Liesl whitaker biography of abraham lincoln

With the electoral support of Union soldiers, many of whom were given short leaves to return home to vote, and thanks to the spectacular victory of Union troops in General Sherman's capture of Atlanta, Lincoln was decisively reelected. What started as a war to preserve the Union and vindicate democracy became a battle for freedom and a war to end slavery when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in January of Although the Proclamation did not free all slaves in the nation—indeed, no slaves outside of the Confederacy were affected by the Proclamation—it was an important symbolic gesture that identified the Union with freedom and the death of slavery.

As part of the Proclamation, Lincoln also urged black males to join the Union forces as soldiers and sailors. By the end of the war, nearly two hundred thousand African Americans had fought for the Union cause, and Lincoln referred to them as indispensable in ensuring Union victory. While the war raged, Lincoln also suffered great personal anguish over the death of his beloved son and the depressed mental condition of his wife, Mary.

The pain of war and personal loss affected him deeply, and he often expressed his anguish by turning to humor and by speaking eloquently about the meaning of the great war which raged across the land. His Gettysburg Address, delivered after the Battle of Gettysburg, as well as his second inaugural inare acknowledged to be among the great orations in American history.

Almost all historians judge Lincoln as the greatest President in American history because of the way he exercised leadership during the war and because of the impact of that leadership on the moral and political character of the nation. He conceived of his presidential role as unique under the Constitution in times of crisis. Lincoln was convinced that within the branches of government, the presidency alone was empowered not only to uphold the Constitution, but also to preserve, protect, and defend it.

In the end, however, Lincoln is measured by his most lasting accomplishments: the preservation of the Union, the vindication of democracy, and the death of slavery—accomplishments achieved by acting "with malice towards none" in the pursuit of a more perfect and equal union. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James A. They traveled the circuit for eleven years, and Lincoln would eventually appoint him to the United States Supreme Court.

Lamon, the only local attorney with whom Lincoln had a formal working agreement, accompanied Lincoln to Washington in Unlike other attorneys on the circuit, Lincoln did not supplement his income by engaging in real estate speculation or operating a business or a farm. His income was generally what he earned practicing law. On his return from his single term in the U.

House of Representatives, Lincoln turned down an offer of a partnership in a Chicago law firm. Lincoln was involved in at least two cases involving slavery. In an Illinois Supreme Court case, Bailey v. CromwellLincoln successfully prevented the sale of a woman who was alleged to be a slave, making the argument that in Illinois "the presumption of law was Matson brought slaves from his Kentucky plantation to work on land he owned in Illinois.

In this case, Lincoln invoked the right of transit, which allowed slaveholders to take their slaves temporarily into free territory. Lincoln also stressed that Matson did not intend to have the slaves remain permanently in Illinois. Even with these arguments, judges in Coles County ruled against Lincoln, and the slaves were set free. Railroads became an important economic force in Illinois in the s.

As they expanded they created myriad legal issues regarding "charters and franchises; problems relating to right-of-way; problems concerning evaluation and taxation; problems relating to the duties of common carriers and the rights of passengers; problems concerning merger, consolidation, and receivership. Like the slave cases, sometimes Lincoln would represent the railroads and sometimes he would represent their adversaries.

He had no legal or political agenda that was reflected in his choice of clients. Herndon referred to Lincoln as "purely and entirely a case lawyer. Barret, a shareholder. Barret 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.

Lincoln also argued that the newer route proposed by Alton and Sangamon was superior and less expensive, and accordingly, the corporation had a right to sue Barret for his delinquent payment. Lincoln won this case and the Illinois Supreme Court decision was eventually cited by other U. The most important civil case for Lincoln was the landmark Hurd v.

America's expansion west, which Lincoln strongly supported, was seen as an economic threat to the river trade, which ran north-to-south, primarily along the Mississippi River. It was the first railroad bridge to span the Mississippi River. The steamboat owner sued for damages, claiming the bridge was a hazard to navigation, but Lincoln argued in court for the railroad and won, removing a costly impediment to western expansion by establishing the right of land routes to bridge waterways.

Criminal law made up a small part of Lincoln and Herndon's casework. William "Duff" Armstrong had been charged with murder. The case became famous for Lincoln's use of judicial notice —a rare tactic at that time—to liesl whitaker biography of abraham lincoln that an eyewitness had lied on the stand. After the witness testified to having seen the crime by moonlight, Lincoln produced a Farmers' Almanac to show that the moon on that date was at such a low angle it could not have provided enough illumination to see anything clearly.

Based almost entirely on this evidence, Armstrong was acquitted. From Bergen's recollection, the prosecution had objected upon Lincoln's demonstration from the almanac and compared it to an almanac in their possession, only to find that Lincoln's was genuine. Lincoln was involved in more than 5, cases in Illinois alone during his liesl whitaker biography of abraham lincoln legal career.

Though many of these cases involved little more than filing a writ, others were more substantial and quite involved. Lincoln and his partners appeared before the Illinois State Supreme Court more than times. Abraham Lincoln is the only U. At one point the boat slid onto a dam and was set free only after heroic efforts. In later years, while traveling on the Great Lakes, Lincoln's ship ran afoul of a sandbar.

The resulting invention consists of a set of bellows attached to the hull of a ship just below the water line. On reaching a shallow place, the bellows are filled with air, and the vessel, thus buoyed, is expected to float clear. The invention was never marketed, probably because the extra weight would have increased the probability of running onto sandbars more frequently.

Lincoln whittled the model for his patent application with his own hands. In Lincoln called the introduction of patent laws one of the three most important developments "in the world's history. Historians do not agree on the significance or nature of their relationship, but, according to many she was his first and perhaps most passionate love.

At first, they were probably just close friends, but soon they had reached an understanding that they would be married as soon as Ann had completed her studies at the Female Academy in Jacksonville. Their plans were cut short in the summer of when what was probably typhoid fever hit New Salem. Ann died on August 25,and Lincoln went through a period of extreme melancholy that lasted for months.

In either orLincoln met Mary Owensthe sister of his friend Elizabeth Abell, when she was visiting from her home in Kentucky. Inin a conversation with Elizabeth, Lincoln agreed to court Mary if she ever returned to New Salem. On August 16,Lincoln wrote Mary a letter from Springfield suggesting an end to the relationship. She never replied and the courtship was over.

Edwards, son of Ninian Edwards. Mary was popular in the Springfield social scene but soon was attracted to Lincoln. Sometime inthe two became engaged. They initially set a January 1,wedding date, but mutually called it off. Lincoln proposed marriage to Sarah in but was rejected. Sarah later said that "his peculiar manner and his General deportment would not be likely to fascinate a young girl just entering the society world".

Lincoln still had conflicted feelings concerning Mary Todd. In August he visited Joshua Speedhis close friend and former roommate, who had moved to Louisville, Kentucky. Lincoln met Speed's fiancee while there, and after his return to Springfield. Speed and Lincoln corresponded over Speed's own doubts about marriage. Lincoln advised Speed and helped convince him to proceed with the marriage.

In turn, Speed urged Lincoln to do the same. Lincoln resumed his courtship of Mary, and on November 4,they were married at the Edwards's home. In a letter written a few days after the wedding, Lincoln wrote, "Nothing new here except my marrying, which to me, is matter of profound wonder. The couple had four sons. He was their only child to survive into adulthood.

Robert died on July 26,in Manchester, Vermont. The other Lincoln sons were born in Springfield, Illinois, and died either during childhood or their teen years. Lieutenant David H. Todd, Mary's half-brother, served as commandant of the Libby Prison camp during the war. In the winter of —, with the strong encouragement of his wife, Lincoln decided to pursue election to the United States House of Representatives from the newly created Seventh Congressional District.

His main rivals were his friends, Edward D. Baker and John J. On February 14 Lincoln told a local Whig political leader, "if you should hear any one say that Lincoln don't want to go to Congress, I wish you as a personal friend of mine, would tell him you have reason to believe he is mistaken. The truth is, I would like to go very much.

At the end of February the Whigs met in Springfield, where Lincoln wrote the party platform "opposing direct federal taxes and endorsing a protective tariff, a national bank, distribution to the states of proceeds from federal land sales, and the convention system of choosing candidates. Lincoln was selected as a delegate to the district convention which met on May 1 in Pekin.

Liesl whitaker biography of abraham lincoln: He has published numerous volumes on

Although Lincoln worked hard for Baker, Hardin was selected as the Whig candidate, winning by a single vote. Lincoln then initiated a resolution that endorsed Baker for the nomination in two years. The resolution passed, which seemed to set a precedent for a single term with rotation among the party's leaders, and suggested that Lincoln would be next in line after Baker.

In Lincoln campaigned enthusiastically for Henry Clay, the Whig nominee for president and a personal hero of Lincoln. On the campaign trail Lincoln and the other Illinois Whigs emphasized tariff issues, while touting the economic success of the Tariff of that had been passed in Congress under Whig leadership. Part of the campaign pitted Lincoln in a liesl whitaker biography of abraham lincoln of debates against Democrat John Calhoun, a candidate for Congress.

Campaigning in Illinois for most ofLincoln spoke out against the annexation of Texas a potential slave territorypromoted national and state banks, and opposed a wave of nativism that would become a major political issue a decade later. On the last issue Lincoln declared that "the guarantee of the rights of conscience, as found in our Constitution, is most sacred and inviolable, and one that belongs no less to the Catholic, than to the Protestant; and that all attempts to abridge or interfere with these rights, either of Catholic or Protestant, directly or indirectly, have our decided disapprobation, and shall ever have our most effective opposition.

Clay's opponent, James K. Polkcarried Illinois and also won the presidency. In Illinois and elsewhere Polk's support for the acquisition of Texas and Oregon seemed to carry the day. Lincoln and many other Whigs blamed the free soil Liberty Party for dividing the vote in New York, which allowed Polk to carry that state and achieve the majority in the electoral college.

In responding to an antislavery Whig, who equated voting for Clay, a slaveholder, as "do[ing] evil", Lincoln asked, "If the fruit of electing Mr. Clay would have been to prevent the extension of slavery, could the act of electing him have been evil? Hardin did not run for reelection in ; the Whig nomination, as previously agreed, went to Baker, who won election to the seat.

Baker agreed not to run for reelection inbut Hardin considered a run for his old seat. Much of the Seventh District was included within the judicial circuit that Lincoln rode, so beginning in Septemberhe began soliciting the support of Whig leaders and editors as he moved through the circuit. Lincoln emphasized that Hardin should be bound by the understanding reached at Pekin in The debate over what had actually been agreed on in became public and bitter.

In the end Hardin withdrew and Lincoln secured the Whig nomination. The Democrats nominated Peter Cartwright, a circuit-riding Methodist preacher. Lincoln campaigned throughout the district, where he was already well known. Speaking of his actual campaign expenses, Lincoln noted, "I made the canvass on my own horse; my entertainment, being at the houses of friends, cost me nothing; and my only outlay was seventy-five cents for a barrel of cider which some farm-hands insisted I should treat them to.

Cartwright avoided joint appearances with Lincoln and initiated a "whispering campaign" that accused Lincoln of being an infidel and a religious skeptic. Lincoln responded by pointing out that the Illinois constitution had no religious qualifications for office. On July 31 he published a handbill that admitted he was not a member of a specific Christian church, but denied that he was an "open scoffer at Christianity" or had ever "denied the truth of the Scriptures.

Lincoln won the election with 56 percent of the vote, topping the numbers of Hardin 53 percent and Baker 52 percent in their elections. Due to the timing of the elections, the Thirtieth Congress did not convene until December House of Representatives inrepresenting the 7th congressional district of Illinois. As a freshman House member, he was not a particularly powerful or influential figure.

He spoke out against the Mexican—American Warwhich he attributed to President Polk's desire for "military glory—that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood. Lincoln later damaged his political reputation with a speech in which he declared, "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.

While no one in Washington paid attention to Lincoln, the Democrats orchestrated angry outbursts from across his district, where the war was popular and many had volunteered. In Morgan County, Illinois, 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 Alamo ; traducers of the heroism at San Jacinto ".

In the presidential election, Lincoln supported war hero Zachary Taylor for the Whig nomination and for president in the general election. In abandoning Clay, Lincoln argued that Taylor was the only Whig that was electable. Following Taylor's successful nomination, Lincoln urged Taylor to run a campaign emphasizing his personal traits, while leaving the controversial issues to be resolved by Congress.

While Congress was in session Lincoln spoke in favor of Taylor on the House floor, and when it adjourned in August, he remained in Washington to assist Whig Executive Committee of Congress in the campaign. Remembering the election ofLincoln addressed potential Free Soil voters by saying that the Whigs were equally opposed to slavery and the only issue was how they could most effectively vote against the expansion of slavery.

Lincoln argued that a vote for the Free Soil candidate, former President Martin Van Burenwould divide the antislavery vote and give the election to the Democratic candidate, Lewis Cass. With Taylor's victory, the incoming administration, perhaps remembering Lincoln's criticism of Taylor during the Mexican—American Waroffered Lincoln only the governorship of remote Oregon Territory.

Accepting it would end his career in the fast-growing state of Illinois, so he declined and returned to Springfield, Illinoiswhere he turned most of his energies to his law practice. Contents move to sidebar hide. House of Representatives — Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item.

Early life and career Family Health Sexuality Patent. First term. Second term. Presidential elections. Speeches and works. After he moved to Illinois, he worked as a shopkeeper and postmaster. He rode the circuit of courts for many years. After that, he ignored his political career and instead worked as a lawyer. Inin reaction to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska ActLincoln became involved in politics again.

He joined the Republican Partywhich had recently been formed in opposition to the expansion of slavery. Inhe wanted to become senator. He ran for senate against Stephen A. Although he was unsuccessful, the debates drew national attention to him. Lincoln was chosen as a candidate for the Republican Partythe second candidate to be nominated from the party.

He was chosen in for different reasons. Among these reasons was that his views on slavery were less extreme than those of other people who wanted to be candidates. Lincoln was from what was then one of the Western states and had a bigger chance of winning the election there.

Liesl whitaker biography of abraham lincoln: Having been in touch

Other candidates that were older or more experienced than him had enemies inside the party. Lincoln won the election in and was made the 16th President of the United States. He won with almost no votes in the South. For the first time, a president had won the election because of the large support he got from the states in the North. He used his tall hat to store papers and documents when he was traveling.

Liesl whitaker biography of abraham lincoln: A notable memory was

Later, four more states Arkansas, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined the Confederacy for a total of eleven. In his whole period as president, he had to rebuild the Union with military force and many bloody battles. He also had to stop the "border states", like Kentucky, Missouri, and Maryland, from leaving the Union and joining the Confederacy.

Lincoln was not a general, and had only been in the army for a short time during the Black Hawk War. His plan was to cut off the South by surrounding it with ships, control the Mississippi Riverand take Richmond, the Confederate capital. He often clashed with generals in the field, especially George B. McClellanand fired generals who lost battles or were not aggressive enough.

Eventually, he made Ulysses S. Grant the top general in the army. With the Emancipation Proclamation begun on January 1,Lincoln ordered the freedom of all slaves in those states still in rebellion during the American Civil War. It did not actually immediately free all those slaves however, since those areas were still controlled by the rebelling states of the Confederacy.

Only a small number of slaves already behind Union lines were immediately freed. As the Union army advanced, nearly all four million slaves were effectively freed. Some former slaves joined the Union army after The Proclamation also did not free slaves in the slave states that had remained loyal to the Union the federal government of the US.

Neither did it apply to areas where Union forces had already regained control, as in Tennessee. Constitution inonly the states had power to end slavery within their own borders, so Lincoln issued the proclamation as a war measure. The Proclamation made freeing the slaves a Union goal for the war, and put an end to movements in European nations especially in Great Britain and France that would have recognized the Confederacy as an independent nation.

Lincoln then sponsored a constitutional amendment to free all slaves. The Thirteenth Amendmentmaking slavery illegal everywhere in the United States, was passed late ineight months after Lincoln was assassinated. Lincoln made a famous speech after the Battle of Gettysburg in called the Gettysburg Address. The battle was very important, and many soldiers from both sides died.

The speech was given at the new cemetery for the dead soldiers. It is one of the most famous speeches in American history. Lincoln was re-elected president by a small number of votes in and re-inaugurated on March 4, Soon afterward, it appeared likely that the Union would win the Civil War. Lincoln wanted to make it easy for states that had rebelled to restore self-government.

On April 9,the leading Confederate general, Robert E. Lincoln was taken to the Petersen House across the street and laid in a coma for nine hours before dying the next morning. He was His death was mourned by millions of citizens in the North and South alike. His body was transported to his final resting place in Springfield, Illinois, by a funeral train.

In 10 cities, the casket was removed and placed in public for memorial services. Lincoln was finally placed in a tomb on May 4. Lincoln, already taller than most, is known for his distinctive top hats. Worried about the commotion it might cause, the Smithsonian stored the hat in a basement instead of putting it on display. An aggressively activist commander-in-chief, Lincoln used every power at his disposal to assure victory in the Civil War and end slavery in the United States.

Some scholars doubt that the Union would have been preserved had another person of lesser character been in the White House. The monument is the most visited in the city, attracting around 8 million people per year. Civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. Lincoln has been the subject of numerous films about his life and presidency, rooted in both realism and absurdity.

Among the earlier films featuring the former president is Young Mr. Benjamin Walker plays Lincoln, who leads a secret double life hunting the immortal creatures and even fighting them during the Civil War. Inthe History Channel aired a three-part docuseries about his life simply titled Abraham Lincoln. The Biography. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications.

Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance liesl whitaker biographies of abraham lincoln, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors.

In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams. The Manhunt for John Wilkes Booth. Dred Scott. The 13 Most Cunning Military Leaders.

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