Accomplishments Of Abraham Lincoln

"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." Abraham Lincoln (House Divided Speech, June 16, 1858)

Abraham Lincoln never let his humble beginnings as a son of two uneducated farmers define him. He complemented about 18 months of formal education with voracious reading and remarkable retention. Prior to being elected as a president, Lincoln worked as a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator and a member of the United States House of Representatives. His perseverance shines through two failed attempts to get elected to the US Senate.

During his presidency, Lincoln carried out many vital endeavors. His greatest accomplishment, without a doubt, was the initiation of 'Emancipation Proclamation'. On November 6, 1860, Lincoln, a republican candidate, was elected President of the United States. While he won the election with support from the northern states, the southern states made it clear that they would secede if he claimed the presidency. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina carried out this threat. A few months later South Carolina and six other cotton-growing states in the South declared themselves to be a new nation - the Confederate States of America. Though Lincoln and nearly every Republican leader denounced the secession, he believed that a peaceful solution was possible. Unfortunately, the hope for peaceful reconciliation was extinguished when Union troops were fired upon and forced to surrender at Fort Sumter. With this attack, Civil War broke out. In response, Lincoln along with the support of the governors, rounded up 75,000 troops from all the states to do all that was necessary to "preserve the Union". In a short while, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas seceded too. Finally, on September 22, 1862, the Emancipation Proclamation was announced, and put into effect on January 1, 1863. One result of this was that black men could join the Union Army and Navy. By the end of the war, all the slaves (over three million) in the Confederate territory were freed. When this was done, Lincoln commenced the process of the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment to permanently abolish slavery throughout the nation. Eventually the Confederation was defeated and the North and South were reunited. Abraham Lincoln's greatness lies not only in the way he held the Union together and led the North to victory, but also in the freeing of all 18,000 rebels who were arrested, excluding one who was exiled. He also encouraged Southerners to lay down their arms and join in the reunion.

Among the other legislations he helped put in place during his presidency, was the Morrill Act. It facilitated the setting up of agricultural and mechanical colleges in each state. He also lent support to the Homestead Act, which made millions of acres of land in the West available at very low prices. In a move that bolstered the economy, he signed the National Banking Act which provided for the creation of a network of national banks as well as established the first paper currency. He also empowered trade and transport by signing the Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864, that chartered the first transcontinental railroad. He was commended in his handling of foreign policy that prevented foreign intervention in the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln's strength and compassion was not only immortalized through his actions, but also through his powerful speeches and touching letters. The Battle of Gettysburg though a Union victory, was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. In one of the most famous speeches in American history, the Gettysburg Address, he commemorated the sacrifice of the soldiers who died in battle. His letters to Fanny McCullough and Lydia Bixby have been reprinted and referred to innumerable number of times.

Abraham Lincoln will forever be upheld as an example of a good leader and a great human being. Often topping polls as America's favorite president, in him the ideal of a politician with a conscience was given form.