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On February 11, 1861, Lincoln left Springfield to take up his duties as president. Before Lincoln reached the national capital, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as President of the Confederate States of America. When Lincoln reached Washington on February 23, he found the national government incapable of meeting the crisis. Congress fruitlessly debated compromise. The national treasury was near bankruptcy; the civil service was a riddled with secessionists; and the miniscule armed forces were being weakened by defection of officers to the South. Lincoln was faced with many problems.
He entered at a critical period in U. S history, just before the Civil War. When Lincoln took the responsibility of being president, he brought to the office personal integrity, intelligence, and humanity plus his knowledge of his frontier upbringing. Few presidents have ever assumed office under greater handicaps. Lincoln was warned of an attempt on his life being planned out in Baltimore.
Through all this Lincoln firmly and fairly guided the nation through its most perilous period and made a lasting impact in shaping the office of chief executive. Lincoln was firm believer in the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln did not want to abandon the Declaration, he felt too strongly about it. On the other hand, racial "necessity" forbade him to embrace it unreservedly. (Sinkler, George p 30). He said that the Constitution was in espousing freedom while at the same time protecting slavery. Lincoln once said quote "I believe this government cannot endure; permit half slave and half free.
I do not except the Union to be dissolved- I do not expect the house to fall- but I do expect that it will cease to be divided. (Wellman, Paul I. P 405) Wartime politics were a major problem throughout out the war. Lincoln was the subject of frequent, and often vitriolic attacks from both the Democrats and from the Radicals. Lincoln lost support in the congressional elections of 1862, in which Democrats took control of the crucial states of New York. (De Young, Garry p 17).
Lincoln would face formidable opposition for reelection, not merely form a democratic candidate but from rivals within in his own party. Radical pressure was powerful enough, however, to persuade Lincoln to drop the most outspokenly conservative member of his cabinet. (De Young, Garry p 17). Republican critics continued to see if they could summon a new national convention to try and replace the President with a more Radical candidate. Democrats found it impossible to bring together the two major groups of Lincolns critics. Whatever chance the Democrats had in 1864 was lost when the war at last began to favor Union cause. When ballots were cast in November the results were that Lincoln carried every state except for a few.
The Civil war began on April 12, 1861. The war was fought not to abolish slavery, but to restore the Union, to bring together again the nation which slavery had torn apart. (Foster, Genevieve p 289). The first shots were fired at Fort Sumter. For Sumter belonged to the U. S in which guarded the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. President Buchanan refused to turn over the fort to the state causing South Carolina to prevent food from reaching it.
After Fort Sumter had been fired on Lincoln called for 75, 000 volunteers to serve for 3 months. He gave Southerners twenty days time to disband and return home. Soothers had no idea of disbanding calling for a great celebration to happen following the surrender of Fort Sumter. Lincoln was receiving help from the War department to help guide his plans. When the Civil War began in America, England had determined to remain neutral, though both the United States and the Confederacy hoped for England's active friendship. (Foster, Genevieve p 295) Britain has always been a nuisance to the United States. The south was still hoping for a European intervention.
Lincoln got involved in the Trent affair. A Warship from the North stopped a British mail steamer, the Trent, north of Cuba and removed two confederate diplomats who were on their way to Britain. The British were angered. They demanded the release of the two men with military preparations. Lincoln formally apologized and freed the two commissioners, John Slidell and James M.
Mason. Lincoln not only stopped the U. S. from going to war with Britain but he also kept them from interfering.
His actions really kept the Union together. By the summer of 1862 Lincoln had changed his whole view about slavery. After McClellan succeeded in halting Robert E. Lee in Antietam on September 17, 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 23. On that very day Lincoln said, " The [old] South is to be destroyed and replaced by new propositions and ideas. " His proclamation declared that all the slaves in the states that are in rebellion are to be free forever...
The South was doomed. Abraham Lincoln made it so hard for the South to even continue to fight. Eight months after the civil war individual states began to ratify the thirteenth Amendment, which legalized the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln did depend upon his military leaders. Although the South had the better men leading their armies, Lincoln chose the right men for the Union. Lincoln had a hard time picking a leader and had to use trial and error methods, but in the end he came out with a right ones.
George B. McClellan was given command of the northern forces against Robert E Lee in Antietam. Two of his soldiers luckily ran across a copy of Lee's battle advantage. The Union forces under McClellan halted Lee at Antietam September 17, 1862. This in fact was just what Lincoln needed to put forth his Emancipation Proclamation. General George G.
Meade was later chosen to lead ninety-two thousand Union men against Lee's seventy-six thousand at Gettysburg, Penn. After three days of fighting back and forth he put an end to the Confederate cause by defeating General George Pickett's attack. The best man Lincoln picked was without a doubt General Ulysses Simpson Grant. Grant's first signs of success came in Tennessee as he captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. His best fought campaign came with a victory at Vicksburg, which was the South's sentinel protecting the lifeline to western sources of supply. Grant finally put an end to Lee himself at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, in April 1865 as he cornered Lee with his rapidly advancing troops capturing Richmond.
The fight was now over. Lincoln felt he was the happiest man in the world. His work was done and all he wanted to accomplish was accomplished. The last day of his life started as the usual. Working at his desk and then breakfast at 8. After breakfast he had some interviews and was supposed to leave the state the next day.
Lincoln wanted to go to the theatre that evening and see "The American Cousin." (Foster, Genevieve p 340). At the theatre Lincoln was killed form an assassin's bullet at the war's end, but before the greater implications of the conflict could be resolved. Abraham Lincoln is considered the greatest president ever and the validity of that statement can be seen through the type of person he is. He made the right choices of how and when to take action and when not to. His ability to choose able leaders was a major factor in why he was so successful.
The way he handled foreign problems and the way he adapted to the task at hand for the better of the people just depicts the signs of a good President. If it weren't for Abraham Lincoln and his efforts the history of the United States would not be what it is.
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Research essay sample on Civil War Began Robert E Lee
