16. ABRAHAM LINCOLN (My Mama Told Me I Was Great)
Born: February 12, 1809, Hodgenville, Kentucky
Died: April 15, 1865, Washington, DC (assassinated)
Term: March 4, 1861- April 15, 1865
Political Party: Republican
Vice President(s): Hannibal Hamlin, Andrew Johnson
First Lady: Mary Todd Lincoln
Before the Presidency: As the stories say, Abraham Lincoln was indeed born in a log cabin and, unlike most of the previous Presidents, he really did come from humble means. His struggling family moved from Kentucky to Indiana when Lincoln was young, his beloved mother died when he was nine, but he lucked out when his father remarried a woman who took to young Abe, encouraging him on matters such as his education.
Lincoln was a self-educated man. He also learned the values of hard work while growing up on the farm. And, while, he argued constantly with his father, there was no doubt the love was there.
So, while poor, but with the love of family, young Lincoln was ready for the world at age seventeen, he worked on a ferryboat. This enabled Lincoln to build his own flatboat and transported produce to New Orleans.
Meanwhile, his family, and Abe, moved near Decatur, Illinois. Later, Abe would run his independent flatboat business, then move to New Salem, Illinois. This is where his political career would begin.
Many of the stories, perhaps even myths, originated from New Salem. Lincoln started modestly enough as a general store clerk, took on the town bully, and amazed the town with not only his ability at splitting rails, but with his intelligence and wit. People admired the young Lincoln for his reading and writing abilities not to mention his easygoing personality.
It led Lincoln to embark on a political career and he ran for the State Legislature. The Black Hawk war interceded, however, and he joined in the fight against the Indians. He was named as a temporary Captain which he later felt was a bigger honor than the Presidency itself. Still, even as he served three short stints, the last one as a Private where he attempted to spy on Chief Black Hawk himself, he ended up having seen no action, and his political career was put on hold.
So, Lincoln happily accepted his lot in life and embarked on a law career. He passed the bar in 1836 and was quite successful at arguing cases on behalf of the less fortunate. He became active in the Whig Party, serving as secretary at local meetings.
Even though Lincoln was a Whig, he attracted the attention of some National figures including Democratic President Andrew Jackson. Jackson appointed Lincoln as Postmaster of New Salem. No Democrat wanted the job and Lincoln was a noted non-partisan, so he was perfect for the job.
The non-partisan ship didn’t last for long, though I’m sure he tried. In 1834, he did get elected to the Illinois State Legislature where he was one of the many who took a stand on a bill that condemned abolitionists. Lincoln was one of the legislators to oppose the bill and, for the first time, that would make him some enemies.
But it made him even more friends. He spoke against violence when a mob killed an abolitionist trying to defend his printing press.
Still, Lincoln hadn’t quite evolved. Sensing the racist attitudes of his state overall, Lincoln, as a supporter of William Henry Harrison, blasted President Van Buren of having supported the vote of free blacks in his home state of New York. Though an opponent of slavery himself, Lincoln did not support citizenship for blacks in general.
Lincoln served four terms as a State Legislator and then took some time off, but in 1846, ran for the US House of Representatives and won. Abe Lincoln was going to Washington.
And his tenure in the House started with a bang. He spoke against the Mexican-American War. In the end, he only served one term, knowing that as a Whig, he had no chance at being either a Senator or Governor.
But Lincoln kept coming back like a bad penny (or was it a bad five dollar bill?). Anyway, he campaigned for Zachary Taylor in 1848. After a few more years as a lawyer, he returned to the state legislature in 1854 but lost his bid for the US Senate soon after.
With the Whig party now crumbling. Lincoln joined the fledgling Republican Party, and he instantly became a major player. He agreed with the party’s stands against slavery, support of the repeal of the Kansas-Nebraska act, supported the admission of Kansas as a free state, and condemning the Ostend Manifesto.
Lincoln was nominated as a favorite son candidate for Vice- President in 1856. Of course, he didn’t win, but he would stump for the Republican candidate, John Fremont.
Lincoln would also lose his bid to become Senator in 1858, but he was about to hit the national stage like never before.
For this was the year of the famous Lincoln- Douglas debate and it became something of a national sensation. Here was little giant Douglas, touting the pro-slavery line and a major player of the Compromise of 1850. Then you had the tall, lanky, but underdog Lincoln, while, not a true abolitionist, vehemently opposing slavery, going as far as to call it immoral. Lincoln also advocated for the preservation of the Union, and it was here where he gave his house divided cannot stand speech.
But it was on the slavery issue where Lincoln really shined. While other anti-slavery advocates had shown eloquence on the matter, no one had dared to call slavery out and out immoral. And while Lincoln accepted that slavery would have to exist where it was legal, he wouldn’t accept any expansion of it in the Western territories. To Lincoln, and while he didn’t see blacks as actual equals (very few whites, even Republicans, did), he did see slavery itself as a matter of right and wrong. In other words, even if he didn’t quite agree with black voting rights and such, he did believe in their right to exist as free people.
Lincoln’s moral stand against slavery was provocative to say the least, and while it may have cost him a chance at the Senate, it most likely improved his chances at the biggest prize of all.
Summary of offices held:
1832-1834: Postmaster, New Salem, Illinois
1834-1842: Illinois House of Representatives
1847-1849: US House of Representatives
What was going on: the Civil war in a nutshell,
Scandals within the administration: Cameron corruption scandal
Why he was a good President: Well, he freed the slaves, didn’t he?
Why he was a bad President: In his determination to restore the Union, he pushed through a controversial conscription act and, worse, suspended the writ of habeas corpus making it easier to arrest war critics, and more than 600,000 people died on his watch.
What could have saved his Presidency: Well, let’s see, he freed the slaves, he kept the Union together at great cost to his own mental health, and he strengthened the economy, one of the perks of having a war, I guess. Gee, I don’t know what could have possibly saved his Presidency. Oh, yeah, how about a better Secret Service?
What could have destroyed his Presidency: Losing the Civil War obviously. Also, if he had stuck to his original intent of simply not expanding slavery, he certainly would not have become the folk hero we know of today. Fortunately, though, this was a man of great conscience and I’m pretty sure his intent on freeing all the slaves was genuine.
Election of 1860: After losing out to Douglas for the Senate seat, Lincoln actively campaigned for numerous Republican candidates and would find himself a major face in party politics. It would be to no one’s surprise that he would be a viable candidate for President.
Not that he was the favorite for the nomination, for that belonged to one William Seward. Like Lincoln, he was an unabashed foe of slavery and, also like Lincoln, took a moral stand against the practice.
But Seward also had his baggage, mainly in the form of his friendship of Boss Thurlow Weed (remember him?). Weed, no doubt, had a lot to do with Seward’s success as he was a former Governor and still a sitting Senator. Some Republicans weren’t exactly very crazy about this chummy relationship. The midwestern Republicans feared the stain of political corruption, and that would indeed become an issue in the post-Civil War years. Seward’s support for Irish Immigrants didn’t help him with the anti-immigrant wing of his party either (though I’ll peg him up a notch in my book).
Seward entered as the favorite at the Chicago convention, but he almost instantly had to contend with a stop Seward movement. Lincoln supplied the opposition and Seward led after the first ballot, but, oh, that pesky two thirds rule. Lincoln’s campaign managers were told that he would “authorize no bargains nor would he be bound by one.” The delegates rounded support anyway, and Lincoln would end up nominated on the third ballot, Hannibal Hamlin being picked as Lincoln’s running mate.
On the Democratic side, they would ultimately decide on Stephen Douglas, he of the now famous Lincoln-Douglas debate. He had alienated Southern Democrats when he went against the Kansas slavery overthrow tactic (No wiggle room with these guys). If you think there was a divide between North and South, just look at the Democrats of 1860. With their own two thirds rule, the South had hoped to vote in a bloc and deny Douglas the nomination. But Douglas knew if he acquiesced and endorsed a federal slave code for the territories, he would lose the Northern delegates. So, the plank failed, and fifty Southern delegates walked out. The convention was postponed until June, and they would convene again in Baltimore.
In Baltimore, the convention was again divided, Douglas won on two counts, he won over which delegation from Charleston would be recognized and he again was able to defeat the radical slavery code plank. This time, he would be nominated on the second ballot over Vice President Breckenridge. Herschel Johnson would be nominated as Vice President as he supported both states’ rights and unionism (he would later become a Confederate Senator, so much for being a Unionist).
The split seemed irreversible as Southern Democrats formed their own party and nominated John Breckenridge for President. The former Whigs, not to be outdone, nominated their own candidate, one John Bell of Tennessee, a former Speaker of the House.
The general campaign started out quietly enough. Three of the candidates went with tradition and let their delegates speak for them. Douglas, on the other hand, actively campaigned, but he may have regretted it. For, the burning question for his audiences was what would happen should Lincoln get elected.
And indeed, that was the burning issue, because many of the Southern states were threatening to secede and, if Lincoln were elected, secession would be likely a foregone conclusion. But Lincoln and the Republicans stuck to their moral values, and even though no Southern State had Lincoln even on the ballot, he would take all but one of the Northern states. Douglas, though second in the popular vote, would take only one state, Missouri, John Breckenridge turning out to be Lincoln’s biggest competitor.
So, Lincoln won but the die was cast, and Southern states began to secede one by one.
First term: South Carolina was the first to secede. They were quickly followed by Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama. Eventually, eleven states in all left the Union and, a month before Lincoln took office, formed the Confederate States of America. Lincoln responded by promising not to end slavery where it existed but would respond to violence with force.
But the Confederates responded with a Constitution of their own with an edit that outlawed the outlawing of slavery. Oh, these guys were good.
And, a month later, as Lincoln ordered the resupply of Fort Sumter, a post off the coast of South Carolina, the Confederate Army launched an attack, thus, starting the American Civil War.
President Lincoln was now a wartime President, and he immediately took the controls as Commander-in- Chief. His main goal was initially just to preserve the Union, but as time went on, he realized that he had to accomplish more than just that. In essence, he would have to free the slaves.
Of course, they knew this in the South, and it resulted in the bloodiest war in American history. When it was finally over in 1865, six hundred thousand soldiers on both sides would lay dead.
The final states would secede to form the Confederate states. Thanks to some political maneuvering, five border states that had been also slave states stayed in the Union and two of the states, Maryland and Delaware, would ultimately align with the more liberal North as time went on. Virginia, meanwhile, would break in two, as Unionists formed the state of West Virginia.
As the war dragged on, Lincoln would name George McClellan as Commander of the Union Army. He would be known for his indecisiveness and frustrate the President to no end. The Confederates, in the meantime, named Robert E Lee as their commander. He had sworn to side with the Confederates out of loyalty to his state of Virginia. It was certainly the Union’s loss as he proved to be quite the tactical General and he successfully led the Confederate Army all the way into Pennsylvania.
The battle of Antietam proved to be the bloodiest battle of the war. McClellan was successful at preventing Lee’s goal of isolating Washington, but Lincoln was angry that McClellan wouldn’t pursue Lee’s men in retreat. As such, Lincoln would replace McClellan with George Meade.
In the meantime, President Lincoln gave the Confederacy an ultimatum, stop the rebellion or he’d free the slaves.
And, since the rebellion didn’t stop, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation which, well, technically anyway, freed all slaves in the rebellious territories but not in the border slave states that stayed in the Union or in Union occupied Louisiana or Tennessee. Not quite the benevolent charter it is alleged to be, but certainly a first step in the eradication of the sin of slavery.
But Lincoln was still growing and, during his campaign in 1864, he would pledge to push an amendment to eradicate slavery by way of the Constitution- everywhere.
There would be one more interesting moment in Lincoln’s first term. There was the bloody battle of Gettysburg. Here, Lee would be repelled for good but again, he wouldn’t be pursued. Lincoln replaced Meade with General Ulysses S. Grant.
Gettysburg is especially important, not just for the bloody battle, but as the backdrop for Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address.
So, up until now, Lincoln was quite adept as his role as Commander-in- Chief, even if he was a bit impatient.
But he wasn’t perfect. He signed a conscription act which caused quite a bit of rioting in the North. It was also quite controversial as it allowed someone (i.e., someone with money) to pay some poor sucker to fight in the war in his place.
There was also the controversial suspension of Habeas Corpus, which basically meant anyone could be arrested for just about anything without due process or, more to the point, rabble rousing against the war. This wasn’t quite the same as John Adams’ Alien and Sedition Acts, journalists were still allowed to criticize. But protests on the streets in a time of war was a big no-no.
So, with the war going on and with way too many dying, Lincoln’s chances at re-election seemed dim, especially since, by the end of 1863, it seemed as if the Union was losing the war.
Election of 1864: As it turned out, Lincoln did one smart thing in 1863. He dumped George Meade and appointed Ulysses S. Grant as his field general. It would change the face of the war though it wasn’t that evident as 1864 began.
And it was something of a marvel that there could be an election at all. Lincoln no doubt could have easily called it off or at least postponed it, but he believed in the continuance of the work of the nation no matter what. He let the election happen even when it seemed obvious he was going to lose.
And Lincoln wasn’t guaranteed a free ride by even his Republicans. The radical wing distrusted his intents when it came to the slavery issue even as Lincoln was known to have opposed it from a moral standpoint. Still, he won nomination on the first ballot. They would switch back to Lincoln when their own attempt at a political party failed.
As for the Democrats, they declared the Civil War a failure (and, in the summer of 1864, it did appear headed for a stalemate). They called for negotiations with the Confederacy in hopes of restoring the Union (naïve little buggers, weren’t they?). And they responded to Lincoln the best way they knew how, by nominating the fired General, George McClellan.
The campaign from the Democrat side criticized Lincoln not only for his censoring of the wartime press (arguable), the arrest of war critics (true), and the permission to enlist black slaves into the army (oh, for shame). Needless to say, they were in for a big surprise when they found out the North had no problem with the third accusation.
Anyway, even Lincoln didn’t expect to win the election. People were of course weary of the war. But what he didn’t realize was that the campaign slogan of not changing horses at midstream was actually a winner. And, indeed, the Americans knew their monster. What would happen if McClellan became President? A majority of Americans decided they didn’t want to know that answer.
And General Grant proved to be a stroke of genius for President Lincoln. By the time Election Day came around, the tide had turned in favor of the Union. Grant and his Generals, notably General William Sherman, he of the famous Sherman’s March to the Sea, were now doing what McClellan and Meade wouldn’t do, pursue the retreating Confederates.
And, armed with a vow to end slavery forever, Lincoln won in a landslide.
Second Term: As it turned out, in the 1864 campaign, the Republicans pulled one major, devastating mistake though they couldn’t have known it at the time. In an attempt to balance the ticket, and looking ahead to Southern Reconstruction, they nominated a Democrat, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, not ever dreaming that he would become President.
In the meantime, Ulysses Grant laid one final blow to General Lee and the latter surrendered at Appomattox. The Civil War was over. Now President Lincoln could concentrate on healing the nation. As promised, the 13th amendment was introduced which abolished slavery entirely. As for reconstruction, he wanted to give newly freed blacks a chance of a life that whites took for granted while being merciful with the Southerners who likely still opposed him. We’ll never really known what would have happened in a second Lincoln term, but there was absolutely no reason to believe that the future looked bleak, especially if you happened to have been a black slave in the South.
Some actor’s idiot brother had something to say about that though.