Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the 16th president of the United States and led the country during the American Civil War. Born in a log cabin in Kentucky and raised on the frontier, he had limited formal education and worked in various occupations before establishing a legal practice in Illinois. Lincoln entered national politics in the 1850s amid growing conflict over the expansion of slavery.
Elected president in 1860, his victory prompted the secession of eleven Southern states. As president, Lincoln prioritized preserving the Union, while gradually adopting policies that led to the abolition of slavery, including the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Historians generally agree that the proclamation was both a moral statement and a strategic wartime measure.
Lincoln’s leadership combined political pragmatism with an evolving antislavery position, though his views reflected the constraints and assumptions of his time. He was assassinated in April 1865, days after the Confederacy’s collapse. His presidency is widely regarded as pivotal in defining federal authority and the meaning of the Union.
“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.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, 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.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary sourceMore quotes by Abraham Lincoln →
Temperance Address (February 22, 1842)
Abraham Lincoln delivered his Temperance Address on February 22, 1842, in Springfield, Illinois, to the Washington Temperance Society, on the anniversary of George Washington’s birth.
House Divided Speech (June 16, 1858)
Abraham Lincoln delivered his House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois, on June 16, 1858, immediately after being nominated as the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate to challenge Democrat Stephen A. Douglas.
First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1861)
Abraham Lincoln delivered his First Inaugural Address as the 16th president of the United States on March 4, 1861, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., at a moment when seven Southern states had already declared secession from the Union.
Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863)
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation during the American Civil War, declaring that all persons held as slaves within the states and parts of states then in rebellion against the United States “are, and henceforward shall be free.” The document took effect on January 1, 1863, after Lincoln had first announced a preliminary version on September 22, 1862, giving the Confederate states an opportunity to return to the Union before emancipation became effective.
⭐️ The Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863)
Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after one of the war’s bloodiest battles.
Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865)
Abraham Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural Address as President of the United States on March 4, 1865, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., as the Civil War was drawing to a close.
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