Abraham Lincoln: America's Greatest President

Pawan Panth

HIST 1311-014

15 September, 2015

Dr. David M. Watry

Lincoln-The President

Widely considered as one of the three greatest presidents of the United States, Abraham Lincoln is the sixteenth President of the country. Serving from March 4, 1861 to the day of his assassination-April 15, 1865, he led the country through its most traumatic phases of the history- The American civil war and in the process he fostered the American Union process, abolished the slavery and managed to strengthen the federal government.

Lincoln’s presidency was already challenging even before he set to begin his tenure, and it went on to increase and increase throughout his time. Despite being little prepared for the war he became responsible for both the political

and military sides of the war. Lincoln, with his sheer leadership skills and far-sightedness, was able to control the revolutionary forces that came as the reaction of his election. Despite being open to political compromise, as a war-president he was stern against any kind of compromises in the territory of this country. During his swearing, before taking his office as the President he declined all the resolution that meant segregating the Southern states from the American Union.
Abraham Lincoln was adamant about the American Union and wanted his country to be unified. Taking the executive control of the war and making the strategies to suppress the rebellions by himself, he showed his shrewd skills. Even when he faced unforeseen military and political crisis, he didn’t crack, instead he used his unprecedented powers and responded as the Commander-in-Chief. He also made sure that the internal wars do not break out as an international affair. Abraham Lincoln, by all means, wanted his country to get over the domestic war and he made sure it happened in his tenure, in turn he went on to keep his country unified by making the Southern rebellion states to surrender their revolution for secession. Thus, Lincoln successfully overcame the war and kept his nation united despite the major setback that came to his way.
Abraham Lincoln always wanted all men to be free, that is, he wanted to abolish the unpopular and deep-rooted slavery from the United States.

He was well aware that the Constitution gave the entire right to abolish the slavery to the individual states. He knew the central government could do nothing about that. But the constitution had also provided these rights to the Commander-in-Chief, the war-president and thus he exercised his power to pass the famous “Emancipation Proclamation” through his cabinet citing it as a necessary military measure during the domestic war prevailing in the country. The “Emancipation Proclamation”, which later became the thirteenth amendment of the Co.nstitution, freed the slaves of all rebel states and outlawed the slavery forever. Not only freeing them, he also ensured they were protected and had the resources to live, first through the military protection and later by letting them enter into the militia. This was probably the best thing Abraham Lincoln did in his Presidency as far as the human liberty is concerned. In the international arena, Abraham Lincoln is best known outside the United States for his stand against slavery and abolishing it with his astute way despite the constitutional limitations against

him.
Internet shows various perspectives on Abraham Lincoln. Some call him the best president the United States ever had, whereas some call him a constitutional violator as he went against norms of most of the founder, if not all, of the constitution and destroyed the constitution. But if you look at the situation he was put into by James Buchanan, the fifteenth US president who was succeeded by Lincoln, it seems legit. Buchanan left the situation of war to be solved by itself, which it never would so Lincoln had to take the charge of the war so that the war would cause as less damage as possible. The war had hit the peak and had he stayed less active and not exercised his executive powers, the war wouldn’t have ended and who knows, the Slavery system would prevail for how many more years, had he stayed just “by the book”. For an executive head it is always necessary to use his head to tackle this kind of big national problems, just relying on the constitution could have aggravated the national disease. So, as far as I could analyze Abraham Lincoln, despite being wrong according to the constitution he took the right stand by taking the executive rights on his hand because doing bad for bad is unacceptable but doing something bad for the sake of good is something can be called an intelligent ploy, and this is not about a good to an individual or small community, it is a good to the whole nation-the United States.
Out of the 43 Presidents the United States have had, Abraham Lincoln is considered as one of the best three Presidents, if not the best.

His vision, his shrewdness, his active involvement in taking the military as well as political control of the war saw the nation getting rid of the war quickly than expected. He managed to keep the country united despite the secession of the Southern states, and thus made the country what it is now today. If it were not for his brilliance, we would never know how the country would have been today. He made the Federal government stronger, built the military strength. Yet, the thing the stands out in my opinion, is his contribution to the liberty of Black people, the slaves. He extricated the deep-seated slavery system from the society and outlawed it forever. So, it would not be illogical to say that Abraham Lincoln’s presidency was a boon to the United States of

America.