Part 16 of My Presidential Review Series
Finally breaking the solid bloc of unknown presidents, we get to Abraham Lincoln. Do I even have to tell you anything in this introduction paragraph? Well, maybe an anecdote or two. Lincoln was one of the founders of the Republican Party. Lincoln's only son that survived to maturity, Robert Todd Lincoln, was saved from being crushed by a train by John Wilkes Booths' brother. He was the first president to be successfully assassinated. Lincoln served March 4, 1861 to April 15, 1865.
By the time Lincoln took office, the Civil War had started. The main cause for the war was slavery, pitting the Northern abolitionists against the Southern extremists. Lincoln was one of the moderates, who supported leaving slavery alone in the South but stopping its extension into the territories. The tariff and nullification, issues that had divided North and South before slavery became a debate, also contributed to the start of the war.
Eleven states seceded and formed the Confederacy in 1861: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. In February 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected its president. At first, the Confederate capital was Montgomery, Alabama, but was moved to Richmond, Virginia once Virginia seceded. The North had a great advantage over the South, far outpacing them in industry and with twice the population. They were able to - and did - create a blockade on Southern ports that stopped them from receiving desperately needed supplies. The South, however, had some of the finest military leaders in the world and fought on their homeland. They also won foreign sympathy due to much-needed cotton.
On April 12, 1861, Confederates under General Pierre G.T. Beauregard attacked Fort Sumter at Charleston harbor, forcing its commander, Major Robert Anderson, to surrender. The incident officially started the Civil War. The first battle was at Bull Run, which was attended by Northern civilians certain of a Union victory. Those same civilians were routing almost as bad as the Union troops by the battle's end, when forces under General Beauregard, Joseph E. Johnston, and Stonewall Jackson won a victory over Union forces under General Irvin McDowell. The North, stunned, dug in for the long run. Lincoln replaced McDowell with Major General George B. McClellan, who would later run against Lincoln in 1864. McClellan was excellent at training the troops but was too cautious as a commander. Lincoln ordered him to advance on Richmond, and he advanced with 100,000 men to the Virginia shore by sea, proceeding so slowly up the peninsula that General Johnston was able to amass enough forces to repel the Union attack. General Robert E. Lee sought to follow up this victory with a thrust northward, defeating superior Union forces at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August, 1862. He crossed into Maryland and clashed with forces under McClellan at Antietam, where, after very bloody fighting, Lee's advance was checked and he was forced to retreat. It is often thought the war would have ended if McClellan had gone after Lee's army. Lincoln then replaced McClellan with General Ambrose E. Burnside, who repeatedly tried to reach Richmond, each time unsuccessful. In the West, meanwhile, forces under Ulysses S. Grant won victories in Tennessee and the Mississippi Valley and Admiral David G. Farragut took New Orleans in April 1862.
In September, 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation with effect from January 1, 1863. He had postponed issuing the document until the Union had won a significant victory, like Antietam, for fear that releasing it earlier would be misinterpreted as an act of desperation. The proclamation freed only slaves in the Confederate states and not the Border States that decided to stay in the Union or Confederate areas under Union domination.
In May, 1863, Confederates under Lee defeated superior Union forces at Chancellorsville, Virginia, but lost one of his best commanders, Stonewall Jackson, in the battle. Lee once again turned north, reaching as far as Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where in July 1-3 1863, he fought an historic battle with General George G. Meade. By the time that the battle ended, 1/4 of the 75,000 Confederates and 1/5 of the 90,000 Union soldiers at Gettysburg had died. Failing to pierce the Union defense, Lee once again retreated south. In the West, Grant took Vicksburg and secured the whole lower Mississippi Valley in July 1863.
In 1864 Lincoln promoted Grant to commander of all Union armies. While Grant pursued Lee in the Wilderness campaign, General William T. Sherman marched on Atlanta, taking the city in September and burning it, and proceeded to start his famous "march to the sea." After reaching Savannah, Sherman then turned north to join Grant in closing in on Lee. In early April 1865, Richmond fell and on April 9th Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Grant gave lenient terms, allowing officers to keep sidearms, mounted units their horses, and treating all with dignity.
Union casualties were 365,000 dead and 282,000 wounded; Confederate casualties are unknown. The war ended slavery forever. The South remained under direct Northern military rule for over a decade and under domination for even longer. Not until 1977 was a Deep Southerner elected again. That president, Jimmy Carter, in 1978 restored citizenship to Jefferson Davis.
During the Civil War, Lincoln undertook extreme measures curbing civil liberties. He suspended habeas corpus, permitted military arrest and court-martial of anti-war activists, and spent war funds before congressional appropriation. His actions were approved by Congress.
Under the Homestead Act, the first federal law granting public lands to squatters, a citizen, or one about to become a citizen, was granted free title to 160 acres after having settled on it for 5 years. The law was responsible for the rapid growth of the Great Plains.
The government granted to each state, proportionate to its representation in Congress, public lands, which were to be sold to finance agricultural and mechanical arts colleges. The bill was sponsored by Republican Representative Justin S. Morril of Vermont.
Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, and died on April 15, 1865.
Lincoln was probably one of the greatest leaders in American history. He guided the nation through the Civil War, one of the largest, if not THE largest, crisis we ever faced. He made the right choices, even if they were difficult. His curbing of civil liberties, though not a shining spot on any presidency, has been shown to be vital to large war efforts. Lincoln planned on a conciliatory attitude towards the South, which now is viewed as the decision we should have made. His assassination was the single worst thing to happen to the South in its history.
Overall Ranking: 2 (sorry Gideon)
"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."