Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln successfully led his country through its greatest constitutional, military, and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union while ending slavery, and promoting economic and financial modernization. Reared in a poor family on the western frontier, Lincoln was mostly self-educated, and became a country lawyer, a Whig Party leader, Illinois state legislator during the 1830s, and a one-term member of the United States House of Representatives during the 1840s. Lincoln's efforts were generally rewarded with praise by much of the nation. Lincoln was regarded as one of the greatest presidents in national history, and remains so today, generally regarded in the top three US Presidents.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Abraham Lincoln grew up with little formal education and read many books in his days of youth. He and his father, who wasn't a kind man, didn't get along very well, but he later supposed that he learned his morals from him. Lincoln was also once a lawyer, a profession that he later deemed as "sturdy".
Passing the 13th Amendment[]
Meeting with Thaddeus Stevens[]
President Lincoln meeting with Thaddeus Stevens.
After watching him become the victim of Mary's insults, Abraham Lincoln met with Thaddeus Stevens to discuss the 13th Amendment in a kitchen within the White House. Lincoln conveyed a story about true North to Thaddeus to help provide assistance to carry his point to him.
House Vote[]
President Lincoln waits to hear news on the 13th Amendment's results.
On the day of the vote for the 13th Amendment, Lincoln waited in his office with Tad. After the votes had been counted regarding the amendment, Lincoln could hear bells ringing. Peering towards the sounds from the window, he knew that the amendment had been passed.
End of the Civil War[]
Meeting with General Grant[]
President Lincoln meets with General Ulysses S. Grant.
On April 9, 1865, President Lincoln met with General Grant and discussed Lincoln's aged appearance by 10 years, despite only 1 year having been passed. Lincoln also informed Grant that he wished for no further bloodshed, nor punishment with the end of the war.
Death[]
President Lincoln takes his last steps through the halls of the White House.
On April 14, 1865, after two last meetings with his cabinet and members, Lincoln left to attend the theatre with his wife, still refusing to wear formal gloves, leaving them on a table as he left. He began his last walk down the halls of the White House, being watched by William Slade, who had at first decide to insist the President wore the gloves, only to watch him walk away instead.
Fatally Wounded[]
The Lincolns and two substitute theater guests, Major Henry Rathbone and his future wife, Clara Harris, arrived late at 8:30 pm to watch the production of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater. Then, at 10:15 pm, a Confederate actor named John Wilkes Booth snuck behind in the box and fired a pistol in the back of Lincoln’s head. After stabbing Rathbone in the left arm, Booth jumped down to the stage, proclaiming the Virginia state motto and escaped into Maryland and Virginia, where he was killed in a tobacco barn by Boston Corbett, just 2 weeks later. Meanwhile, at Grover’s Theater, Lincoln’s 12-year-old son, Tad was watching Aladdin when the manager appeared on stage and announced the bad news to the crowd about what happened at Ford’s Theater; Abraham Lincoln has been shot.
Final Hours[]
Back at Ford’s Theater, Lincoln was attended of his condition and head wounds by a 23-year-old surgeon who happens to be at Ford’s Theater, Doctor Charles Leale. He declared the wound mortal and warned that Lincoln should not be taken back to the Executive Mansion. Following this, Dr. Leale, his two doctors, and four soldiers slowly carry Lincoln out from the theater, where it was packed with a crowd of anxious or angry people. After being denied by a bartender, Dr. Leale and six others brought Lincoln into a house across the street, where they laid his tall body diagonally on the bed and re-examined him for other wounds, only to discover that they were no other wounds and proceeded to cover him in mustard plasters and blankets. Throughout the vigil, 56-year-old Abraham Lincoln remained in a coma for eight hours before dying the next morning on April 15, 1865 with some people crowded around his deathbed, including Robert, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Navy Secretary Gideon Welles. Mary was not present when Lincoln died.