Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States

“Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.”- Abraham Lincoln

“I walk slowly, but I never walk backward. “- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln Family and Background

• Born in on February 12, 1809 in Hodgenville, Kentucky and died April 15, 1865 at the age of 56

• Son of Nancy Hanks Lincoln and Thomas Lincoln • Lincoln married Mary Todd Lincoln, they had 4 children Robert Todd Lincoln, Edward Baker Lincoln, William Wallace Lincoln and Thomas Lincoln.• Robert Todd Lincoln was the only one to survive

to adulthood• Mary Todd Lincoln was born on December 13, 1818 into a wealthy family, family disapproved of her marriage to Lincoln because he was poor• Thomas Lincoln was a farmer in Kentucky who married

Nancy Hanks and had 3 children, Sarah, Abraham and Thomas (died as a child), 1818 Nancy died of milk sickness, Thomas remarried to Sarah Bush Johnston

• Robert Todd Lincoln was born August 1, 1843 and graduated from Harvard College to become later a successful lawyer and businessman

• Edward Baker Lincoln, William Wallace Lincoln and Thomas Lincoln, all died at a young age of 3, 11, and 18

Lincoln’s Political Rise

• 1832- Lincoln ran for a Illinois House of Representatives seat a Whig party member, but lost• 1834- Lincoln won the seat in the Illinois legislature, 1854 elected again • 1846- Lincoln was elected as United States Representative in Illinois• 1849-1854, Lincoln became one of the most successful lawyers in Illinois• Lincoln liked the Wilmot Proviso, who opposed slavery in the territory, Mexican Cession• 1856- Lincoln left the Whig party and became a Republican• He opposed Stephen A. Douglas in Douglas' for re-election to the U. S. Senate• Lincoln vs. Douglas led to 7 debates such as Lincoln‘s "House Divided" speech that says

slavery was a violation to the Declaration of Independence • Lincoln lost but he established himself as a national figurehead for the "free-soil" position• 1860- Lincoln received the Republican nomination to presidency, opposing Stephen Douglas• Lincoln got his support from the North but had no Southern support• November 6, 1860 becoming the 1st Republican President • With his Presidency he not only gained his title but the problem of seceding states

Domestic Policy Issues• Crittenden Compromise -a series of constitutional amendments, it guarantees slavery in U.S.

Lincoln took action by telling party leaders to make no decision on the expansion of slavery defeating the compromise by the Republican controlled Congress

• March 4, 1861 Lincoln’s inaugural speech promised no interference with slavery and asked the Southerners not to be enemies

• "Anaconda strategy” was Lincoln’s strategy for winning the Civil War by cornering the Confederacy by securing border states and invade the South

• To win Lincoln took the initiative to win with 7 ideas in mind1. Right Generals- he wanted generals who could win battles, pursue defeated armies, and

engage the enemy no matter the cost in lives or materials, he found Ulysses S. Grant and is protégé General William Sherman

2. Raising Soldiers- March 1863, the Union passed a conscription law to require military service, but nearly 2/3rds of new soldiers were volunteers, until the draft was issued but 25% of the drafted from 1863-1865 hired substitutes, 45% were let go for health reasons, and 25% skipped the draft, resulting about 7% of drafted actually serving

3. Preparing the Economy for War- Lincoln had the cabinet prepare the economy for war, but by the end of the war, the U.S. borrowed $2.6 billion, the first war in American history of mass financing for defense and war.

Union vs. Confederacy

4. Disagreement Homebound- Opposition to Lincoln‘s policies by Peace Democrats, Democrats who disliked the central laws and measures supported by the Republican majority in Congress, before the war Lincoln gave an order that all people who discouraged army enlistment or engaged in disloyal practices would be subject to martial law

5. Conducting War- Confederates made the ultimatum that they will either execute the captured black soldiers or send them back to slavery but Lincoln countered with the threat that for every black executed one Confederate solider will be killed

6. Bringing Back States- Lincoln brought back states by pardoning all southern whites (except for government officials and high-ranking military officers) who swore an oath of allegiance to the U. S. and accepted the abolition of slavery, and if the number of white males swearing allegiance to the Union was 10%, that group could form a new state government

7. Slavery Problem During the War- Lincoln promised not to interfere with slavery because he needed to keep 4 slave states Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, Lincoln tried to meet the demands without losing the border slave states by proposing a gradual emancipation program where the federal government would pay loyal slave masters in loyal border states for voluntarily emancipating their slaves, the border states refused to accept the plan

• July 22, 1862 Lincoln announced to his cabinet that he would issue an Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in rebellious areas, and it would be a Union objective to destroy slavery within the Confederate South

• Lincoln signed the Second Confiscation Act passed by Congress, that seized and liberated all slaves held by people who supported the rebellion, this bill however exempted loyal slave owners in the Confederacy

• May 20, 1862 Lincoln signed the Homestead Act which gave any adult citizen (or person intending to become a citizen) who had a family could obtain a grant of 160 acres of public by paying a small registration fee and living on the land for five years

Foreign Policy Issues• Lincoln's military strategy in the war rested on an effective blockade of the South's 3,500

miles of shoreline, by the end of the war Lincoln had commissioned about 500 ships, which captured or destroyed around 1500 blockade runners,, but 5 out of 6 blockade runners evaded capture, enough to allow Britain to argue that it was a "paper blockade" not recognizable by international law, most of the cargo was lightweight luxury items, small munitions, and medicine

• the blockade's became a major foreign policy question in the 1st few years of war, the Confederacy expected England to escort Confederate cotton vessels or Britain to send merchants and war ships to southern ports to pick up cotton, to quicken the interference, the Confederacy informally cut off most cotton exports in 1861, England took no official action to break the blockade and even tolerated the seizure by the Union of British ships trading with the Confederacy, nor did England ever officially extend diplomatic recognition to the Confederacy

• The failure of England and other European countries to officially support the Confederacy without a conclusion didn’t mean that no aid was extended from England to the Confederacy war effort, several times during the war both England and France came close to intervening, but thanks to the skills of America's minister to England, Charles Francis Adams, the grandson of President John Adams and the son of President John Quincy Adams, he kept England out of the war

Help? Yes? No? Maybe?

• The first crisis was when England declared neutrality which rested on the logic of the Union's declared blockade, and according to England's reasoning , Lincoln proclaimed the Confederacy as rebels and thus not recognizable under international law as a hostile power engaged in war, his declared blockade was an act of war which means Lincoln actually granted hostile status to the Confederacy and thereby forced foreign powers to do the same

• By proclaiming neutrality England gave the Confederacy the status of a nation in war power and other European nations became neutral

• War status gave the Confederacy the right, according to international law (signed by European nations after the Crimean War in 1856), to loans and the purchases of arms from neutral nations and it allowed England to provide safe harbors for both Union and Confederate warships and merchant vessels, to build blockade runners and warships for the Confederacy, and debate in Parliament the respect of active intervention

• For the rest of the war English shipbuilders constructed dozens of blockade runners for the Confederacy as well as several warships

• In the summer of 1862, a group of European nations (Britain, France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia ) came close to offering to help in the war which would have been equivalent to recognizing the Confederacy's independence, but it never came

Success and Failures• 1832- Failure/Defeated for state legislature; Success/Elected company captain of Black Hawk

War Illinois militia• 1833- Failure/Failed in business; Success/ Made postmaster of New Salem, Illinois and deputy

surveyor of Sangamon County• 1834- Success/Elected Illinois state legislature• 1836- Failure/Has nervous breakdown; Success/Re-elected Illinois state and received license

to practice law in Illinois state courts• 1837- Success/Led Whig to moving Illinois state capital from Vandalia to Springfield• 1838- Failure/Defeated for Speaker; Success/Nominated for Illinois House Speaker by Whig

caucus and re-elected to Illinois House and served as Whig floor leader• 1839- Success/Chosen presidential elector by first Whig convention and practice law in U.S.

Circuit Court • 1840- Success/ 1ST case in Illinois Supreme Court and re-elected to Illinois state legislature• 1842- Success/Practiced law in U.S. District Court• 1843- Failures/Defeated for nomination in Congress

Whose the failure now?

• 1844- Success/Established own law practice with William H. Herndon as junior partner• 1846- Success/Elected to Congress• 1848- Failure/Lost re-nomination• 1849- Failure/Rejected for land officer; Success/Practice law in U.S. Supreme Court and

declined appointment as secretary and then as governor of Oregon Territory• 1854- Failure/Defeated for U.S. Senate; Success/Elected to Illinois state• 1856- Failures/Defeated for nomination for Vice President • 1858- Failures/Defeated again for U.S. Senate• 1860- Success/Elected President

Fearless“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” – Abraham Lincoln

“I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back.” – Abraham Lincoln

“ That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.” – Abraham Lincoln

“To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men.” – Abraham Lincoln

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” –Abraham Lincoln

Definition of fearless: ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Lincoln’s Impact • Abraham Lincoln started the building blocks towards equality to everyone no matter their

race, ethnicity, religion or skin color• If not for Lincoln's attribute towards humanity, famous African Americans would not have

the freedom to speak up like Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez or Rosa Parks therefore they would never impact their cause further and never become famous

• Martin, Cesar and Rosa would not have the freedom, even though limited, to walk down the street, or make public speeches or even the freedom to do a simple task like riding the bus

• Abraham Lincoln’s hard work during the Civil War and in supporting the slaves the future of all colored people , are shown through his words in his famous Emancipation Proclamation for anyone to see for eternity

• Lincoln could run for presidency today because the world could use the willpower and strength that he possessed in his climax in history

• Lincoln’s ideals will never die and neither will the freedom that he gave to all those who supported him

Lincoln’s Cabinet • Lincoln's Cabinet was made up of all of his major rivals for the Republican nomination for

President in 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Simon Cameron, and Edward Bates• Some men had the position promised to them by Lincoln because of negotiations at the

Republican national convention that May • Differences over ideology, ethics and personality worried the Cabinet especially Simon

Cameron who was accused because of his reputation for political and financial shenanigans but he was later replaced by Edwin Stanton

• Lincoln grew closest to two men who were once his critics, Seward and Edwin Stanton• Seward and Gideon Welles were the only two Cabinet secretaries to remain in office while

Lincoln’s presidency but both left with President Andrew Johnson in 1869• All the Cabinet members, except Cameron, served until the reading of the draft

Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862 • Lincoln had little social interaction with his Cabinet but the time Lincoln spent with his

Cabinet members cause only jealousy and rivalry between members

Lincoln’s Election of 1860• Lincoln fought Douglas for presidency in the election of 1860• The main issue that was debated was slavery since slavery was

on everyone's minds caused by the Kansas-Nebraska Act 6 years prior of the election and also brought Lincoln back into politics after an upset in Congress

• Lincoln opposed Douglas for legislation in 1858, but after 7 debates that gave Lincoln his name in politics, he lost to Douglas

• Lincoln wanted to lead the Republicans but he needed the support of the Illinois delegation at the state Republican convention in Decatur in early May 1860 and he did just that

• Lincoln gained the nomination over William Seward and ran against Hannibal Hamlin• Lincoln opposes Stephen A. Douglas, and John C.

Breckenridge both Democrats, the Know-Nothing Party nominated John Bell

• Even though the South did not support Lincoln, he did very well in the North and even though he gained less than 40% of the popular vote, he won in the electoral college

• Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, the Civil War began the next month

Interesting Facts on Abraham Lincoln• His home state in Illinois• He was president for 4 years from 1861-1865 until he was assassinated by John Booth• He was the first president to be assassinated• He was depressed, even though he would told stories and jokes to friends and family. • He was the tallest U.S president at 6ft 4 inches.• Even though he was strong, a wrestler, and good with an axe, Lincoln disliked killing and

harming animals, even for food • He was the first president to have a beard.• One week before his death, he dreamed of someone crying in the

White House, and when he found the room, he looked in and asked who had died and a man in the room said the President, and when he looked in the coffin, he saw his own face

• Saved by neighbor when he almost drowned in Knob’s Creek as a child• Lincoln liked animals, and had is own horses, cats, dogs and a turkey• Lincoln was afraid of dentists because one broke

off part of his jawbone by pulling a tooth• He is the only U.S. president to hold a patient, when he

came up with an idea that would help steamboats float over sandbars while traveling on rivers in 1849

• He was colorblind

(Abraham with his horse “Old Bob” at D.C.)

Bibliography

• Pictures - Google Images• Quotes – www.brainyquote.com• Background/Family – www.alincoln-library.com• Rise in Politics – spider.georgetowncollege.edu and americanhistory.suite101.com • Domestic Issues – millercenter.org• Foreign Issues – millercenter.org • Success/Failures – showcase.netins.net • Cabinet – www.mrlincolnwhitehouse.org • Elections – history1800s.about.com• Facts – www.alincoln-library.com and web54.sd54.k12.il.us/

Team Abraham Lincoln

Brittney Burton, Gyssell Sosa, Ashley Andrade