Isiaka ajimobi biography of abraham lincoln
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Then he recounts a brilliant and innovative public relations campaign, as Lincoln took the speech “on the road” in his successful quest for the presidency.
Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years by Carl Sandberg
Originally published in six volumes, Sandburg’s Abraham Lincoln was called “the greatest historical biography of our generation.” Sandburg distilled this work into one volume that became one of the definitive books on Abraham Lincoln.
We Are Lincoln Men by David Herbert Donald
Though Abraham Lincoln had hundreds of acquaintances and dozens of admirers, he had almost no intimate friends.
The two remained close until the end of Lincoln’s life.
In March 1830, when Lincoln was a young man, his family moved to a new farm in Illinois. Lincoln’s Tomb, in Oak Ridge Cemetery, has been the final resting place for Lincoln since 1901.
Significance
Abraham Lincoln was an important historical figure because he served as the sixteenth President of the United States (1861-1865) and was the leader of the country during the American Civil War.
Lincoln is widely regarded as one of the country’s greatest presidents, and his legacy continues to shape American politics and culture. However, that changed when Union forces under the command of George Meade won the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.
Emancipation
Lincoln’s political performance as president during the war was stellar.
We see Lincoln as a boy: not the dutiful son studying by firelight, but the stubborn rebel determined to make something of himself. It also enabled states to form new governments and be readmitted to the Union when ten percent of the eligible voters had taken an oath of allegiance to the United States. While serving in Washington, Lincoln introduced a plan to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia.
On April 16, 1862, Lincoln signed an act abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy. On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth fired a bullet into the back of Lincoln’s head as the president attended a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington.
Congress finally ended the controversy, but not the practice, bypassing the Habeas Corpus Act of 1863, which temporarily legitimized the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.
Controversy also plagued Lincoln’s record as commander-in-chief. His election victory created a crisis for the nation, as many Southern Democrats feared that it would just be a matter of time before Lincoln would move to kill slavery in the South.
Despite attempts to resolve sectional differences—most notably the Crittenden Compromise — Lincoln faced a constitutional and military crisis the day he took office. They later resumed their romance and wed on November 4, 1842.
National Politics
Lincoln’s career in national politics began in 1842 when Illinois voters elected him to the United States House of Representatives.
How much of the failure resulted from poor generalship as opposed to the poor choice of generals is debatable. Events rapidly spiraled toward war when South Carolina demanded that federal soldiers evacuate its military installation at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. The Civil War had begun. He also voted to censure President James K. Polk for usurpation of powers regarding the Mexican-American War in 1848—a vote that later seemed inconsistent with some of Lincoln’s own actions during the American Civil War.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
After completing his term in Congress, Lincoln returned to Springfield to practice law in 1849.
Lincoln was asked to memorialize the gruesome battle. Lincoln received little formal education during his youth, but his stepmother taught him how to read and encouraged him to learn on his own. He is also remembered for his famous speeches, including the Gettysburg Address, in which he redefined the goals of the Civil War and transformed it into a struggle for the preservation of the American ideal of freedom and democracy.
Shenk draws from historical records, interviews with Lincoln scholars, and contemporary research on depression to understand the nature of his unhappiness. A master historian, Eric Foner draws Lincoln and the broader history of the period into perfect balance. During his second inaugural address, presented on March 4, 1865, Lincoln eloquently expressed his desire
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.
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Whether Lincoln could have consummated his vision of “malice toward none, with charity for all” will forever remain unknown.