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Lincoln's views on slavery
History of Abraham Lincoln and his achievements
Abraham lincoln impact on the united states
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Have you ever wondered how important Lincoln really was in our country's history? Well, according to Russell Freedman, Abraham Lincoln was ambitious. Without Lincoln and his drive, our entire country could have been completely different. Like I said, Lincoln was very ambitious throughout his entire life. I think that he is ambitious because of four reasons, the first reason is for his entire life, he was always ambitious to learn. Another piece of evidence is from a quote from Frederick Douglass, a runaway slave. Thirdly, when Lincoln grew older he worked hard, and came from a poor family to becoming president. My last piece of evidence is about how eager and ambitious Lincoln was towards abolishing slavery. In the book, Lincoln a …show more content…
We all know that Lincoln was a rich and wealthy man when he ran for president, but that's not how his life started as. On page one, it stated that Lincoln was poor growing up, “ At first glance, most people thought he was homely. Lincoln thought so too, referring once to his poor, lean lank face. As a young man about his gawky like, but in time he learned to laugh at himself.” But, on page four, it talked about how rich he became, “Lincoln may have seemed like a common man, but he wasn't. His friends agreed that he was one of the most ambitious people they had ever known. Lincoln struggled hard to rise above his log cabin origins, and he was proud of his achievements. By the time he ran for president, he was a wealthy man earning a large income from his law practice and his many investments.” This shows that he was very eager to grow into a very important and successful person. He did not want to grow up like his family, poor. I believe that he, himself knew that if his dreams were to come true, he would have to work harder than he has ever done, and he was always ready. If I were Lincoln, I would never believe that I would have been able to rise above such a poor childhood. He really must have been ambitious to go from a poor childhood to becoming one of the best presidents that the United States has ever had. Therefore, Lincoln was
Thomas J. DiLorenzo is an economics professor at Loyola College. He has written eleven books, and is very widely published in many magazines and journals. In his book, The Real Lincoln, a twist is placed on the traditional picture of Abraham Lincoln. One of the most famous men in American History, Lincoln was regarded as being many great things, but were these things an accurate depiction of who he really was? As DiLorenzo states, “In the eyes of many Americans, Lincoln remains the most important American political figure in history because the war between the states so fundamentally transformed the nature of American government” (2). Lincoln helped begin a transformation from a small national government to a larger, more centralized one. Perhaps one of the largest misconceptions about Lincoln was his stance on slavery. DiLorenzo goes in depth about this saying, “He (Lincoln) could have ended slavery just as dozens of other countries in the world did during the first sixty years of the nineteenth century, through compensated emancipation, but he never seriously attempted to do so” (9). These two major topics, along with many more, are examined from a different perspective in discovering the man Abraham Lincoln really was.
This reputation describes him as a “self-made” man, coming from a difficult family life. In his early biographies Lincoln portrayed that he came from a poor and uneducated family in which he defied on his path to success. He claimed, “I was born and have ever remained in the most humble walks of life” (Hofstadter 122). By constantly putting himself down, and talking about his previous adversities he “placed himself with the poor, the aged, and the forgotten” (123). However, Hofstadter believed the reasoning behind Lincoln’s constant reminder of his struggles was just to gain sympathy and support in his political career. As historians later found out Lincoln’s family life gave him a much better start than he originally claimed (Winkle 2). Hofstadter set out to prove how Lincoln’s reputation as a “self-made” man was simply just a myth. By using his self-made ethic it advanced not only his political career, it had social and cultural functions as well. He exploited his humble beginnings and people flocked to his word. However, even if Lincoln being self-made was a myth, in believing so it helped to shape the course of Lincoln’s life, to leave his family, to become educated, and to go on to be one of the best president’s in our nation’s
Abraham Lincoln’s original views on slavery were formed through the way he was raised and the American customs of the period. Throughout Lincoln’s influential years, slavery was a recognized and a legal institution in the United States of America. Even though Lincoln began his career by declaring that he was “anti-slavery,” he was not likely to agree to instant emancipation. However, although Lincoln did not begin as a radical anti-slavery Republican, he eventually issued his Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves and in his last speech, even recommended extending voting to blacks. Although Lincoln’s feeling about blacks and slavery was quite constant over time, the evidence found between his debate with Stephen A. Douglas and his Gettysburg Address, proves that his political position and actions towards slavery have changed profoundly.
President Lincoln was elected into presidency at a horrible time for the country but he still fought to do the best he could. After the civil war the main focus of Lincoln was to rebuild the North but still keep the South happy. His plans consisted of making the North's reconstruction a main focal point and distributing 10% of the damages done to the south to aid their reconstruction. President Lincoln thought that the states that seceded last should be given less guilt than the ones who seceded first. He gave more money to Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia and he treated them better because they were the last to secede. Along with his plans for reconstruction came the Radical Republicans who were a small minority in congress. They were very strict on giving all rights to African Americans and wanted to punish the south. All of these ideas and plans for Lincoln were all good ideas and could have been successful but they came to an abrupt end when Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in 1865.
Abraham Lincoln’s greatest challenge during his presidency was preserving the Union during the Civil War after the Southern states seceded from the Union. There were many dividing issues in the U.S. before his election in 1860, and his presidential victory was the final straw that led to the Civil War. The North and the South were already separating due to regional differences, socially, politically, culturally, and economically. Slavery was one of the biggest factors that led to the division between the North and the South. Preserving the Union while half of the country refused to regard federal law while in secession was extremely challenging, yet Abraham Lincoln decided to fight war against the South not only for the sake of abolishing slavery, but most importantly for the sake of preserving the Union. He was dedicated to fighting for the equality of all men in the U.S., as mentioned in his famous Gettysburg Address: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." He used this to argue a basic point: if all men are created equal, then all men are free. His House Divided speech showed his determination to keep the...
On Feburary the 12th 1809 was Abraham Lincoln born in Hodgenville, Kenucky. He grew up in poor circumstances. His parents Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks were little farmers later “Abe” had to work in the farm. For his school education wasn't much time. In December 1816 the Lincolns moved, to the newly admitted state of Indiana. The Lincolns lived in a small, three-sided shelter on Pigeon Creek, sixteen miles north of the Ohio River. There “Abe” learned the use of axe and plow when he had to help his father. Together they built a shelter and a farm out of the hardwood forest. When his mother died in 1818, his father Thomas went back to Kentucky and remarried. His new wife's name was Sarah "Sally" Bush Johnston, a widow from Kentucky. His stepmother bothered for Abrahams school education and took the decision, that Abraham does also something for his school education during his work on the farm. She also gave him on his birthday some books to learn reading. But his father wanted, that Abraham work as a farmer. 1830 he moved out from his family and went to New Salam and worked there as a business person and continued his private study.
Lincoln an outspoken challenger against expansion of slavery, defied and articulated in his campaign issues that supported and encouraged slavery and this made him rise up the political ladder to become one of most powerful president that the American has ever had. According to Angle, et al, 1992, Lincoln has consistently been voted by scholars as the greatest Presidents of the time and history.
An important aspect of Abraham Lincoln’s overall performance is his personal and political background. Concerning his opinions on slavery, his personal background shaped his ideals in a very unique way. James McPherson, author of the short biography Abraham Lincoln, provides some insight into Lincoln’s background, writing that Lincoln’s fathe...
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12th, 1809, in a small county in Kentucky called Hardin which is now known as Larue County. His father, Thomas Lincoln, “was a migratory carpenter and farmer, nearly always poverty-stricken” . His mother, Nancy Hanks, did not play a large role in his life as she passed away when he was nine years old. Thomas Lincoln remarried a woman named Sarah Johnston Bush, who “was a kind and affectionate stepmother to the boy” . During his younger years, Lincoln did not spend much time in school. Overall, “the scattered weeks of school attendance in Kentucky and Indiana amounted to less than a year” . Although he did not attend school, Lincoln was self-educated through books and other sources available to him. Soon after his self-education, Lin...
Abraham Lincoln is perhaps one of the most interesting characters to have ever graced the American political arena and presidency. He is most noteworthy, obviously, for his role in saving the United States from its own destruction and the eradication of the vile Southern tradition of slavery. However, upon deeper inspection, one finds there was much more to Lincoln than his political achievements. Throughout his years as a politician, there's a noticeable shift in terms of his character, and political persona. He seems to go from ambitious and boisterous to being more solemn and reserved. Also, it should be noted that some remark that Lincoln was, quite ironically, both America’s most democratic and autocratic President to have ever held office. However, it seems that though there is abundant evidence for his democratic values, there are little to suggest his autocratic intentions. As though some lines revealing such intent can be found, many are also directly rebutted by powerful democratic rhetoric. All of this can be found in Lincoln’s four main speeches; “A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand”, his Inaugural Addresses and the Gettysburg Address. Basically, in order to properly analyze Lincoln it may be best to look at Lincoln’s personal and political changes within the terms of his antebellum and Civil War “personalities”, as well as to examine his democratic and autocratic leanings; all through scrutinizing Lincoln’s major speeches.
Young Abraham was born February 12, 1809 in Hodgenville Kentucky, a child of the frontier. He was prominently self-educated, he is a very intellectual individual despite the formal education he received as a young adolescent, but even then he seemingly stood out for being more mature or wise for lack of a better word than some would say most children are at that young age. As Lincoln matured into a young adult, he decided to take a dive into a career of being a lawyer, even though he didn’t go to be a lawyer till the end
...ator.’ Rather than to view Lincoln as a man who sought emancipation as a primary goal, which is misleading, we should remember him as a man who rose above the prevailing prejudices of his time to cast away a morally corrupt institution
Abraham Lincoln is regarded by many Americans as the greatest president to ever hold office in the history of the United States, and his reputation is definitely well deserved. Lincoln wasn't scared to stand up and fight for what he knew was right. He was convinced that within the branches of government, the presidency alone was empowered not only to uphold the Constitution, but also to protect, and defend it. Lincoln was able to lead our country and preserve the Union, keeping the United States from splintering during the devastating times of the Civil War. As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization, and he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that changed the war into a battle for freedom and declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy. That November, Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address, which stated how a country must be dedicated to human freedom in order to survive. He dedicated the battlefield to the soldiers who had perished, and called on the living to finish the task the dead soldiers had begun. (Donald, 1995) Lincoln believed that democracy could be a lasting form of government. He showed a nobility of character that had worldwide appeal, and he was a man of great integrity. However, Lincoln was not only the 16th president of the United States, he was an American hero. Lincoln was a well-rounded individual and he had numerous outstanding qualities. However, it is important to remember that Lincoln also led a private life, complete with close friends and family.
There is no doubt that Abraham Lincoln is widely regarded as one of the great American presidents. The general public, when asked about Lincoln, will often tell the tale of a great man. Holding their head high, they will embark on the journey of a benevolent leader, praising the man who envisioned a new America: a great country of racial equality, and the pillar of human liberty. There are some, however, who have quite the opposite view.
Lincoln's use of executive authority during the civil war is many times illegal and unjust; although his issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation may seem justified, Lincoln blatantly abused his power regarding civil rights. He did things like institute an unfair draft, suspend Constitutional rights, allocate military spending without Congress, and institute emancipation. Although some may justify these actions, they stomped on the Constitution.