Abe and I will draw it closer than ever", and Lincoln responding, "A few more stitches Andy and the good old Union will be mended."]]

Lincoln believed the federal government had limited responsibility to the millions of freedmen. He signed Senator Charles Sumner's Freedmen's Bureau bill that set up a temporary federal agency designed to meet the immediate needs of former slaves. The law opened land for a lease of three years with the ability to purchase title for the freedmen. Lincoln announced a Reconstruction plan that involved short-term military control, pending readmission under the control of southern Unionists.{{sfn|Carwardine|2003|pp=242–243}} Eric Foner argues:{{sfn|Foner|2010|p=335}}

{{Blockquote|Unlike Sumner and other Radicals, Lincoln did not see Reconstruction as an opportunity for a sweeping political and social revolution beyond emancipation. He had long made clear his opposition to the confiscation and redistribution of land. He believed, as most Republicans did in April 1865, that voting requirements should be determined by the states. He assumed that political control in the South would pass to white Unionists, reluctant secessionists, and forward-looking former Confederates. But time and again during the war, Lincoln, after initial opposition, had come to embrace positions first advanced by abolitionists and Radical Republicans. ... Lincoln undoubtedly would have listened carefully to the outcry for further protection for the former slaves. ... It is entirely plausible to imagine Lincoln and Congress agreeing on a Reconstruction policy that encompassed federal protection for basic civil rights plus limited black suffrage, along the lines Lincoln proposed just before his death.}}

Lincoln vetoed only four bills during his presidency, including the Wade-Davis Bill with its harsh Reconstruction program.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=137}} The 1862 Homestead Act made millions of acres of Western government-held land available for purchase at low cost. The 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act provided government grants for agricultural colleges in each state. The Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864 granted federal support for the construction of the United States' first transcontinental railroad, which was completed in 1869.{{sfn|Paludan|1994|p=116}} The passage of the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Acts was enabled by the absence of Southern congressmen and senators who had opposed the measures in the 1850s.{{sfn|McPherson|2009|pp=450–452}}

{{Main|Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|}}

File:Lincoln assassination slide c1900 - Restoration.jpg on April 14, 1865, in the presidential booth at Ford's Theatre, featuring (left to right): assassin John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, Clara Harris, and Henry Rathbone]]

John Wilkes Booth was a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland; though he never joined the Confederate army, he had contacts with the Confederate secret service.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=586–587}} After attending Lincoln's last public address, on April 11, 1865, in which Lincoln stated his preference that the franchise be conferred on some Black men, specifically "on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers",{{Cite web|url=http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/last.htm|title=Abraham Lincoln's Last Public Address|website=abrahamlincolnonline.org}} Booth plotted to assassinate the President.{{sfn|Harrison|2010|pp=3–4}} When Booth learned of the Lincolns' intent to attend a play with General Grant, he planned to assassinate Lincoln and Grant at Ford's Theatre.{{Cite book |last=Goodwin |first=Doris Kearns |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gK8u_h8aAOkC&q=dress+rehearsal |title=Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln |date=September 26, 2006 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-7075-5 |language=en}} Lincoln and his wife attended the play Our American Cousin on the evening of April 14. At the last minute, Grant decided to go to New Jersey to visit his children instead of attending.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=594–597}}

At 10:15 pm, Booth entered the back of Lincoln's theater box, crept up from behind, and fired at the back of Lincoln's head, mortally wounding him. Lincoln's guest, Major Henry Rathbone, momentarily grappled with Booth, but Booth stabbed him and escaped.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1p=597|Martin|2010}} After being attended by Doctor Charles Leale and two other doctors, Lincoln was taken across the street to Petersen House. After remaining in a coma for nine hours, Lincoln died at 7:22 am on April 15.{{sfn|Steers|2010|p=153}}{{efn|At the moment of death some observers said his face seemed to relax into a smile.{{cite book|last1=Fox|first1=Richard|title=Lincoln's Body: A Cultural History|date=2015|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-24724-4}}{{cite book|last1=Abel|first1=E. Lawrence|isbn=978-1-4408-3118-8|title=A Finger in Lincoln's Brain: What Modern Science Reveals about Lincoln, His Assassination, and Its Aftermath|date=2015|publisher=ABC-CLIO|at= Chapter 14}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1865/04/17/news/our-great-loss-assassination-president-lincolndetails-fearful-crimeclosing.html|title=OUR GREAT LOSS; The Assassination of President Lincoln.|date=April 17, 1865|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=April 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113072328/http://www.nytimes.com/1865/04/17/news/our-great-loss-assassination-president-lincolndetails-fearful-crimeclosing.html|archive-date=January 13, 2018|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last=Hay|first=John|title=The Life and Letters of John Hay Volume 1|date=1915|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company.|url=https://archive.org/stream/lifeandlettersof007751mbp/lifeandlettersof007751mbp_djvu.txt|access-date=July 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809132012/https://archive.org/stream/lifeandlettersof007751mbp/lifeandlettersof007751mbp_djvu.txt|archive-date=August 9, 2016|url-status=live}} Quote's original source is Hay's diary which is quoted in "Abraham Lincoln: A History", Volume 10, Page 292 by John G. Nicolay and John Hay}} Stanton said, "Now he belongs to the ages."{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=598–599, 686}}{{efn|Other versions of the quotation have been offered, including "He now belongs to the ages," "He is a man for the ages," and "Now he belongs to the angels." Gopnik, Adam, "Angels and Ages: Lincoln's language and its legacy," [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/05/28/angels-and-ages The New Yorker, May 21, 2007.]}} Lincoln's body was placed in a flag-wrapped coffin, which was loaded into a hearse and escorted to the White House by Union soldiers.{{Cite book|last=Hoch|first=Bradley R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8VKaCgAAQBAJ&q=lincoln+body+escorted+%22white+house%22&pg=PA123|title=The Lincoln Trail in Pennsylvania: A History and Guide|date=2001|publisher=Penn State Press|isbn=978-0-271-07222-7|pages=121–123}} President Johnson was sworn in later that same day.{{cite book|last1=Trefousse|first1=Hans L.|title=Andrew Johnson: A Biography|date=1989|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|page=194}} Two weeks later, Booth was located, shot and killed at a farm in Virginia by Sergeant Boston Corbett. Secretary of War Stanton had issued orders that Booth be taken alive, so Corbett was initially arrested to be court martialed. Stanton declared him a patriot and dismissed the charge.{{sfnm|Steers|2010|1p=153|Donald|1996|2p=599}}

{{Main|State funeral of Abraham Lincoln}}

From April 19 to 21, Lincoln lay in state, first in the White House and then in the Capitol rotunda. The caskets containing Lincoln's body and the body of his third son Willie then traveled for three weeks on a funeral train{{sfn|Trostel|2002|pp=31–58}} following a circuitous route from Washington D.C. to Springfield, Illinois, stopping at many cities for memorials attended by hundreds of thousands. Many others gathered along the tracks as the train passed with bands, bonfires, and hymn singing{{sfnm|Trostel|2002|1pp=31–58|Goodrich|2005|2pp=231–238}} or in silent grief. Historians emphasized the widespread shock and sorrow, but noted that some Lincoln haters celebrated his death.{{sfn|Hodes|2015|pp=84, 86, 96–97}} Poet Walt Whitman composed "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" to eulogize Lincoln.{{cite book |last=Peck |first=Garrett |title=Walt Whitman in Washington, D.C.: The Civil War and America's Great Poet |year=2015 |publisher=The History Press |isbn=978-1-62619-973-6 |pages=118–23}} Lincoln's body was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield and now lies within the Lincoln Tomb.{{cite web |title=Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings – Lincoln Tomb, Illinois |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/Presidents/site19.htm |publisher=National Park Service |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830182658/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/Presidents/site19.htm |archive-date=August 30, 2009 |url-status=dead}}

{{republicanism sidebar}}

Lincoln redefined the political philosophy of republicanism in the United States.{{sfn|Thomas|2008|p=61}} Lincoln called the Declaration of Independence, which found "self-evident" that all men are created equal and have an "unalienable" right to liberty, the "sheet anchor" of republicanism, at a time when the Constitution, which "tolerated slavery", was the focus of most political discourse.{{sfnm|Jaffa|2000|1p=399|Thomas|2008|2p=61}} John Patrick Diggins notes, "Lincoln presented Americans a theory of history that offers a profound contribution to the theory and destiny of republicanism itself" in the 1860 Cooper Union speech.{{sfnm|Diggins|1986|1p=307|Thomas|2008|2p=61}}

Lincoln expressed his position on the unconstitutionality of secession in his first inaugural address: {{quote|I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments.... Again, if the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade, by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it—break it, so to speak; but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it?[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln4/1:389?rgn=div1;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=peaceably+unmade Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 4]}}

As a Whig activist Lincoln was a spokesman for business interests, favoring high tariffs, banks, infrastructure improvements, and railroads, in opposition to Jacksonian democrats.{{sfn|Boritt|Pinsker|2002|pp=196–198, 229–231, 301}} Lincoln shared the sympathies that the Jacksonians professed for the common man, but he disagreed with the Jacksonian view that the government should be divorced from economic enterprise.{{sfn|Current|1999}} Nevertheless, Lincoln admired Andrew Jackson's steeliness and patriotism.{{sfn|Wilentz|2012}} According to historian Sean Wilentz, "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."{{sfn|Wilentz|2012}}

William C. Harris found that Lincoln's "reverence for the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, the laws under it, and the preservation of the Republic and its institutions strengthened his conservatism."{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=2}} James G. Randall emphasizes his tolerance and moderation "in his preference for orderly progress, his distrust of dangerous agitation, and his reluctance toward ill digested schemes of reform." Randall concludes that "he was conservative in his complete avoidance of that type of so-called 'radicalism' which involved abuse of the South, hatred for the slaveholder, thirst for vengeance, partisan plotting, and ungenerous demands that Southern institutions be transformed overnight by outsiders."{{sfn|Randall|1962|p=175}}

{{See also|American nationalism}}

File:AbrahamLincolnOilPainting1869Restored.jpg]]

In an 1858 speech, Lincoln alluded to a form of American civic nationalism as closely related to his view of the nature of democracy and originating from the tenets of the Declaration of Independence as a force for national unity. Lincoln stated that it was a method for uniting diverse peoples of different ethnic ancestries into a common nationality:

{{Blockquote|If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none, they cannot carry themselves back into that glorious epoch and make themselves feel that they are part of us, but when they look through that old Declaration of Independence they find that those old men say that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," and then they feel that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote the Declaration, and so they are. That is the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world.|Lincoln's address to Chicago voters, July 10, 1858[http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2/1:526?rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=Let+us+discard+all+this+quibbling Address to Chicagoan voters] (July 10, 1858); quoted in Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (1953), vol. 2, p. 501.}}

In Lincoln's first inaugural address, he denounced secession as anarchy and explained that majority rule had to be balanced by constitutional restraints. He said, "A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks, and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people."{{sfn|Belz|1998|p=86}}[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln4/1:389?rgn=div1;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=majority+held+in+restraint Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 4]

{{Further|Religious views of Abraham Lincoln}}

As a young man Lincoln was a religious skeptic.{{sfnm|Carwardine|2003|1p=4|Wilson|1999|2p=84}} He was deeply familiar with the Bible, quoting and praising it.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=48–49, 514–515}} He was private about his position on organized religion and respected the beliefs of others.{{Cite book|last=Lincoln|first=Abraham|url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln1/1:403?rgn=div1;view=fulltext|title=Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 1.|orig-date=1953|page=383|chapter=Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity|year=2001}} He never made a clear profession of Christian beliefs.{{sfn|Noll|1992}} Throughout his public career, Lincoln often quoted Scripture.{{cite web|url=http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/faithquotes.htm|title=Religious Quotations by Abraham Lincoln|website=abrahamlincolnonline.org|access-date=March 14, 2020}} His three most famous speeches—the House Divided Speech, the Gettysburg Address, and his second inaugural—all contain such quotes. In the 1840s Lincoln subscribed to the Doctrine of Necessity, a belief that the human mind was controlled by a higher power.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=48–49}} After the death of his son Edward in 1850 he more frequently expressed a dependence on God.{{sfn|Parrillo|2000|pp=227–253}} He never joined a church, although he frequently attended First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Illinois, with his wife beginning in 1852.{{sfn|White|2009|p=180}}{{efn|On claims that Lincoln was baptized by an associate of Alexander Campbell, see {{cite journal|url=http://www.acu.edu/sponsored/restoration_quarterly/archives/1990s/vol_38_no_2_contents/martin.html |last=Martin |first=Jim |title=The secret baptism of Abraham Lincoln |journal=Restoration Quarterly |volume=38 |issue=2 |year=1996 |access-date=May 27, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019204330/http://www.acu.edu/sponsored/restoration_quarterly/archives/1990s/vol_38_no_2_contents/martin.html |archive-date=October 19, 2012 }}}} While president, Lincoln often attended services at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C.[https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/sites/nyave.htm Abraham Lincoln Online]

In the 1850s Lincoln rarely used the language or imagery of the evangelicals; instead, he regarded the republicanism of the Founding Fathers with an almost religious reverence.{{Cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=g9EynQEACAAJ}}|title="Our Country": Northern Evangelicals and the Union During the Civil War and Reconstruction|last=Brodrecht|first=Grant R.|date=2008|publisher=University of Notre Dame}} The death of his son Willie in February 1862 may have caused him to look toward religion for solace.{{sfn|Wilson|1999|pp=251–254}} After Willie's death, he questioned the divine necessity of the war's severity. He wrote at this time that God "could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest."{{sfn|Wilson|1999|p=254, quoting Lincoln, Abraham, [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln5/1:893?rgn=div1;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=Yet+the+contest+began "Meditation on the Divine Will", September 2, 1862?]}}

Lincoln believed in an all-powerful God who shaped events and by 1865 was expressing that belief in major speeches.{{sfn|Noll|1992}} By the end of the war, he increasingly appealed to the Almighty for solace and to explain events, writing on April 4, 1864, to a newspaper editor in Kentucky: {{blockquote|I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years struggle the nation's condition is not what either party, or any man devised, or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither it is tending seems plain. 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/hodges.htm|title=Letter by Abraham Lincoln to Albert Hodges|website=abrahamlincolnonline.org|access-date=2020-03-14}}}} This spirituality can best be seen in his second inaugural address, in which Lincoln explains that the cause, purpose, and result of the war was God's will.{{cite web|url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln2.asp|title=Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States: from George Washington 1789 to George Bush 1989|website=avalon.law.yale.edu|access-date=March 14, 2020}} Lincoln's frequent use of religious imagery and language toward the end of his life may have reflected his own personal beliefs or might have been a device to reach his audiences, who were mostly evangelical Protestants.{{sfn|Carwardine|2003|pp=27–55}}

{{Main|Health of Abraham Lincoln}}

Lincoln was described as "ungainly" and "gawky" as a youth.{{sfn|Warren|1991|p=210}} Tall for his age, Lincoln was strong and athletic as a teenager. He was a good wrestler, participated in jumping, throwing, and footraces, and "was almost always victorious."{{sfn|Warren|1991|pp=134–135}} His stepmother remarked that he cared little about clothing.{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|pp=67–68}} Lincoln dressed as a typical boy from a poor, backwoods family, with a gap between his shoes, socks, and pants that often exposed six or more inches of his shin. His lack of interest in his attire continued as an adult.{{sfn|Miller|2002|p=4}}

Lincoln generally continued to enjoy good health throughout his life. In 1831, Lincoln was described as six feet three or four inches tall, weighing 210 pounds, and having a ruddy complexion.{{sfn|Warren|1991|p=210}} Later descriptions mentioned Lincoln's dark hair and dark complexion, which were also evident in photographs taken during his tenure as president. William H. Herndon described Lincoln as having "very dark skin"; his cheeks as "leathery and saffron-colored"; and "his hair was dark, almost black".{{sfn|Hertz|1938|pp=413–414}} Lincoln described himself as "black" and as having "a dark complexion".{{Sfn|Shaw|1950|p=190|ps=,"To Josephus Hewett, February 13, 1848","To F. W. Fell, Dec. 20, 1859"}} Lincoln's detractors also remarked on his appearance. For example, during the Civil War, the Charleston Mercury described him as having "the dirtiest complexion" and asked "Faugh! After him what white man would be President?"{{cite book|first1=Coley|last1=Taylor|first2=Samuel|last2=Middlebrook|title=The Eagle Screams | publisher=Macaulay|year=1936| pages=106, 109}}

Among the illnesses that Lincoln is either documented or speculated to have suffered from are depression, smallpox,{{cite journal

| last1 = Basler | first1 = Roy P.

| title = Did President Lincoln Give the Smallpox to William H. Johnson?

| journal = Huntington Library Quarterly

| volume = 35

| issue = 3

| pages = 279–284

| date = May 1972

| doi = 10.2307/3816663

|jstor = 3816663

| pmid = 11635173

}}

and malaria.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newsweek.com/what-can-lincolns-dna-tell-us-82789 |title=What Can Lincoln's DNA Tell Us? |date=February 13, 2009 |access-date=February 20, 2020}}Sotos, "Sourcebook", paragraphs 2001-2007. He took blue mass pills, which contained mercury,{{cite journal |last1=Hirschhorn |first1=Norbert |last2=Feldman |first2=Robert G. |last3=Greaves |first3=Ian |date=Summer 2001 |title=Abraham Lincoln's Blue Pills: Did Our 16th President Suffer from Mercury Poisoning? |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/26064 |journal=Perspectives in Biology and Medicine |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=315–322 |doi=10.1353/pbm.2001.0048 |pmid=11482002}} to treat constipation.{{cite book|title=The Physical Lincoln Sourcebook |last=Sotos |first=John G. |publisher= Mt. Vernon Book Systems |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-9818193-3-4|ref=Sotos2}} It is unknown to what extent this may have resulted in mercury poisoning.{{cite news |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/07/0717_lincoln.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010720031526/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/07/0717_lincoln.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 20, 2001 |title=Did Mercury in 'Little Blue Pills' Make Abraham Lincoln Erratic? |last=Mayell |first=Hillary |work=National Geographic News |date=July 17, 2001 |access-date=October 12, 2009}} Several claims have been made that Lincoln's health was declining before the assassination, as photographs of Lincoln appear to show weight loss and muscle wasting. It has also been proposed that he could have had a rare genetic disorder such as Marfan syndrome{{cite journal|title=Abraham Lincoln – a medical appraisal|journal=Kentucky Medical Association|date=March 1962|issue=60|pages=249–253|pmid= 13900423|last1=Gordon|first1=Abraham M.|volume=60}}

or multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2B.{{cite magazine|first=Abraham|last=Verghese|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2009/05/was-lincoln-dying-before-he-was-shot/17955/ |title=Was Lincoln Dying Before He Was Shot? |magazine=The Atlantic |date=May 20, 2009|access-date=October 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413145051/http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2009/05/was-lincoln-dying-before-he-was-shot/17955/ |archive-date=April 13, 2014 |url-status=live}}{{cite journal |last=Sotos |first=J. G. |title=Abraham Lincoln's marfanoid mother: the earliest known case of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2B? |journal=Clinical Dysmorphology |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=131–136 |year=2012 |pmid= 22504423 |doi=10.1097/MCD.0b013e328353ae0c|s2cid=26805372 }}

{{CSS image crop|Image=LINCOLN, Abraham-President (BEP engraved portrait).jpg |bSize= 226|cWidth= 165|cHeight= 195|oTop= 33|oLeft= 31|Location= right|Description= Bureau of Engraving and Printing portrait of Lincoln as president}}

In surveys of U.S. scholars ranking presidents since 1948, the top three presidents are generally Lincoln, George Washington, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, although the order varies.{{cite web |last=Lindgren |first=James |author-link=James Lindgren |date=November 16, 2000 |title=Rating the Presidents of the United States, 1789–2000 |website=The Federalist Society |access-date=February 14, 2020 |url=https://fedsoc.org/commentary/publications/rating-the-presidents-of-the-united-states-1789-2000-a-survey-of-scholars-in-history-political-science-and-law}}{{efn|While the book Rating The Presidents: A Ranking of U.S. Leaders, From the Great and Honorable to the Dishonest and Incompetent acknowledges that polls have rated Lincoln among the top presidents since 1948, the authors find him to be among the two best presidents, along with Franklin Delano Roosevelt.{{cite book|editor-first=John V.|editor-last=Densen|title=Reassessing The Presidency, The Rise of the Executive State and the Decline of Freedom|publisher=Ludwig von Mises Institute|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hJGpAT7IWhwC&pg=PAix|date=2001|isbn=978-0-945466-29-1|pages=ix, 1–32}}}} Between 1999 and 2011, Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan were the top-ranked presidents in eight public opinion surveys, according to Gallup.{{cite web |last=Newport |first=Frank |date=February 28, 2011|title=Americans Say Reagan Is the Greatest U.S. President|website=Gallup.com|access-date=February 13, 2019|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/146183/Americans-Say-Reagan-Greatest-President.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314210856/http://www.gallup.com/poll/146183/Americans-Say-Reagan-Greatest-President.aspx |archive-date=March 14, 2012}} A 2004 study found that scholars in history and politics ranked Lincoln number one, while legal scholars placed him second after Washington.{{sfn|Taranto|Leo|2004|p=264}}

Lincoln's assassination made him a national martyr. He was viewed by abolitionists as a champion of human liberty. Many, though not all, in the South considered Lincoln as a man of outstanding ability.{{sfn|Chesebrough|1994|pp=76, 79, 106, 110}} Historians have said he was "a classical liberal" in the 19th-century sense.Guelzo, Allen C. "A. Lincoln, Philosopher: Lincoln's Place in Nineteenth-Century Intellectual History", in {{cite book|first1=Joseph R.|last1=Fornieri|first2=Sara Vaughn|last2=Gabbard|title=Lincoln's America: 1809–1865|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Xarqzbuf43sC|page=19}}|year=2008|publisher=SIU Press|isbn=978-0-8093-8713-7|page=19}}{{sfn|Randall|1962|pp=65–87}} In the New Deal era, liberals honored Lincoln as an advocate of the common man who they claimed would have supported the welfare state,{{sfn|Schwartz|2008|pp=23, 91–98}} and Lincoln became a favorite of liberal intellectuals across the world.{{cite book|editor1-first=Richard|editor1-last=Carwardine|editor2-first=Jay|editor2-last=Sexton|title=The Global Lincoln|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Gs_1lpJvF34C|page=54}}|year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-537911-2|pages=7, 9–10, 54}} Sociologist Barry Schwartz argues that in the 1930s and 1940s Lincoln provided the nation with "a moral symbol inspiring and guiding American life."{{sfn|Schwartz|2008|pp=xi, 9, 24}} Schwartz argues that Lincoln's American reputation grew slowly from the late 19th century until the Progressive Era (1900–1920s), when he emerged as one of America's most venerated heroes, even among white Southerners. The high point came in 1922 with the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.{{sfn|Schwartz|2000|p=109}} However, Schwartz also finds that since World War II Lincoln's symbolic power has lost relevance, and this "fading hero is symptomatic of fading confidence in national greatness." He suggested that postmodernism and multiculturalism have diluted greatness as a concept.{{sfn|Schwartz|2008|pp=xi, 9}}

By the 1970s Lincoln had become a hero to political conservatives{{Cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=p6yMTe4j_YEC|page=96}}|title=Lincoln and the Politics of Christian Love|last=Havers|first=Grant N.|page=96|date=November 13, 2009|publisher=University of Missouri Press|isbn=978-0-8262-1857-5}}—apart from neo-Confederates such as Mel Bradford, who denounced his treatment of the white South—for his intense nationalism, his support for business, his insistence on stopping the spread of slavery, his acting on Lockean and Burkean principles on behalf of both liberty and tradition, and his devotion to the principles of the Founding Fathers.{{sfnm|Belz|2014|1pp=514–518|Graebner|1959|2pp=67–94|Smith|2010|3pp=43–45}} Republicans linked Lincoln's name to their party.

Frederick Douglass stated that in "his company, I was never reminded of my humble origin, or of my unpopular color",{{sfn|Douglass|2008|pp=259–260}} and Lincoln has long been known as the Great Emancipator.The origin of the nickname is unknown. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/05/17/a-civil-war-mystery-who-named-lincoln-the-great-emancipator/339f3fc9-91fb-454a-ada0-d4a093d0812e/ "A Civil War Mystery: Who Named Lincoln the 'Great Emancipator'?"] Wheeler, Linda, The Washington Post, May 17, 2001. By the late 1960s, however, some Black intellectuals denied that Lincoln deserved that title.{{cite journal|first=Arthur|last=Zilversmit|title=Lincoln and the Problem of Race: A Decade of Interpretations|url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0002.104/--lincoln-and-the-problem-of-race-a-decade-of-interpretations?rgn=main;view=fulltext|journal=Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association|volume=2|issue=1|date=1980|pages=22–24|doi=10.5406/19457987.2.1.04 |access-date=December 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025185706/http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0002.104/--lincoln-and-the-problem-of-race-a-decade-of-interpretations?rgn=main;view=fulltext|archive-date=October 25, 2015|url-status=live}}{{cite journal|first=John M.|last=Barr|title=Holding Up a Flawed Mirror to the American Soul: Abraham Lincoln in the Writings of Lerone Bennett Jr.|url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0035.105/--holding-up-a-flawed-mirror-to-the-american-soul-abraham?keywords=rgn...;rgn=main;view=fulltext|journal=Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association|volume=35|issue=1|date=Winter 2014|pages=43–65|doi=10.5406/19457987.35.1.05 }} Lerone Bennett Jr. won wide attention when he called Lincoln a white supremacist in 1968.{{sfn|Bennett|1968|pp=35–42}} He noted that Lincoln used ethnic slurs and argued that Lincoln opposed social equality and proposed that freed slaves voluntarily move to another country.{{sfnm|1a1=Cashin|1y=2002|1p=61|2a1=Kelley|2a2=Lewis|2y=2005|2p=228}} Defenders of Lincoln retorted that he was a "moral visionary" who deftly advanced the abolitionist cause, as fast as politically possible.{{sfn|Striner|2006|p=1}} Brian Dirck stated that few Civil War scholars take Bennett (or Thomas DiLorenzo)DiLorenzo, Thomas, The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War, Roseville, California: Prima, 2002. seriously, pointing to their "narrow political agendas and faulty research".{{sfn|Dirck|2009|p=382}}

David Herbert Donald opined in his 1996 biography that Lincoln was distinctly endowed with the personality trait of negative capability, defined by the poet John Keats and attributed to extraordinary leaders who were "capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=15}} Lincoln has often been portrayed by Hollywood, almost always in a flattering light.{{cite magazine|first1=Steven|last1=Spielberg|author-link1=Steven Spielberg|first2=Tony|last2=Kushner|author-link2=Tony Kushner|first3=Doris|last3=Kearns Goodwin|author-link3=Doris Kearns Goodwin|title=Mr. Lincoln Goes to Hollywood|magazine=Smithsonian|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|date=2012|volume=43|issue=7|pages=46–53}}{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/14664658.2011.594651|title=Abraham Lincoln and the Movies|year=2011|last1=Stokes|first1=Melvyn|s2cid=146375501|journal=American Nineteenth Century History|volume=12|issue=2|pages=203–231}} Lincoln has also been admired by political figures outside the U.S., including German political theorist Karl Marx,{{cite book | last=Samuels | first=Shirley | title=The Cambridge Companion to Abraham Lincoln | publisher=Cambridge University Press | series=Cambridge Companions to American Studies | year=2012 | isbn=978-0-521-19316-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bFwKQ14iJYsC | page=156}} Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi,{{cite book|title=Lincoln and the Fight for Peace|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2023|author=John Avlon|isbn=9781982108137 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tSepEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA270}} former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,{{cite book | last=Gaines | first=Kevin | title=The Global Lincoln | chapter=From Colonization to Anti-colonialism | publisher=Oxford University Press | date=September 8, 2011 | doi=10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780195379112.003.0015 | pages=259–271| isbn=978-0-19-537911-2}} leader of the Italian Risorgimento, Giuseppe Garibaldi,On August 6, 1863, after Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Garibaldi wrote to Lincoln, "Posterity will call you the great emancipator, a more enviable title than any crown could be, and greater than any merely mundane treasure". Ron Field, Garibaldi: Leadership, Strategy, Conflict, Osprey Publishing, 2011, p. 51. and Libyan revolutionary Muammar Gaddafi.{{cite book | last=Денильханов | first=И. | title=Муаммар Каддафи: Падение Джамахирии | publisher=Litres| year=2022 | isbn=978-5-04-333255-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eaIhEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT93 | language=ru | page=93}}

{{Main|Memorials to Abraham Lincoln}}

{{See also|Cultural depictions of Abraham Lincoln}}

Lincoln's portrait appears on two denominations of United States currency, the penny and the $5 bill. He appears on postage stamps across the world.{{cite web | title=Chinese Resistance Issue | website=National Postal Museum | date=December 31, 2019 | url=https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/about-us-stamps-modern-period-1940-present-commemorative-issues-1940-1949-1942-1943}}{{Cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=lhB5tAEACAAJ}}|title=Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps & Covers 2019 |last1=Houseman |first1=Donna|last2=Kloetzel|first2=James E.|last3=Snee|first3=Chad|date=October 2018|publisher=Amos Media Company|isbn=978-0-89487-559-5}} While he is usually portrayed bearded, he did not grow a beard until 1860 at the suggestion of 11-year-old Grace Bedell. He was the first of five presidents to do so.{{sfn|Collea|2018|pp=13–14}} He has been memorialized in many town, city, and county names,{{sfn|Dennis|2018|p=194}} including the capital of Nebraska.{{sfn|Dennis|2018|p=197}} The United States Navy {{sclass|Nimitz|aircraft carrier|2}} {{USS|Abraham Lincoln|CVN-72}} is named after Lincoln, the second Navy ship to bear his name.{{cite web |url=https://www.public.navy.mil/airfor/cvn72/Pages/CVN72History.aspx |title=History of USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) |website=United States Department of the Navy |access-date=February 13, 2020 |archive-date=June 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627065558/https://www.public.navy.mil/airfor/cvn72/Pages/CVN72History.aspx |url-status=dead}} The Lincoln Memorial is one of the most visited monuments in the nation's capital{{Cite news |last=Pearson |first=Michael |url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/lincoln-memorial-refurbishment/index.html |title=$18.5 million gift to help refurbish Lincoln Memorial |date=February 16, 2016 |work=CNN|access-date=February 13, 2020}} and is one of the most visited National Park Service sites in the country.{{Cite magazine |last=Nyce |first=Caroline Mimbs |date=May 21, 2015 |title=15 Most Visited National Landmarks in Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/15-most-visited-national-landmarks-in-washington-dc/451941/ |magazine=The Atlantic |access-date=February 13, 2020}} Ford's Theatre, among the most visited sites in Washington, D.C., is across the street from Petersen House, where Lincoln died.{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/foth/the-petersen-house.htm |title=The Petersen House – Ford's Theatre |website=U.S. National Park Service |access-date=February 13, 2020}} Memorials in Springfield, Illinois, include the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Lincoln's home, and his tomb.{{cite web |url=http://lincolnlibraryandmuseum.com/lincoln-tour.htm |title=Abraham Lincoln Historical Tours in Springfield, Illinois |website=lincolnlibraryandmuseum.com |access-date=February 13, 2020}} A portrait carving of Lincoln appears with those of three other presidents on Mount Rushmore, which receives about 3 million visitors a year.{{cite web |title=Mount Rushmore National Memorial |url=http://www.nps.gov/moru/historyculture/index.htm |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001021548/http://www.nps.gov/moru/historyculture/index.htm |archive-date=October 1, 2011 |url-status=live |access-date=November 13, 2010}}

A statue of Lincoln completed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens that influenced later sculptors[https://webapps1.chicago.gov/landmarksweb/web/landmarkdetails.htm?lanId=1356 Chicago Landmarks] stands in Lincoln Park, Chicago, with recastings given as diplomatic gifts standing in Parliament Square, London, and Parque Lincoln, Mexico City.{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/saga/learn/news/lincoln.htm|title=Abraham Lincoln in Cornish|work=nps.gov|date= April 18, 2016}}{{Cite web |last=Katz |first=Jamie |date=February 23, 2017 |title=Why Abraham Lincoln Was Revered in Mexico |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-mexico-loved-lincoln-180962258/ |access-date=December 24, 2018 |website=Smithsonian |language=en}}{{cite journal |first=Thayer |last=Tolles |title=Abraham Lincoln: The Man (Standing Lincoln): a bronze statuette by Augustus Saint-Gaudens |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/675325|journal=Metropolitan Museum Journal |volume=48 |year=2013 |pages=223–37 |doi=10.1086/675325 |s2cid=192203987}} Lincoln Portrait is a 1942 classical orchestral work written by the American composer Aaron Copland to commemorate five speeches and writings of Lincoln.{{cite web|url=http://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/catalogue/cat_detail.asp?musicid=2103 |title=Lincoln Portrait|publisher=Boosey & Hawkes|access-date=2011-08-17}} In 2019, Congress officially dedicated a room in the United States Capitol to Abraham Lincoln.{{Cite web |date=June 12, 2019 |title=Congress Dedicates Lincoln Room {{!}} U.S. Capitol Historical Society |url=https://uschs.org/news-releases/congress-dedicates-lincoln-room/ |access-date=June 12, 2022 |website=United States Capitol Historical Society}} The room is located off National Statuary Hall and served as the post office of the House while then-Representative Abraham Lincoln served in Congress from 1847 to 1849.{{Cite web |date=December 21, 2018 |title=Legislation to Name Room in US Capitol "Lincoln Room" Passes House |url=https://lahood.house.gov/2018/12/legislation-name-room-us-capitol-lincoln-room-passes-house |access-date=June 12, 2022 |website=Congressman Darin LaHood |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=LINCOLN, Abraham {{!}} US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives |url=https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/L/LINCOLN,-Abraham-(L000313)/ |access-date=June 12, 2022 |website=history.house.gov |language=en}} Several states commemorate "President's Day" as "Washington–Lincoln Day".{{cite web |title=Colorado Revised Statutes Title 24. Government State § 24-11-101. Legal holidays – effect |url=http://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-24-government-state/co-rev-st-sect-24-11-101.html |work=FindLaw |date=February 16, 2017 |access-date=February 20, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221114525/http://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-24-government-state/co-rev-st-sect-24-11-101.html |archive-date=February 21, 2017 }}{{cite web |title=1.14 Excluding first and including last day – legal holidays |url=http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/gp1.14 |work=LAWriter Ohio Laws and Rules |date=April 10, 2001 |access-date=February 20, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170219071355/http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/gp1.14 |archive-date=February 19, 2017}}

File:Head of Abraham Lincoln at Mount Rushmore.jpg|alt=See caption|Lincoln's image carved into the stone of Mount Rushmore

File:Lincoln 1866 Issue-15c.jpg|The Lincoln memorial postage stamp of 1866 was issued by the U.S. Post Office exactly one year after Lincoln's assassination.

File:Aerial view of Lincoln Memorial - west side.jpg|alt=An aerial photo a large white building with big pillars.|Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

File:United States penny, obverse, 2002.png|The Lincoln cent, an American coin portraying Lincoln

{{Portal|Biography|American Civil War|United States}}

• Bibliography of Abraham Lincoln
• Outline of Abraham Lincoln
• Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln
• Lincoln family

{{Notelist}}

{{reflist|1=20em}}

{{Refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite book|last=Ambrose|first=Stephen E.|author-link=Stephen E. Ambrose|year=1996|title=Halleck: Lincoln's Chief of Staff|publisher=LSU Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=mNYeG7Qrw7UC}}|isbn=978-0-8071-5539-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Baker|first=Jean H.|author-link=Jean H. Baker|year=1989|title=Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-30586-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Bartelt|first=William E.|author-link=William Bartelt|year=2008|title=There I Grew Up: Remembering Abraham Lincoln's Indiana Youth|publisher=Indiana Historical Society Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Ed-NAAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-87195-263-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Belz|first=Herman|year=1998|title=Abraham Lincoln, Constitutionalism, and Equal Rights in the Civil War Era|publisher=Fordham University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=GbztAAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-8232-1768-7}}
• {{cite encyclopedia|last=Belz|first=Herman|editor1-last=Frohnen|editor1-first=Bruce|editor-link1=Bruce Frohnen|editor2-last=Beer|editor2-first=Jeremy|editor3-last=Nelson|editor3-first=Jeffrey O.|year=2014|encyclopedia=American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia|title=Lincoln, Abraham|publisher=Open Road Media|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=T1yOAwAAQBAJ}}|isbn=978-1-932236-43-9}}
• {{cite magazine|last=Bennett|first=Lerone Jr.|author-link=Lerone Bennett Jr.|year=1968|title=Was Abe Lincoln a White Supremacist?|magazine=Ebony|volume=23|issue=4|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=H84DAAAAMBAJ|page=35}}|issn=0012-9011}}
• {{cite book|last=Blue|first=Frederick J.|year=1987|title=Salmon P. Chase: A Life in Politics|publisher=Kent State University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Wyxj7Y3Fh7AC}}|isbn=978-0-87338-340-0}}
• {{cite book|last1=Boritt|first1=Gabor S.|author-link1=Gabor Boritt|last2=Pinsker|first2=Matthew|editor-last=Graff|editor-first=Henry|editor-link=Henry Graff|year=2002|title=The Presidents: A Reference History|chapter=Abraham Lincoln|publisher=Macmillan Library Reference USA |edition=7th|isbn=978-0-684-80551-1}}
• {{cite book|last1=Bulla|first1=David W.|last2=Borchard|first2=Gregory A.|year=2010|title=Journalism in the Civil War Era|publisher=Peter Lang|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=U67N0GsAUosC}}|isbn=978-1-4331-0722-1}}
• {{cite book |author-link=Michael Burlingame (historian) |last=Burlingame |first=Michael |title=Abraham Lincoln: A Life |date=2008 |url=https://www.knox.edu/academics/research-and-creative-work/lincoln-studies-center/burlingame-abraham-lincoln-a-life|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=9780801894671}}
• Carpenter, F. B., Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln: The Story of a Picture, New York: Hurd and Houghton (1866); also published as The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln: Six Months at the White House, New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1867, pubdate 1868.
• {{cite book|last=Carwardine|first=Richard J.|author-link=Richard Carwardine|year=2003|title=Lincoln|publisher=Pearson Longman|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=UrAOAQAAMAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-582-03279-8}}
• {{cite book|last1=Cashin|first1=Joan E.|year=2002|title=The War was You and Me: Civilians in the American Civil War|publisher=Princeton University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=XDGYzuPW3PoC}}|isbn=978-0-691-09174-7}}
• {{cite book|last=Chesebrough|first=David B.|year=1994|title=No Sorrow Like Our Sorrow: Northern Protestant Ministers and the Assassination of Lincoln|publisher=Kent State University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=OHRNdDC54ooC}}|isbn=978-0-87338-491-9}}
• {{Cite book |last=Collea |first=Joseph D. Collea Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XFuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 |title=New York and the Lincoln Specials: The President's Pre-Inaugural and Funeral Trains Cross the Empire State |date=September 20, 2018 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-3324-4 |pages=13–14 }}
• {{cite book|last=Cox|first=Hank H.|year=2005|title=Lincoln and the Sioux Uprising of 1862|publisher=Cumberland House|url=|isbn=978-1-58182-457-5|ref=no}}
• {{Cite web |last=Current |first=Richard N. |author-link=Richard N. Current |date=July 28, 1999 |title=Abraham Lincoln - Early political career |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham-Lincoln/Early-political-career |access-date= |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en }}
• {{cite book|last=Dennis|first=Matthew|year=2018|title=Red, White, and Blue Letter Days: An American Calendar|publisher=Cornell University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=a6JhDwAAQBAJ}}|isbn=978-1-5017-2370-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Diggins|first=John P.|author-link=John Patrick Diggins|year=1986|title=The Lost Soul of American Politics: Virtue, Self-Interest, and the Foundations of Liberalism|publisher=University of Chicago Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=O3vYavMFE2MC}}|isbn=978-0-226-14877-9}}
• {{cite journal |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/315139 |last=Dirck |first=Brian |title=Father Abraham: Lincoln's Relentless Struggle to End Slavery, and: Act of Justice: Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the Law of War, and: Lincoln and Freedom: Slavery, Emancipation, and the Thirteenth Amendment (review) |journal=Civil War History |date=September 2009 |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=382–385 |doi=10.1353/cwh.0.0090 |s2cid=143986160 }}
• {{cite book|last=Dirck|first=Brian R.|year=2008|title=Lincoln the Lawyer|publisher=University of Illinois Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=N1FEs-pDrT8C}}|isbn=978-0-252-07614-5|ref=none}}
• {{cite book|last=Donald|first=David Herbert|author-link=David Herbert Donald|year=1996|title=Lincoln|publisher=Simon and Schuster|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=fuTY3mxs9awC}}|isbn=978-0-684-82535-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Douglass|first=Frederick|author-link=Frederick Douglass|year=2008|title=The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass|publisher=Cosimo Classics|isbn=978-1-60520-399-7}}
• {{cite book|last=Edgar|first=Walter B.|author-link=Walter Edgar|year=1998|title=South Carolina: A History|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=EFSbwGk2szgC}}|isbn=978-1-57003-255-4}}
• {{cite journal|last=Fish|first=Carl Russell|author-link=Carl Russell Fish|year=1902|title=Lincoln and the Patronage|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=8|issue=1|pages=53–69|jstor=1832574|doi=10.2307/1832574}}
• {{cite book|last=Foner|first=Eric|author-link=Eric Foner|year=2010|title=The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-06618-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Goodrich|first=Thomas|year=2005|title=The Darkest Dawn: Lincoln, Booth, and the Great American Tragedy|publisher=Indiana University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=8Fv6ngEACAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-253-34567-7}}
• {{cite book|last=Goodwin|first=Doris Kearns|author-link=Doris Kearns Goodwin|year=2005|title=Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln|publisher=Simon and Schuster|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=4MS3BQAAQBAJ}}|isbn=978-0-684-82490-1}}
• {{cite book|last=Graebner|first=Norman|editor-last=Basler|editor-first=Roy Prentice|editor-link=Roy Basler|year=1959|title=The enduring Lincoln: Lincoln sesquicentennial lectures at the University of Illinois|publisher=University of Illinois Press|chapter=Abraham Lincoln: Conservative Statesman|chapter-url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=zlxKAAAAMAAJ}}|oclc=428674}}
• {{cite book|last1=Grimsley|first1=Mark|author-link1=Mark Grimsley|last2=Simpson|first2=Brooks D.|author-link2=Brooks D. Simpson|year=2001|title=The Collapse of the Confederacy|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=joh3AAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-8032-2170-3}}
• {{cite book|last=Guelzo|first=Allen C.|author-link=Allen C. Guelzo|year=1999|title=Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=FmB3AAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-8028-3872-8}}. Second edition, 2022. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. {{ISBN|978-0-8028-7858-8}}
• {{cite book|last=Guelzo|first=Allen C.|year=2004|title=Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America|publisher=Simon and Schuster|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=DJmTUq9hYUoC}}|isbn=978-0-7432-2182-5}}
• {{cite book|last=Harrison|first=J. Houston|title=Settlers by the Long Grey Trail|publisher=Joseph K. Ruebush Co.|year=1935}}
• {{cite book|last=Harrison|first=Lowell|author-link=Lowell H. Harrison|year=2010|title=Lincoln of Kentucky|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=TYNsQ7iky2MC}}|isbn=978-0-8131-2940-2}}
• {{cite book|last=Harris|first=William C.|author-link=William C. Harris (historian)|year=2007|title=Lincoln's Rise to the Presidency|publisher=University Press of Kansas|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Bbt2AAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-7006-1520-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Harris|first=William C.|author-link=William C. Harris (historian)|year=2011|title=Lincoln and the Border States: Preserving the Union|publisher=University Press of Kansas}}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Heidler|editor1-first=David Stephen|editor2-last=Heidler|editor2-first=Jeanne T.|editor3-last=Coles|editor3-first=David J.|year=2002|title=Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=1IhZngEACAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-393-04758-5}}
• {{cite book|last1=Heidler|first1=David Stephen|last2=Heidler|first2=Jeanne T.|year=2006|title=The Mexican War|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=I9hD60q4MsQC}}|isbn=978-0-313-32792-6}}
• {{cite book|last1=Herring|first1=George|title=From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press}}
• {{cite book|first=Emanuel |last=Hertz |title=The Hidden Lincoln: From the Letters and Papers of William H. Herndon |publisher=Viking Press |year=1938}}
• {{cite book|last=Hodes|first=Martha|author-link=Martha Hodes|year=2015|title=Mourning Lincoln|publisher=Yale University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=59ZtBgAAQBAJ}}|isbn=978-0-300-21356-0}}
• {{cite journal|last=Hofstadter|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Hofstadter|year=1938|title=The Tariff Issue on the Eve of the Civil War|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=44|issue=1|pages=50–55|doi=10.2307/1840850|jstor=1840850}}
• {{cite book|last=Holzer|first=Harold|author-link=Harold Holzer|year=2004|title=Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President|publisher=Simon & Schuster|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=lQmUab8SnhQC}}|isbn=978-0-7432-9964-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Jaffa|first=Harry V.|author-link=Harry V. Jaffa|year=2000|title=A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=SzA4Zdd6mJoC}}|isbn=978-0-8476-9952-0}}
• {{cite book|last1=Kelley|first1=Robin D. G.|author-link1=Robin Kelley|last2=Lewis|first2=Earl|author-link2=Earl Lewis|year=2005|title=To Make Our World Anew: Volume I: A History of African Americans to 1880|publisher=Oxford University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=ua0dld3camgC}}|isbn=978-0-19-804006-4}}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Lamb|editor1-first=Brian P.|editor-link1=Brian Lamb|editor2-last=Swain|editor2-first=Susan|editor-link2=Susan Swain|year=2008|title=Abraham Lincoln: Great American Historians on Our Sixteenth President|publisher=PublicAffairs|url=https://archive.org/details/abrahamlincolngr0000unse|isbn=978-1-58648-676-1}}
• {{cite journal|last=Lupton|first=John A.|year=2006|title=Abraham Lincoln and the Corwin Amendment|journal=Illinois Heritage|volume=9|issue=5|page=34|url=http://www.lib.niu.edu/2006/ih060934.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160824072958/http://www.lib.niu.edu/2006/ih060934.html|archive-date=August 24, 2016}}
• {{cite journal|last=Luthin|first=Reinhard H.|author-link=Reinhard H. Luthin|year=1944|title=Abraham Lincoln and the Tariff|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=49|issue=4|pages=609–629|jstor=1850218|doi=10.2307/1850218}}
• {{cite book|last=Madison|first=James H.|year=2014|title=Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana|publisher=Indiana University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=2DvwnQEACAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-253-01308-8}}

• {{cite book|last=Manning|first=Alan|title=Father Lincoln|year=2016|publisher=Lyons Press|isbn=9781493018239}}

• {{cite book|last=Mansch|first=Larry D.|year=2005|title=Abraham Lincoln, President-elect: The Four Critical Months from Election to Inauguration|publisher=McFarland & Company|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=NMt-yrjVE50C}}|isbn=978-0-7864-2026-1}}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Lincolns-Missing-Bodyguard.html |title=Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard |first=Paul |last=Martin |date=April 8, 2010 |work=Smithsonian Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927221216/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Lincolns-Missing-Bodyguard.html |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |url-status=dead |access-date=October 15, 2010 }}
• {{cite book|last=McGovern|first=George S.|author-link=George McGovern|year=2009|title=Abraham Lincoln: The American Presidents Series: The 16th President, 1861–1865|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=oytingEACAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-8050-8345-3}}
• {{cite book|last=McPherson|first=James M.|author-link=James M. McPherson|year=1992|title=Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution|publisher=Oxford University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=vFNppNaal6AC}}|isbn=978-0-19-507606-6}}
• {{cite book|last=McPherson|first=James M.|author-link=James M. McPherson|year=2009|title=Abraham Lincoln|publisher=Oxford University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=3BMSDAAAQBAJ}}|isbn=978-0-19-537452-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Meacham|first=Jon|author-link=Jon Meacham |year=2022|title=And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle

|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0-55-339396-5}}

• {{cite book | last =Miller | first =William Lee | author-link=William Lee Miller|title =Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography | publisher =Random House/Vintage Books | edition =Vintage Books | year =2002 | url =https://archive.org/details/lincolnsvirtuese00mill | via = Internet Archive | isbn =0-375-40158-X }}
• {{cite book |last=Morse |first=John Torrey |author-link=John Torrey Morse |title=Abraham Lincoln |volume=I |publisher=Riverside Press |year=1893 |url=https://archive.org/details/abrahamlincolnv1mors }}
• {{cite book |last=Morse |first=John Torrey |author-link=John Torrey Morse |title=Abraham Lincoln |volume=II |publisher=Riverside Press |year=1893 |url=https://archive.org/details/abrahamlincolnv2mors |ref=morse2 }}
• {{cite book|last=Neely|first=Mark E. Jr.|author-link=Mark E. Neely Jr.|year=1992|title=The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://www.questia.com/library/79055660/the-fate-of-liberty-abraham-lincoln-and-civil-liberties|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029142532/https://www.questia.com/library/79055660/the-fate-of-liberty-abraham-lincoln-and-civil-liberties|archive-date=October 29, 2014|url-status=live}}
• {{cite journal|last=Neely|first=Mark E. Jr.|author-link=Mark E. Neely Jr.|year=2004|title=Was the Civil War a Total War?|journal=Civil War History|volume=50 |issue=4|pages=434–458|doi=10.1353/cwh.2004.0073}}
• {{cite book|last=Nevins|first=Allan|author-link=Allan Nevins|year=1959|title=The War for the Union|publisher=Scribner}} Volume 5 of Ordeal of the Union: 1847 - 1865
• {{cite journal|last=Nichols|first=David Allen|year=1974|title=The Other Civil War: Lincoln and the Indians|journal=Minnesota History|url=http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/44/v44i01p002-015.pdf|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/44/v44i01p002-015.pdf|archive-date=October 9, 2022|url-status=live}}
• {{cite book|last=Noll|first=Mark A.|author-link=Mark Noll|year=1992|title=A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=VGF3wbzzy9QC|page=322}}|isbn=978-0-8028-0651-2}}
• {{cite book|last1=Noll|first1=Mark A.|year=2002|title=America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln|publisher=Oxford University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=i4kRDAAAQBAJ}}|isbn=978-0-19-515111-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Oates|first=Stephen B.|author-link=Stephen B. Oates|editor-last=Woodward|editor-first=Comer Vann|editor-link=C. Vann Woodward|year=1974|title=Responses of the Presidents to Charges of Misconduct|publisher=Dell Publishing|chapter=Abraham Lincoln 1861–1865|chapter-url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=ecKHAAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-440-05923-3}}
• {{cite book|last=Paludan|first=Phillip Shaw|author-link=Phillip S. Paludan|year=1994|title=The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln|publisher=University Press of Kansas|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Qi4aAQAAIAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-7006-0671-9}}
• {{cite journal |last=Parrillo|first=Nicholas|year=2000|title=Lincoln's Calvinist Transformation: Emancipation and War|journal=Civil War History|volume=46| issue=3|pages=227–253|doi=10.1353/cwh.2000.0073|s2cid=143755083 |issn=1533-6271}}
• {{cite book|last=Potter|first=David M.|author-link=David M. Potter|year=1977|title=The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War, 1848–1861|publisher=HarperCollins|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=S7Qk9nIwk14C}}|isbn=978-0-06-131929-7}}
• {{cite book|last=Randall|first=James Garfield|author-link=James G. Randall|year=1962|title=Lincoln: The Liberal Statesman|publisher=Dodd, Mead & Co.|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=DHUqAAAAYAAJ}}|asin=B0051VUQXO}}
• {{cite book|last1=Randall|first1=James Garfield|last2=Current|first2=Richard Nelson|author-link2=Richard N. Current|year=1955|title=Lincoln the President: Last Full Measure|volume=IV|publisher=Dodd, Mead & Co.|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=KBrdeG8hMhwC}}|oclc=950556947|ref=none}}
• {{cite book|last=Richards|first=John T.|year=2015|title=Abraham Lincoln: The Lawyer-Statesman (Classic Reprint)|publisher=Fb&c Limited|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=3uEUswEACAAJ}}|isbn=978-1-331-28158-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Sandburg|first=Carl|author-link=Carl Sandburg|year=1926|title=Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years|publisher=Harcourt|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=deFCAAAAIAAJ}}|oclc=6579822}}
• {{cite book|last=Sandburg|first=Carl|year=2002|title=Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=EPmfzxRags0C}}|isbn=978-0-15-602752-6}}
• {{cite book|last=Schwartz|first=Barry|author-link=Barry Schwartz (sociologist)|year=2000|title=Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory|publisher=University of Chicago Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=XZwX9ANHHbUC}}|isbn=978-0-226-74197-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Schwartz|first=Barry|year=2008|title=Abraham Lincoln in the Post-Heroic Era: History and Memory in Late Twentieth-Century America|publisher=University of Chicago Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=1p9T8drMHeYC}}|isbn=978-0-226-74188-8}}
• {{cite book|editor-last=Shaw|editor-first=Archer H.| title=The Lincoln Encyclopedia: The Spoken and Written Words of A. Lincoln Arranged For Ready Reference |chapter=Lincoln, Abraham, personal description of | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/lincolnencyclope0000linc/page/190/mode/2up?q=%22dark%22|publisher=Macmillan |year=1950}}
• {{cite book |last=Sherman|first=William T.|author-link=William Tecumseh Sherman|year=1990|title=Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman|publisher=BiblioBazaar|isbn=978-1-174-63172-6}}
• {{cite book|last=Simon|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Simon (politician)|year=1990|title=Lincoln's Preparation for Greatness: The Legislative Years|publisher=University of Illinois Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=WSm1wQEACAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-252-00203-8}}
• {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Robert C.|author-link=Robert C. Smith (political scientist)|year=2010|title=Conservatism and Racism, and Why in America They Are the Same|publisher=State University of New York Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=ueQjmQEACAAJ}}|isbn=978-1-4384-3233-5}}
• {{cite book|last=Steers|first=Edward Jr.|author-link=Edward Steers Jr.|year=2010|title=The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia|publisher=HarperCollins|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=5XbXsdrLwn8C}}|isbn=978-0-06-178775-1}}
• {{cite book|last=Striner|first=Richard|year=2006|title=Father Abraham: Lincoln's Relentless Struggle to End Slavery|publisher=Oxford University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=EuR2AAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-19-518306-1}}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Taranto|editor1-first=James|editor-link1=James Taranto|editor2-last=Leo|editor2-first=Leonard|editor-link2=Leonard Leo|year=2004|title=Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House|publisher=Free Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=myl2AAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-7432-5433-5}}
• {{cite journal|last=Tegeder|first=Vincent G.|year=1948|title=Lincoln and the Territorial Patronage: The Ascendancy of the Radicals in the West|journal=The Mississippi Valley Historical Review|volume=35|issue=1|pages=77–90|jstor=1895140|doi=10.2307/1895140}}
• {{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Benjamin P.|author-link=Benjamin P. Thomas|year=2008|title=Abraham Lincoln: A Biography|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=fkB_E9GM0XoC}}|isbn=978-0-8093-2887-1}}
• {{cite book|last=Trostel|first=Scott D.|year=2002|title=The Lincoln Funeral Train: The Final Journey and National Funeral for Abraham Lincoln|publisher=Cam-Tech Publishing|url=http://www.lincolnfuneraltrain.com/html/funeral_train.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130712183544/http://lincolnfuneraltrain.com/html/funeral_train.html|archive-date=July 12, 2013|isbn=978-0-925436-21-4}}
• {{cite encyclopedia|last=Vile|first=John R.|year=2003|title=Lincoln, Abraham (1809–1865)|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments: Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues 1789–2002|edition=2nd|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-428-8 }}
• {{cite book|last=Vorenberg|first=Michael|year=2001|title=Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=f-UQWNPD5qgC}}|isbn=978-0-521-65267-4}}
• {{Cite book|first=Louis A.|last=Warren|title=Lincoln's Youth: Indiana Years, Seven to Twenty-One, 1816–1830| url=https://libsysdigi.library.illinois.edu/OCA/Books2012-05/lincolnsyouthind00warr/lincolnsyouthind00warr.pdf |via=University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign University Library |publisher=Indiana Historical Society| year=1991|isbn=0-87195-063-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Warren|first=Louis A.|year=2017|title=Lincoln's Youth: Indiana Years, Seven to Twenty-One, 1816–1830 (Classic Reprint)|publisher=Fb&c Limited|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=1zo7tAEACAAJ}}|isbn=978-0-282-90830-0}}
• {{cite book |last=Weisman |first=Steven R. |year=2002 |title=The Great Tax Wars: Lincoln to Wilson—The Fierce Battles over Money and Power That Transformed the Nation |url=https://archive.org/details/greattaxwars00weis |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-684-85068-0}}
• {{cite book|last=White|first=Ronald C.|author-link=Ronald C. White|year=2009|title=A. Lincoln: A Biography|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-58836-775-4}}
• {{Cite web |last=Wilentz |first=Sean |author-link=Sean Wilentz |date=2012 |title=Abraham Lincoln and Jacksonian Democracy |url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/node/242 |website=Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818082649/http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/lincoln/essays/abraham-lincoln-and-jacksonian-democracy |archive-date=August 18, 2016 }}
• {{cite book|last=Wills|first=Garry|author-link=Garry Wills|year=2012|title=Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America|publisher=Simon and Schuster|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=7-aynIQRkYcC}}|isbn=978-1-4391-2645-5}}
• {{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Douglas L. |title=Lincoln Before Washington: New Perspectives on the Illinois Years|year=1997|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=0-252-02331-5|ref=none}}
• {{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=Douglas L.|last2=Davis|first2=Rodney O.|last3=Wilson|first3=Terry|first4=William Henry|last4=Herndon|first5=Jesse William|last5=Weik|title=Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=s2gilcp4yYQC|page=35}}|year=1998|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-02328-6|pages=35–36}}
• {{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Douglas L.|author-link=Douglas L. Wilson |title=Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln|year=1999|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=978-0-307-76581-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Douglas L. |title=Lincoln's Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words|year=2007|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=978-1-4000-4039-1|ref=none}}
• {{cite book|last=Winkle|first=Kenneth J.|year=2001|title=The Young Eagle: The Rise of Abraham Lincoln|publisher=Taylor Trade Publishing|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=JcEVAAAAQBAJ}}|isbn=978-1-4617-3436-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Zarefsky|first=David|author-link=David Zarefsky|year=1993|title=Lincoln, Douglas, and Slavery: In the Crucible of Public Debate|publisher=University of Chicago Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=SlCU9PS9VGcC}}|isbn=978-0-226-97876-5}}

{{Refend}}

{{Sister project links|wikt=no|commons=Abraham Lincoln |b=no |n=no |q=Abraham Lincoln |s=Author:Abraham Lincoln|v=no|voy=no|species=no|display=Abraham Lincoln|d=Q91}}

{{Library resources box |by=yes |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Abraham Lincoln }}

{{Biographical Directory of Congress|L000313|ref=no}}

• {{Internet Archive author |sname=Abraham Lincoln}}
• {{Gutenberg author|id=3}}
• [https://presidentlincoln.illinois.gov/ Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum]
• [https://abrahamlincolnassociation.org/ Abraham Lincoln Association]
• [https://guides.loc.gov/abraham-lincoln-guide Abraham Lincoln: A Resource Guide] from the Library of Congress
• [https://papersofabrahamlincoln.org/ Papers of Abraham Lincoln Digital Library] from Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library {{--}} A digitization of all documents written by or to Abraham Lincoln during his lifetime
• [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/ Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln – complete collected works as edited by Basler et al. (1958)] – an online edition available through University of Michigan Library Digital Collections
• [https://digital.lib.niu.edu/illinois/lincoln Lincoln/Net: Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project] – Northern Illinois University Digital Library
• [https://www.loc.gov/collections/alfred-whital-stern-lincolniana/about-this-collection/ The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana] in the [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/ Rare Book and Special Collections Division] in the Library of Congress (All items available online)
• [http://www.c-span.org/video/?125640-1/life-portrait-abraham-lincoln "Life Portrait of Abraham Lincoln"], from C-SPAN's American presidents: Life Portraits, June 28, 1999
• [http://www.c-span.org/video/?164439-1/writings-abraham-lincoln "Writings of Abraham Lincoln"] from C-SPAN's American Writers: A Journey Through History, June 18, 2001

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Category:People from Spencer County, Indiana

Category:People murdered in Washington, D.C.

Category:People of Illinois in the American Civil War

Category:People with mood disorders

Category:Politicians from Springfield, Illinois

Category:Presidents of the United States

Category:Republican Party (United States) presidential nominees

Category:Republican Party presidents of the United States

Category:Union (American Civil War) political leaders

Category:Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois

Category:Deaths by firearm in Washington, D.C.

Category:Politicians killed in the American Civil War

Category:Progressive conservatism

Category:19th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly

Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives