A Beginner's Guide to Abraham Lincoln

What made Abraham Lincoln a man still celebrated two hundred years after his birth? He is likely one of the most written of people in history. The early life of Abraham was humble, yet paved the way for Abraham to the presidency. Abraham Lincoln, a self-educated frontiersman, was the sixteenth President of the United States of America. This one time prairie state lawyer became what was arguably the best president that the United States has seen.
Born in Hardin (Larue) county, Abraham Lincoln was the child of Thomas and Nancy Lincoln on February 12, 1809 (Lincoln 1). He grew up poor, which might have helped him. Take his speaking for an example; he lacked the eloquent speaking of many of his opponents and rivals, but people still listened to him because he was less eloquent; he was easier to understand. Lincoln's childhood gave him the mental state that would later make him a strong leader. Abraham Lincoln did much to compensate for his lack of formal schooling with self-education. The closest he ever came to formal education was occasionally attending "ABC" schools for short periods of time (Fontain et al 12:399). This clearly did little to deter his want of an education. He was known to have educated himself. It is said that he would do hard work, such as walking eighteen miles, for the loan of a book.
Abraham Lincoln was a deeply troubled and depressed individual. This affliction that drove him to sometimes weep in public, and even tell jokes to combat the depression appeared early and would last throughout his life into adulthood (Shenk 1). Although there was no single reason for his sadness it does seem that the death of a close friend was a contributor to a large part of it. Ann Rutledge was Lincoln's close friend; her death drove Abraham to such depression that he was sheltered by Bowling Green and Nancy Green for fear of his mental health (This event later made some believe that they could have been in love, though this report has no other form of proof than Lincoln’s sadness regarding her death). At this point in his life, Abraham Lincoln spoke openly of suicide (Shenk 2-3).
As Lincoln grew up he began to very effectively shape his own life and judging from the man we know him as today, he did a very good job. Abraham’s first government related occupation was the practice of law, as a lawyer. Beginning the study of law in New Salem he would go on to form partnerships with respected lawyers and represent large companies such as Rock Island Rail Road, Illinois Central Railroad, and the McCormick Harvester Company (Fontain et al 12:399-400).
Lincoln would later marry Mary Todd. Their marriage would lead an opposite effect on their lives. While Mary would be wife to a prominent lawyer who would later be president, Abraham would feel trapped in marriage to a woman who he did not love. It is likely the only reason he married Marry was that he proposed and felt obligated to keep his word (Goodwin 7). Marry was an interesting woman; she would be even if she was not a first lady. She received a good education, would help to teach Abraham proper etiquette, and was considered insane by a great many people for eccentricities that today would seem insignificant (Kirn 1-2).
While deeply involved in politics, Abraham Lincoln's early political career was considered unimpressive, although it is unknown as to why. The man had several exploits of success and was somewhat famous. He was elected to legislature in 1836, 1838, and 1840, and Congress in 1848 (Lincoln 3-4). After he spoke in Cooper Union's Great Hall in 1860 it was said that "No man ever before made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York Audience," (Shenk 9). He was even called by the Whig party for advice even after he officially left (Goodwin 3). The Lincoln-Douglas debates, in which these two men verbally sparred with such skill and power that it is sometimes considered a separate entity than his political career, further helped Lincoln's notoriety and popularity.
Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860. The first step to presidency was being nominated. Lincoln morally opposed slavery, but also disagreed with abolition (Shenk 8). It was this less extreme approach to slavery that made him an ideal choice for republican nomination (Election of 1860, 1-2). Lincoln's republican rivals for nomination were all highly respected men. Seward and Chase both had experience as a senator and had served as governor, and Chase had been a central figure in the formation of the Republican Party. Bates was an elder statesman and congressman (Goodwin 1-2). For these reasons Lincoln chose his rivals for cabinet members once he had taken office. After the Republican nomination, Lincoln ran for president against the democratic parties. The original Democratic Party was temporarily divided because they could not agree on which candidate to nominate (Election of 1860, 1). It is most likely that even if they had elected a single candidate Lincoln would have still won presidency as he gained 180 electoral votes, which was more than all other candidates combined (Election of 1860, 4).
The Civil War may have been the greatest test any president has faced in office. The primary catalyst for the war was southern states' secession, which was the south's way of following through on the threat of doing so if a republican was elected president (McPherson 97). Lincoln made attempts to avoid war, or reduce its potential destruction such as making an attempt at compromise by asking for gradual, willing, and compensated emancipation (McPherson 32-33). He also tried to convince the newly formed Confederacy to remain with the Union via the use of the metaphor "Broken eggs cannot be mended" intending to dissuade the rebel states from continuing a war that was potentially catastrophic to their economy and way of living (McPherson 36).
Multiple levels of strategy were employed by the Union. The primary strategy for war was the anaconda plan, which had the union forces following the coastline to take the confederate harbors. Due to incompetence or other failures the Union changed generals several times before their victory; some have considered this a failure on Lincoln's part, but it should be mentioned that he was a very hands on leader as he spent much time in the War Department telegraph office and would sometimes directly change strategic and command decisions and would give direct orders (McPherson 66-67). People's view on the war had a heavy impact; this became clear when attacks against the union were more prevalent when media spoke openly against the president and union leading Abraham to make the controversial decision of suspending the writ of habeas corpus to deter such violence (McPherson 57).
In the later portion of the Civil War its most important events took place. One of these events was the effect on African Americans. The use of blacks as soldiers against whites was a decision that Lincoln first feared would negatively affect the fondness of whites (Stauffer 2), but they still became soldiers near the time the emancipation proclamation was drafted and signed by Lincoln. Officially the emancipation proclamation was an anti-war measure that denied a valuable resource to the south and had nothing to do with slavery being right or wrong (McPherson 83). The emancipation proclamation took effect in 1863. In 1865 black literacy was at 10%, by 1900 it was 50%. In 1860 2% of school age African Americans were in school; in twenty years 34% attended (McPherson 16-17). With the Confederacy's surrender the Union had won. This was at a heavy cost with 620,000 dead from the war (McPherson 16) giving Lincoln reason to avoid further confrontation and adopt a plan to join north and south as soon as possible (Fontain et al 12:402). Shortly after the war Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. John Wilkes booth murdered the president in a plan with the secretary of state and vise-president being killed by other men who failed their missions as a way of weakening the government enough to allow the confederacy a chance of revival (Emerson 5). There was an undeniable impact left by the death of Abraham Lincoln. Fredrick Douglas speculated his death would act as a unifier of blacks and whites (Stauffer 6), and one congressman even stated "His death, is a godsend to our (republican) cause" (Shenk 2).
Abraham Lincoln was little short of a hero. Regardless of his motives his actions resulted in the uniting of two halves of a country, and the emancipation of a race. Although many people do not know all the facts of his life and probably never will due to myths and misunderstandings it is still near impossible today to find someone with no information regarding to the man. He was the definition of the American dream, being born into poverty and becoming an extremely powerful and important man. Both loved and hated, he will remain a legend long after both this paper’s writer and its readers pass from this world.





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Works Cited




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