His 105 - Abraham Lincoln from Emancipation to Assignation

Abraham Lincoln from Emancipation to Assignation

History 105

Dr. Charles Johnson

May 3, 2011

Works Cited

Henretta, James. America a concise History. Bedford/St.Martin, Boston:2010. Print.

Schurz, Carl, Abraham Lincoln. Riverside Press, New York: 1899. Print.

www.thelibraryofcongress.gov

http://sc94.ameslab.gov/TOUR/alincoln.html

www.wikipedia.org

Abraham Lincoln

Antietam

www.whitehouse.gov

Abraham Lincoln Biography

www.historybuff.com

04-25-1865, New York Tribune Page 1 Lincoln in New York

04-25-1865, New York Herald Page 1 Lincoln in New York

05-03-1865, New York Tribune Page 1 the capture of Booth

07-08-1865, Philadelphia Inquirer Page 1 Conspirators Huge

www.historychannel.com

Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln is assassinated

Lincoln is shot

www.historyplace.com

Lincoln time line

Foot Notes

Henretta, James. America a concise History. Bedford/St.Martin, Boston:2010. Print. (7 Pg. 410)

www.thelibraryofcongress.gov

Abraham Lincoln

(4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16)

http://sc94.ameslab.gov/TOUR/alincoln.html

Abraham Lincoln

( 3, 5,)

www.wikipedia.org

(1, 2, 13)

Abraham Lincoln

Antietam

www.whitehouse.gov

Abraham Lincoln Biography

(6)

April 15, 1865 a country barely recovering from death is plunged into a new type of morning. Just as the guns were falling silent after years of civil war the man who had held the country together through thick and thin has been killed due to an assassin's bullet. During Abraham Lincolns 4 years in the White House the United States had changed forever, despite being changed by civil war it was a single country again and slavery the ultimate cause of the war had been banished into memory. Now Abraham Lincoln the 16th president had joined 620,000 of his countrymen as a victim of the war. As his funeral train approached Springfield Illinois it was completing a great American journey one that had begun in complete obscurity.

Abraham Lincoln and his legion were born in the forbidding frontier woods of Kentucky on February 12, 1809. (1) As a young lawyer along with other lawyers he covered a 500 mile circuit twice a year on horseback. Lincoln became known for hard work and honesty. The other lawyers called him honest Abe. (2)

In 1846 Abraham Lincoln entered politics at the national level winning the Whig nomination for a safe congressional seat. It was in Washington DC that Lincoln had his first encounter with slavery. He could not walk from his boarding house to the capital without seeing the slave auction houses. It was at this time that Lincoln proposed a referendum to end slavery in the capital. He soon dropped the idea though when it won almost no support in congress. After serving just one term in congress Lincoln had found himself back in Springfield Illinois as a lawyer. It was agreed in advance that the Whig party would rotate his seat. (3)

Being out of politics put Lincoln into a deep depression. Although out of office Lincoln was keeping a close watch on the political scene he was looking to reenter politics this chance would not come for him until 1854 and again the topic would be slavery.

By 1854 slavery was a hot political topic in America especially when congress stated that Kansas and Nebraska which were designated as free states then became open to slavery. This outraged Lincoln and other northerners. Lincoln publically argued against slavery's expansion on moral grounds. Lincoln believed slavery made true democracy impossible, but he also had political motives for opposing slavery.

Lincoln knew that many northerners who were voters feared slavery's expansion. Lincoln proposed an idea of colonization of all slaves. (4) This idea would involve the freeing of all slaves the gathering of them in one central location and shipping them back to Africa where they came from.

Northerners wanting to stop the expansion of slavery formed a new political party named the republicans with Lincoln leading the way. In 1858 Abraham Lincoln was named Republican Senate candidate challenging the Illinois candidate Steven Douglas who argued for slavery. As Lincoln began his campaign the slavery issue became violent between Pro and Anti slavery settlers in the new territories. When the Democrats won the state majority, Douglas kept his senate seat and Lincoln returned to his legal office. (5)

Soon after his lose against Douglas, Lincolns name was mentioned throughout the political arena for president. At first Lincoln laughed at the idea of becoming president be after talking to his colleagues for several months he began to consider the idea. Several months had passed and Abraham Lincoln had begun speaking throughout the country.

At the Republican convention in Chicago, Lincoln was not the front runner but many delegates believed that he was the most electable. Lincoln trailed on the delegates 1st and 2nd votes but won on the 3rd.

The campaign