President of the United States Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln
16th
In
, – ,
Vice | (1861 - 1865)
(1865)
Preceded
Succeeded
Member of the
from 's district
In
, – ,
Preceded
Succeeded
Born | , (1809-02-12)

Died | , (aged )

Nationality | American
Political | ,
Spouse
Occupation
Religion | raised by ; rented a pew in the ; never officially acquired membership in a church
Signature
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Abraham Lincoln (, – , ) was the , serving from , until his death on , . As an outspoken opponent of the expansion of , he won the nomination in 1860 and was elected president later that year. During his term, he helped preserve the by leading the defeat of the in the . He introduced measures that resulted in the abolition of slavery, issuing his in 1863 and promoting the passage of the to the Constitution in 1865.
Lincoln's leadership qualities were evident in his close supervision of the victorious war effort, especially in his selection of and other top generals. Historians conclude that he handled the factions of the Republican Party brilliantly by bringing its leaders into his cabinet and forcing them to cooperate. In crisis management, he defused a war scare with the (1861), he outmaneuvered the Confederacy and took control of the border slave states in 1861 – 1862, and he managed his own landslide reelection in the .
Antiwar "" criticized him for refusing to compromise on the slavery issue. In contrast, the , a strongly Abolitionist faction of the Republican Party, criticized him for moving too slowly in abolishing slavery. Lincoln successfully rallied public opinion through the powerful rhetoric of his messages and speeches; his is remembered as a prime example of this. At the close of the war, Lincoln took a moderate view of , seeking to speedily re-unite the nation through a policy of generous reconciliation. His in 1865 was the first in U.S. history and made him a martyr for the ideal of national unity.
Scholars rank Lincoln among the , with the highest of those surveyed placing him at number one. He is noted for his lasting influence on U.S. politics, including a redefinition of .
Lincoln 1809 to 1854
Early life
Main article:
Abraham Lincoln was born on , , to and , two uneducated farmers. He was born in a one-room on the 348 acre (1.4 kmІ) Sinking Spring Farm, in Nolin Creek, three miles (5 km) south of , in southeast (now part of ), an area which, at that time, was considered the "." The name Abraham was chosen to commemorate his grandfather, who was killed in an raid in 1786. His elder sister, , was born in 1807; a younger brother, Thomas Jr, died in infancy. It is sometimes debated whether Abraham Lincoln had , an disorder of the characterized by long limbs and great physical stature.
Symbolic log cabin at
For some time, Thomas Lincoln was a respected and relatively affluent citizen of the Kentucky back country. He had purchased Sinking Spring Farm in December 1808 for $200 cash and assumption of a debt. The family belonged to a church that had seceded from a larger church over the issue of slavery. While exposed to his parents' anti-slavery sentiment from a very young age, Lincoln never joined their church, or any other, and as a youth he ridiculed religion.
In 1816, when Lincoln was just seven years old, the family was forced to make a new start in (now in ), Indiana. He later noted that this move was "partly on account of slavery," and partly because of difficulties with land deeds in Kentucky: Unlike land in the , Kentucky never had a proper U.S. survey, and farmers often had difficulties proving title to their property. In 1818, Lincoln's mother, then thirty-four years old, died of : Lincoln was only nine at the time. Soon afterwards, his father remarried to . Sarah Lincoln raised young Lincoln like one of her own children. Years later she compared Lincoln to her own son, saying "Both were good boys, but I must say — both now being dead that Abe was the best boy I ever saw or ever expect to see." Lincoln was affectionate toward his step-mother, whom he would call "Mother" for the rest of his life, but he was distant from his father.
In 1830, after more economic and land-title difficulties in Indiana, the family settled on public land in , 10(16west of . Some scholars believe that it was his father's repeated land-title difficulties and ensuing financial hardships that led young Lincoln to study law. The following winter was desolate and especially brutal, and the family nearly moved back to Indiana. The following year, when his father relocated the family to a in , twenty-two-year-old Lincoln struck out on his own, canoing down the to the village of in . Later that year, hired by New Salem businessman and accompanied by friends, he took goods from New Salem to via flatboat on the Sangamon, and rivers. While in New Orleans, he may have witnessed a slave auction, though as a frequent visitor to Kentucky, he would have had several earlier opportunities to witness similar sales.
Lincoln's formal education consisted of about 18 months of schooling. Largely self-educated, he read every book he could get his hands on, once walking 20(32just to borrow one. While his favorite book was The Life of , Lincoln mastered the , , and and , and developed a plain writing style that puzzled audiences more used to grandiloquent rhetoric. He was also a talented local wrestler and skilled with an ax; some rails he had allegedly split in his youth were exhibited at the 1860 Republican National Convention, as the party celebrated the poor-boy-made-good theme. He avoided hunting and fishing because he did not like killing animals even for food and, though unusually tall (6 feet, 4 inches) and strong, spent so much time reading that some neighbors suspected he must be doing it to avoid strenuous manual labor.
Early career
Young Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln began his political career in 1832, at age 23, with an unsuccessful campaign for the , as a member of the . He ran eighth in a field of 13 candidates. The centerpiece of his platform was the undertaking of navigational improvements on the . He believed that this would attract steamboat traffic, which would allow the sparsely populated, poorer areas along the river to flourish.
He was elected captain of an Illinois company drawn from New Salem during the , and later wrote that he had not had "any such success in life which gave him so much satisfaction." Though he never saw combat, Lincoln did assist in burying the dead from the the day after Major 's troops fled the field of battle.
For several months, Lincoln ran a small store in New Salem, selling , , , , blue , brown , straw hats and . Later, he found work as village postmaster and as a surveyor.
In 1834, he won election to the state legislature, and after coming across the , began to teach himself law. in 1837, he moved to , that same year and began to practice law with . With a reputation as a formidable adversary during cross-examinations and in his closing arguments, Lincoln became one of the most respected and successful lawyers in Illinois and grew steadily more prosperous.
He served four successive terms in the as a representative from Sangamon County, and became a leader of the Illinois Whig party. In 1837, he made his first protest against slavery in the Illinois House, stating that the institution was "founded on both injustice and bad policy." It was also in 1837 that Lincoln met his most intimate friend, .
In 1842, Lincoln wrote a series of anonymous letters, published in the , mocking State Auditor (and later US Senator) and prominent Democrat . When Shields learned that it was Lincoln who had been writing the barbs, he challenged him to a duel. Since Shields was the challenger, Lincoln was granted the right to choose the weapon and specified "Cavalry broad swords of the largest size." Much taller and with long arms, this gave him an overwhelming advantage over his opponent; but the duel was called off at the last minute.
c. 1846
In 1844, Lincoln entered law practice with , a fellow Whig. In 1854, both men joined the fledgling . Following Lincoln's death, Herndon began collecting stories about Lincoln and published them in Herndon's Lincoln.
Family
On , Lincoln married , daughter of a prominent slave-owning family from Kentucky. The couple had four sons:
(August 1 1843 - July 26 1926): born in Springfield, Illinois, and died in .
(March 10 1846 - February 1 1850): born and died in Springfield.
(December 21 1850 - February 20 1862): born in Springfield and died in .
(April 4 1853 - July 16 1871): born in Springfield and died in .
Only Robert survived into adulthood. Lincoln greatly admired the study of science in the elite schools of and sent him to and .
Four of his wife's brothers fought for the Confederacy, with one wounded and another killed in action. Lieutenant David H. Todd, a half-brother of Mary Todd Lincoln, served as commandant of the camp during the war.
of Lincoln c. 1846
Legislative activity
A staunch Whig and fervent admirer of party leader , Lincoln was to a term in the in 1846. As a freshman House member, he was not a particularly powerful or influential figure. He spoke out against the , which he attributed to desire for "military glory — that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood", challenged the President's claims regarding the Texas boundary and offered demanding to know on what "spot" on US soil that blood was first spilt. In January 1848, he was among the 82 Whigs who defeated 81 Democrats in a procedural vote on an amendment to send a routine resolution back to committee with instructions to add the words "a war unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States." The amendment passed, but the bill never reemerged from committee and was never finally voted upon.
Lincoln later damaged his political reputation with an intemperate speech, declaring: "God of Heaven has forgotten to defend the weak and innocent, and permitted the strong band of murderers and demons from hell to kill men, women, and children, and lay waste and pillage the land of the just." Two weeks later, President Polk sent a peace treaty to Congress. While no one in Washington paid any attention to Lincoln, the Democrats orchestrated angry outbursts from across his district, where the war was popular and many had volunteered. In Morgan County, resolutions were adopted in fervent support of the war and in wrathful denunciation of the "treasonable assaults of guerrillas at home; party demagogues; slanderers of the President; defenders of the butchery at the ; traducers of the heroism at ".[]
Warned by his law partner, , that the damage was mounting and irreparable, a despondent Lincoln decided not to run for reelection. In fact, in 1848 he campaigned vigorously for , the successful general whose atrocities he had denounced in January. Regardless, his statements were not easily forgotten. They would haunt him during the , and were held against him when he applied for a position from the new Taylor administration. Instead, Taylor's people offered Lincoln various positions in the remote . Acceptance of this offer would have ended his career in the rapidly growing state of Illinois, so Lincoln declined the position. Returning to Springfield, Lincoln gave up politics for several years and turned his energies to his law practice, making grueling trips on horseback from county courthouse to county courthouse.
Prairie lawyer
In the 1920s historical markers were placed at the county lines along the route Lincoln traveled in the eight judicial district. This example is on the border of and
By the mid-1850s, Lincoln's caseload focused largely on the competing transportation interests of and . In one prominent 1851 case, he represented the in a dispute with a shareholder, James A. Barret. Barret had refused to pay the balance on his pledge to the railroad on the grounds that it had changed its originally planned route. Lincoln argued that as a matter of law a corporation is not bound by its original charter when that charter can be amended in the public interest, that the newer route proposed by Alton & Sangamon was superior and less expensive, and that accordingly, the corporation had a right to sue Barret for his delinquent payment. He won this case, and the decision by the was eventually cited by several other courts throughout the United States.
Another important test of Lincoln's legal expertise was a lawsuit in defense of a tax exemption that the state had granted to the . argued that the state had no authority to grant such an exemption, and sought to impose taxes on the railroad notwithstanding. In January 1856, the Illinois Supreme Court delivered its opinion upholding the tax exemption.
Lincoln's most notable criminal trial came in 1858, when he defended , who was charged with murder. The case is famous for Lincoln's use of , a rare tactic at that time, to show that an eyewitness had lied on the stand. After the witness testified to having seen the crime by moonlight, Lincoln produced a to show that the on that date was at such a low angle that it could not have provided enough illumination to see anything clearly. Based on this evidence, Armstrong was acquitted.
Lincoln was involved in more than 5,100 cases in Illinois alone during his 23-year legal practice. Amounting to about one case per business day, many cases involved little more than filing a writ, while others were more substantial and drawn-out. Lincoln and his partners appeared before the Illinois State Supreme Court more than 400 times.
In at least one trial, Lincoln's included a question to prospective as to whether they were acquainted with counsel for the other side. When a few of them turned out to know the other lawyer, the interrupted.
"Mr. Lincoln, you are wasting the time of the ," said the judge. "The fact that a prospective juror knows your opponent does not disqualify him."
"No, Your Honor, I understand that," Lincoln answered. "I'm afraid that some of them might not know him, which would place me at a disadvantage."
Republican politics 1854–1860
Lincoln returned to politics in response to the (1854), which expressly repealed the limits on slavery's extent as determined by the (1820). Illinois Democrat , the most powerful man in the Senate, proposed as the solution to the slavery impasse, and incorporated it into the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Douglas argued that in a democracy the people should have the right to decide whether or not to allow slavery in their territory, rather than have such a decision imposed on them by Congress.
In a speech against the act, on , , delivered in , Lincoln first stood out among the other orators of the day:
“ | [The Act has a] declared indifference, but as I must think, covert real zeal for the spread of slavery, I cannot but hate it. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world—enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites—causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so many really good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil liberty—criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but self-interest. | ”
Drawing on remnants of the old Whig, , Liberty and Democratic parties, he was instrumental in forming the new Republican Party. In a stirring campaign, the Republicans carried Illinois in 1854 and elected a senator. Lincoln was the obvious choice, but to keep the new party balanced he allowed the election to go to an ex-Democrat .
In 1857-58, Douglas broke with President , leading to a fight for control of the Democratic Party. Some eastern Republicans even favored the reelection of Douglas in 1858, since he had led the opposition to the , which would have admitted Kansas as a . Accepting the Republican nomination for Senate in 1858, Lincoln delivered his famous speech: "'A house divided against itself cannot stand.'( 3:25) 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." The speech created an evocative image of the danger of disunion caused by the slavery debate, and rallied Republicans across the north.
The 1858 campaign featured the , a nationally famous contest on slavery. Lincoln warned that the "" was threatening the values of republicanism, while Douglas emphasized the supremacy of democracy, as set forth in his , which said that local settlers should be free to choose whether to allow slavery or not. Though the Republican legislative candidates won more popular votes, the Democrats won more seats, and the legislature reelected Douglas to the Senate. Nevertheless, Lincoln's eloquence transformed him into a national political star.
During the debates of 1858, the issue of race was often discussed. During a time period when few believed in racial egalitarianism, Stephen Douglas informed the crowds, "If you desire Negro citizenship… if you desire them to vote on an equality with yourselves… then support Mr. Lincoln and the Black Republican party, who are in favor of the citizenship of the negro." Lincoln countered that he was "not in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races." His opposition to slavery was opposition to the , though this would change during the course of the Civil War.
On May 9-10, 1860, the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in . At this convention, Lincoln received his first endorsement to run for the presidency.
Election of 1860
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Photo of Lincoln taken , in , the day of his famous speech.
"The Rail Candidate," Lincoln's 1860 candidacy is held up by slavery issue (slave on left) and party organization (New York Tribune editor on right)
Entering the presidential nomination process as a distinct underdog, Lincoln was eventually chosen as the Republican candidate for the 1860 election for several reasons. His expressed views on slavery were seen as more moderate than those of rivals and . His "Western" origins also appealed to the newer states: other contenders, especially those with more governmental experience, had acquired enemies within the party and were weak in the critical western states, while Lincoln was perceived as a moderate who could win the West. Most Republicans agreed with Lincoln that the North was the aggrieved party as the tightened its grasp on the national government. Yet despite his Southern connections (his in-laws owned slaves), Lincoln misunderstood the depth of the revolution underway in the South and the emergence of Southern nationalism. Throughout the 1850s he denied that there would ever be a civil war, and his supporters repeatedly rejected claims that his election would incite secession.
Throughout the election, Lincoln did not campaign or give speeches. This was handled by the state and county Republican organizations, who used the latest techniques to sustain party enthusiasm and thus obtain high turnout. There was little effort to convert non-Republicans, and there was virtually no campaigning in the South except for a few border cities such as , and ; indeed, the party did not even run a slate in most of the South. In the North, there were thousands of Republican speakers, tons of campaign posters and leaflets, and thousands of newspaper editorials. These focused first on the party platform, and second on Lincoln's life story, making the most of his boyhood poverty, his pioneer background, his native genius, and his rise from obscurity. His nicknames, "Honest Abe" and "the Rail-Splitter," were exploited to the full. The goal was to emphasize the superior power of "free labor," whereby a common farm boy could work his way to the top by his own efforts.
On , , Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States, beating Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, of the Southern Democrats, and of the new . He was the first Republican president, winning entirely on the strength of his support in the North: he was not even on the ballot in nine states in the South, and won only 2 of 996 counties in the other Southern states. Lincoln gained 1,865,908 votes (39.9% of the total), for 180 electoral votes; Douglas, 1,380,202 (29.5%) for 12 electoral votes; Breckenridge, 848,019 (18.1%) for 72 electoral votes; and Bell, 590,901 (12.5%) for 39 electoral votes. There were in some states, but even if his opponents had combined in every state, Lincoln had a majority vote in all but two of the states in which he won the electoral votes and would still have won the electoral college and the election.
Civil War
Secession winter 1860–1861
As Lincoln's election became more likely, secessionists made it clear that their states would leave the Union. took the lead, followed by six other cotton-growing states in the deep South. The upper South (, , , , , , , and ) listened to and rejected the secessionist appeal. They decided to stay in the Union, though they warned Lincoln that they would not support an invasion through their territory. The seven Confederate states seceded before Lincoln took office, declaring themselves to be a new nation, the . President Buchanan and President-elect Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy.
President-elect Lincoln evaded possible assassins in Baltimore, and on February 23, 1861, arrived in disguise in Washington, D.C. At his inauguration on , , the formed Lincoln's bodyguard; and a sizable garrison of federal troops was also present, ready to protect the capital from Confederate invasion and local insurrection.
Photograph showing the , , inauguration of Abraham Lincoln in front of
In his Address, Lincoln declared, "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," arguing further that the purpose of the was "to form a more perfect union" than the which were explicitly perpetual, thus the Constitution too was perpetual. He asked rhetorically that even were the Constitution a simple contract, would it not require the agreement of all parties to rescind it?
Also in his inaugural address, in a final attempt to reunite the states and prevent the looming war, Lincoln supported the pending to the Constitution, which had already passed Congress. This amendment, which explicitly protected slavery in those states in which it existed, was designed to appeal not to the Confederacy but to the critical border states. At the same time, Lincoln adamantly opposed the , which would have permitted slavery in the territories. Despite support for the Crittenden compromise among some prominent Republicans (including ), Lincoln denounced it saying that it "would amount to a perpetual covenant of war against every people, tribe, and state owning a foot of land between here and ."
By the time Lincoln took office, the Confederacy was an established fact, and no leaders of the insurrection proposed rejoining the Union on any terms. No compromise was found because a compromise was deemed virtually impossible. Lincoln might have allowed the southern states to secede, and some Republicans recommended that. However, conservative Democratic nationalists, such as , , and had taken control of Buchanan's cabinet around , , and refused to accept secession. Lincoln and nearly every Republican leader adopted this position by March 1861: the Union could not be dismantled. However, as a strict follower of the constitution, Lincoln refused to take any action against the South unless the Unionists themselves were attacked first. This finally happened in April 1861.
Historian argues that Lincoln made three miscalculations in believing that he could preserve the Union, hold government property, and still avoid war. He "temporarily underrated the gravity of the crisis", overestimated the strength of Unionist sentiment in the South and border states, and misunderstood the conditional support of Unionists in the border states.
Fighting begins: 1861–1862
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In April 1861, after Union troops at were fired upon and forced to surrender, Lincoln called on the governors of every state to send detachments totaling 75,000 troops to recapture forts, protect the capital, and "preserve the Union," which in his view still existed intact despite the actions of the seceding states. , which had repeatedly warned Lincoln that it would not allow an invasion of its territory or join an attack on another state, responded by seceding, along with , , and .
The slave states of , , , and did not secede, and Lincoln urgently negotiated with state leaders there, promising not to interfere with slavery. After the fighting started, he had rebel leaders arrested in all the border areas and held in military prisons without trial. Over 18,000 were arrested, though none were executed. One, , was exiled; but all of the remainder were released, usually after two or three months (see: ).
Emancipation Proclamation
Main articles: and
Lincoln met with his cabinet for the first reading of the draft on , . L-R: , , Abraham Lincoln, , , , and
In July 1862, Congress moved to free the slaves by passing the Second Confiscation Act. The goal was to weaken the rebellion, which was led and controlled by slave owners. While it did not abolish the legal institution of slavery (the did that), the Act showed that Lincoln had the support of Congress in liberating slaves owned by rebels. This new law was implemented with Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation."
Lincoln is well known for ending slavery in the United States. In 1861 – 1862, however, he made it clear that the North was fighting the war to preserve the Union, not to abolish slavery. Freeing the slaves became, in late 1862, a war measure to weaken the rebellion by destroying the economic base of its leadership class. Abolitionists criticized Lincoln for his sluggishness over slavery per ses, but on August 22, 1862, Lincoln explained:
“ | I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." ... 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. | ”
The , announced on and put into effect on , , freed slaves in territories not under Union control. As Union armies advanced south, more slaves were liberated until all of them in Confederate hands (over three million) were freed. Lincoln later said: "I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper." The proclamation made the abolition of slavery in the rebel states an official war goal. Lincoln then threw his energies into passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to permanently abolish slavery throughout the nation.
On and , 1862, thirteen northern governors met in , at the Loyal to discuss the Proclamation and Union war effort. In the end, the state executives fully supported the president's Proclamation and also suggested the removal of General as commander of the Union's .
For some time, Lincoln had been working on plans to set up for the newly freed slaves. He commented favorably on colonization in the Emancipation Proclamation, but all attempts at such a massive undertaking failed. As observed, Lincoln was, "The first great man that I talked with in the United States freely who in no single instance reminded me of the difference between himself and myself, of the difference of color."
Domestic measures
While Lincoln is usually portrayed bearded, he first grew a beard in 1860 at the suggestion of 11-year-old
Lincoln believed in the Whig theory of the presidency, which left Congress to write the laws while he signed them, vetoing only those bills that threatened his war powers. Thus, he signed the in 1862, making millions of acres of government-held land in the West available for purchase at very low cost. The , also signed in 1862, provided government grants for 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. Other important legislation involved economic matters, including the first and higher . Also included was the creation of the system of national banks by the of 1863, 1864, and 1865, which allowed the creation of a strong national financial system.
In 1862, Lincoln sent a senior general, , to put down the "" in . Presented with 303 death warrants for convicted Santee Dakota who had massacred innocent farmers, Lincoln affirmed 39 of these for execution (one was later reprieved).
1864 election and second inauguration
After Union victories at , and in 1863, victory seemed at hand, and Lincoln promoted General-in-Chief (March 12, 1864). When the spring campaigns turned into bloody stalemates, Lincoln supported Grant's strategy of wearing down 's Confederate army at the cost of heavy Union casualties. With an election looming, he easily defeated efforts to deny his renomination. At the Convention, the Republican Party selected , a from the Southern state of Tennessee, as his running mate in order to form a broader coalition. They ran on the new ticket uniting Republicans and War Democrats.
Lincoln, in , with and Gen. at Antietam
Nevertheless, Republicans across the country feared that Lincoln would be defeated. Acknowledging this fears, Lincoln wrote and signed a pledge that, if he should lose the election, he would nonetheless defeat the Confederacy by an all-out military effort before turning over the White House:
“ | This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so 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 afterwards. | ”
Lincoln did not show the pledge to his cabinet, but asked them to sign the sealed envelope.
While the Democratic platform followed the of the party and called the war a "failure," their candidate, General , supported the war and repudiated the platform.
Lincoln provided Grant with new replacements and mobilized his party to support Grant and win local support for the war effort. 's capture of in September ended defeatist jitters; the Democratic Party was deeply split, with some leaders and most soldiers openly for Lincoln; the Union party was united and energized, and Lincoln was easily reelected in a landslide. He won all but two states, capturing 212 of 233 electoral votes.
On , , Lincoln delivered his , his favorite of all his speeches. At this time, a victory over the rebels was at hand, slavery was dead, and Lincoln was looking to the future.
“ | 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 | ”
Conducting the war effort
“Running the ‘Machine’”
An 1864 cartoon featuring Lincoln, , , and takes a swing at the Lincoln administration
The war was a source of constant frustration for the president, and occupied nearly all of his time. He had a contentious relationship with General , who became general-in-chief of all the Union armies in the wake of the embarrassing Union defeat at the and after the retirement of in late 1861. Despite his inexperience in military affairs, Lincoln wanted to take an active part in determining war strategy. His priorities were twofold: to ensure that Washington, D.C., was well defended; and to conduct an aggressive war effort in the hope of ending the war quickly and appeasing the Northern public and press. McClellan, a youthful graduate and railroad executive called back to active military service, took a more cautious approach. He took several months to plan and execute his , with the objective of capturing by moving the by boat to the between the and . McClellan's delay irritated Lincoln, as did his insistence that no troops were needed to defend Washington, D.C. Lincoln insisted on holding some of McClellan's troops to defend the capital, a decision McClellan blamed for the ultimate failure of the Peninsula Campaign.
McClellan, a lifelong who was temperamentally conservative, was relieved as general-in-chief after releasing his Harrison's Landing Letter, where he offered unsolicited political advice to Lincoln urging caution in the war effort. McClellan's letter incensed Radical Republicans, who successfully pressured Lincoln to appoint , a Republican, as head of the new . Pope complied with Lincoln's strategic desire to move toward Richmond from the north, thus protecting the capital from attack. But Pope was soundly defeated at the in the summer of 1862, forcing the Army of the Potomac to defend Washington for a second time. In response to his failure, Pope was sent to Minnesota to fight the .
An 1864 photo depicts President Lincoln reading a book with his youngest son,
Panicked by Lee's invasion of Maryland, Lincoln restored McClellan to command of all forces around Washington in time for the (September 1862). The ensuing Union victory enabled Lincoln to release his Emancipation Proclamation, but he relieved McClellan of his command shortly after the 1862 midterm elections and appointed Republican to head the Army of the Potomac. Burnside had promised to follow through on Lincoln's strategic vision for a strong offensive against Lee and Richmond. After Burnside was stunningly defeated at , was given the command, despite his idle talk about becoming a military strong man. Hooker was routed by Lee at the (May 1863), and relieved of command early in the subsequent replaced by .
After the Union victory at Gettysburg, Meade's failure to pursue Lee and months of inactivity for the Army of the Potomac persuaded Lincoln to bring in a western general, . Grant already had a solid string of victories in the Western Theater, including the battles of Vicksburg and . Responding to criticism of Grant, Lincoln was quoted as saying, "I cannot spare this man. He fights." Grant waged his bloody in 1864 with a strategy of a , characterized by high Union losses at battles such as the and , but by proportionately higher Confederate losses. His invasion campaign eventually bottled Lee up in the , so that Grant could take Richmond, and bring the war to a close in the spring of 1865.
Lincoln authorized Grant to target civilians and infrastructure, hoping to destroy the South's morale and weaken its economic ability to continue fighting. This allowed Generals and to destroy farms and towns in the , , and South Carolina. The damage caused by through Georgia totaled in excess of $100 million by Sheridan's own estimate.
Lincoln had a star-crossed record as a military leader, possessing a keen understanding of strategic points (such as the Mississippi River and the fortress city of Vicksburg) and the importance of defeating the enemy's army, rather than simply capturing cities. He had, however, limited success in motivating his commanders to adopt his strategies until late 1863, when he found a man who shared his vision of the war in Ulysses S. Grant. Only then could he insist on using troops and relentlessly pursue a series of coordinated offensives in multiple theaters.
Throughout the war, Lincoln showed a keen curiosity with the military campaigns. He spent hours at the office, reading dispatches from his generals. He visited battle sites frequently, and seemed fascinated by watching scenes of war. During 's in 1864, Lincoln had to be told to duck to avoid being shot while observing the battle.
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