Abraham Lincoln

president of the United States from 1861 to 1865

Photo by: Alexander Gardner · Public Domain · Wikimedia Commons

Born:February 12, 1809

Died:April 15, 1865

Age at death:56

Manner of death:Homicide

Cause of death:Shot To The Head

Zodiac Sign:Aquarius

Height:2.04 m (6′8″)

Children:4

Born in:Sinking Spring Farm, United States

Residence:Washington, D.C., United States

Buried in:United States

Languages:English, American English

Lawyer Farmer Politician Statesperson Military Officer Postmaster Writer

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Photo credits (3)

Abraham Lincoln:
Photo by: Alexander Gardner · Public Domain · Wikimedia Commons
mary Todd Lincoln:
Photo by: Mary_Todd_Lincoln2.jpg: Mathew Brady derivative work: Materialscientist (talk) · Public Domain · Wikimedia Commons
Robert Todd Lincoln:
Photo by: Unknown author · Public Domain · Wikimedia Commons

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Famous For

Notable Work

Gettysburg Address

Books

Bixby letterThe Suicide's SoliloquyThe Collected Works of Abraham LincolnLincoln DayAbraham Lincolnor Baktrita

Abraham Lincoln

president of the United States from 1861 to 1865

Biography

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defeating the Confederacy and playing a major role in the abolition of slavery. Born in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky, Lincoln was raised on the frontier. He was self-educated and became a lawyer, Illinois state legislator, and U.S. representative. Angered by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854, which opened the territories to slavery, he became a leader of the new Republican Party. He reached a national audience in the 1858 Senate campaign debates against Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election, becoming the first Republican president. His victory prompted a majority of the slave states to begin seceding and form the Confederate States. A month after Lincoln assumed the presidency, Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, starting the Civil War. As a moderate Republican, Lincoln had to navigate conflicting political opinions from contentious factions during the war effort. He closely supervised the Union's strategy and tactics, including the selection of generals and the implementation of a naval blockade of Southern ports. He suspended the writ of habeas corpus in April 1861, an action that Chief Justice Roger Taney found in Ex parte Merryman that only Congress could do, and he averted war with Britain by defusing the Trent Affair. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the slaves in the states "in rebellion" to be free. On November 19, 1863, he delivered the Gettysburg Address, which became one of the most famous speeches in American history. He promoted the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which, in 1865, abolished chattel slavery. Following his re-election in 1864, he sought to heal the war-torn nation through Reconstruction. On April 14, 1865, five days after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, Lincoln was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., becoming the first U.S. president to be assassinated. Lincoln is remembered as a martyr and a national hero for his wartime leadership and for his efforts to preserve the Union and abolish slavery. He is consistently ranked in both popular and scholarly polls as among the greatest presidents in American history.

This biography uses content from the Wikipedia article “Abraham Lincoln”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

Quotes

“Abraham Lincoln his hand and pen he will be good but God knows When”

— Manuscript poem, as a teenager (ca. 1824–1826), in "Lincoln as Poet" at Library of Congress : Presidents as Poets also in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (1953) edited by Roy. P. Basler, Vol. 1

“Abraham Lincoln is my name And with my pen I wrote the same I wrote in both hast and speed and left it here for fools to read”

— Manuscript poem, as a teenager (ca. 1824–1826), in "Lincoln as Poet" at Library of Congress : Presidents as Poets, as published in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (1953) edited by Roy. P. Basler, Vol. 1

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”

Quotes sourced from the Wikiquote article "Abraham Lincoln", available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

Photos

Scholars and enthusiasts alike believe this portrait of Abraham Lincoln, taken on November 8, 1863, eleven days before his famed Gettysburg Address, to be the best photograph of him ever taken. Lincoln’s character was notoriously difficult to capture in pictures, but Alexander Gardner’s close-up portrait, quite innovative in contrast to the typical full-length portrait style, comes closest to preserving the expressive contours of Lincoln’s face and his penetrating gaze. Photograph taken by Alexander Gardner, 1863.

Title: Abraham Lincoln, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left; a detail from portrait showing Lincoln seated in a chair Abstract/medium: 1 photographic print : albumen silver ; 3.5 x 2 in.

Title: Abraham Lincoln from a portrait taken from life by Charles A. Barry, Springfield, Illinois, June 1860 / on stone by J.E. Baker ; J.H. Bufford's Lith. 313 Washington St. Boston. Abstract/medium: 1 print : lithograph.

Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States.

Abraham Lincoln, candidate for U.S. president. Half-length portrait, seated, facing front 1 photograph : ambrotype ; plate 5 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. Thought to be the last beardless portrait of Lincoln, this photo was "made for the portrait painter, John Henry Brown, noted for his miniatures in ivory. ... 'There are so many hard lines in his face,' wrote Brown in his diary, 'that it becomes a mask to the inner man. His true character only shines out when in an animated conversation, or when telling an amusing tale. ... He is said to be a homely man; I do not think so.'" (Source: Ostendorf, p. 62) Published in: Lincoln's photographs: a complete album / by Lloyd Ostendorf. Dayton, OH: Rockywood Press, 1998, p. 62-63. Title devised by Library staff. Gift; A. Conger Goodyear; 1965. Format: Portrait photographs--1860. Ambrotypes--1860.

Abraham Lincoln sat next to his vice president Andrew Johnson at Lincoln's second inauguration. Cropped photo of a photo by Alexander Gardner. Hannibal Hamlin seated left of Johnson. Tall man to the far right is probably Senator John B. Henderson.

Title: Abraham Lincoln, candidate for U.S. president, half-length portrait, looking left, May 20,1860 Abstract/medium: 1 photographic print : gelatin silver.

Title: Abraham Lincoln, candidate for U.S. president, half-length portrait, looking right, May 20,1860 Abstract/medium: 1 photographic print : gelatin silver.