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Lincoln’s Presidency
"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with
firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right,
let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up
the nation's wounds....” —Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)
• Qualifications: Lawyer
and member of Illinois
state legislature. Served
in the House of
Representatives.
• Formed and unified the
new Republican party.
• Was elected as President
in 1860. Was the 16th
President of the USA.
• Seven states seceded
before his inauguration,
beginning with S.
Carolina in December
1860.
Civil War Begins
• In Lincoln’s Inaugural
Address, he stated that
secession was illegal and
that he would use force to
maintain possession of
federal property.
• Battle of Fort Sumter-(April 1861). Confederate
troops successfully
attacked this federal fort in
S. Carolina.
• When the Ft. Sumter fell,
Lincoln called for states to
send troops to recapture
forts and preserve the
Union.
Lincoln’s Controversial Policies:
1.
2.
3.
Blockaded Southern
ports without Congress’
approval.
Suspended the writ of
Habeas Corpus. (Must
be formally charged
with a crime to be
imprisoned).
Imprisoned 18,000
Confederate
sympathizers without
trial.
Increased and financed
the Federal Army and
Navy without
Congressional
permission.
The Conscription Act of 1863
•
•
•
Lincoln began drafting
soldiers between the
ages of 20-45 years
for three year terms.
Officially let drafted
men hire substitutes to
fight for them or they
could pay a fee of
$300 to avoid serving
in the army.
Question: Who is
fighting the war?
Financing the War: The North
• Increased protective tariff
rates: to promote the
consumption of domestic
products and gather
revenue from the purchase
of foreign goods.
• Passed excise taxes on “sin
and luxury items like: liquor,
tobacco, playing cards, and
jewelry.
• Sold war bonds to banks
and wealthy citizens.
• Printed Greenbacks—paper
money with no gold
backing.
• Temporary income tax
Financing the War: The South
• Did not have a lot of liquid
capital like specie. Land
and slaves comprised the
bulk of southern capital
• Unsuccessful in raising
money through taxes.
Why?
• Tried to sell war bonds:
unsuccessful.
• Relied on printing press:
The Confederate States of
America and various
states printed lots of paper
money—this led to
inflation. Money became
worthless.
Emancipation Proclamation
• The preliminary version was issued on Sept. 22, 1862 after the
Battle of Antietam. (where Union troops turned back a
Confederate invasion of Maryland)
• Only gave Lincoln the legal basis to free slaves in the
Confederate states that were still in rebellion.
• Allowed African Americans to join the Union army. By the war’s
end ~ 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the
Union.
• Transformed the character of the war: now fighting to end slavery
and save the union.
The Gettysburg Address
• Lincoln’s speech occurred in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on
November 19, 1863-- four months after the bloody Battles
of Gettysburg and Vicksburg.
• Gave the aims of war: 1. The nation shall be whole again.
2. The dead should be honored.
• Excerpt from speech:
“we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,
or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long
endure…We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a
final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that
nation might live…we here highly resolve that these dead shall
not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a
new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the
people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Gettysburg Address: Photo
Lincoln’s Re-election
• General William T.
Sherman’s Atlantic
Campaign: Captured and
burned the city of Atlanta,
Georgia in September
1864. Began the military
strategy known today as
“Total War.”
• This military success
helped Lincoln to win a
second term in the election
of 1864.
• Lincoln appointed a great
general, Ulysses S. Grant,
as commander of all Union
forces in March 1864.
The War’s End
• April 9, 1865-- General Lee surrenders the Confederate Army of
North Virginia to General Grant at the town of Appomattox, Virginia.
• The terms of surrender were very generous:
– No one was arrested for treason.
– Confederate soldiers could return to their homes.
– They could keep their horses/mules for spring planting.
– Grant provided Lee’s starving army with food.
• Grant would not let his men cheer in celebration. He said that “The
Confederates are now our countrymen, and we do not want to exult
over their downfall."
Lincoln’s Assassination
• April 14, 1865 at Ford’s
Theater by southern
sympathizer John Wilkes
Booth.
• Lincoln was martyred after
his death.
• V.P. Andrew Johnson, a
Southern Democrat,
becomes President.
• Worsened conditions for the
South during reconstruction
because Lincoln would have
made kinder policies.
• Radical Republican
Congress now wants to
punish the South.
Civil War Results
1. 13th Amendment: outlawed slavery.
2. 14th Amendment: Secured the rights of former slaves.
Guaranteed due process and equal protection under the law.
3. 15th Amendment: “Suffrage shall not be denied on account of
race.”
4. Reconstructed the union—doctrine of secession discredited
5. Expanded the role of the executive branch of government.
6. 620,000 men died and even more wounded.
7. South was destroyed physically, socially, and economically.