- Wikipedia

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For other uses, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation).

\"President Lincoln\" redirects here. For the troopship, see USS President Lincoln.

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Abraham Lincoln
$\"A$ Lincoln in 1863

16th President of the United States
In office March 4, 1861 \u2013 April 15, 1865
Vice President	\n Hannibal Hamlin (1861\u20131865) \n Andrew Johnson (Mar\u2013Apr. 1865) \n
Preceded by	James Buchanan
Succeeded by	Andrew Johnson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 7th district
In office March 4, 1847 \u2013 March 3, 1849
Preceded by	John Henry
Succeeded by	Thomas L. Harris
Member of the Illinois House of Representatives from Sangamon County
In office December 1, 1834 \u2013 December 4, 1842
Preceded by	Achilles Morris
\n
Personal details
Born	(1809-02-12)February 12, 1809 Hodgenville, Hardin County (now LaRue County, Kentucky), U.S.
Died	April 15, 1865(1865-04-15) (aged 56) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Manner of death	Assassination by gunshot
Resting place	Lincoln Tomb
Political party	\n Whig (before 1856) \n Republican (after 1856) \n
Other political affiliations	National Union (1864\u20131865)
Height	6 ft 4 in (193 cm)^[1]
Spouse	\n Mary Todd (m. 1842)
Children	Robert Edward Willie Tad
Parents	Thomas Lincoln Nancy Hanks
Relatives	Lincoln family
Occupation	Politician lawyer
Signature	$\"Cursive$
Military service
Branch/service	Illinois Militia
Years of service	April\u2013July 1832
Rank	\n Captain^[a] \n Private^[a] \n
Unit	31st (Sangamon) Regiment of Illinois Militia 4th Mounted Volunteer Regiment Iles Mounted Volunteers
Battles/wars	\n American Indian Wars\n Black Hawk War\n Battle of Stillman's Run (non-combatant) \n Battle of Kellogg's Grove (non-combatant) \n

Abraham Lincoln (/\u02c8l\u026a\u014bk\u0259n/ LINK-\u0259n; February 12, 1809 \u2013 April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defending the nation as a constitutional union, defeating the Confederacy, playing a major role in the abolition of slavery, expanding the power of the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.\n

Lincoln was born into poverty in a log cabin in Kentucky, and was raised on the frontier, mainly in Indiana. He was self-educated and became a lawyer, Whig Party leader, Illinois state legislator, and U.S. representative from Illinois. In 1849, he returned to his successful law practice in Springfield, Illinois. In 1854, angered by the Kansas\u2013Nebraska Act, which opened the territories to slavery, he re-entered politics. He soon became a leader of the new Republican Party. He reached a national audience in the 1858 Senate campaign debates against Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln ran for president in 1860, sweeping the North to gain victory. Pro-slavery elements in the South viewed his election as a threat to slavery, and Southern states began seceding from the nation. They formed the Confederate States of America, which began seizing federal military bases in the South. A little over one month after Lincoln assumed the presidency, Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, a U.S. fort in South Carolina. Following the bombardment, Lincoln mobilized forces to suppress the rebellion and restore the union.\n

Lincoln, a moderate Republican, had to navigate a contentious array of factions with friends and opponents from both the Democratic and Republican parties. His allies, the War Democrats and the Radical Republicans, demanded harsh treatment of the Southern Confederates. He managed the factions by exploiting their mutual enmity, carefully distributing political patronage, and by appealing to the American people. Anti-war Democrats (called \"Copperheads\") despised Lincoln, and some irreconcilable pro-Confederate elements went so far as to plot his assassination. His Gettysburg Address became one of the most famous speeches in American history. Lincoln closely supervised the strategy and tactics in the war effort, including the selection of generals, and implemented a naval blockade of the South's trade. He suspended habeas corpus in Maryland and elsewhere, and he averted war with Britain by defusing the Trent Affair. In 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the slaves in the states \"in rebellion\" to be free. It also directed the Army and Navy to \"recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons\" and to receive them \"into the armed service of the United States.\" Lincoln pressured border states to outlaw slavery, and he promoted the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery, except as punishment for a crime. Lincoln managed his own successful re-election campaign. He sought to heal the war-torn nation through reconciliation. On April 14, 1865, just five days after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, he was attending a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Mary, when he was fatally shot by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth.\n

\nLincoln is remembered as a martyr and a national hero for his wartime leadership and for his efforts to preserve the Union and abolish slavery. He is often ranked in both popular and scholarly polls as the greatest president in American history.

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Personal

Political

16th President of the United States

Presidency

First term

Transition
1st inauguration
Hannibal Hamlin
American Civil War\n
- The Union
- Emancipation Proclamation
- Ten percent plan
- 13th Amendment

Second term

Presidential elections

1860\n
- Convention

1864\n
- Convention

Speeches and works

Inaugural speeches\n
- First
- Second
State of the Union\n
- 1861
- 1862
- 1863
- 1864
Lyceum
Peoria
Lost Speech
House Divided
Cooper Union
Farewell address
Gettysburg

Assassination and legacy

Bibliography

Topical guide

\n $\"Seal$

The Lincoln cabinet^[313]
Office	Name	Term

President	Abraham Lincoln	1861\u20131865

Vice President	Hannibal Hamlin	1861\u20131865
Andrew Johnson	1865

Secretary of State	William H. Seward	1861\u20131865

Secretary of the Treasury	Salmon P. Chase	1861\u20131864
William P. Fessenden	1864\u20131865
Hugh McCulloch	1865

Secretary of War	Simon Cameron	1861\u20131862
Edwin M. Stanton	1862\u20131865

Attorney General	Edward Bates	1861\u20131864
James Speed	1864\u20131865

Postmaster General	Montgomery Blair	1861\u20131864
William Dennison Jr.	1864\u20131865

Secretary of the Navy	Gideon Welles	1861\u20131865

Secretary of the Interior	Caleb Blood Smith	1861\u20131862
John Palmer Usher	1863\u20131865

Justice\n	Nominated\n	Appointed\n
Noah Haynes Swayne\n	January 21, 1862\n	January 24, 1862\n
Samuel Freeman Miller\n	July 16, 1862\n	July 16, 1862\n
David Davis\n	December 1, 1862\n	December 8, 1862\n
Stephen Johnson Field\n	March 6, 1863\n	March 10, 1863\n
Salmon Portland Chase (Chief Justice)\n	December 6, 1864\n	December 6, 1864\n

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Family and childhood

Early life

Mother's death

Education and move to Illinois

Marriage and children

Early career and militia service

Illinois state legislature (1834\u20131842)

U.S. House of Representatives (1847\u20131849)

Political views

Prairie lawyer

Republican politics (1854\u20131860)

Emergence as Republican leader

1856 campaign

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Lincoln\u2013Douglas debates and Cooper Union speech

1860 presidential election

Presidency (1861\u20131865)

Secession and inauguration

Civil War

Union military strategy

General McClellan

Emancipation Proclamation

Gettysburg Address (1863)

Promoting General Grant

Reelection

Reconstruction

Native Americans

Whig theory of a presidency

Supreme Court appointments

Foreign policy

Assassination

Funeral and burial

Religious and philosophical beliefs

Health

Legacy

Republican values

Reunification of the states

Historical reputation

Memory and memorials

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Official

Organizations

Media coverage

Other

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Media collections