View source for Abraham Lincoln

{{Short description|President of the United States from 1861 to 1865}}
{{Hatnote group|{{Redirect|President Lincoln|the troopship|USS President Lincoln{{!}}USS ''President Lincoln''}}{{Other uses}}}}
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{{Infobox officeholder
| image = Abraham Lincoln 1863 Portrait (3x4 cropped).jpg
| caption = Lincoln in 1863
| alt = Portrait of a bearded Abraham Lincoln showing his head and shoulders
| order = 16th
| office = President of the United States
| vicepresident = {{plainlist|
* {{longitem|[[Hannibal Hamlin]]<br />(1861–1865)}}
* {{longitem|Andrew Johnson<br />(Mar–Apr. 1865)}}
}}
| term_start = March 4, 1861
| term_end = April 15, 1865
| predecessor = [[James Buchanan]]
| successor = [[Andrew Johnson]]
| state1 = [[Illinois]]
| district1 = {{ushr|IL|7|7th}}
| term_start1 = March 4, 1847
| term_end1 = March 3, 1849
| predecessor1 = [[John Henry (representative)|John Henry]]
| successor1 = [[Thomas L. Harris]]
| state_house2 = Illinois
| constituency2 = {{nowrap|from [[Sangamon County, Illinois|Sangamon County]]}}
| term_start2 = December 1, 1834
| term_end2 = December 4, 1842
| predecessor2 = [[Achilles Morris]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1809|2|12}}
| birth_place = [[LaRue County, Kentucky]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1865|4|15|1809|2|12}}
| death_place = Washington, D.C.<!--Links not needed per MOS:OVERLINK-->, U.S.
| death_cause = [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|Assassination by gunshot]]
| occupation = {{hlist|Politician|lawyer}}
| resting_place = [[Lincoln Tomb]]
| party = {{plainlist|
* [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] (before 1856)
* [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (after 1856)
}}
| otherparty = [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union]] (1864–1865)
| height = 6 ft 4 in<ref name=anb>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=American National Biography|title=Lincoln, Abraham|last=McPherson|first=James|date=September 26, 2024|doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0400631}}</ref>
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Mary Todd Lincoln|Mary Todd]]|November 4, 1842}}
| relatives = [[Lincoln family]]
| signature = Abraham Lincoln 1862 signature.svg
| signature_alt = Cursive signature in ink
| allegiance = <!-- United States, Illinois -->
| branch = [[Illinois Militia]]
| serviceyears = April–July 1832
| rank = {{plainlist|
* [[Captain (United States O-3)|Captain]]{{Efn|name="Ranks"|Discharged from command-rank of captain and re-enlisted at rank of private.<ref>{{harvnb|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 67&ndash;68}}.</ref>}}
* [[Private (United States)|Private]]{{Efn|name="Ranks"}}
}}
| battles = [[Black Hawk War]] (see [[Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War]])
}}
'''Abraham Lincoln'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɪ|ŋ|k|ən|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Lincoln.wav}} {{Respell|LINK|ən}}}} (February 12, 1809{{snd}}April 15, 1865) was the 16th [[president of the United States]], serving from 1861 until [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|his assassination]] in 1865. He led the United States through the [[American Civil War]], defeating the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate States]] and playing a major role in the [[End of slavery in the United States|abolition of slavery]].

Lincoln was born into poverty in [[Kentucky]] and raised on the [[American frontier|frontier]]. He was self-educated and became a lawyer, [[Illinois]] state [[Illinois House of Representatives|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 [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]. He reached a national audience in the [[Lincoln–Douglas debates|1858 Senate campaign debates]] against [[Stephen A. Douglas]]. Lincoln won the [[1860 United States presidential election|1860 presidential election]], becoming the first Republican president. His victory prompted a majority of the slave states to begin to [[Secession in the United States|secede]] and form the Confederate States. A month after Lincoln assumed the presidency, Confederate forces [[Battle of Fort Sumter|attacked Fort Sumter]], starting the Civil War.

As a [[Moderate Republicans (Reconstruction era)|moderate Republican]], Lincoln had to navigate conflicting political opinions from contentious factions during the war effort. Lincoln closely supervised the strategy and tactics in the war effort, including the selection of generals, and implemented a [[Union blockade|naval blockade]] of Southern ports. He suspended the writ of ''[[habeas corpus]]'' in April 1861, an action that Chief Justice [[Roger Taney]] found unconstitutional in ''[[Ex parte Merryman]]'', and he averted war with Britain by defusing the [[Trent Affair|''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]]. [[1864 United States presidential election|Re-elected in 1864]], he sought to heal the war-torn nation through [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]].

On April 14, 1865, five days after the [[Battle of Appomattox Court House|Confederate surrender at Appomattox]], Lincoln was attending a play at [[Ford's Theatre]] in [[Washington County, D.C.|Washington, D.C.]], when he was fatally shot by stage actor [[John Wilkes Booth]], a Confederate sympathizer. 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. [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States#Scholar survey summary|He is often ranked]] in both popular and scholarly polls as the greatest president in American history.{{TOC limit|5}}
{{Abraham Lincoln series}}

==Family and childhood==
===Early life===
{{Main|Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln}}

Lincoln was born into poverty on February 12, 1809, in a [[log cabin]] on [[Sinking Spring Farm]] near [[Hodgenville, Kentucky]].{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=20–22}}<ref name=anb/> The second child of [[Thomas Lincoln]] and [[Nancy Hanks Lincoln]], he was a descendant of [[Samuel Lincoln]], an Englishman who migrated to [[Massachusetts]] in 1638,{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 1&ndash;4}} and of the [[Harrison family of Virginia]].{{efn|Though it is uncertain, Lincoln's grandmother is believed to have been Bathsheba Herring, the daughter of Alexander and Abigail Herring (née Harrison).<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=40189910|last=Coleman|first=Charles|title=Lincoln's Lincoln grandmother|journal=Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society|date=1959 |volume=52|issue=1|pages=59&ndash;90}}</ref>}} His paternal grandfather and namesake, [[Captain Abraham Lincoln]], moved the family from [[Virginia]] to Kentucky. The captain was killed in [[Northwest Indian War|a Native American raid]] in 1786.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 1&ndash;4}} The family settled in [[Hardin County, Kentucky]], in the early 1800s.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=21&ndash;22}} Nancy is widely assumed to have been the daughter of Lucy Hanks.{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|p=79}} Thomas and Nancy married on June 12, 1806, and moved to [[Elizabethtown, Kentucky]].{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 4}} They had three children: Sarah, Abraham, and Thomas; Thomas died as an infant.{{sfn|White|2009|p=18}}

Lincoln's father bought multiple farms in Kentucky but could not get clear [[Recording (real estate)|property titles]] to any, losing hundreds of acres in legal disputes.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=22–24|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 1 pp. 6&ndash;8}} In 1816, the family moved to [[Indiana]], where land titles were more reliable.{{sfn|Winkle|2011|pp=6&ndash;7}} They settled on a forested plot in [[Little Pigeon Creek Community]].{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 22&ndash;23}} In Kentucky and Indiana, Thomas worked as a farmer, cabinetmaker, and carpenter.{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|pp=34, 156}} At various times, he owned farms, livestock, and town lots, appraised estates, and served on county patrols. Thomas and Nancy were members of a [[Separate Baptists|Separate Baptist Church]], a pious evangelical group whose members largely opposed slavery.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=24}} Overcoming financial challenges, Thomas obtained [[clear title]] to {{convert|80|acre|ha}} in Little Pigeon Creek Community in 1827.{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|pp=24, 104}}

On October 5, 1818, Nancy died from [[milk sickness]], leaving 11-year-old Sarah in charge of the household, which included her father, 9-year-old Abraham, and Nancy's 19-year-old orphan cousin, Dennis Hanks.{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|pp=22–23, 77}} Thomas married [[Sarah Bush Johnston]], a widow with three children of her own, on December 2, 1819.<ref name=anb/> Abraham became close to his stepmother and called her "Mama".{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=27–28}} On January 20, 1828, Lincoln's sister died in childbirth, devastating him.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=34, 116}}

===Education and move to Illinois===
Lincoln was largely self-educated.{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|pp=10, 33}} His formal schooling was from [[itinerant teacher]]s. It included two short stints in Kentucky, where he learned to read, but probably not to write. After moving to Indiana at age seven, he attended school only sporadically, for a total of less than 12 months by age 15.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp= 23, 29}} Nonetheless, he was an avid reader and retained a lifelong interest in learning.{{sfn|Madison|2014|p=110}}

When Lincoln was a teenager his father relied heavily on him for farmwork and for supplementary income, hiring the boy out to area farmers and pocketing the money, as was the custom at the time.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 30, 41}} When he was somewhat older, Lincoln and some friends took a job carrying goods by [[flatboat]] to [[New Orleans]], Louisiana, where the [[slave market]]s, according to the historian [[Michael Burlingame]], "would leave an indelible impression on him.... It was the first time, but not the last, that he would be repelled while observing slavery firsthand."{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 44}}

In March 1830, fearing another milk-sickness outbreak, several members of the extended Lincoln family, including Abraham, moved west to Illinois and settled in [[Macon County, Illinois|Macon County]].{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=36}} Abraham became increasingly distant from Thomas, in part due to his father's lack of interest in education;{{sfn|Bartelt|2008|p=71}} he would later refuse to attend his father's deathbed or funeral in 1851.<ref name=anb/>

===Marriage and children===
{{Further|Lincoln family|Health of Abraham Lincoln|Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln}}
[[File:Mary, Willie, and Tad Lincoln, c1860.jpg|thumb|alt=Black-and-white photo of a woman with two young boys|Mary Todd Lincoln with Willie and Tad]]

Some historians, such as Michael Burlingame, identify Lincoln's first romantic interest as [[Ann Rutledge]], a young woman also from Kentucky whom he met when he moved to [[Lincoln's New Salem|New Salem, Illinois]].{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 98}} [[Lewis Gannett]], however, disputes that the evidence supports a romantic relationship between the two.<ref>{{Cite journal | last=Gannett | first=Lewis | date=Winter 2005 | title='Overwhelming evidence' of a Lincoln&ndash;Ann Rutledge romance?: reexamining Rutledge family reminiscences | url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0026.104/--overwhelming-evidence-of-a-lincoln-ann-rutledge-romance?rgn=main;view=fulltext | journal=Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association| pages=28–41 | volume=26|issue=1| doi=10.5406/19457987.26.1.04 }}</ref> [[David Herbert Donald]] states that "How that friendship [between Lincoln and Rutledge] developed into a romance cannot be reconstructed from the record".{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=56–57}} Rutledge died on August 25, 1835, of [[typhoid fever]]. Lincoln took her death very hard, sinking into a serious depression and contemplating suicide.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=55–58|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 1 p. 100}}<ref name="Atlanticoct2005" />

In the early 1830s, he met [[Mary Owens (Abraham Lincoln fiancée)|Mary Owens]] from Kentucky.{{sfn|Thomas|2008|pp=56–57, 69–70}} Late in 1836, Lincoln agreed to a match with Owens if she returned to New Salem. Owens arrived that November and he courted her, but they both had second thoughts. On August 16, 1837, he wrote Owens a letter saying he would not blame her if she ended the relationship, and she declined to marry him.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=67&ndash;69}} In 1839, Lincoln met [[Mary Todd Lincoln|Mary Todd]] in [[Springfield, Illinois]], and the following year they became engaged.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=80–86|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 1 pp. 174&ndash;176}} She was the daughter of [[Robert Smith Todd]], a wealthy lawyer and businessman in [[Lexington, Kentucky]].{{sfn|Lamb|Swain|2008|p=3}} Lincoln initially broke off the engagement in early 1841, but the two were reconciled and married on November 4, 1842.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 182, 194–195}} In 1844, the couple bought [[Lincoln Home National Historic Site|a house]] in Springfield near his law office.{{sfn|Baker|1989|p=142}}

The marriage was turbulent; Mary was verbally abusive and at times physically violent towards her husband.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 202}} They had four sons. The eldest, [[Robert Todd Lincoln]], was born in 1843, and was the only child to live to maturity. [[Edward Baker Lincoln]] (Eddie), born in 1846, died February 1, 1850, probably of [[tuberculosis]]. Lincoln's third son, [[William Wallace Lincoln|"Willie" Lincoln]], was born on December 21, 1850, and died of a fever at the [[White House]] on February 20, 1862. The youngest, [[Tad Lincoln|Thomas "Tad" Lincoln]], was born on April 4, 1853, and died of edema at age 18 on July 16, 1871.{{sfnm|White|2009|1pp=179–181, 476|Manning|2016|2pp=24, 34, 58, 73, 75, 139, 181}} Lincoln loved children,{{sfn|White|2009|p=126}} and the Lincolns were not considered to be strict with their own.{{sfnm|Baker|1989|1p=120|Manning|2016|2pp=39, 42}} The deaths of Eddie and Willie had profound effects on both parents. Lincoln suffered from "[[history of depression|melancholy]]", a condition now thought to be [[major depressive disorder|clinical depression]].<ref name="Atlanticoct2005">{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200510/lincolns-clinical-depression |title=Lincoln's great depression |first=Joshua Wolf |last=Shenk |date=October 2005 |work=The Atlantic |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009044732/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/10/lincoln-apos-s-great-depression/4247/ |archivedate=October 9, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Early vocations and militia service ===
{{Further|Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln|Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War}}
In 1831, Lincoln's father moved the family to [[Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site|a new homestead]] in [[Coles County, Illinois]], after which Abraham struck out on his own.{{sfn|Manning|2016|p=12}} He made his home in [[Lincoln's New Salem|New Salem, Illinois]], for six years.{{sfn|Thomas|2008|pp=23–53}} During 1831 and 1832, Lincoln worked at a general store in New Salem.{{sfn|Winkle|2001|pp=86–95}} He gained a reputation for strength and courage after winning a [[Scholastic wrestling|wrestling]] match with the leader of a group of ruffians known as the Clary's Grove boys.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=40&ndash;41}} In 1832, he declared his candidacy for the [[Illinois House of Representatives]], though he interrupted his campaign to serve as a captain in the [[Illinois Militia]] during the [[Black Hawk War]].{{sfn|Winkle|2001|pp=86–95}} He was elected the captain of his militia company but did not see combat.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 67}} In his political campaigning, Lincoln advocated for navigational improvements on the [[Sangamon River]].{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 72}} He drew crowds as a [[raconteur]], but he lacked name recognition, powerful friends, and money, and he lost the election.{{sfnm|Winkle|2001|1pp=114–116|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 1 pp. 71–75}}

When Lincoln returned home from the war, he planned to become a [[blacksmith]] but instead purchased a New Salem general store in partnership with William Berry. Because a license was required to sell customers alcoholic beverages, Berry obtained bartending licenses for Lincoln and himself, and in 1833 the [[Lincoln-Berry General Store|Lincoln&ndash;Berry General Store]] became a [[tavern]] as well.{{sfn|Meacham|2022|p=38}} But according to Burlingame, Berry was "an undisciplined, hard-drinking fellow", and Lincoln "was too soft-hearted to deny anyone credit";{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 76}} although the economy was booming, the business struggled and went into debt, prompting Lincoln to sell his share.{{sfn|Meacham|2022|p=38}}

Lincoln served as New Salem's [[postmaster]] and later as [[county surveyor]], but he continued his voracious reading and decided to become a lawyer.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 77–81, 87}} Rather than studying in the office of an established attorney, as was customary, Lincoln [[reading law|read law]] on his own, borrowing legal texts, including [[William Blackstone|Blackstone]]'s ''[[Commentaries on the Laws of England|Commentaries]]'' and [[Joseph Chitty|Chitty]]'s ''Pleadings'', from attorney [[John Todd Stuart]].{{sfn|Kent|2022|pp=121&ndash;122}} He later said of his legal education that he "studied with nobody."{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=55}}

== Early political offices and prairie lawyer ==
=== Illinois state legislature (1834–1842) ===
[[File:Abes House.JPG|thumb|alt=Front view of a historic home|Lincoln's [[Lincoln Home National Historic Site|home]] in [[Springfield, Illinois]], where he resided from 1844 until becoming president in 1861]]
In Lincoln's second state house campaign in 1834, as a supporter of [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] leader [[Henry Clay]], he finished second among thirteen candidates running for four places.{{sfn|White|2009|p=59}} Lincoln echoed Clay's support for the [[American Colonization Society]], which advocated abolition in conjunction with settling freed slaves in [[Liberia]].{{sfn|Foner|2010|pp=17–19, 67}} The Whigs also favored economic modernization in banking, tariffs to fund [[internal improvements]] such as railroads, and urbanization.{{sfn|Boritt|Pinsker|2002|pp=137–153}} 

Lincoln served four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives for [[Sangamon County]].{{sfn|Simon|1990|p=283}} In this role, he championed construction of the [[Illinois and Michigan Canal]].{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 102}} Lincoln voted to expand suffrage beyond White landowners to all White men.{{sfn|Simon|1990|p=130}} He supported the chartering of the Illinois State Bank,{{sfn|Carwardine|2003|p=16}} and also led a successful campaign for moving the state capital from [[Vandalia, Illinois|Vandalia]] to Springfield.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lincoln in the Illinois State Legislature |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/lincoln-in-the-illinois-state-legislature.htm |publisher=National Park Service |accessdate=August 24, 2025}}</ref> 

On January 27, 1838, Lincoln delivered [[Abraham Lincoln's Lyceum address|an address at the Lyceum]] in Springfield, after the murder of the anti-slavery newspaper editor [[Elijah Parish Lovejoy]]. In this ostensibly non-partisan speech, Lincoln indirectly attacked [[Stephen Douglas]] and the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], who the Whigs argued were supporting "mobocracy"; he also attacked anti-abolitionism and racial bigotry.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 140–142}} He was criticized in the press for a planned [[duel]] with [[James Shields (politician, born 1806)|James Shields]], whom he had ridiculed in letters published under the name "Aunt Rebecca"; though the duel ultimately did not take place, Burlingame noted that "the affair embarrassed Lincoln terribly".{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 190–194}}

===U.S. House of Representatives (1847–1849)===
[[File:Abraham Lincoln by Nicholas Shepherd, 1846-crop.jpg|left|thumb|Daguerreotype of Lincoln, taken around 1847, the earliest known photograph of him.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shepherd |first=Nicholas H. |date=1846 |title=Abraham Lincoln, Congressman-elect from Illinois. Three-quarter length portrait, seated, facing front |url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004664400/ |accessdate=December 23, 2025 |publisher=Library of Congress}}</ref>]]
In 1843, Lincoln sought the Whig nomination for [[Illinois's 7th congressional district|Illinois's 7th district seat]] in the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]]; [[John J. Hardin]] was the winning candidate, though Lincoln convinced the party convention to limit Hardin to one term.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 215–218}} Lincoln not only gained the nomination in 1846, but also won the election.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 231–241}} The only Whig in the Illinois delegation, he was assigned to the [[United States House Committee on Post Office and Post Roads|Committee on Post Office and Post Roads]] and the [[United States House Committee on Expenditures in the War Department|Committee on Expenditures in the War Department]].{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 263&ndash;265}} Lincoln teamed with [[Joshua R. Giddings]] on a bill to abolish slavery in the [[Washington, District of Columbia|District of Columbia]], but dropped the bill when it failed to attract support from most other Whigs.{{sfnm|Harris|2007|1p=54|Foner|2010|2p=57}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lincoln, Abraham |url=https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/L/LINCOLN,-Abraham-(L000313)/ |accessdate=July 1, 2022 |website=History, Art & Archives|publisher=United States House of Representatives }}</ref>

Lincoln spoke against the [[Mexican–American War]] (1846&ndash;1848), for which he said President [[James K. Polk]] had "some strong motive ... to involve the two countries in a war, and trusting to escape scrutiny, by fixing the public gaze upon the exceeding brightness of military glory—that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood".{{sfnm|1a1=Heidler|1a2=Heidler|1y=2006|1pp=181–183|2a1=Greenberg|2y=2012|2pp=250&ndash;251}} He supported the [[Wilmot Proviso]], a failed 1846 proposal to ban slavery in any U.S. territory won from Mexico.{{sfn|Holzer|2004|p=63}} Polk insisted that Mexican soldiers had begun the war by "invading the territory of the State of Texas ... and shedding the blood of our citizens on our own soil".{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 265}} In his 1847 "[[spot resolutions]]", Lincoln rhetorically demanded that Polk tell Congress the exact "spot" where this occurred, but the Polk administration did not respond.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=123&ndash;124}}<ref name=anb/> His approach and rhetoric cost Lincoln political support in his district, and newspapers derisively nicknamed him "spotty Lincoln".<ref name=anb/>

Lincoln had pledged in 1846 to serve only one term in the House.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=124}} Realizing Henry Clay was unlikely to win the presidency, he supported [[Zachary Taylor]] for the Whig nomination in the [[1848 United States presidential election|1848 presidential election]].{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=126&ndash;127}} Taylor won and Lincoln hoped in vain to be appointed commissioner of the [[United States General Land Office]].{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=138&ndash;140|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 1 pp. 296&ndash;303}} The administration offered to appoint him secretary of the [[Oregon Territory]] instead.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 305&ndash;307}} This would have disrupted his legal and political career in Illinois, so he declined and resumed his law practice.{{sfn|Harris|2007|pp=55–57}}

===Prairie lawyer===
{{See also|List of cases involving Abraham Lincoln}}
Lincoln was [[Admission to the bar in the United States|admitted to the Illinois bar]] on September 9, 1836.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iardc.org/Lawyer/PrintableDetails/b838e3e7-a864-eb11-b810-000d3a9f4eeb |title=Abraham Lincoln |publisher=Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission|accessdate=July 2, 2023 |archivedate=July 2, 2023 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702123429/https://www.iardc.org/Lawyer/PrintableDetails/b838e3e7-a864-eb11-b810-000d3a9f4eeb |url-status=dead}}</ref> He moved to Springfield and began to practice law under [[John T. Stuart]], Mary Todd's cousin.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=71, 79, 108}} He partnered for several years with [[Stephen T. Logan]] and, in 1844, began [[Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices State Historic Site|his practice]] with [[William Herndon (lawyer)|William Herndon]].{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=88&ndash;101}}

In his Springfield practice, according to Donald, Lincoln handled "virtually every kind of business that could come before a prairie lawyer".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=96}} He dealt with many transportation cases in the midst of the nation's western expansion, particularly river barge conflicts under the new railroad bridges. In 1849 he received [[Abraham Lincoln's patent|a patent for a flotation device]] for the movement of [[riverboat]]s in shallow water{{sfn|Emerson|2009|pp=27&ndash;28}} and Lincoln initially favored riverboat legal interests, but he represented whoever hired him.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=156–157|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 1 p. 253}} He represented a bridge company against a riverboat company in ''[[Hurd v. Rock Island Bridge Company]]'', a landmark case involving a canal boat that sank after hitting a bridge.{{sfn|McGinty|2015}} His patent was never commercialized, but it made Lincoln the only president to hold a patent.{{sfn|Emerson|2009|pp=27&ndash;28}} Lincoln appeared before the [[Illinois Supreme Court]] in 411 cases.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 186}} From 1853 to 1860, one of his largest clients was the [[Illinois Central Railroad]], which Lincoln successfully sued to recover his legal fees.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=155–156, 196–197}}

Lincoln represented William "Duff" Armstrong in his 1858 trial for the murder of James Preston Metzker.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=150–151}} The case is famous for Lincoln's use of a fact established by [[judicial notice]] to challenge the credibility of an eyewitness. After a witness testified to seeing the crime in the moonlight, Lincoln produced a ''[[Farmers' Almanac]]'' showing the Moon was at a low angle, drastically reducing visibility. Armstrong was acquitted.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|pp=150–151|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 1 pp. 345&ndash;346}} In an 1859 murder case, he defended "Peachy" Quinn Harrison, the grandson of [[Peter Cartwright (revivalist)|Peter Cartwright]], Lincoln's political opponent.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 560}} Harrison was charged with the murder of Greek Crafton who, according to Cartwright, said as he lay dying that he had "brought it upon myself" and that he forgave Harrison.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Mitgang |first1=Herbert |date=February 10, 1989 |title=The law; Lincoln as lawyer: transcript tells murder story |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/10/nyregion/the-law-lincoln-as-lawyer-transcript-tells-murder-story.html}}</ref> Lincoln angrily protested the judge's initial decision to exclude Cartwright's claim as [[hearsay]]. Lincoln argued that the testimony involved a [[dying declaration]] and so was not subject to the hearsay rule. Instead of holding Lincoln in [[Contempt of court#United States|contempt of court]] as expected, the judge, a Democrat, admitted the testimony into evidence, resulting in Harrison's acquittal.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=150–151|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 1 p. 560}}

==Republican politics (1854–1860)==
{{Main|Political career of Abraham Lincoln (1849–1861)}}

===Emergence as Republican leader===
{{Further|Slave states and free states|Abraham Lincoln and slavery}}
[[File:Face_detail,_Abraham_Lincoln_O-10_by_Jackson,_1858_(cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Head and shoulders portrait of a clean-shaven Lincoln|Lincoln in 1858, the year of [[Lincoln–Douglas debates|his debates]] with [[Stephen A. Douglas|Stephen Douglas]] over slavery]]

The [[Compromise of 1850]] failed to alleviate tensions over slavery between the slave-holding South and the free North.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=175–176}} As the slavery debate in the [[Nebraska Territory|Nebraska]] and [[Kansas Territory|Kansas]] territories became particularly acrimonious, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas proposed [[Popular sovereignty in the United States#Emergence of the term "popular sovereignty" and its pejorative connotation|popular sovereignty]] as a compromise; the measure would allow the electorate of each territory to decide the status of slavery. The legislation alarmed many Northerners, who sought to prevent the spread of slavery, but Douglas's [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]] narrowly passed Congress in May 1854.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=188–190}} Lincoln's [[Abraham Lincoln's Peoria speech|Peoria Speech]] of October 1854, in which he declared his opposition to slavery,{{sfn|Thomas|2008|pp=148–152}} was one of an estimated 175 speeches he delivered in the next six years on the topic of excluding slavery from the territories.<ref name=anb/> Lincoln's attacks on the Kansas–Nebraska Act marked his return to political life.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=203–205}}

Nationally, the Whigs were irreparably split by the Kansas–Nebraska Act and other ineffective efforts to compromise on the slavery issue. Reflecting on the demise of his party, Lincoln wrote in 1855, "I think I am a whig; but others say there are no whigs, and that I am an abolitionist.... I now do no more than oppose the ''extension'' of slavery."{{sfn|White|2009|p=215}} The new [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] was formed as a northern party dedicated to anti-slavery, drawing from the anti-slavery wing of the Whig Party and combining [[Free Soil Party|Free Soil]], [[Liberty Party (United States, 1840)|Liberty]], and anti-slavery Democratic Party members,{{sfn|McGovern|2009|pp=38–39}} Lincoln resisted early Republican entreaties, fearing that the new party would become a platform for extreme abolitionists.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=203–204}} Lincoln held out hope for rejuvenating the Whigs, though he lamented his party's growing closeness with the nativist [[Know Nothing]] movement.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=191–194}} In 1854, Lincoln was elected to the Illinois legislature, but before the term began he declined to take his seat so that he would be eligible to run in the upcoming U.S. Senate election.{{sfnm|White|2009|1pp=203–205|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 1 pp. 390, 392}} At that time, senators were elected by state legislatures. After leading in the first six rounds of voting, Lincoln was unable to obtain a majority. Lincoln instructed his backers to vote for [[Lyman Trumbull]], an anti-slavery Democrat who had received few votes in the earlier ballots. Lincoln's decision to withdraw enabled his Whig supporters and Trumbull's anti-slavery Democrats to combine and defeat the mainstream Democratic candidate, [[Joel Aldrich Matteson]].{{sfn|White|2009|pp=205–208}}

==== 1856 campaign ====
[[Bleeding Kansas|Violent political confrontations in Kansas]] continued, and opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act remained strong throughout the North. As the [[1856 United States elections|1856 elections]] approached, Lincoln joined the Republicans and attended the [[Bloomington Convention]], where the [[Illinois Republican Party]] was established. The convention platform endorsed Congress's right to regulate slavery in the territories and backed the admission of Kansas as a free state. Lincoln gave the [[Lincoln's Lost Speech|final speech]] of the convention, calling for the preservation of the Union.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=216–221}} At the June [[1856 Republican National Convention]], Lincoln received support to run as vice president, but ultimately the party put forward a ticket of [[John C. Frémont]] and [[William Dayton]], which Lincoln supported throughout Illinois. The Democrats nominated [[James Buchanan]] and the Know Nothings nominated [[Millard Fillmore]].{{sfn|White|2009|pp=224–228}} Buchanan prevailed, while Republican [[William Henry Bissell]] won election as Governor of Illinois, and Lincoln became a leading Republican in Illinois.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=229–230}}{{efn|[[Eric Foner]] contrasts the abolitionists and anti-slavery Radical Republicans of the Northeast, who saw slavery as a sin, with the conservative Republicans, who thought it was bad because it hurt [[White people]] and blocked progress. Foner argues that Lincoln was in the middle, opposing slavery primarily because it violated the [[republicanism in the United States|republicanism principles]] of the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]], especially the equality of all men and democratic self-government as expressed in the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]].{{sfn|Foner|2010|pp=84–88}}}}

==== ''Dred Scott v. Sandford'' ====
{{Main|Dred Scott v. Sandford{{!}}''Dred Scott v. Sandford''}}

[[Dred Scott]] was a slave whose master took him from a slave state to a territory that was free as a result of the [[Missouri Compromise]]. After Scott was returned to the slave state, he petitioned a federal court for his freedom. His petition was denied in ''[[Dred Scott v. Sandford]]'' (1857).<ref>{{Cite journal| last=Vishneski|first=John| year=1988| title=What the court decided in Dred Scott v. Sandford|journal= The American Journal of Legal History|volume=32|issue=4|pages=373–390|jstor= 845743|doi=10.2307/845743}}</ref> Supreme Court Chief Justice [[Roger B. Taney]] wrote in his opinion that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it infringed on slave owners' property rights by prohibiting them from bringing their slaves into the territories. While many Democrats hoped that ''Dred Scott'' would end the dispute over slavery in the territories, the decision sparked further outrage in the North.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=236–238}} Lincoln denounced it as the product of a conspiracy of Democrats to support the [[Slave Power]].{{sfn|Zarefsky|1993|pp=69–110}} He argued that the decision was at variance with the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], which stated that "all men are created equal ... with certain unalienable rights", among them "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".{{sfn|Jaffa|2000|pp=299–300}}

===Lincoln–Douglas debates and Cooper Union speech===
[[File:Lincoln O-17 by Brady, 1860.png|thumb|left|alt=Three-quarters-length photograph of Lincoln|''Abraham Lincoln'', a portrait by [[Mathew Brady]] taken February 27, 1860, the day of Lincoln's [[Cooper Union speech]] in New York City]]
{{Further|Lincoln–Douglas debates|Cooper Union speech}}

In 1858, Douglas was up for re-election in the U.S. Senate, and Lincoln hoped to defeat him. Many in the party felt that a former Whig should be nominated in 1858, and Lincoln's 1856 campaigning and support of Trumbull had earned him a favor.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=247–248}} For the first time, Illinois Republicans held a convention to agree upon a Senate candidate, and Lincoln won the nomination with little opposition.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=247–250}} Lincoln accepted the nomination with great enthusiasm and zeal. After his nomination he delivered his [[Lincoln's House Divided Speech|House Divided Speech]]: <blockquote>"A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half ''slave'' and half ''free''. I do not expect the Union to be ''dissolved''—I do not expect the house to ''fall''—but I ''do'' expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.{{sfn|White|2009|p=251}}</blockquote> The speech created a stark image of the danger of disunion.{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=98}} When informed of Lincoln's nomination, Douglas stated, "[Lincoln] is the strong man of the party&nbsp;... and if I beat him, my victory will be hardly won."{{sfn|White|2009|p=258}}

The Senate campaign featured [[Lincoln–Douglas debates|seven debates]] between Lincoln and Douglas; they had an atmosphere akin to a prizefight and drew thousands.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=214–218|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 1 pp. 487&ndash;488}} Lincoln warned that the Slave Power was threatening the values of republicanism, and he accused Douglas of distorting Jefferson's premise that [[all men are created equal]]. In his [[Freeport Doctrine]], Douglas argued that, despite the ''Dred Scott'' decision, which he claimed to support, local settlers, under [[Popular sovereignty in the United States|popular sovereignty]], should be free to choose whether to allow slavery in their territory. He accused Lincoln of having joined the abolitionists.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|pp=201&ndash;203, 212–224|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 1 pp. 501&ndash;504, 527&ndash;531}}

Though the Republican legislative candidates won more popular votes, the Democrats won more seats, and the legislature re-elected Douglas. However, Lincoln's articulation of the issues had given him a national political presence.{{sfn|Carwardine|2003|pp=89–90}} In the aftermath of the 1858 election, newspapers frequently mentioned Lincoln as a potential Republican presidential candidate. While Lincoln was popular in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], he lacked support in the Northeast and was unsure whether to seek the office.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=291–293}} In January 1860, Lincoln told a group of political allies that he would accept the presidential nomination if offered and, in the following months, [[William O. Stoddard]]'s ''Central Illinois Gazette'', the ''Chicago Press & Tribune'', and other local papers endorsed his candidacy.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=307–308}}

On February 27, 1860, powerful New York Republicans invited Lincoln to give a [[Cooper Union speech|speech at the Cooper Union]]. In this address Lincoln argued that the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]] had little use for popular sovereignty and had repeatedly sought to restrict slavery; he insisted that morality required opposition to slavery and rejected any "groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong".{{sfn|Jaffa|2000|p=473}} Many in the audience thought he appeared awkward and even ugly.{{sfn|Holzer|2004|pp=108–111}} But Lincoln demonstrated intellectual leadership, which brought him into contention for the presidency. Journalist [[Noah Brooks]] reported, "No man ever before made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York audience".{{sfnm|Carwardine|2003|1p=97|Holzer|2004|2p=157}} Historian David Herbert Donald described the speech as "a superb political move for an unannounced presidential aspirant."{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=240}} In response to an inquiry about his ambitions, Lincoln said, "The taste ''is'' in my mouth a little".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=241}}

===1860 presidential election===
{{Main|1860 United States presidential election}}

[[File:The Rail Candidate.jpg|alt= Lincoln being carried by two men (one White, one Black) on a long board. |thumb|''The Rail Candidate'', a critical [[Currier and Ives]] illustration, which depicted Lincoln's platform in the [[1860 United States presidential election|1860 presidential campaign]] as being held up by a slave and Horace Greeley]]

On May 9–10, 1860, the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in [[Decatur, Illinois|Decatur]].{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=244}} Exploiting his embellished frontier legend of clearing land and splitting fence rails, Lincoln's supporters promoted him as "The Rail Candidate".{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=244&ndash;245}} On May 18 at the [[1860 Republican National Convention|Republican National Convention]] in Chicago, Lincoln won the nomination on the third ballot.<ref name=anb/> A former Democrat, [[Hannibal Hamlin]] of Maine, was nominated for vice president to [[Ticket balance|balance the ticket]].{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 625}}

Throughout the 1850s, Lincoln had doubted the prospects of civil war, and his supporters rejected claims that his election would incite secession.{{sfn|Boritt|Pinsker|2002|pp=10, 13, 18}} When Douglas was selected as the candidate of the Northern Democrats, delegates from the Southern slave states elected incumbent Vice President [[John C. Breckinridge]] as their candidate.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=253}} A group of former Whigs and Know Nothings formed the [[Constitutional Union Party (United States)|Constitutional Union Party]] and nominated [[John Bell (Tennessee politician)|John Bell]] of Tennessee. Lincoln and Douglas competed for votes in the North, while Bell and Breckinridge found support primarily in the South.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=247–248}} A nationwide militaristic Republican youth organization, the [[Wide Awakes]], "turned it into one of the most excited elections in American history" and "triggered massive popular enthusiasm", according to the political historian Jon Grinspan.<ref>{{cite journal|title='Young men for war': the Wide Awakes and Lincoln's 1860 presidential campaign|last=Grinspan|first=Jon|journal=Journal of American History|volume=96|issue=2|page=377|jstor=25622297}}</ref> People of the Northern states knew the Southern states would vote against Lincoln and rallied supporters for him.{{sfn|Murrin|2006|p=464}}

As Douglas and the other candidates campaigned, Lincoln gave no speeches, relying on the enthusiasm of the Republican Party. Republican speakers emphasized Lincoln's childhood poverty to demonstrate the power of "free labor", which allowed a common farm boy to work his way to the top by his own efforts.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=254–256}} Though he did not make public appearances, many sought to visit and write to Lincoln. In the runup to the election, he took an office in the [[Old State Capitol State Historic Site|Illinois state capitol]] to deal with the influx of attention. He also hired [[John George Nicolay]] as his personal secretary, who would remain in that role during the presidency.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=251–252|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 1 pp. 650&ndash;652}}

On November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected as the first Republican president. His victory was entirely due to his support in the North and West. No ballots were cast for him in 10 of the 15 Southern slave states.{{sfnm|Mansch|2005|1p=61|Donald|1996|2p=256}} Lincoln received 1,866,452 votes, or 39.8 percent of the total in a four-way race, carrying the free Northern states, as well as California and Oregon, and winning the electoral vote decisively.{{sfn|White|2009|p=350}}

==Presidency (1861–1865)==
{{Main|Presidency of Abraham Lincoln}}

{{Multiple image|total_width=500px|image1=Flickr_-_USCapitol_-_Abraham_Lincoln's_First_Inauguration.jpg|alt1=A large crowd in front of a large building with many pillars.|caption1=[[Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address|Lincoln's first inaugural]] at the [[United States Capitol]] on March 4, 1861, with the [[United States Capitol dome|Capitol dome]] above the rotunda still under construction.|image2=18610304 Affairs of the Nation - Abraham Lincoln inauguration - The New York Times.jpg|caption2=Headlines in ''[[The New York Times]]'' following Lincoln's first inauguration portended imminent hostilities.}}

===First term===
====Secession and inauguration====
{{Main|Presidential transition of Abraham Lincoln}}

{{Further|Secession winter|Baltimore Plot}}

After Lincoln's election, secessionists implemented plans to leave the Union before he took office in March 1861.{{sfn|Edgar|1998|p=350}}<ref name=anb/> On December 20, 1860, South Carolina adopted an ordinance of secession; by February 1, 1861, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had followed.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1p=267|Potter|1977|p2=498}} Six of these states declared themselves to be a sovereign nation, the [[Confederate States of America]], selecting [[Jefferson Davis]] as its provisional president.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1p=267|White|2009|2p=369}} The upper South and border states (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Arkansas) initially rejected the secessionist appeal.{{sfn|White|2009|p=362}} President Buchanan and President-elect Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy, declaring secession illegal.{{sfn|Potter|1977|pp=520, 569–570}} On February 11, 1861, Lincoln gave a particularly emotional [[Abraham Lincoln's farewell address|farewell address]] upon leaving Springfield for Washington.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 759}}

Lincoln and the Republicans rejected the proposed [[Crittenden Compromise]] as contrary to the party's platform of free-soil in the [[Territories of the United States|territories]].{{sfn|White|2009|pp=360–361}} Lincoln said, "I will suffer death before I consent&nbsp;... to any concession or compromise which looks like buying the privilege to take possession of this government to which we have a constitutional right".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=268}} Lincoln supported the [[Corwin Amendment]] to the [[Constitution of the United States|U.S. Constitution]], which would have protected slavery in states where it already existed. The amendment passed Congress and was awaiting ratification by the required three-fourths of the states when Southern states began to secede.{{sfnm|Vorenberg|2001|1p=22|Vile|2003|2pp=280–281}} On March 4, 1861, in his [[Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address|first inaugural address]], Lincoln said that, because he held "such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express, and irrevocable".{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 p. 48}}

[[File:Lincoln LadyPNG.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|alt=Cartoon of Lincoln in a kilt and fancy hat doing a jig|Lincoln was mocked by opposition papers falsely claiming that he sneaked into Washington in disguise after the 1860 election.]]

Due to secessionist plots, careful attention was paid to Lincoln's security and to the train he took to Washington. The president-elect evaded suspected [[Baltimore Plot|assassins in Baltimore]]. He traveled in disguise, wearing a soft felt hat instead of his customary [[stovepipe hat]] and draping an overcoat over his shoulders while hunching to conceal his height. On February 23, 1861, he arrived in Washington, D.C., which was placed under military guard. Many in the opposition press criticized his secretive journey; opposition newspapers mocked Lincoln with caricatures showing him sneaking into the capital.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=273–279|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 2 pp. 32&ndash;39}} Lincoln directed his inaugural address to the South, proclaiming once again that he had no inclination to abolish slavery in the Southern states:

{{Blockquote|Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States, that by the accession of a Republican Administration, their property, and their peace, and personal security, are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so."|[[Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address|First inaugural address]], 4 March 1861{{sfnm|Sandburg|2002|1p=212|Lincoln|1953|2p=333}}|source=}} The president ended his address with an appeal to the people of the South: "We are not enemies, but friends.... The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone ... will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched ... by the better angels of our nature".{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=283–284}} According to Donald, the failure of the [[Peace Conference of 1861]] to attract the attendance of seven of the Confederate states signaled that legislative compromise was not a practical expectation.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=268, 279}}

====Personnel====
{{Main|Presidency of Abraham Lincoln#Foreign policy|Diplomacy of the American Civil War}}

{{Infobox U.S. Cabinet
| Name = Lincoln
| President = Abraham Lincoln
| President date = 1861–1865
| Vice President = [[Hannibal Hamlin]]
| Vice President date = 1861–1865
| Vice President 2 = [[Andrew Johnson]]
| Vice President date 2 = 1865
| State = [[William H. Seward]]
| State date = 1861–1865
| Treasury = [[Salmon P. Chase]]
| Treasury date = 1861–1864
| Treasury 2 = [[William P. Fessenden]]
| Treasury date 2 = 1864–1865
| Treasury 3 = [[Hugh McCulloch]]
| Treasury date 3 = 1865
| War = [[Simon Cameron]]
| War date = 1861–1862
| War 2 = [[Edwin M. Stanton]]
| War date 2 = 1862–1865
| Justice = [[Edward Bates]]
| Justice date = 1861–1864
| Justice 2 = [[James Speed]]
| Justice date 2 = 1864–1865
| Post = [[Montgomery Blair]]
| Post date = 1861–1864
| Post 2 = [[William Dennison Jr.]]
| Post date 2 = 1864–1865
| Navy = [[Gideon Welles]]
| Navy date = 1861–1865
| Interior = [[Caleb Blood Smith]]
| Interior date = 1861–1862
| Interior 2 = [[John Palmer Usher]]
| Interior date 2 = 1863–1865

| source =<ref>{{cite web |url=https://millercenter.org/president/lincoln/abraham-lincoln-administration|publisher=Miller Center, University of Virginia|title=Abraham Lincoln: administration|date=December 16, 2016 }}</ref>
}}

In selecting his cabinet, Lincoln chose the men he found the most competent, even when they had been his opponents for the presidency. Lincoln commented on his thought process, "We need the strongest men of the party in the Cabinet. We needed to hold our own people together. I had looked the party over and concluded that these were the very strongest men. Then I had no right to deprive the country of their services."{{sfn|Goodwin|2005|p=319}} Goodwin described the group in her biography of Lincoln as a "[[Team of Rivals|team of rivals]]".{{sfn|Goodwin|2005}} Lincoln named his main political opponent, [[William H. Seward]], as Secretary of State.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 722}}

Lincoln made five appointments to the Supreme Court. [[Noah Haynes Swayne]], a prominent corporate lawyer from Ohio, replaced [[John McLean]] after the latter's death in April 1861. Like McLean, Swayne opposed slavery.{{sfn|Silver|1998|p=59}} [[Samuel Freeman Miller]], who replaced [[Peter V. Daniel]], was an avowed abolitionist and received widespread support from Iowa politicians.{{sfn|Silver|1998|pp=64&ndash;65}} [[David_Davis_(Supreme_Court_justice)|David Davis]] was Lincoln's campaign manager in 1860 and had served as a judge in the Illinois court circuit where Lincoln practiced.{{sfn|Silver|1998|p=74}} Democrat [[Stephen Johnson Field]], a previous California Supreme Court justice, provided geographic and political balance.{{sfn|Silver|1998|pp=88&ndash;89}} Finally, after the death of [[Roger B. Taney]], Lincoln appointed his former secretary of the treasury, [[Salmon P. Chase]], to replace Taney as chief justice. Lincoln believed Chase was an able jurist who would support Reconstruction legislation and that his appointment would unite the Republican Party.{{sfn|Blue|1987|p=245}}

====Commander-in-Chief====
{{Main|American Civil War|Battle of Fort Sumter}}

[[File:Abraham Lincoln - NARA - 528325.jpg|thumb|alt=President Abraham Lincoln in 1862|Portrait of Lincoln {{circa}} 1862]]

In early April 1861, [[Robert Anderson (Union officer)|Major Robert Anderson]], commander of [[Fort Sumter]] in Charleston, South Carolina, advised that he was nearly out of food. After considerable debate, Lincoln decided to send provisions; according to Michael Burlingame, he "could not be sure that his decision would precipitate a war, though he had good reason to believe that it might".{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 pp. 100&ndash;124}} On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces [[Battle of Fort Sumter|fired on Union troops at Fort Sumter]].{{sfn|McClintock|2008|pp=246&ndash;250}} Donald concludes: <blockquote>His repeated efforts to avoid collision ... showed that he adhered to his vow not to be the first to shed fraternal blood. But he had also vowed not to surrender the forts.... The only resolution of these contradictory positions was for the Confederates to fire the first shot.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=293}}</blockquote>

The April 12 and 13 attack on Fort Sumter rallied the Northern public to see military action against the South as necessary to defend the nation.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 pp. 134&ndash;138, 154&ndash;155}} On April 15, [[Proclamation 80|Lincoln called for 75,000 militiamen]] to recapture forts, protect Washington, and preserve the Union. This call forced states to choose whether to secede or to support the Union. North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas seceded. As the Northern states sent regiments south, on April 19 Baltimore mobs in control of the rail links [[Baltimore riot of 1861|attacked Union troops]] who were changing trains. Local leaders' groups later burned critical rail bridges to the capital and the Army responded by [[Maryland in the American Civil War#Imposition of martial law|arresting local Maryland officials]]. Lincoln suspended the writ of ''[[Habeas corpus in the United States#Suspension during the Civil War|habeas corpus]]'', allowing arrests without formal charges.{{sfnm|1a1=Heidler|1a2=Heidler|1a3=Coles|1y=2002|1p=174|2a1=Burlingame|2y=2008|2loc=vol. 2 pp. 141, 146&ndash;151}}

[[John Merryman]], a Maryland officer arrested for hindering U.S. troop movements, successfully petitioned Supreme Court Chief Justice Taney to issue [[Habeas corpus in the United States|a writ of ''habeas corpus'']]. In an opinion titled ''[[Ex parte Merryman]]'', Taney, not ruling on behalf of the Supreme Court, wrote that the Constitution authorized only Congress and not the president to suspend habeas corpus. But Lincoln engaged in [[nonacquiescence]] and persisted with the policy of suspension in select areas.{{sfnm|Harris|2011|1pp=59–71|White|2011 |2pp=38–39}} Under various suspensions, 15,000 civilians were detained without trial; several, including the anti-war Democrat [[Clement L. Vallandigham]], were tried in military courts for "treasonable" actions, which was condemned as an attack on free speech.<ref name=anb/>{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=442&ndash;443}}

====Early Union military strategy====
{{Main|Eastern theater of the American Civil War|Western theater of the American Civil War}}

{{Further|Trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War|Lower seaboard theater of the American Civil War}}
Lincoln took executive control of the war and shaped the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] military strategy. He responded to the unprecedented political and military crisis as [[commander-in-chief]] by exercising unprecedented authority. He expanded his war powers, imposed a [[Union blockade|naval blockade]] on Confederate ports, disbursed funds before appropriation by Congress, suspended ''habeas corpus'', and arrested and imprisoned thousands of suspected Confederate sympathizers. Lincoln gained the support of Congress and the northern public for these actions. Lincoln also had to reinforce Union sympathies in the border slave states and keep the war from becoming an international conflict.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=302–304|Carwardine|2003|2pp=163–164}} 

It was clear from the outset that bipartisan support was essential to success, and that any compromise alienated factions in both political parties. Copperheads (anti-war Democrats) criticized Lincoln for refusing to compromise on slavery; the [[Radical Republicans]], who demanded harsh treatment against secession, criticized him for moving too slowly to abolish slavery.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=315–339, 417}} On August 6, 1861, Lincoln signed the [[Confiscation Act of 1861|Confiscation Act]], which authorized judicial proceedings to confiscate and free slaves who were used to support the Confederates. The law had little practical effect, but it signaled political support for abolishing slavery.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1p=314|Carwardine|2003|2p=178}}
[[File:RunningtheMachine-LincAdmin.jpg|thumb|alt=A group of men sitting at a table as another man creates money on a wooden machine.|''Running the Machine'', an 1864 political cartoon satirizing Lincoln and his administration, including [[William Fessenden]], [[Edwin Stanton]], [[William H. Seward|William Seward]], and [[Gideon Welles]].]]

Lincoln's war strategy had two priorities: ensuring that Washington was well defended and conducting an aggressive war effort for a prompt, decisive victory.{{efn|Major Northern newspapers predicted victory within 90 days.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=295–296}}}} Twice a week, Lincoln met with his cabinet. Occasionally, Lincoln's wife, Mary, prevailed on him to take a carriage ride, concerned that he was working too hard.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=391–392}} Early in the war, Lincoln selected civilian generals from varied political and ethnic backgrounds "to secure their and their constituents' support for the war effort and ensure that the war became a national struggle".{{sfn|Work|2024|p=2}} In January 1862, after complaints of inefficiency and profiteering in the War Department, Lincoln replaced Simon Cameron as [[United States Secretary of War|war secretary]] with [[Edwin Stanton]].{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 pp. 240&ndash;244}} Stanton worked more often and more closely with Lincoln than did any other senior official. According to Stanton's biographers Benjamin Thomas and Harold Hyman, "Stanton and Lincoln virtually conducted the war together".{{sfn|Thomas|Hyman|1962|pp= 71, 87, 229–230, 385}}

Lincoln saw the importance of [[Vicksburg, Mississippi|Vicksburg]] for control of the [[Mississippi River]] valley and understood the necessity of defeating the enemy's army, rather than merely capturing territory.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=432–436}} In directing the Union's war strategy, Lincoln valued the advice of [[Winfield Scott]], even after his retirement as [[Commanding General of the United States Army]]. In 1861 Scott proposed the [[Anaconda Plan]], which relied on port blockades and advancing down the Mississippi to subdue the South. In June 1862, Lincoln made an unannounced visit to [[United States Military Academy|West Point]], where he spent five hours consulting with Scott regarding the handling of the war.{{sfnm|Burlingame|2008|1loc=vol. 2 pp. 180, 320|Marvel|2008|2p=68}}

Internationally, Lincoln wanted to forestall foreign military aid to the Confederacy.{{sfn|Boritt|Pinsker|2002|pp=213–214}} He relied on his combative Secretary of State William Seward while working closely with [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] chairman [[Charles Sumner]].{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=321&ndash;322}} In 1861 the U.S. Navy illegally intercepted a British mail ship, the ''[[RMS Trent]]'', on the high seas and seized two Confederate envoys. Although the North celebrated the seizure, Britain protested vehemently, and the [[Trent Affair]] threatened war between the Americans and the British. Lincoln ended the crisis by releasing the two diplomats.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 pp. 222&ndash;227}}

====McClellan====

[[File:Lincoln and generals at Antietam.jpg|alt=Lincoln among a group of soldiers in a military camp|thumb|Lincoln meeting with [[Union Army]] officers on October 3, 1862, following the [[Battle of Antietam]], including left to right: Col. [[Delos Bennett Sackett|Delos Sackett]]; 4. Gen. [[George W. Morell]]; 5. [[Alexander S. Webb]], Chief of Staff, V Corps; 6. McClellan;. 8. [[Jonathan Letterman]]; 10. Lincoln; 11. [[Henry J. Hunt]]; 12. [[Fitz John Porter]]; 15. [[Andrew A. Humphreys]]; 16. Capt. [[George Armstrong Custer]]]]
{{main|George B. McClellan}}

After the Union rout at [[First Battle of Bull Run|Bull Run]] and Winfield Scott's retirement, Lincoln appointed [[George B. McClellan]] general-in-chief.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=318–319}} Early in the war, McClellan created defenses for Washington that were almost impregnable: 48 forts and [[artillery battery|batteries]], with 480 guns manned by 7,200 artillerists.{{sfn|Sears|1999|p=116}} He spent months planning his Virginia [[Peninsula Campaign]]. McClellan's slow progress and excessive precautions frustrated Lincoln. McClellan, in turn, blamed the failure of the campaign on Lincoln's cautiousness in having reserved troops for the capital.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=349–352}} In 1862, Lincoln removed McClellan as general-in-chief; he elevated Henry Halleck to the post and appointed [[John Pope (general)|John Pope]] as head of the new [[Army of Virginia]].{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 pp. 303, 320, 368}} In the summer of 1862 Pope was soundly defeated at the [[Second Battle of Bull Run]], forcing him to retreat to Washington. Soon after, the Army of Virginia was disbanded.{{sfn|Work|2024|p=71}}

Despite his dissatisfaction with McClellan's failure to reinforce Pope, Lincoln restored him to command of all forces around Washington, which included both the [[Army of the Potomac]] and the remains of the Army of Virginia.{{sfnm|Goodwin|2005|1pp=478–479|Work|2024|2p=71}} Two days later, [[Robert E. Lee]]'s forces crossed the [[Potomac River]] into Maryland, leading to the [[Battle of Antietam]].{{sfn|Goodwin|2005|pp=478–480}} This battle, a Union victory, was among the bloodiest in American history.{{sfn|Goodwin|2005|p=481}} A crisis of command occurred for Lincoln when McClellan then resisted the president's demand that he pursue Lee's withdrawing army, while [[Don Carlos Buell]] likewise refused orders to move the [[Army of the Ohio]] against rebel forces in eastern Tennessee. Lincoln replaced Buell with [[William Rosecrans]] and McClellan with [[Ambrose Burnside]]; according to Donald, this was a "shrewd" political move as they were non-partisan&mdash;unlike McClellan, a Democrat.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=390}} Against presidential advice, Burnside launched an offensive across the [[Rappahannock River]] and was [[Battle of Fredericksburg|defeated by Lee at Fredericksburg]] in December.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 pp. 445&ndash;446}} Facing low morale and discontent among the troops, Lincoln replaced Burnside with [[Joseph Hooker]].{{sfnm|Burlingame|2008|1loc=vol. 2 pp. 484&ndash;486|Donald|1996|2pp=411–412}} Hooker endured heavy casualties at the [[Battle of Chancellorsville]] in May, then resigned in June and was replaced by [[George Meade]].{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 pp. 498, 503, 510&ndash;511}} Meade followed Lee north into Pennsylvania and defeated him in the [[Gettysburg campaign]] but then failed to effectively block Lee's orderly retreat to Virginia, despite Lincoln's demands. At the same time, [[Ulysses S. Grant]] captured Vicksburg and gained control of the Mississippi River.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=444–447}}
In May 1863, Lincoln issued the [[Lieber Code]], which governed wartime conduct of the Union Army, defining command responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://opil.ouplaw.com/display/10.1093/law:epil/9780199231690/law-9780199231690-e2126|last=Labuda|first=Patryk|title=Lieber Code|encyclopedia=Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Law|date=September 2014}}</ref>

====Emancipation Proclamation====
{{Main|Abraham Lincoln and slavery|Emancipation Proclamation}}

<imagemap>
File:Emancipation proclamation.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|''[[First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln]]'', an 1864 portrait by [[Francis Bicknell Carpenter]]<small>'' (clickable image—use cursor to identify)''</small>|alt=A dark-haired, bearded, middle-aged man holding documents is seated among seven other men.

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Two Union generals had issued emancipation orders in 1861 and 1862, but Lincoln overrode both: he found that the decision to emancipate was not within the generals' power, and that it might induce loyal border states to secede.{{sfn|Guelzo|1999|pp=290–291}} However, in June 1862, Congress passed an act banning slavery in all federal territories, which Lincoln signed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/this-abominable-slavery/page/7_1_ab|title=The United States Congress outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude in all U.S. territories, June 20, 1862|accessdate=April 28, 2025|work=This Abominable Slavery|publisher=University of Utah}}</ref> In July, the [[Confiscation Act of 1862]] was enacted,{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 p. 357}} allowing the seizure of slaves from those disloyal to the United States. On July 22, 1862, Lincoln reviewed a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation with his cabinet.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=364–365}} Senator [[Willard Saulsbury Sr.]] criticized the proclamation, stating that it "would light their author to dishonor through all future generations".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=416}} By contrast, [[Horace Greeley]], editor of the ''[[New-York Tribune]]'', in his public letter, "The Prayer of Twenty Millions", implored Lincoln to embrace emancipation.{{sfnm|McPherson|1992|1p=124|Lundberg|2019|2p=116}} In a public letter of August 22, 1862, Lincoln replied to Greeley that while he personally wished all men could be free, his first obligation as president was to preserve the Union:{{sfn|Guelzo|2004|pp=147–153}}

{{Blockquote|My paramount object in this struggle ''is'' to save the Union, and is ''not'' either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing ''any'' slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing ''all'' the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.<ref name=anb/>}}

Buttressed by news of the recent Union victory at Antietam, on September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. On January 1, 1863, he issued the final version,{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 pp. 468&ndash;469}} freeing the slaves in the ten states not then under Union control,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/emancipation-proclamation|title=Emancipation Proclamation (1863)|date=August 16, 2021 |publisher=National Archives}}</ref> exempting areas under such control.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=379}} Lincoln commented on signing the Proclamation: "I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper."{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=407}} On New Year's Eve in 1862, Black people – enslaved and free – gathered across the United States to hold Watch Night ceremonies for "Freedom's Eve", looking toward the promised fulfillment of the Proclamation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 19, 2019 |title=The historical legacy of Juneteenth |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/historical-legacy-juneteenth |publisher=National Museum of African American History and Culture}}</ref> With the abolition of slavery in the rebel states now a military objective, Union armies advancing south enabled thousands to escape bondage.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McPherson |first1=James M. |title=Who freed the slaves? |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |date=March 1995 |volume=139 |issue=1 |page=9|jstor=986716}}</ref>

The Proclamation was immediately denounced by Copperheads, who advocated restoring the union by allowing slavery.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0032.105/--lincoln-s-critics-the-copperheads?rgn=main;view=fulltext|title=Lincoln's critics: the Copperheads|last=Weber|first=Jennifer|volume=32|issue=1|journal=Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association|date=Winter 2011|pages=33&ndash;47|doi=10.5406/19457987.32.1.05}}</ref> It was also seen as a betrayal of his promise to Southern Unionists not to tamper with slavery; [[Emerson Etheridge]], then [[Clerk of the United States House of Representatives|Clerk of the House of Representatives]], joined an unsuccessful plot to give the Democrats and Southern Unionists control of the House.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 p. 591}} As a result of the Proclamation, enlisting freedmen became official policy. In a letter to Tennessee military governor [[Andrew Johnson]], Lincoln wrote, "The bare sight of fifty thousand armed, and drilled black soldiers on the banks of the Mississippi would end the rebellion at once".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=431}}

====Gettysburg Address (1863)====
{{Main|Gettysburg Address}}

[[File:Gettysburg_Address_in_the_Lincoln_Memorial.JPG|alt=Text of the Gettysburg Address|thumb|Gettysburg Address engraved in the [[Lincoln Memorial]]]]
Lincoln gave the dedication for the [[Gettysburg National Cemetery|Gettysburg battlefield cemetery]] on November 19, 1863.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=453–460}} He asserted that the nation was "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal", and that the deaths of the "brave men ... who struggled here" would not be in vain, but that the nation "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".{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=460–466|Wills|2012|2pp=20, 27, 105, 146}} The address became the most quoted speech in American history.{{sfn|Bulla|Borchard|2010|p=222}}

Following Admiral [[David Farragut]]'s [[capture of New Orleans]] in 1862, and after victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, Lincoln proclaimed a national [[Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving holiday]], to be celebrated on the final Thursday of November 1863.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=471}}

====Promoting Grant====

{{main|Ulysses S. Grant}}

Grant's victories at the [[Battle of Shiloh]] and in the [[Vicksburg campaign]] impressed Lincoln. Responding to criticism of Grant after Shiloh, Lincoln said, "I can't spare this man. He fights."{{sfn|Thomas|2008|p=315}} Following Meade's failure to capture Lee's army after Gettysburg and after Grant's success at [[Chattanooga campaign|Chattanooga]], Lincoln promoted Grant to commander of all Union armies.<ref name=anb/> 

Lincoln reacted to Union losses by mobilizing support throughout the North.{{sfn|Thomas|2008|pp=422–424}} Union forces targeted infrastructure—plantations, railroads, and bridges—to weaken the South's morale and fighting ability.{{sfn|Witt|2013|pp=276&ndash;277}} While Lincoln sanctioned this approach, he emphasized the defeat of the Confederate armies over destruction for its own sake.<ref name=neely>{{cite journal|last=Neely|first=Mark E. Jr.|author-link=Mark E. Neely Jr.|year=2004|title=Was the Civil War a total war?|journal=Civil War History|volume=50 |issue=4|pages=438–448|doi=10.1353/cwh.2004.0073}}</ref> Grant's bloody [[Overland Campaign]]{{sfn|McPherson|2009|p=113}} turned into a strategic success for the Union despite a number of setbacks. But the campaign was the bloodiest in American history: approximately 55,000 casualties on the Union side (including 7,600 deaths), compared to about 33,000 on the Confederate (including 4,200 deaths). Lee's losses, although lower in absolute numbers, were proportionately higher (over 50%) than Grant's (about 45%).{{sfnm|Young|2013|1pp=242–243|Tucker|2014|2p=159}}<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Rhea|first=Gordon|date=Spring 2014|title=The Overland Campaign of 1864|magazine=Hallowed Ground|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/overland-campaign-1864}}</ref> In early April, the Confederate government evacuated Richmond and Lincoln visited the conquered capital.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=589}}

Amid the turmoil of military actions, on June 30, 1864, Lincoln signed into law the [[Yosemite Grant]], which provided unprecedented federal protection for the area now known as [[Yosemite National Park]].{{sfn|Schaffer|1999|p=48}} According to Rolf Diamant and Ethan Carr, "the Yosemite Grant was a direct consequence of the war ... an embodiment of the ongoing process of remaking government ... an intentional assertion of a steadfast belief in the eventual Union victory."{{sfn|Diamant|Carr|2022|pp=54&ndash;55}}

====Fiscal and monetary policy====
{{Main|Economic history of the United States Civil War}}

[[File:US-$1-LT-1862-Fr-16c.jpg|thumb|alt=Both sides of a one-dollar bill|One-dollar "greenback"]]
Lincoln and Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase faced a challenge in funding a wartime economy. Congress quickly approved Lincoln's request to assemble an army, even increasing his proposed 400,000 soldiers to 500,000, but both Congress and Chase initially resisted raising taxes.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|pp=27–28}} After the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run, which collapsed the bond market, Congress passed the [[Revenue Act of 1861]]. This act imposed the first [[Income tax in the United States|U.S. federal income tax]], creating a flat tax of three percent on annual incomes above $800 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|800|1861|r=-2}}}} in current dollars). The preference for taxation based on income rather than property reflected the increasing amount of wealth held in stocks and bonds; for example, Representative [[Schuyler Colfax]] declared during the debate, "I cannot go home and tell my constituents that I voted for a bill that would allow a man, a millionaire, who has put his entire property into stock, to be exempt from taxation, while a farmer who lives by his side must pay a tax".{{sfn|Weisman|2002|pp=30–35, 85}} As the average urban worker made approximately $600 per year, many were not required to pay income taxes.{{sfn|Paludan|1994|pp=111–112}}{{efn|In 1866, when income tax applied to those with incomes above $600, only an estimated 1.3% of the national population were required to pay.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pollack|first=Sheldon|title=The first national income tax, 1861–1872|journal=The Tax Lawyer|volume=67|issue= 2|year= 2014|pages= 311–330|jstor=24247751}}</ref>}} Lincoln also signed increases to the [[Morrill Tariff]], which had become law in the final months of Buchanan's tenure. These tariffs raised import duties considerably and were designed both to increase revenue and to help manufacturers offset the burden of new taxes.{{sfn|Paludan|1994|pp=113–114}} Throughout the war, Congress debated whether to raise additional revenue primarily by increasing tariff rates, which most strongly affected rural areas, or by increasing [[income tax]]es, which most affected wealthier individuals; the latter view proved more popular.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|p=85}} 

The revenue measures of 1861 proved inadequate for funding the war, forcing Congress to take further action.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|pp=37–38}} In February 1862, Congress passed the [[Legal Tender Act]], which authorized the minting of $150 million in "[[Greenback (1860s money)|greenbacks]]"—the first [[banknote]]s issued by the U.S. government since the end of the [[American Revolution]]. Greenbacks were not backed by gold or silver, but rather by the government's promise to honor their value. By the end of the war, $450 million worth of greenbacks were in circulation.{{sfnm|Paludan|1994|1pp=109–110|Weisman|2002|2p=37}}{{efn|Government borrowing amounted to $2.8 billion by 1866.<ref>{{harvnb|Weisman|2002|p=37}}.</ref>}} Congress also passed the Revenue Act of 1862, which established an [[excise tax]] affecting nearly every commodity, as well as the first national [[Estate tax in the United States|inheritance tax]].{{sfnm|Paludan|1994|1p=111|Weisman|2002|2pp=41&ndash;42}}<ref name="pollack1"/> It also added a [[progressive tax]] structure to the federal income tax.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|pp=40–42}} To collect these taxes, Congress created the Office of the [[Commissioner of Internal Revenue]].<ref name="pollack1">{{cite journal|last1=Pollack|first1=Sheldon D.|title=The first national income tax, 1861–1872|journal=Tax Lawyer|date=2014|volume=67|issue=2|url=https://udel.edu/~pollack/Downloaded%20SDP%20articles,%20etc/academic%20articles/The%20First%20National%20Income%20Tax%2012-18-2013.pdf}}</ref> 

Despite the new revenue measures, funding the war remained challenging.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|pp=81–82}} The government continued to issue greenbacks and borrow large amounts of money, and the U.S. national debt grew from $65 million in 1860 to over $2 billion in 1866.{{sfn|Paludan|1994|pp=109–110}} The [[Revenue Act of 1864]] represented a compromise between those who favored a more progressive tax structure and those who favored a flat tax.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|pp=84–88}}<ref name="pollack1" /> It established a five-percent tax on incomes above $600 and a ten-percent tax on incomes above $10,000, and it raised taxes on businesses.<ref name="pollack1" /> In early 1865, Congress reduced the threshold for ten-percent taxation to incomes above $5000.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|pp=90–91}} By the end of the war, the income tax constituted about one-fifth of the federal government's revenue,<ref name="pollack1" /> though it was intended as a [[State of emergency|temporary wartime measure]].{{sfn|Brownlee|2004|pp=34&ndash;37}}<ref name="pollack1" />

Lincoln also took action against wartime fraud, signing into law the [[False Claims Act of 1863]]. This statute imposed penalties for false claims and made it possible for private citizens to file false-claim (''[[qui tam]]'') lawsuits on behalf of the U.S. government and share in the recovery.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hamer|first= Sean|year=1996|title=Lincoln's law: constitutional and policy issues posed by the ''qui tam'' provisions of the false claims act|journal=Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy|volume=6|issue=2|pages= 89&ndash;106}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The False Claims Act: a primer |url=https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/civil/legacy/2011/04/22/C-FRAUDS_FCA_Primer.pdf |accessdate=March 13, 2025 |publisher=U.S. Department of Justice}}</ref> Hoping to stabilize the currency, Lincoln convinced Congress to pass the [[National Banking Act]] in 1863, established the [[Office of the Comptroller of the Currency]] to oversee "national banks," which were subject to federal, rather than state, regulation. In return for investing a third of their capital in federal bonds, national banks were authorized to issue federal banknotes.{{sfn|Weisman|2002|p=82}} After Congress imposed a tax on private banknotes in March 1865, federal banknotes became the dominant form of paper currency.{{sfn|Paludan|1994|p=112}} Other economic policies passed under Lincoln included the [[1862 Homestead Act]], which made millions of acres of government-held land in the West available for purchase at low cost. The 1862 [[Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act]] provided government grants for [[List of agricultural universities and colleges|agricultural colleges]] in each state. The [[Pacific Railway Acts]] of 1862 and 1864 granted federal support for the construction of the United States' [[first transcontinental railroad]], which was completed in 1869.{{sfnm|Paludan|1994|1pp=114&ndash;116|Reynolds|2020|2p=663}}

====Foreign policy====
{{Further|Diplomacy of the American Civil War|History of U.S. foreign policy, 1861–1897}}
At the start of the war, Russia was the lone [[great power]] to support the Union, while the other European powers had varying degrees of sympathy for the Confederacy.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=226–230}} According to the historian Dean Mahin, Lincoln had "limited familiarity with diplomatic practices" but exerted "substantial influence on U.S. diplomacy" as the Union attempted to avoid war with Britain and France.{{sfn|Mahin|1999|pp=2&ndash;3}} Lincoln appointed diplomats to try to persuade European nations not to recognize the Confederacy.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 p. 93}} Lincoln's policy succeeded: all foreign nations were officially neutral throughout the Civil War, with none recognizing the Confederacy.{{sfnm|Herring|2008|1pp=226–230|Mahin|1999|2p=22}} Some European leaders looked for ways to exploit the inability of the U.S. to enforce the [[Monroe Doctrine]] opposing European colonial intervention in the Americas: Spain invaded the [[Dominican Republic]] in 1861, while France established [[second Mexican Empire|a puppet regime]] in Mexico.{{sfnm|Herring|2008|1pp=224–229|Doyle|2015|2p=8}} However, many in Europe also hoped for a quick end to the war, both for humanitarian reasons and because of the economic disruption it caused.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=230, 240–241}}

The European aristocracy was "absolutely gleeful in pronouncing the American debacle as proof that the entire experiment in popular government had failed", according to [[Don H. Doyle]]. Union diplomats initially had to explain that the United States was not committed to ending slavery, and instead they argued that secession was unconstitutional. Confederate spokesmen, on the other hand, were more successful by ignoring slavery and instead focusing on their struggle for independence, their commitment to free trade, and the essential role of cotton in the European economy.{{sfnm|Doyle|2015|1pp=5–8, 55, 69–70|Mahin|1999|2pp=19&ndash;21}} However, the Confederacy's hope that cotton exports would compel European interference did not come to fruition, as Britain found alternative sources and maintained economic ties with the Union.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=235–236}} Though the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863 did not immediately end the possibility of European intervention, it rallied European public opinion to the Union by adding abolition as a Union war goal. Any chance of a European intervention in the war ended with the Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg in July 1863, as European leaders came to believe that the Confederate cause was doomed.{{sfnm|Herring|2008|1pp=242–246|Mahin|1999|2pp=22, 209}}

====Native Americans====
Lincoln appointed [[William P. Dole]] as commissioner of the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] and made "extensive use of Indian Service positions to reward political supporters", according to the historian Thomas Britten.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 p. 85}}<ref name=native>{{cite journal|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1gq5s34k|title=Abraham Lincoln as Great Father: a look at federal Indian policy, 1861&ndash;1865|last=Britten|first=Thomas|journal=American Indian Culture and Research Journal|year=2016|volume=40|issue=3|pages=103–122 |doi=10.17953/aicrj.40.3.britten}}</ref> Lincoln's policies largely focused on assimilation of Native Americans and diminishing tribal landholdings, consistent with those of his predecessors, but his direct involvement in Native American affairs was unclear.<ref name=native/> His administration faced difficulties guarding Western settlers, railroads, and telegraph lines from Native American attacks.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Nichols|first=David Allen|year=1974|title=The other civil war: Lincoln and the Indians|journal=Minnesota History|url=http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/44/v44i01p002-015.pdf|archiveurl=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/44/v44i01p002-015.pdf|archivedate=October 9, 2022|url-status=live|pages=4}}</ref> 

Tensions arose with the [[Dakota people]] due to American treaty violations, unfair trading, and government practices that led to starvation.<ref name=chomsky/> In August 1862, the [[Dakota War of 1862|Dakota War]] broke out in Minnesota. Hundreds of settlers were killed and 30,000 were displaced from their homes.{{sfn|Clodfelter|1998|pp=40&ndash;41, 61}} Some feared incorrectly that it might represent a Confederate conspiracy to start a war on the Northwestern frontier.{{sfn|Finkelman|2018|p=127}} Lincoln ordered thousands of paroled prisoners of war be sent to put down the uprising. When the Confederacy protested, Lincoln revoked the policy and none arrived in Minnesota.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 p. 481}} Lincoln sent Pope as commander of the new [[Department of the Northwest]].{{sfnm|1a1=Finkelman|1y=2018|1p=121|2a1=Clodfelter|2y=1998|2p=45}} Appointed as a state militia colonel, [[Henry Hastings Sibley]] eventually defeated the Dakota chief [[Little Crow]] at the [[Battle of Wood Lake]].{{sfn|Clodfelter|1998|pp=49, 53&ndash;59}} A [[war crimes trial]] led by Sibley sentenced 303 Dakota warriors to death;{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 p. 481}} the legal scholar Carol Chomsky described the trial as "a study in military injustice" designed to "guarantee an unjust outcome".<ref name=chomsky/> Lincoln pardoned all but 39 of the condemned warriors, and, with one execution suspended, the remaining 38 were hanged in [[1862 Mankato mass execution|the largest mass execution in U.S. history]].<ref name=chomsky>{{cite journal|last=Chomsky|first=Carol|title=The United States&ndash;Dakota war trials: a study in military injustice|journal=Stanford Law Review|date=1990|volume=43|issue=13|pages=13&ndash;37|doi=10.2307/1228993 |jstor=1228993 |url=https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1230&context=faculty_articles}}</ref> Congressman [[Alexander Ramsey]] told Lincoln in 1864 that he would have received more re-election support in Minnesota had he executed all 303 warriors. Lincoln responded, "I could not afford to hang men for votes."{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 p. 483}} Lincoln called for reform of federal Indian policy but prioritized the war and Reconstruction. Changes were made in response to the [[Sand Creek Massacre]] of November 1864, prioritizing peaceful administration of Native affairs and condemning those encroaching on Native territory, but not until after Lincoln's death.{{sfn|Green|2021|pp=38–39, 95&ndash;99}}

===Second term===
[[File:Harper's_weekly_(1865)_(14577952769).jpg|thumb|alt=A large crowd in front of a large building with many pillars|Lincoln's [[Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address|second inaugural address]] at the nearly completed [[United States Capitol|U.S. Capitol]] on March 4, 1865]]
====Re-election====
{{Main|1864 United States presidential election}}

Lincoln ran for re-election in 1864; the Democratic nominee was former general McClellan.<ref name=1864results>{{cite web|title=1864|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections/1864|work=The American Presidency Project|publisher=[[University of California, Santa Barbara]]|accessdate=December 29, 2025}}</ref> The Republican Party selected Andrew Johnson, a [[War Democrat]], as Lincoln's running mate. To broaden his coalition to include War Democrats as well as Republicans, Lincoln ran under the label of the new [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union Party]].{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=494–507|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 2 p. 642}} Grant's bloody stalemates and Confederate victories such as the [[Battle of the Crater]] damaged Lincoln's re-election prospects, and many Republicans feared defeat.<ref name=anb/>{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 pp. 658, 667}} Lincoln prepared a confidential memorandum pledging that, if he should lose the election, he would "co-operate with the President-elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterwards".<ref name=anb/>{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=529}} 

Victories at [[Atlanta campaign|Atlanta]] in September and in the [[Valley campaigns of 1864#Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley campaign (August–October 1864)|Shenandoah Valley]] in October turned public opinion, and Lincoln was re-elected with 212 electoral votes to McClellan's 21.<ref name=1864results/><ref name=anb/> As Grant continued to weaken Lee's forces, efforts to discuss peace began. On February 3, 1865, [[Alexander H. Stephens]], the Confederate vice president, and two other Confederate officials met with Lincoln and Seward at [[Hampton Roads Conference|Hampton Roads]]. Lincoln refused to negotiate with the Confederacy as a coequal, and the only agreement reached at the meeting concerned the exchange of prisoners.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1p=565|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 2, p. 758}} 

On March 4, 1865, Lincoln delivered his [[second inaugural address]]. Historian [[Mark Noll]] places the speech "among the small handful of semi-sacred texts by which Americans conceive their place in the world"; it is inscribed in the [[Lincoln Memorial]].{{sfn|Noll|2002|p=426}} Lincoln closed his speech with these words:
{{Blockquote|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; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.htm|publisher=U.S. National Park Service|title=Lincoln's second inaugural address|accessdate=April 27, 2025}}</ref>}}

A month later, on April 9, Lee [[Battle of Appomattox Court House|surrendered to Grant at Appomattox]], signaling the end of the war.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=583–589}} It triggered a series of subsequent surrenders across the South&mdash;in [[North Carolina]], [[Alabama]], and the [[Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War|trans-Mississippi Theater]]&mdash;and finally at sea with the surrender of the [[CSS Shenandoah|CSS ''Shenandoah'']] in November 1865.{{sfn|Winik|2006|p=191}}<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2015/spring/cw-surrenders.html|title=Ending the bloodshed: the last surrenders of the Civil War|last=Plante|first=Trevor|magazine=Prologue|date=Spring 2015|volume=47|issue=1}}</ref>

====Reconstruction====
{{Main|Reconstruction era}}

Reconstruction began before the war's end, as Lincoln and his associates considered the reintegration of the nation, and the fates of Confederate leaders and freed slaves. When a general asked Lincoln how the defeated Confederates were to be treated, Lincoln replied, "Let 'em up easy";{{sfn|Thomas|2008|pp=509–512}} he focused not on blame for the war but on rebuilding.{{sfn|Koehn|2017|p=191}} Determined to reunite the nation and not alienate the South, Lincoln urged that speedy elections under generous terms be held. His [[Ten percent plan|Amnesty Proclamation]] of December 8, 1863, offered pardons to those who had not held a Confederate civil office and had not mistreated Union prisoners, if they signed an oath of allegiance. Lincoln led the moderates in Reconstruction policy and was opposed by the Radicals, under [[Thaddeus Stevens]], Charles Sumner and [[Benjamin Wade]], who otherwise remained Lincoln's allies.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=471–472}}

As Southern states fell, they needed leaders while their administrations were being restored. In Tennessee and Arkansas, Lincoln appointed Andrew Johnson and [[Frederick Steele]], respectively, as military governors.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=484}} In Louisiana, Lincoln ordered [[Nathaniel P. Banks]] to promote a plan that would reestablish statehood when 10 percent of the voters agreed, but only if the reconstructed states abolished slavery. Democratic opponents accused Lincoln of using the plan to ensure his and the Republicans' political aspirations. The Radicals denounced his policy as too lenient and passed their own plan, the 1864 [[Wade–Davis Bill]], but Lincoln [[pocket veto|pocket-vetoed]] it. The Radicals retaliated by refusing to seat elected representatives from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee.{{sfnm|Donald|1996|1pp=509&ndash;511|Burlingame|2008|2loc=vol. 2 pp. 594&ndash;600, 659&ndash;664}}

[[File:Lincoln and Johnsond.jpg|upright=1.4|alt=Cartoon of Lincoln and Johnson attempting to stitch up the broken Union|thumb|An 1865 political cartoon, ''The 'Rail Splitter' At Work Repairing the Union'', depicting Vice President [[Andrew Johnson]], a former tailor, sewing with needle and thread, and Lincoln, the [[Split-rail fence|rail splitter]], applying a rail leverage to repair the globe.]]
After implementing the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln increased pressure on Congress to outlaw slavery nationwide with a constitutional amendment. By December 1863 an amendment was brought to Congress.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=554}} The Senate passed it on April 8, 1864, but the first vote in the House of Representatives fell short of the required two-thirds majority. Passage became part of Lincoln's re-election platform, and after his re-election, the second attempt in the House passed on January 31, 1865.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=562–563}} After ratification by three-fourths of the states in December 1865, it became the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]], abolishing "slavery [and] involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime".{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 p. 751}}

Lincoln announced a Reconstruction plan that involved short-term military administration, pending readmission under the control of southern Unionists. He also signed Senator Charles Sumner's [[Freedmen's Bureau]] bill that set up a temporary federal agency designed to meet the immediate needs of former slaves. The law opened land for a lease of three years with the ability for the freedmen to purchase title. In signing it, according to the historian [[Richard Carwardine]], Lincoln "acknowledged that the government had at least some responsibility for the material needs of millions of ex-slaves",{{sfn|Carwardine|2003|pp=238–243}} although it fell short of the "[[forty acres and a mule]]" that many slaves understood they would receive from confiscated property.{{sfn|Schwartz|2000|p=86}} [[Eric Foner]] argues that "Lincoln did not see Reconstruction as an opportunity for a sweeping political and social revolution beyond emancipation. He had long made clear his opposition to the confiscation and redistribution of land."{{sfn|Foner|2010|p=335}} However, the Lincoln scholar [[Phillip S. Paludan]] suggests that at the end of his life Lincoln was moving towards a more radical position, particularly with regards to freedmen's rights.{{sfn|Paludan|1994|pp=308&ndash;309}} Foner adds that, had Lincoln lived into the [[Reconstruction era]], "It is entirely plausible to imagine Lincoln and Congress agreeing on a Reconstruction policy that encompassed federal protection for basic civil rights plus limited black suffrage, along the lines Lincoln proposed just before his death."{{sfn|Foner|2010|p=335}}

==Assassination==
{{Main|Assassination of Abraham Lincoln}}

[[File:Lincoln assassination slide c1900 - Restoration.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Painting of Lincoln being shot by Booth while sitting in a theater booth.|An illustration of [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln's assassination]] on April 14, 1865, in the presidential booth at [[Ford's Theatre]], featuring (left to right): assassin [[John Wilkes Booth]], Abraham Lincoln, [[Mary Todd Lincoln]], [[Clara Harris]], and [[Henry Rathbone]]]]

[[John Wilkes Booth]] was a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland; though he never joined the Confederate army, he had contacts within the Confederate secret service.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=586–587}} After attending Lincoln's last public address, on April 11, 1865, in which Lincoln stated his preference that the franchise be conferred on some Black men, specifically "on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-last-public-address|title=The President's last public address|website=The American Presidency Project|publisher=University of California, Santa Barbara|accessdate=May 3, 2025}}</ref> Booth plotted to assassinate the President.{{sfn|Harrison|2010|pp=3–4}} When Booth learned of the Lincolns' intent to attend a play with Grant, he planned to assassinate Lincoln and Grant at [[Ford's Theatre]].{{sfn|Goodwin|2005|pp=734&ndash;735}} Lincoln and his wife attended the play ''[[Our American Cousin]]'' on the evening of April 14. At the last minute, Grant decided to go to New Jersey to visit his children instead of attending.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=594–597}}

At 10:15 pm, Booth entered Lincoln's theater box, crept up from behind, and fired at the back of Lincoln's head, mortally wounding him. Lincoln's guest, Major [[Henry Rathbone]], momentarily grappled with Booth, but Booth stabbed him and escaped.{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=597}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Lincolns-Missing-Bodyguard.html |title=Lincoln's missing bodyguard |first=Paul |last=Martin |date=April 8, 2010 |work=Smithsonian |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927221216/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Lincolns-Missing-Bodyguard.html |archivedate=September 27, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> After being attended by [[Charles Leale]] and two other doctors, Lincoln was taken across the street to [[Petersen House]]. He remained in a coma for nine hours and died at 7:22 am on April 15.{{sfn|Steers|2010|p=153}} Lincoln's body was wrapped in a flag and placed in a coffin, which was loaded into a hearse and escorted to the White House by Union soldiers.{{sfn|Craughwell|2009|p=4}} Johnson was sworn in as president later that day.{{sfn|Trefousse|1989|p=194}} Two weeks later, Booth was located, shot, and killed at a farm in Virginia by Sergeant [[Boston Corbett]].{{sfnm|Steers|2010|1p=153|Donald|1996|2p=599}}

==== Funeral and burial ====
{{Main|State funeral of Abraham Lincoln}}

From April 19 to 20, Lincoln lay in state, first in the White House and then in the [[United States Capitol rotunda|Capitol rotunda]].{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 p. 820}} The caskets containing Lincoln's body and the body of his third son Willie then traveled for two weeks on a [[State funeral of Abraham Lincoln#Funeral train to Springfield, Illinois|funeral train]] following a circuitous route from Washington D.C. to Springfield, Illinois, stopping at several cities for memorials attended by hundreds of thousands.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 pp. 822&ndash;825}} Many others gathered along the tracks as the train passed with bands, bonfires, and hymn singing or in silent grief.{{sfnm|Burlingame|2008|1loc=vol. 2 p. 822|Goodrich|2005|2pp=231–238}} Historians emphasized the widespread shock and sorrow, but noted that some who had hated Lincoln celebrated his death.{{sfn|Hodes|2015|pp=84, 86, 96–97}} [[Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln|Walt Whitman]] composed four elegies to Lincoln, including "[[When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd]]" and "[[O Captain! My Captain!]]".{{sfn|Peck|2015|pp=118–123}} Lincoln's body was buried at [[Oak Ridge Cemetery]] in Springfield and now lies within the [[Lincoln Tomb]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Survey of historic sites and buildings – Lincoln Tomb, Illinois |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/Presidents/site19.htm |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830182658/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/Presidents/site19.htm |archivedate=August 30, 2009 |url-status=dead|accessdate=May 4, 2025}}</ref>

==Philosophy and views==
[[File:George P.A. Healy - Abraham Lincoln - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|alt=Lincoln sitting with his hand on his chin and his elbow on his leg.|''[[Abraham Lincoln (Healy)|Abraham Lincoln]]'' (1869)]]
Lincoln redefined the political philosophy of [[republicanism in the United States]]. Because the Declaration of Independence says that all men have an unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, he called it the "[[sheet anchor]]" of republicanism, at a time when the Constitution was the focus of most political discourse.{{sfnm|1a1=Jaffa|1y=2000|1p=399|2a1=Jividen|2y=2011|2pp=12&ndash;15}} He presented the Declaration as establishing equality as a foundational principle for the United States, which had a significant impact on social and political movements in the US into the 20th century.{{sfn|Jividen|2011|pp=12&ndash;15}}

As a Whig activist, Lincoln was a spokesman for business interests, favoring high tariffs, banks, infrastructure improvements, and railroads, in opposition to [[Jacksonian democrats]].{{sfn|Boritt|Pinsker|2002|pp=196–198, 229–231, 301}} Nevertheless, Lincoln admired [[Andrew Jackson]]'s steeliness and patriotism,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wilentz |first=Sean |author-link=Sean Wilentz |date=2012 |title=Abraham Lincoln and Jacksonian democracy |url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/node/242 |publisher=Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818082649/http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/lincoln/essays/abraham-lincoln-and-jacksonian-democracy |archivedate=August 18, 2016 }}</ref> and adopted the Jacksonian "belief in the common man".{{sfn|Work|2024|p=8}} According to historian [[Sean Wilentz]], "just as the Republican Party of the 1850s absorbed certain elements of Jacksonianism, so Lincoln, whose Whiggery had always been more egalitarian than that of other Whigs, found himself absorbing some of them as well."{{sfn|Wilentz|2012}}

[[William C. Harris (historian)|William C. Harris]] found that Lincoln's "reverence for the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, the laws under it, and the preservation of the Republic and its institutions strengthened his conservatism."{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=2}} In Lincoln's first inaugural address, he denounced secession as anarchy and argued that "a majority held in restraint by constitutional checks, and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people."{{sfnm|1a1=Belz|1y=1998|1p=86|2a1=Lincoln|2y=1953|2pp=256&ndash;257}}

===Religious skepticism and providence===
{{Further|Religious views of Abraham Lincoln}}
As a young man Lincoln was a [[religious skepticism|religious skeptic]].{{sfnm|Carwardine|2003|1p=4|Wilson|1999|2p=84}} However, he was deeply familiar with the Bible;{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=48–49, 514–515}} throughout his public career, he often quoted Scripture.{{sfn|Myers|2018|p=21}} His three most famous speeches—the [[Lincoln's House Divided Speech|House Divided Speech]], the [[Gettysburg Address]], and [[Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address|his second inaugural address]]—all contain such quotes. In the 1840s, Lincoln subscribed to the [[The Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity Illustrated|Doctrine of Necessity]], a belief that the human mind was controlled by a higher power.{{sfn|Donald|1996|pp=48–49}}{{sfn|Guelzo|2009|pp=27&ndash;48}}

After the death of his son Edward in 1850 Lincoln more frequently expressed a dependence on God.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Parrillo|first=Nicholas|year=2000|title=Lincoln's Calvinist transformation: emancipation and war|journal=Civil War History|volume=46| issue=3|pages=227–253|doi=10.1353/cwh.2000.0073}}</ref> He never joined a church, although he and his wife frequently attended [[First Presbyterian Church (Springfield, Illinois)|First Presbyterian Church]] in Springfield, Illinois, beginning in 1852.{{sfn|White|2009|p=180}} While president, Lincoln often attended services at the [[New York Avenue Presbyterian Church]] in Washington, D.C.{{sfn|Mansfield|2012|pp=125&ndash;126}} The death of his son Willie in February 1862 may have caused him to look toward religion for solace.{{sfn|Wilson|1999|pp=251–254}} 

Lincoln's frequent use of religious imagery and language toward the end of his life may have reflected his own personal beliefs or might have been a device to reach his audiences, who were mostly [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] Protestants.{{sfn|Carwardine|2003|pp=27–55}} Sources differ in how they describe his religious beliefs. His law partner [[William Herndon (lawyer)|William Herndon]] gave a lecture after Lincoln's death stating that he was an "unbeliever";<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jala/article/35/2/18/393982|last=Carwardine|first=Richard|title='Simply a theist': Herndon on Lincoln's religion|journal=Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association|year=2014|volume= 35 |number=2|pages= 18–36|doi=10.5406/19457987.35.2.04}}</ref> James Smith, the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, responded to this lecture with an open letter asserting that Lincoln "did avow his belief in the Divine
Authority and the Inspiration of the Scriptures".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Abraham Lincoln and the Reverend Dr. James Smith: Lincoln's Presbyterian experience in Springfield|first=Robert |last= Havlik|journal=Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society |volume=92|issue= 3|date= 1999|pages= 222&ndash;237|jstor=40193225}}</ref> [[Stephen Mansfield]] describes "an atheist or religiously skeptical Lincoln" as "the prevailing view", although he argues that "there was a spiritual journey of some kind in Abraham Lincoln's life".{{sfn|Mansfield|2012|p=xx}} Richard Carwardine writes that "Many elements of the inner Lincoln, including his personal faith ... necessarily remain a puzzle".{{sfn|Carwardine|2003|p=xvi}} Lincoln's last words were, as reported by his wife, "There is no place I so much desire to see as Jerusalem".{{sfn|Mansfield|2012|pp=xvii&ndash;xviii}}

==Health and appearance==
{{Main|Health of Abraham Lincoln}}

According to Michael Burlingame, Lincoln was described as "awkward" and "gawky" as a youth.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 41&ndash;42}} In adolescence he was tall and strong, participating in jumping, throwing, wrestling, and footraces, and demonstrating exceptional strength.{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 pp. 33, 41}} Burlingame notes that Lincoln's clothes "were typically rough and suited to the frontier", with a gap between his shoes, socks, and pants that often exposed six or more inches of his shin; "he cared little about fashion".{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 41}}

Lincoln was a slender six feet four inches,{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 1 p. 41}} with a high-pitched voice.{{sfn|Braden|1993|p=99}} While he is usually portrayed bearded, he did not grow a beard until 1860 at the suggestion of 11-year-old [[Grace Bedell]]; he was the first U.S. president to do so.{{sfn|Collea|2018|pp=13–14}} [[William H. Herndon]] described Lincoln's face as "long, narrow, sallow, and cadaverous", his cheeks as "leathery and saffron-colored".{{sfn|Neely|Holzer|2006|p=35}} Lincoln described himself as having a "dark complexion, with coarse black hair".{{sfn|Neely|Holzer|2006|p=35}} Lincoln's detractors also remarked on his appearance. For example, the [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] ''Mercury'' described him as having "the dirtiest complexion" and asked "Faugh! after him what decent white man would be President?"{{sfn|Thompson|2015|p=96}}

Among the illnesses that Lincoln is either documented or speculated to have suffered from are depression,<ref name=Atlanticoct2005/> [[smallpox]],{{sfn|Burlingame|2008|loc=vol. 2 p. 578}} and [[malaria]].{{sfn|Bollet|2004|p=36}} He took [[blue mass]] pills, which contained [[mercury (element)|mercury]], to treat [[depression (mood)|melancholy]] or [[hypochondriasis]]; this may have resulted in [[mercury poisoning]].<ref name=mercury>{{cite journal |last1=Hirschhorn |first1=Norbert |last2=Feldman |first2=Robert G. |last3=Greaves |first3=Ian |date=Summer 2001 |title=Abraham Lincoln's blue pills: did our 16th president suffer from mercury poisoning? |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/26064 |journal=Perspectives in Biology and Medicine |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=315–322 |doi=10.1353/pbm.2001.0048 |pmid=11482002|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Several claims have been made that Lincoln's health was declining before the assassination, as [[list of photographs of Abraham Lincoln|photographs of Lincoln]] appear to show weight loss and facial changes.<ref name="theatlantic.com" />{{sfn|Kent|2022|p=240}} It has been proposed that he could have had a rare genetic disorder such as [[Marfan syndrome]] or [[multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2B]].<ref name="theatlantic.com">{{cite magazine|first=Abraham|last=Verghese|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2009/05/was-lincoln-dying-before-he-was-shot/17955/ |title=Was Lincoln dying before he was shot? |magazine=The Atlantic |date=May 20, 2009|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413145051/http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2009/05/was-lincoln-dying-before-he-was-shot/17955/ |archivedate=April 13, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnm|Kent|2022|1p=240|Schroeder-Lein|2012|2pp=39&ndash;40}}

== Legacy ==
{{CSS image crop|Image=LINCOLN, Abraham-President (BEP engraved portrait).jpg |bSize= 226|cWidth= 165|cHeight= 195|oTop= 33|oLeft= 31|Location= right|Description= [[Bureau of Engraving and Printing]] portrait of Lincoln as president}}
=== Historical reputation ===
In [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States|surveys of U.S. scholars ranking presidents]]<!-- Lincoln is first in 9 of 17 on that page. --> since 1948, the top three presidents are generally Lincoln, [[George Washington]], and [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]], although the order varies.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lindgren |first=James |author-link=James Lindgren |date=November 16, 2000 |title=Rating the Presidents of the United States, 1789–2000 |publisher=Federalist Society |url=https://fedsoc.org/commentary/publications/rating-the-presidents-of-the-united-states-1789-2000-a-survey-of-scholars-in-history-political-science-and-law}}</ref> A 2004 study found that scholars in history and politics ranked Lincoln number one, while legal scholars placed him second after Washington.{{sfn|Taranto|Leo|2004|p=264}} Between 1999 and 2011, Lincoln, [[John F. Kennedy]], and [[Ronald Reagan]] were the top-ranked presidents in eight [[public opinion]] surveys by Gallup.<ref>{{cite web |last=Newport |first=Frank |date=February 28, 2011|title=Americans say Reagan is the greatest U.S. president|website=Gallup.com|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/146183/Americans-Say-Reagan-Greatest-President.aspx|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314210856/http://www.gallup.com/poll/146183/Americans-Say-Reagan-Greatest-President.aspx |archivedate=March 14, 2012}}</ref>

Lincoln's assassination made him a national martyr. He was viewed by abolitionists as a champion of human liberty. Many, though not all, in the South considered Lincoln to be a man of outstanding ability.{{sfn|Chesebrough|1994|pp=76, 79, 106, 110}} In the [[New Deal]] era, liberals honored Lincoln as an advocate of the common man who they claimed would have supported the [[welfare state]],{{sfn|Schwartz|2008|pp=23, 91–98}} and Lincoln became a favorite of liberal intellectuals across the world.{{sfn|Carwardine|Sexton|2011|pp=7, 9–10, 54}} The [[Sociology|sociologist]] [[Barry Schwartz (sociologist)|Barry Schwartz]] argues that in the 1930s and 1940s, Lincoln provided the nation with "a moral symbol inspiring and guiding American life."{{sfn|Schwartz|2008|pp=xi, 9, 24}} Schwartz states that Lincoln's American reputation grew slowly from the late 19th century until the [[Progressive Era]] (1900–1920s), when he emerged as one of America's most venerated heroes, even among White Southerners. The high point came in 1922 with the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial on the [[National Mall]] in Washington, D.C.{{sfn|Schwartz|2000|p=109}} However, Schwartz also argued in 2008 that since World War II Lincoln's symbolic power has lost relevance, and this "fading hero is symptomatic of fading confidence in national greatness."{{sfn|Schwartz|2008|pp=xi, 9}} By the 1970s, Lincoln had become a hero to [[Conservatism in the United States|political conservatives]]{{sfn|Havers|2009|p=96}}—apart from [[neo-Confederates]] such as [[Mel Bradford]], who denounced his treatment of the White South—for his nationalism, his support for business, his insistence on stopping the spread of slavery, and his perceived devotion to the principles of the Founding Fathers.{{sfnm|Belz|2014|1pp=514–518|Graebner|1959|2pp=67–94|Smith|2010|3pp=43–45}}

The Black orator and former slave [[Frederick Douglass]] stated that in "his company, I was never reminded of my humble origin, or of my unpopular color",{{sfn|Trefousse|1999|p=97}} and Lincoln has long been known as the Great Emancipator.{{efn|The origin of the nickname is unknown.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/05/17/a-civil-war-mystery-who-named-lincoln-the-great-emancipator/339f3fc9-91fb-454a-ada0-d4a093d0812e/ |title=A Civil War mystery: who named Lincoln the 'Great Emancipator'?|last=Wheeler|first= Linda|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 17, 2001}}</ref>}} By the late 1960s, however, some Black intellectuals denied that Lincoln deserved that title.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Arthur|last=Zilversmit|title=Lincoln and the problem of race: a decade of interpretations|url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0002.104/--lincoln-and-the-problem-of-race-a-decade-of-interpretations?rgn=main;view=fulltext|journal=Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association|volume=2|issue=1|date=1980|pages=22–24|doi=10.5406/19457987.2.1.04}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=John M.|last=Barr|title=Holding up a flawed mirror to the American soul: Abraham Lincoln in the writings of Lerone Bennett Jr.|url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0035.105/--holding-up-a-flawed-mirror-to-the-american-soul-abraham?keywords=rgn...;rgn=main;view=fulltext|journal=Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association|volume=35|issue=1|date=Winter 2014|pages=43–65|doi=10.5406/19457987.35.1.05 }}</ref> [[Lerone Bennett Jr.]] won wide attention when he called Lincoln a [[White supremacist]] in 1968.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Bennett|first=Lerone Jr.|author-link=Lerone Bennett Jr.|year=1968|title=Was Abe Lincoln a white supremacist?|magazine=Ebony|volume=23|issue=4|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=H84DAAAAMBAJ|page=35}}|pages=35&ndash;42}}</ref> He noted that Lincoln used ethnic slurs and argued that Lincoln opposed social equality and proposed that freed slaves voluntarily move to another country.{{sfnm|1a1=Cashin|1y=2002|1p=61|2a1=Kelley|2a2=Lewis|2y=2005|2p=228}} Defenders of Lincoln highlighted his condemnation of slavery and his contributions to its abolition, casting his delays and racist rhetoric as concessions to political necessity rather than reflections of his personal beliefs.{{sfn|Striner|2006|p=1}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wilson|first= Kirt |title=Debating the Great Emancipator: Abraham Lincoln and our public memory|journal=Rhetoric and Public Affairs|volume=13|issue= 3|year= 2010|pages= 455–479|doi= 10.2307/41936461 |jstor=41936461}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=Dorothy|last= Ross|title= Lincoln and the ethics of emancipation: universalism, nationalism, exceptionalism|journal= Journal of American History|volume= 96|issue= 2|date= September 2009|pages=379–399|doi=10.1093/jahist/96.2.379}}</ref>

Lincoln has also been characterized as a folk hero and as "Honest Abe".{{sfn|Corning|Schuman|2015|pp=66&ndash;72}} David Herbert Donald opined in his 1996 biography that Lincoln was endowed with the personality trait of [[negative capability]], attributed to extraordinary leaders who were "capable of being in uncertainties ... without any irritable reaching after fact and reason".{{sfn|Donald|1996|p=15}} Lincoln has often been portrayed by Hollywood, almost always in a flattering light; the film historian Melvyn Stokes writes that "moviemakers have commonly used Lincoln primarily as a metaphor for ideas and values they approved".<ref>{{cite magazine|first1=Steven|last1=Spielberg|author-link1=Steven Spielberg|first2=Tony|last2=Kushner|author-link2=Tony Kushner|first3=Doris|last3=Kearns Goodwin|author-link3=Doris Kearns Goodwin|title=Mr. Lincoln goes to Hollywood|magazine=Smithsonian|date=2012|volume=43|issue=7|pages=46–53}}</ref><ref name=stokes/> Lincoln has also been admired by political figures outside the U.S., including the German political theorist [[Karl Marx]]{{sfn|Samuels|2012|p=156}} and [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]], leader of the Italian [[Risorgimento]],{{sfn|Field|2011|p=51}} and later Indian [[Indian independence movement|independence]] leader [[Mahatma Gandhi]], German politician [[Willy Brandt]], and [[Nelson Mandela]], who likened the "new birth of freedom" Lincoln referenced in the Gettysburg Address to the end of [[apartheid]] in South Africa.{{sfn|Avlon|2023|pp=270&ndash;271}}

===Memorials and commemorations===
{{Main|Memorials to Abraham Lincoln}}

{{See also|Cultural depictions of Abraham Lincoln}}
Lincoln's portrait appears on two denominations of [[United States currency]], the [[Penny (United States coin)|penny]] and the [[United States five-dollar bill|$5 bill]]. He appears on postage stamps across the world, including in Ghana, Honduras, China, Haiti, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Argentina.{{sfn|Peterson|1995|p=368}} He has been memorialized in many town, city, and county names, including the [[Lincoln, Nebraska|capital]] of Nebraska.{{sfn|Dennis|2018|pp=194, 197}} The United States Navy has named three vessels after Lincoln, including the {{sclass|Nimitz|aircraft carrier|2}} {{USS|Abraham Lincoln|CVN-72}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.public.navy.mil/airfor/cvn72/Pages/CVN72History.aspx |title=History of USS ''Abraham Lincoln'' (CVN 72) |publisher=United States Department of the Navy |accessdate=February 13, 2020 |archivedate=June 27, 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627065558/https://www.public.navy.mil/airfor/cvn72/Pages/CVN72History.aspx |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/president-lincoln.html|publisher=United States Department of the Navy |accessdate=July 20, 2025|title=President Lincoln, 1917&ndash;1918}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/abraham-lincoln-ssbn-602-i.html|publisher=United States Department of the Navy |accessdate=July 20, 2025|title=USS Abraham Lincoln I (SSBN-602), 1961&ndash;1982}}</ref> The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., is one of the most visited [[National Park Service]] sites in the country.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2023/03/06/1161246636/national-parks-momuments-attendance-visits|publisher=NPR|title=These were the most visited national parks and memorials in 2022|last=Archie|first=Ayana|date=March 6, 2023}}</ref> Memorials in Springfield, Illinois, include the [[Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum]], Lincoln's home, and his tomb.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/liho/planyourvisit/things2do.htm|title=Things to do: Lincoln Home|publisher=U.S. National Park Service|accessdate=May 3, 2025}}</ref> A carving of Lincoln appears with those of three other presidents on [[Mount Rushmore]], which receives about 3&nbsp;million visitors a year.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mount Rushmore National Memorial |url=https://home.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/index.htm |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001021548/http://www.nps.gov/moru/historyculture/index.htm |archivedate=October 1, 2011 |url-status=live |accessdate=November 13, 2010}}</ref> A [[Abraham Lincoln: The Man|statue of Lincoln]] completed by [[Augustus Saint-Gaudens]] stands in [[Lincoln Park]], Chicago,<ref>{{cite journal |first=Thayer |last=Tolles |title=Abraham Lincoln: The Man (Standing Lincoln): a bronze statuette by Augustus Saint-Gaudens |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/675325|journal=Metropolitan Museum Journal |volume=48 |year=2013 |pages=223–237 |doi=10.1086/675325|url-access=subscription }}</ref> with recastings given as diplomatic gifts standing in [[Parliament Square]], London, and [[Parque Lincoln]], Mexico City.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/places/the-standing-lincoln.htm|publisher=U.S. National Park Service|accessdate=May 3, 2025|title=The Standing Lincoln}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Katz |first=Jamie |date=February 23, 2017 |title=Why Abraham Lincoln was revered in Mexico |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-mexico-loved-lincoln-180962258/ |website=Smithsonian}}</ref> Several states commemorate "[[Presidents' Day]]" as "Washington–Lincoln Day".<ref>{{cite web |title=Colorado Revised Statutes Title 24. Government State § 24-11-101. Legal holidays – effect |url=http://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-24-government-state/co-rev-st-sect-24-11-101.html |work=FindLaw |date=February 16, 2017 |accessdate=February 20, 2017 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221114525/http://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-24-government-state/co-rev-st-sect-24-11-101.html |archivedate=February 21, 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=1.14 Excluding first and including last day – legal holidays |url=http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/gp1.14 |work=Ohio Laws and Rules |date=April 10, 2001|url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170219071355/http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/gp1.14 |archivedate=February 19, 2017}}</ref> 

Lincoln has also been extensively portrayed in film. Early works attempted to mythologize him, emphasizing his mercifulness, as in ''[[Abraham Lincoln's Clemency]]'' (1910). Works from the [[Great Depression]] era emphasized his early struggles and folksiness, as in ''[[Young Mr. Lincoln]]'' (1939).<ref name=stokes>{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/14664658.2011.594651|title=Abraham Lincoln and the movies|last=Stokes|first=Melvyn|date=2011|pages=203&ndash;231|journal=American Nineteenth Century History|volume=12|issue=2}}</ref> After a marked decrease in film portrayals between 1941 and 1999,<ref name=stokes/> [[Daniel Day-Lewis]] won the [[Academy Award for Best Actor]] for his portrayal in ''[[Lincoln (film)|Lincoln]]'', a 2012 [[Biographical film|biographical]] film directed by [[Steven Spielberg]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Whipp|first1=Glenn|date=February 24, 2013|title= Oscars 2013: Daniel Day-Lewis wins best actor for 'Lincoln'|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-xpm-2013-feb-24-la-et-mn-oscars-2013-daniel-day-lewis-wins-lead-actor-lincoln-20130220-story.html}}</ref>

<gallery widths="160" heights="200" class="center">
File:Head of Abraham Lincoln at Mount Rushmore.jpg|alt=Refer to caption|Lincoln's image carved into the stone of [[Mount Rushmore]]
File:Lincoln 1866 Issue-15c.jpg|alt=Refer to caption|The Lincoln memorial postage stamp of 1866 was issued by the U.S. Post Office exactly one year after Lincoln's assassination.
File:Aerial view of Lincoln Memorial - west side.jpg|alt=An aerial photo a large white building with big pillars.|The [[Lincoln Memorial]] in Washington, D.C.
File:United States penny, obverse, 2002.png|alt=Refer to caption|The [[Lincoln cent]], an American coin portraying Lincoln </gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Politics|United States}}
* [[Outline of Abraham Lincoln]]
* [[Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln]]
* [[Lincoln family]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|28em}}

===Sources===
{{See also|Bibliography of Abraham Lincoln}}
{{Refbegin|30em}}

*{{cite book|title=Lincoln and the Fight for Peace|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2023|first=John |last=Avlon|authorlink=John Avlon|isbn=9781982108137 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tSepEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA270}}
* {{cite book|last=Baker|first=Jean H.|author-link=Jean H. Baker|year=1989|title=Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393305869}}
* {{cite book|last=Bartelt|first=William E.|author-link=William Bartelt|year=2008|title=There I Grew Up: Remembering Abraham Lincoln's Indiana Youth|publisher=Indiana Historical Society Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Ed-NAAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=9780871952639}}
* {{cite book|last=Belz|first=Herman|year=1998|title=Abraham Lincoln, Constitutionalism, and Equal Rights in the Civil War Era|publisher=Fordham University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=GbztAAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=9780823217687}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Belz|first=Herman|editor1-last=Frohnen|editor1-first=Bruce|editor-link1=Bruce Frohnen|editor2-last=Beer|editor2-first=Jeremy|editor3-last=Nelson|editor3-first=Jeffrey O.|year=2014|encyclopedia=American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia|title=Lincoln, Abraham|publisher=Open Road Media|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=T1yOAwAAQBAJ}}|isbn=9781932236439}}
* {{cite book|last=Blue|first=Frederick J.|year=1987|title=Salmon P. Chase: A Life in Politics|publisher=Kent State University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Wyxj7Y3Fh7AC}}|isbn=9780873383400}}
*{{cite book|last=Bollet|first=Alfred|year=2004|title=Plagues & Poxes: The Impact of Human History on Epidemic Disease|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781888799798}}
* {{cite book|last1=Boritt|first1=Gabor S.|author-link1=Gabor Boritt|last2=Pinsker|first2=Matthew|editor-last=Graff|editor-first=Henry|editor-link=Henry Graff|year=2002|title=The Presidents: A Reference History|chapter=Abraham Lincoln|publisher=Macmillan |edition=7th|isbn=9780684805511}}
*{{cite book|last=Braden|first=Waldo|title=Abraham Lincoln: Public Speaker|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|year=1993|isbn=9780807118528}}
*{{Cite book |last=Brownlee |first=W. Elliot |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9bisd10xEqcC |title=Federal Taxation in America: A Short History |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521545204}}
* {{cite book|last1=Bulla|first1=David W.|last2=Borchard|first2=Gregory A.|year=2010|title=Journalism in the Civil War Era|publisher=Peter Lang|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=U67N0GsAUosC}}|isbn=9781433107221}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Michael Burlingame (historian) |last=Burlingame |first=Michael |title=Abraham Lincoln: A Life |date=2008 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=9780801894671}}
* {{cite book|last=Carwardine|first=Richard J.|author-link=Richard Carwardine|year=2003|title=Lincoln|publisher=Pearson Longman|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=UrAOAQAAMAAJ}}|isbn=9780582032798}}

*{{cite book|editor1-first=Richard|editor1-last=Carwardine|editor2-first=Jay|editor2-last=Sexton|title=The Global Lincoln|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Gs_1lpJvF34C|page=54}}|year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195379112}}
* {{cite book|last1=Cashin|first1=Joan E.|year=2002|title=The War was You and Me: Civilians in the American Civil War|publisher=Princeton University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=XDGYzuPW3PoC}}|isbn=9780691091747}}
* {{cite book|last=Chesebrough|first=David B.|year=1994|title=No Sorrow Like Our Sorrow: Northern Protestant Ministers and the Assassination of Lincoln|publisher=Kent State University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=OHRNdDC54ooC}}|isbn=9780873384919}}
*{{cite book|last=Clodfelter|first=Micheal|title=The Dakota War: The United States Army versus the Sioux, 1862&ndash;1865|publisher=McFarland|year=1998|isbn=9780786404193}}
* {{Cite book |last=Collea |first=Joseph D., Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XFuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 |title=New York and the Lincoln Specials: The President's Pre-Inaugural and Funeral Trains Cross the Empire State |date=2018 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476633244}}

*{{cite book|last1=Corning|first1=Amy|last2=Schuman|first2=Howard|title=Generations and Collective Memory|year=2015|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226282831}}

*{{cite book|last=Craughwell|first=Thomas|year=2009|title=Stealing Lincoln's Body|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674029972}}
* {{cite book|last=Dennis|first=Matthew|year=2018|title=Red, White, and Blue Letter Days: An American Calendar|publisher=Cornell University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=a6JhDwAAQBAJ}}|isbn=9781501723704}}
*{{cite book|last1=Diamant|first1=Rolf|last2= Carr|first2= Ethan|title=Olmsted and Yosemite: Civil War, Abolition, and the National Park Idea|publisher= Library of America Landscape History|year=2022|isbn=9781952620348}}
* {{cite book|last=Donald|first=David Herbert|author-link=David Herbert Donald|year=1996|title=Lincoln|publisher=Simon & Schuster|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=fuTY3mxs9awC}}|isbn=9780684825359}}
*{{cite book|last=Doyle|first=Don|authorlink=Don H. Doyle|title=The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War|year=2015|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=9780465029679}}
* {{cite book|last=Edgar|first=Walter B.|author-link=Walter Edgar|year=1998|title=South Carolina: A History|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=EFSbwGk2szgC}}|isbn=9781570032554}}
*{{cite book|last=Emerson|first=Jason|title=Lincoln the Inventor|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780809328987}}
*{{cite book|first=Ron |last=Field|title=Garibaldi: Leadership, Strategy, Conflict|publisher=Osprey Publishing|year= 2011|isbn=9781849083218}}
*{{cite book|last=Finkelman|first=Paul|authorlink=Paul Finkelman|pages=118&ndash;167|chapter=Military conflict on the Minnesota homefront|editor1-first=Paul|editor1-last=Finkelman|editor2-first=Donald|editor2-last=Kennon|title=Civil War Congress and the Creation of Modern America|year=2018|publisher=Ohio University Press|isbn=9780821423387}}
* {{cite book|last=Foner|first=Eric|author-link=Eric Foner|year=2010|title=The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=9780393066180}}
* {{cite book|last=Goodrich|first=Thomas|year=2005|title=The Darkest Dawn: Lincoln, Booth, and the Great American Tragedy|publisher=Indiana University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=8Fv6ngEACAAJ}}|isbn=9780253345677}}
* {{cite book|last=Goodwin|first=Doris Kearns|author-link=Doris Kearns Goodwin|year=2005|title=Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln|publisher=Simon & Schuster|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=4MS3BQAAQBAJ}}|isbn=9780684824901}}
* {{cite book|last=Graebner|first=Norman|editor-last=Basler|editor-first=Roy Prentice|editor-link=Roy Basler|year=1959|title=The Enduring Lincoln: Lincoln Sesquicentennial Lectures at the University of Illinois|publisher=University of Illinois Press|chapter=Abraham Lincoln: conservative statesman|chapter-url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=zlxKAAAAMAAJ}}|oclc=428674}}
*{{cite book|last=Green|first=Michael S.|year=2021|title=Lincoln and Native Americans|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|isbn=9780809338252}}
*{{cite book|last=Greenberg|first=Amy|authorlink=Amy S. Greenberg|title=A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|date=2012|isbn=9780307592699}}
* {{cite book|last=Guelzo|first=Allen C.|author-link=Allen C. Guelzo|year=1999|title=Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=FmB3AAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=9780802838728}}
* {{cite book|last=Guelzo|first=Allen C.|author-link=Allen C. Guelzo|year=2004|title=Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America|publisher=Simon & Schuster|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=DJmTUq9hYUoC}}|isbn=9780743221825}}
*{{cite book|last=Guelzo|first= Allen C.|chapter=Abraham Lincoln and the Doctrine of Necessity|year=2009|title=Abraham Lincoln as a Man of Ideas|publisher=Southern Illinois University|pages= 27&ndash;48|isbn=9780809386376}}
* {{cite book|last=Harrison|first=Lowell|author-link=Lowell H. Harrison|year=2010|title=Lincoln of Kentucky|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=TYNsQ7iky2MC}}|isbn=9780813129402}}
* {{cite book|last=Harris|first=William C.|author-link=William C. Harris (historian)|year=2007|title=Lincoln's Rise to the Presidency|publisher=University Press of Kansas|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Bbt2AAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=9780700615209}}
* {{cite book|last=Harris|first=William C.|author-link=William C. Harris (historian)|year=2011|title=Lincoln and the Border States: Preserving the Union|publisher=University Press of Kansas|isbn=9780700620562}}
*{{Cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=p6yMTe4j_YEC|page=96}}|title=Lincoln and the Politics of Christian Love|last=Havers|first=Grant N.|year=2009|publisher=University of Missouri Press|isbn=9780826218575}}
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Heidler|editor1-first=David Stephen|editor2-last=Heidler|editor2-first=Jeanne T.|editor3-last=Coles|editor3-first=David J.|year=2002|title=Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History|publisher=W.&nbsp;W. Norton & Company|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=1IhZngEACAAJ}}|isbn=9780393047585}}
* {{cite book|last1=Heidler|first1=David Stephen|last2=Heidler|first2=Jeanne T.|year=2006|title=The Mexican War|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=I9hD60q4MsQC}}|isbn=9780313327926}}
* {{cite book|last1=Herring|first1=George|authorlink=George C. Herring|title=From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195078220}}
* {{cite book|last=Hodes|first=Martha|author-link=Martha Hodes|year=2015|title=Mourning Lincoln|publisher=Yale University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=59ZtBgAAQBAJ}}|isbn=9780300213560}}
* {{cite book|last=Holzer|first=Harold|author-link=Harold Holzer|year=2004|title=Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President|publisher=Simon & Schuster|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=lQmUab8SnhQC}}|isbn=9780743299640}}
* {{cite book|last=Jaffa|first=Harry V.|author-link=Harry V. Jaffa|year=2000|title=A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=SzA4Zdd6mJoC}}|isbn=9780847699520}}
*{{cite book|last=Jividen|first=Jason|title=Claiming Lincoln: Progressivism, Equality, and the Battle for Lincoln's Legacy in Presidential Rhetoric|year=2011|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=9781501756870}}
* {{cite book|last1=Kelley|first1=Robin D. G.|author-link1=Robin Kelley|last2=Lewis|first2=Earl|author-link2=Earl Lewis|year=2005|title=To Make Our World Anew|volume=I: A History of African Americans to 1880|publisher=Oxford University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=ua0dld3camgC}}|isbn=9780198040064}}
*{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|year=2022|title=Lincoln: The Fire of Genius|publisher=Globe Pequot|isbn=9781493063888}}
*{{Cite book|title=Forged in Crisis: The Making of Five Legendary Leaders|last=Koehn|first=Nancy|authorlink=Nancy Koehn|publisher=Scribner|year=2017|isbn=9781501174445}}
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Lamb|editor1-first=Brian P.|editor-link1=Brian Lamb|editor2-last=Swain|editor2-first=Susan|editor-link2=Susan Swain|year=2008|title=Abraham Lincoln: Great American Historians on Our Sixteenth President|publisher=PublicAffairs|url=https://archive.org/details/abrahamlincolngr0000unse|isbn=9781586486761}}
*{{Cite book|url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln4|title=Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln|volume= 4|first=Abraham|last=Lincoln|date= 1953|publisher=Rutgers University Press}}
*{{cite book|last=Lundberg|first= James M. |year=2019|title=Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=9781421432885}}
* {{cite book|last=Madison|first=James H.|authorlink=James H. Madison|year=2014|title=Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana|publisher=Indiana University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=2DvwnQEACAAJ}}|isbn=9780253013088}}
*{{cite book|last=Mahin|first=Dean|year=1999|title=One War at a Time: The International Dimensions of the American Civil War|publisher=Brassey's|isbn=9781574882094}}
* {{cite book|last=Manning|first=Alan|title=Father Lincoln|year=2016|publisher=Lyons Press|isbn=9781493018239}}
* {{cite book|last=Mansch|first=Larry D.|year=2005|title=Abraham Lincoln, President-elect: The Four Critical Months from Election to Inauguration|publisher=McFarland |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=NMt-yrjVE50C}}|isbn=9780786420261}}
*{{cite book|last=Mansfield|first=Stephen|authorlink=Stephen Mansfield|title=Lincoln's Battle with God|year=2012|publisher=Thomas Nelson|isbn=9781595553096}}
*{{cite book|last=Marvel|first=William|year=2008|title=Lincoln's Darkest Year: The War in 1862|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=9780547523866}}
*{{cite book|last=McClintock|first=Russell|year=2008|title=Lincoln and the Decision for War|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=9780807886328}}
*{{Cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=o30wBAAAQBAJ}}|title=Lincoln's Greatest Case: The River, the Bridge, and the Making of America|last=McGinty|first=Brian|date=2015|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780871407856}}
* {{cite book|last=McGovern|first=George S.|author-link=George McGovern|year=2009|title=Abraham Lincoln: The 16th President, 1861–1865|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=oytingEACAAJ}}|isbn=9780805083453}}
* {{cite book|last=McPherson|first=James M.|author-link=James M. McPherson|year=1992|title=Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution|publisher=Oxford University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=vFNppNaal6AC}}|isbn=9780195076066}}
* {{cite book|last=McPherson|first=James M.|author-link=James M. McPherson|year=2009|title=Abraham Lincoln|publisher=Oxford University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=3BMSDAAAQBAJ}}|isbn=9780195374520}}
* {{cite book|last=Meacham|first=Jon|author-link=Jon Meacham |year=2022|title=And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle
|publisher=Random House|isbn=9780553393965}}
*{{cite book|last=Murrin|first=John |year=2006|title=Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People|publisher=Thomson Wadsworth|isbn=9780495915881}}
*{{cite book|last=Myers|first=Marshall|year=2018|title=The Rhetoric of Lincoln's Letters|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476631158}}
*{{cite book|last1=Neely|first1=Mark|author1-link=Mark E. Neely Jr.|last2=Holzer|first2=Harold|author2-link=Harold Holzer|year=2006|title=The Lincoln Family Album|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|isbn=9780809327133}}
* {{cite book|last1=Noll|first1=Mark A.|authorlink=Mark Noll|year=2002|title=America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln|publisher=Oxford University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=i4kRDAAAQBAJ}}|isbn=9780195151114}}
* {{cite book|last=Paludan|first=Phillip Shaw|author-link=Phillip S. Paludan|year=1994|title=The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln|publisher=University Press of Kansas|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Qi4aAQAAIAAJ}}|isbn=9780700606719}}
*{{cite book |last=Peck |first=Garrett |title=Walt Whitman in Washington, D.C.: The Civil War and America's Great Poet |year=2015 |publisher=The History Press |isbn=9781626199736}}
*{{cite book|last=Peterson|first=Merrill|authorlink=Merrill D. Peterson|year=1995|title=Lincoln in American Memory|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780198023043}}
* {{cite book|last=Potter|first=David M.|author-link=David M. Potter|year=1977|title=The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War, 1848–1861|publisher=HarperCollins|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=S7Qk9nIwk14C}}|isbn=9780061319297}}
*{{cite book|last=Reynolds|first=David|title=Abe|date=2020|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9780698154513}}
*{{cite book | last=Samuels | first=Shirley |authorlink=Shirley Samuels| title=The Cambridge Companion to Abraham Lincoln | publisher=Cambridge University Press | series=Cambridge Companions to American Studies | year=2012 | isbn=9780521193160 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bFwKQ14iJYsC}}
* {{cite book|last=Sandburg|first=Carl|authorlink=Carl Sandburg|year=2002|title=Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=EPmfzxRags0C}}|isbn=9780156027526}}
*{{cite book|last=Schaffer|first=Jeffrey P.|title=Yosemite National Park: A Natural History Guide to Yosemite and Its Trails|publisher=Wilderness Press|year=1999|isbn=9780899972442}}
*{{cite book|last=Schroeder-Lein|first=Glenna R.|year=2012|title=Lincoln and Medicine|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|isbn= 9780809331949}}
* {{cite book|last=Schwartz|first=Barry|authorlink=Barry Schwartz (sociologist)|year=2000|title=Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory|publisher=University of Chicago Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=XZwX9ANHHbUC}}|isbn=9780226741970}}
* {{cite book|last=Schwartz|first=Barry|authorlink=Barry Schwartz (sociologist)|year=2008|title=Abraham Lincoln in the Post-Heroic Era: History and Memory in Late Twentieth-Century America|publisher=University of Chicago Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=1p9T8drMHeYC}}|isbn=9780226741888}}
* {{cite book|last=Sears|first= Stephen W. |title=George B. McClellan: The Young Napoleon|publisher= Da Capo Press|orig-date= 1988|year=1999|isbn=9780306809132}}
*{{cite book|last=Silver|first=David|title=Lincoln's Supreme Court|year=1998|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=9780252067198}}
* {{cite book|last=Simon|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Simon (politician)|year=1990|title=Lincoln's Preparation for Greatness: The Legislative Years|publisher=University of Illinois Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=WSm1wQEACAAJ}}|isbn=9780252002038}}
* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Robert C.|author-link=Robert C. Smith (political scientist)|year=2010|title=Conservatism and Racism, and Why in America They Are the Same|publisher=State University of New York Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=ueQjmQEACAAJ}}|isbn=9781438432335}}
* {{cite book|last=Steers|first=Edward Jr.|author-link=Edward Steers Jr.|year=2010|title=The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia|publisher=HarperCollins|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=5XbXsdrLwn8C}}|isbn=9780061787751}}
* {{cite book|last=Striner|first=Richard|year=2006|title=Father Abraham: Lincoln's Relentless Struggle to End Slavery|publisher=Oxford University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=EuR2AAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=9780195183061}}
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Taranto|editor1-first=James|editor-link1=James Taranto|editor2-last=Leo|editor2-first=Leonard|editor-link2=Leonard Leo|year=2004|title=Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House|publisher=Free Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=myl2AAAAMAAJ}}|isbn=9780743254335}}
* {{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Benjamin P.|author-link=Benjamin P. Thomas|year=2008|title=Abraham Lincoln: A Biography|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=fkB_E9GM0XoC}}|isbn=9780809328871}}
*{{Cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=WTGTAAAAIAAJ|page=385}}|title=Stanton: The Life and Times of Lincoln's Secretary of War|last1=Thomas|first1=Benjamin Platt|author-link1=Benjamin P. Thomas|last2=Hyman|first2=Harold Melvin|author-link2=Harold Hyman|date=1962|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf}}
*{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Todd|year=2015|title=The National Joker: Abraham Lincoln and the Politics of Satire|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|isbn=9780809334230}}
*{{cite book|last1=Trefousse|first1=Hans L.|authorlink=Hans L. Trefousse|title=Andrew Johnson: A Biography|date=1989|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393317428}}
*{{cite book|last1=Trefousse|first1=Hans L.|authorlink=Hans L. Trefousse|chapter=Lincoln and race relations|pages=87&ndash;100|editor-last=Hubbard|editor-first=Charles|title=Abraham Lincoln and His Contemporaries|year=1999|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=9780865546271}}
*{{cite book|last=Tucker|first=Spencer|authorlink=Spencer C. Tucker|date=2014|title=Battles that Changed American History|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781440828621|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6BfHEAAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Vile|first=John R.|year=2003|title=Lincoln, Abraham (1809–1865)|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments: Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues 1789–2002|edition=2nd|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781851094288}}
* {{cite book|last=Vorenberg|first=Michael|year=2001|title=Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=f-UQWNPD5qgC}}|isbn=9780521652674}}
* {{cite book |last=Weisman |first=Steven R. |year=2002 |title=The Great Tax Wars: Lincoln to Wilson—The Fierce Battles over Money and Power That Transformed the Nation |url=https://archive.org/details/greattaxwars00weis |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9780684850689}}
* {{cite book|last=White|first=Ronald C.|author-link=Ronald C. White|year=2009|title=A. Lincoln: A Biography|publisher=Random House|isbn=9781588367754}}
*{{cite book|last=White|first= Jonathan W.|title=Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman|publisher= Louisiana State University Press|year=2011|isbn=9780807142158}}
* {{cite book|last=Wills|first=Garry|author-link=Garry Wills|year=2012|title=Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America|publisher=Simon & Schuster|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=7-aynIQRkYcC}}|isbn=9781439126455}}
* {{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Douglas L.|author-link=Douglas L. Wilson |title=Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln|year=1999|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=9780307765819}}
* {{cite book|last=Winik|first= Jay|title=April 1865: The Month That Saved America|publisher=HarperCollins|year= 2006|isbn=9780060899684|orig-date=2001}}
* {{cite book|last=Winkle|first=Kenneth J.|year=2001|title=The Young Eagle: The Rise of Abraham Lincoln|publisher=Taylor Trade Publishing|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=JcEVAAAAQBAJ}}|isbn=9781461734369}}

*{{cite book|last=Witt|first=John Fabian|authorlink=John Fabian Witt|year=2013|title=Lincoln's Code: The Laws of War in American History|publisher=Free Press|isbn=9781416576174}}

*{{cite book|last=Winkle|first=Kenneth J.|year=2011|title=Abraham and Mary Lincoln|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|isbn=9780809379996}}
*{{cite book|last=Work|first=David|year=2024|title=Lincoln's Political Generals|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=9780252056888}}
* {{cite book|last=Young|first= Alfred C., III|title=Lee's Army during the Overland Campaign: A Numerical Study|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|year= 2013|isbn=9780807151723}}
* {{cite book|last=Zarefsky|first=David|author-link=David Zarefsky|year=1993|title=Lincoln, Douglas, and Slavery: In the Crucible of Public Debate|publisher=University of Chicago Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=SlCU9PS9VGcC}}|isbn=9780226978765}}

{{Refend}}

==External links==
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{{Sister project links|wikt=no|commons=Abraham Lincoln |b=no |n=no |q=Abraham Lincoln |s=Author:Abraham Lincoln|v=no|voy=no|species=no|display=Abraham Lincoln|d=Q91}}
{{Library resources box |by=yes |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Abraham Lincoln }}
{{Biographical Directory of Congress|L000313|ref=no}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Abraham Lincoln}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=3}}
* [https://presidentlincoln.illinois.gov/ Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum]
* [https://abrahamlincolnassociation.org/ Abraham Lincoln Association]
* [https://guides.loc.gov/abraham-lincoln-guide Abraham Lincoln: A Resource Guide] from the [[Library of Congress]]
* [https://papersofabrahamlincoln.org/ Papers of Abraham Lincoln Digital Library] from [[Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library]] {{--}} A digitization of all documents written by or to Abraham Lincoln during his lifetime
* [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/ Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln – complete collected works as edited by Basler et al. (1958)] – an online edition available through [[University of Michigan]] Library Digital Collections
* [https://digital.lib.niu.edu/illinois/lincoln Lincoln/Net: Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project] – [[Northern Illinois University]] Digital Library
* [https://www.loc.gov/collections/alfred-whital-stern-lincolniana/about-this-collection/ The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana] in the [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/ Rare Book and Special Collections Division] in the [[Library of Congress]]
* [http://www.c-span.org/video/?164439-1/writings-abraham-lincoln "Writings of Abraham Lincoln"] from [[C-SPAN]]'s ''[[American Writers: A Journey Through History]]'', June 18, 2001

{{Abraham Lincoln|state=expanded}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lincoln, Abraham}}
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