Will get back to the narrative in a bit but now for something completely different...
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President Lincoln delivers his address at his fourth inauguration in 1881
Abraham Lincoln (12 February 1809 – 15 April 1895) was an American statesman who served as the 16th and 19th President of the United States from 1861 to 1873 and from 1881 to 1889. Lincoln led the nation through the Civil War (1861-1869), its bloodiest war and its greatest constitutional and political crisis up to that point. In 1878, he came out of retirement when elected to the Senate as a Senator from Illinois and was chosen as leader of the Senate Republicans. He was the main draughtsman behind the second constitution of the United States and founded the Second American Republic in 1880 after approval in a national referendum. He was elected President of the United States once more later that year, a position he was reelected to in 1884 and which he held until his final retirement in 1889. He was the dominant figure in American politics during the Civil War and Reconstruction era (1861-1887) and his memory continues to influence American politics. In addition to his political achievements, Lincoln holds a number of presidential records, including the longest time in office of any American President (20 years) and the most presidential elections won (5 – 1860, 1864, 1868, 1880 and 1884).
Born in Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the western frontier in a poor family. Self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois. As a member of the Whigs, he served eight years in the state legislature and two in Congress before resuming his law practice. Angered by the success of Democrats in opening the western prairie lands to slavery and the violence of pro-slavery advocates, he reentered politics in 1854. He was a leader in building the new Republican Party from former Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats, becoming nationally renowned for his debates with senior Democrat Stephen A. Douglas in 1856 and 1858. This fame propelled him to the position of presidential candidate of the Republican Party for the election of 1860, which he won by sweeping the Northern states.
Southern pro-slavery elements took his win as proof that the North intended to outlaw slavery and began the process of seceding from the union and forming what became the Confederate States of America. The North, progressively radicalized by the ongoing debates about the future of slavery, would not tolerate secession and on 12 April 1861, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation into law and called up volunteers to suppress the rebellion. An executive action which provided for the phased abolition of slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation is regarded as the final straw which caused the Southern and Border states to secede and begin the Civil War.
Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, in particular the choice of generals. He made several major decisions on Union war strategy, including blockading Southern ports and the use of scorched earth tactics. As the war progressed, Lincoln initially attempted a conciliatory strategy in his 1864 reelection campaign but, as the fighting grew increasingly bloody, he pushed a more radical vision of reconstruction when he ran (and won) a then-unprecedented third term in 1868. As the war progressed, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution of 1865 permanently and immediately outlawed slavery and Lincoln encouraged the Union army to protect escaped slaves.
Following the final surrender of E. Porter Alexander in 1869, Lincoln pursued a radical vision of Reconstruction, permanently removing voting rights from senior officials in the CSA and promoting black politicians. These policies were pursued further through the use of an extensive military occupation of the South. However, frustrated by the return of heavy partisanship after 1870, he decided not to seek a fourth term and retired from the presidency in 1873, although he remained politically involved with the Illinois Republican party. He wrote a book about his presidency titled ‘War Memoirs.’ When the continuing terrorism of white supremacist groups threatened to rip apart the United States once more, Lincoln returned to the Senate. He founded the Second American Republic with a strong presidency and was elected to that role in 1880. He managed to keep the United States together while taking steps to clamp down on terrorist organisations such as the Klu Klux Klan, including the suspension of
habeus corpus in the South.
In the context of Reconstruction, Lincoln pursued what he called “the politics of greatness,” asserting that America as a major power should not rely on other countries for its prosperity. To this end, he pursued a range of policies aimed at strengthening the federal government and modernizing the economy. In addition to erecting tariff barriers to protect American goods, he practiced a novel form of governance which came to be known as ‘indicative planning.’ This method of planning aimed to solve problems of oversupply and shortages by supplying various forms of state investment to reduce the incidence of market disequilibrium.
Although he was still personally popular by 1888, at the age of 79 he declined to seek another term and retired once again, this time for good. He died seven years later at his residence in Chicago, leaving a second set of memoirs unfinished. Many American political parties and figures since Lincoln’s time have claimed a ‘Lincolnian’ legacy: several streets and monuments in the United States were dedicated to his memory after his death. A controversial figure, Lincoln is praised for his success in the Civil War, his strong defence of individual liberty and the dignity of African Americans, and for creating the conditions for the economic growth of the 1890s. On the other hand, he is also criticized for his dictatorial rewriting of the American constitution, his suspension of
habeus corpus and his support for scorched earth tactics during the Civil War. However, he has been consistently ranked by both scholars and the public as among the greatest American Presidents.