Abraham Lincoln

In American history, the year 1860 is synonymous with decades-old tensions sitting at their boiling point. In 1860, the divide between northern and southern Americans regarding the future of slavery had become so intense and so wide that at any point, the final straw was going to arrive and spark a civil war. Just about everyone knew that and this fact was universal knowledge among all those immune to folly and blissful ignorance. The territorial gains made by James K. Polk during the Mexican-American War provoked an angry debate about whether or not slavery would be allowed in the new lands. In a failed attempt to quell this argument, Millard Fillmore approved the Compromise of 1850. This legislation, among other things, required Americans to report any escaped slave they witnessed, upsetting abolitionists even more. Franklin Pierce allowed large swathes of the country to vote on their local laws regarding slavery at the same time that the Supreme Court declared black people incapable of US citizenship, further irritating the sectional tensions. It was amidst this terrifying situation that Lincoln won the 1860 election.

Southern states had made their fear of a Lincoln presidency abundantly clear, causing them to start seceding in protest of his victory. South Carolina broke off first, declaring independence on December 20, 1860. Three days in a row at the start of January 1861, Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama all seceded on the 9th, 10th, and 11th respectively. On January 16, 1861, the Crittenden Compromise, a collection of proposed Constitutional amendments that were mostly pro-slavery, was shot down in Congress, causing Georgia to secede on January 19, 1861. Louisiana followed on January 26, 1861, as did Texas on February 1, 1861. During this whole ordeal, lame-duck President James Buchanan hardly lifted a finger in pursuit of preserving peace and unity. Exactly a week after Texas chose to secede, the newly-seceded states merged to establish the Confederate States of America on February 8, 1861, appointing Jefferson Davis their president on February 18, 1861.

As Davis began his presidency, so did Lincoln. On March 4, 1861, he took the oath of office, formally replacing Buchanan as president. The following day, on March 5, 1861, Lincoln found out that Fort Sumter, a Union-owned military base in Confederate South Carolina, was running out of supplies. This left Lincoln lodged between a rock and a hard place. The Confederacy had threatened to declare war on the Union if Buchanan or Lincoln ever tried to resupply Fort Sumter, but Lincoln obviously didn't want the soldiers at Fort Sumter to starve or be killed. So, he decided to resupply Fort Sumter but - as he made abundantly clear to the Confederacy - he would only send food and zero munitions. This was not enough to satiate the south. On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, beginning the American Civil War.

Responding to the attack and subsequent beginning of the civil war, Lincoln, on April 15, 1861, issued a presidential proclamation asking 75,000 Americans to volunteer their services with the Union military. The goal was to crush the Confederate rebellion by July 4, 1861. The holdout states - Confederate areas that waited until the actual start of the war to secede - viewed this as tyrannic and as the final "sin" they would accept from the Lincoln Administration. On April 17, 1861, Virginia seceded. This put Lincoln in another difficult situation: Washington DC, where Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidency were all headquartered, was located between Virginia and Maryland. Therefore, if Maryland joined Virginia in secession, then Washington DC would be entirely surrounded by enemy territory. In preparation for such a crisis, Lincoln ordered the shipment of additional munitions and supplies into Washington DC.

Confederate sympathizers in Maryland began a riot where they sought to halt the arrival of these supplies. Yet again, Lincoln had to make a very difficult decision. On April 27, 1861, he suspended trial rights within the borders of Maryland. Many have lambasted Lincoln for this decision, calling it despotic and immoral. I agree that it was an evil, but it was ultimately a necessary evil. By suspending trial rights, Lincoln made it far easier for the military to crack down on the riots. Had he not done this, then Washington DC wouldn't be as well-defended, damaging the odds of a Union victory. Additionally, the federal government is allowed to suspend trial rights and habeas corpus during rebellions and invasions, both of which characterize the Confederacy's behavior. Admittedly, however, that power is vested within Congress and not the president. Still, there was a Constitutional background to Lincoln's choice. I am, however, critical without exception of Lincoln censoring pro-south newspapers and speakers.

Maryland actually remained a border state - a slave state that remained loyal to the Union - for all of the war. Missouri, Delaware, and Kentucky all fall into this category as well. However, many other slave states did not make the same decision. Arkansas seceded on May 6, 1861, as did North Carolina on May 20, 1861, and Tennessee on June 8, 1861. Despite this, Lincoln continued to demonstrate effective, useful leadership. For example, he raised adequate funds for the Union war effort. He increased the Morrill Tariff (an import tax enacted by Buchanan that targeted steel, wool, and textiles) and created an emergency income tax, the first of any income tax in American history. Lincoln also offered people war bonds and suspended the gold standard so that he could print as much money as he needed to gather supplies and pay soldiers.

On November 8, 1861, a British ship called the Trent was attacked by Union forces. On board the ship was a duo of Confederate diplomats traveling to Europe, where they hoped to secure British and French recognition of the CSA. The two were then imprisoned by Lincoln's government. London was outraged, both by the destruction of their ship and by what they saw as the brutal treatment of these two diplomats. They started preparing for war with the US, placing troops in Canada facing American soil, ending arms shipments to the United States, and obtaining a French pledge of support. This crisis, known as the Trent Affair, began to subside when Britain offered Lincoln an ultimatum: He could avoid war with the UK if he apologized for the attack on the ship and released the two Confederate diplomats arrested during that raid. On December 26, 1861, Lincoln wisely accepted these conditions, nipping in the bud what would have been devastating British support for the CSA.

The precise reason that a Lincoln presidency was for the southern states such a shocking and scary thought was Lincoln's status as an abolitionist. That said, Lincoln was a moderate abolitionist. He did not lend his support to any proposal, legislation, or Constitutional amendment calling for the immediate prohibition of slavery. Rather, he wanted to prevent the expansion of slavery to areas of the US where it didn't already exist. This, Lincoln thought, would condemn slavery to a slow, gradual death. In spite of these views, Lincoln still did great things to help black Americans. On April 16, 1862, for instance, Lincoln signed the DC Emancipation Act, banning slavery in Washington DC. Unfortunately, it also provided $300 to every slaveowner for each slave they lost due to the policy, but it was still a positive overall. Lincoln also signed the Confiscation Act, freeing any slaves owned by Confederate sympathizers living in the US. Lincoln also let black people join the military.

Aside from endorsing black rights and his brilliant leadership amidst the civil war, Lincoln had other great accomplishments under his belt. To enforce the taxes he implemented as means of funding the war effort, he established the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which continues even in the modern day to provide the federal government with the money it needs to survive. The Department of Agriculture and Secret Service were also founded by Lincoln. Lincoln also signed the Homestead Act. Initially proposed by then-Senator Andrew Johnson as a way of expanding economic opportunity for poor Americans, the Homestead Act allowed Americans to buy 160-acre plots of federal land in exchange for just $26 upfront and $1.50 in each of the next 6 months. The buyer also had to live on and improve the land for 5 years. The only qualifications to apply for a piece of Homestead Act land were to be over 18 or the head of a household, meaning women, immigrants, and minorities could also access land. The Homestead Act gave new opportunities to all Americans and helped modernize the American west.

Furthermore, Lincoln signed the Morrill Land Grant Act. This law ceded large amounts of federal land to the states, surrendering to the states 30,000 acres of land for every 1 delegate they enjoyed in Congress. These states then had to sell the land to colleges operating within their border. Later on, these colleges used the land to expand campuses and/or sell to increase income. Either way, the Morrill Land Grant Act was incredibly important, dramatically improving the quality and financial state of American schools. Many credit this law with being a major factor behind America's high marking in the global education index.

By mid-1862, the war was going very poorly for the Union. A number of Confederate victories had pierced Union morale. Even worse, Europe was again flirting with the idea of backing the Confederacy. Exploiting the south's agrarian nature that made them reliant both on slavery and foreign imports, Lincoln placed a naval blockade around the Confederacy. This had the ample effect of preventing the arrival of southern cotton in Europe. For this reason, countries like Britain, France, Spain, and Russia started considering the idea of joining the war on the side of the CSA. Lincoln knew he had to prevent this. He was also aware that by this point in history, most European countries had banned slavery. All throughout the war, Lincoln had sought not the abolition of slavery but just the preservation of the Union. If he made abolishing slavery a war goal, then European support of the Confederacy would become far less likely. He also wanted to boost the morale of abolitionists in the Union army, have former slaves enlist in the US military out of gratitude, and add some purpose to all the carnage.

In response to a major Union victory at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22 of that same year. In this document, he explained that on January 1, 1863, he would sign an executive order freeing all slaves in Union-occupied areas of the Confederacy. The wait time and exempting of border states from the policy's provisions had two purposes. The first was to prevent Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky, and/or Delaware from seceding in retaliation against the Emancipation Proclamation, while the second was to give slave states time to defect back to the Union so they wouldn't have to lose any slaves. In 1864, Lincoln gave his full support to a proposed Constitutional amendment that advocated for the end of slavery. He met with numerous Congressmen, convincing them to vote in favor of the statute. At times, he resorted to giving them political positions in exchange for their concurrence and I consider this a necessary evil. Abolishing slavery is worth an increase in corruption. The 13th Amendment was ratified on December 6, 1865. In 1864, Lincoln also won reelection.

Lincoln was inaugurated to begin his second term on March 4, 1865. A few weeks later, on March 25, 1865, the Confederacy lost control of Petersburg, a major source of supplies for the CSA's capital of Richmond. Throughout 1863 and 1864, the south had also lost control of Vicksburg, Savannah, and Atlanta. Coupled with stinging defeats at Gettysburg and Appomattox Court House, these facts caused Confederate forces to surrender on April 9, 1865, ending the civil war in a Union victory. Two days later, on April 11, 1865, Lincoln gave a speech endorsing the idea of giving black men voting rights. John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer who attended Lincoln's second inauguration along with this speech, considered this the final "offense" of Lincoln's that he could stomach. On April 14, 1865, he shot Lincoln at Ford's Theater, resulting in the president's death on April 15, 1865.

With little here really to debate, Lincoln was obviously one of America's greatest presidents. His name has rightfully become one associated with wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, patience, and skilled leadership. He crushed the Confederate rebellion, let black people join the military, supported the expansion of the franchise to include black men, established the Department of Agriculture, created the Secret Service, increased economic opportunity, helped modernize the western US, dramatically improved America's colleges, and promoted reconciliation amongst a divided American people. Most importantly, of course, he abolished slavery. With these many achievements, Lincoln showed the world that democracy and liberty were not destined to fail and that in fact, they could be the basis for a sustainable civilization. Like Washington before him and FDR after him, he proved the strength of democracy. Lincoln martyred himself to the American dream and has been compensated with oceans of much-deserved gratitude. His name is written in gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and there is no reason that should not be the case.