...many Americans think of Abraham Lincoln, they think first of all, as the president who freed the slaves. He is immortalized as the "Great Emancipator," and widely regarded as a champion of black freedom who supported social equality of the races, and who fought the American Civil War (1861-1865) to free the slaves. In actuality, Abraham Lincoln did not fight the Civil War to free the slaves. He fought it to save the Union. He did not agree with slavery and one of the good things that came out of the Union being saved was the abolishment of slavery. (Gienapp, 2002). (Jenness, 2007). Abraham Lincoln was a self made man that rose mythically from humble beginnings to national greatness. He began life as a farm boy. He did not come from a family who believed in education. Despite this, Abraham Lincoln read books and done whatever he could to educate himself. He was a man that believed in honesty and caring for other people. After learning many lessons in life and climbing the ladder of success, his fine qualities landed him as the United States of America’s 16th President. He was successful in doing many great things for people and his community and eventually the United States. (Gienapp, 2002). (Jenness, 2007). He was embarrassed of his family background. He came from a poor family that was farmers. His life as a farm boy was spent doing chores, such as hauling water and chopping wood, and helping in the fields. His mother died when Abraham Lincoln was 9. His father eventually...
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... A Special or Unusual Person Abraham Lincoln is perhaps the nation's ideal self made man. His struggle to prevail humble beginnings, achieve the apex of success, and by establishing the abolition of slavery, which remains one of the most cherished themes within the Lincoln legend and, indeed, within all of American history. Lincoln himself nurtured this tradition of humble origins to steady his own rise from obscurity to distinction. Throughout his life, Lincoln dispraised his own parentage and childhood rather than embracing them (McAfee, W 2004). In fact, Lincoln self consciously grounded his entire political career within the context of a personal triumph over inherited adversity (Winkle, K .J. 2001). During his very first campaign for public office, he declared, "I was born and have ever remained in the most humble walks of life" (Burlingame, M 1997). Thirty years later, Lincoln was still sounding the theme of his own humble beginnings. Running for president in 1860, he noted that both his parents had came from "undistinguished families" (Winkle, K .J. 2001). He described his youth as physically hard and culturally unrewarding. The biography Lincoln authorized for his presidential campaign pictures his family as poor and uneducated, and concluded that it would be difficult to conceive of more unpromising circumstances than those under which he was introduced into life (Hall, B 2010). By denigrating his own origins, Lincoln simultaneously identified himself as a...
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...The life of Julius Cesar and his assassination was a lot different than Abraham Lincoln but a little comparable. The two individuals both came from two different time periods. According to julius-caesar2.tripod.com “Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC in Rome to Aurelia and Gaius Julius Caesar”. At the time of Julius Caesar birth, Rome was still a republic and the empire was only beginning. Julius Caesar was a leader in republic country where the people are not involved with the decisions. Therefore, Julius Ceasar had most for the power in his country and was able to form a large army. “With the help of the army at his command, it was possible to conquer new territories and so gain a triumph and the pleasure of knowing that your name would be remembered forever in statues and inscribed in monuments, paid for by the war” (Summary of Julius Caesar's Life and Death). As time went on Julius Caser began to develop more power over the years. Julius made his way to praetor ship by 62 BC and many of the senate felt he was a dangerous, ambitious man. (Julius Caser Biography). Just like Abraham Lincoln, Julius Cesar began to have more enemies once he started getting more power. With the amount of power Julius Cesar had, he started to become a threat to the senators who did like him and the changes he was making in the country. Julius Caesars pushed through a special law giving him a five-year command in Cispine Gaul and Illyricum, both provinces in the empire covering North Italy and the...
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...president Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln owned his first and only house in Springfield. He also started his presidential career (Started running for presidency) in Springfield. Three places that are crucial to Lincoln's life are Lincoln’s home, The Old State Capitol and Lincoln’s Tomb. Springfield is filled with amusing historical events and places. Lincoln's career was established in his own house. In the beginning of Lincoln’s years at his first home there were six people living there. There were his three kids, a maid, his wife and Abe himself. After a couple of years in his house, Abe's presidential career was constructed. Lincoln started his career by getting his first job by writing a letter on his desk and sending it to the presidential election. Lincoln lived in that same house all the way until he became president and moved into the white house. Lincoln became president in March 1861 however not all of his family came with him to the whitehouse. One of his sons, Robert, did not live in the white house with the Lincolns because he was attending at Harvard University. Lincoln had a lot of important marks in history, however an abundance of the important marks happened at the Old State Capitol. The Old State Capitol...
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...With a movie entitled, Lincoln, one probably expects a film that details Abraham Lincoln’s life, but that is not exactly true of this production. Lincoln primarily focuses not on Lincoln’s life itself but on the process and events he went through in the last years of the Civil War and his life in order to pass the thirteenth amendment, which would eventually eradicate the institution of slavery in the United States. At the beginning of the movie, quite a few people are shown talking to Lincoln, including both African Americans and Caucasians. Some of the men are quoting The Gettysburg Address, which was given by Abraham Lincoln. By their quoting of the speech and the way in which they talk to Lincoln, one can tell that many people highly respected...
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...Mary Todd Lincoln Mary Todd Lincoln was a strong woman. Although she went through some hard times, she always pulled through and proved that she was not going down without a fight. She considered her early life as unhappy, even though she went to a great school and had parents who supported her. Her midlife was not something one could ever imagine. Through her last years of being First Lady, two of her sons died and her husband was shot while sitting right next to her. Lastly, after her third son passed away, Mary Todd-Lincoln's last living son put her in a mental asylum. Through all of this, Todd-Lincoln stayed strong, and did not let anything get in her way. Marry Todd Lincoln was born on December 13, 1818, to Eliza Parker and Robert Smith Todd. She was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, on a slave owning property. She was considered to have had a happy and energetic childhood with a high spirited social life, but when asked to describe her childhood, she would describe it as unhappy or lonely. When Todd-Lincoln was seven years old, her mother passed away. Soon after, her father...
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...Army Values Essay From his humble beginnings in a backwoods Kentucky farm, to the latter stages of his development as President, Abraham Lincoln is a role model for all of the Army values, among other virtues, which show him to be a true leader. Practice of these values ultimately allowed Lincoln to make history as the sixteenth President of the United States of America. During only two terms, Lincoln worked extensively to reunite the Union and Confederacy, passed the Emancipation Proclamation, and signed many other laws that have improved the infrastructure of the United States. These tasks were all done in adversity, notably taking the form of financial problems during his upbringing, strong opposition from the American public during times at office, and a violent and drawn out Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was born from a farming family, who had struggled through significant property losses during Lincoln's early childhood. This resulted in a period of transience, which would limit Lincoln's early formal education. Lincoln was however self motivated and resilient, and was able to truly self educate himself in basic school subjects. This drive is important for the development of leadership. An effective leader should be able to take care of himself, so that his subordinates can follow his practice from example, and develop greater motivation and resilience. Later in his presidency, Lincoln passed the Morril Land Grant Colleges Act. This law provided federal funding for agricultural...
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...Abraham Lincoln: the Great American Hero Abraham Lincoln is one of the greatest heroes of America. His story from growing up with barely anything, to becoming the most powerful and dedicated man in office is one that will be told for years. He is an inspiration for people to achieve their goal and dreams just like he did through perseverance and dedication to his people. Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Kentucky on February 12, 1809. His parents, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, had two other children; Sarah, who was older than Abraham, and Thomas, a younger brother who died in infancy. After Abraham’s mother passed, when he was ten years old, he was devastated and alienated himself from his father, resenting the work and pressure put on him at such a young age. (biography.com) His father then moved them to Indiana where he was remarried to Sara Bush Johnston. As she lived there, nurturing and showing him more love than his mother or father ever did, she encouraged Abraham to learn to read, making a fast bond between the two of them. However, since they lived fairly secluded on a farm in Illinois, Abraham would walk for miles to obtain a book hoping to gain as much knowledge as possible. He also worked on the farm or split rails for neighbors and kept a store in Illinois to help out his family. At the age of twenty-two Lincoln left on his own, after his father insisted on moving the family multiple times. He was six foot, four inches tall and made his living...
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...Lincoln's Lyceum Address Buyenlarge/Archive Photos/Getty Images Addressing a local chapter of the American Lyceum Movement in Springfield, Illinois, a 28-year-old Lincoln delivered a surprisingly ambitious speech on a cold winter night in 1838. The speech was entitled "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions," and Lincoln, who had just been elected to local political office, spoke on matters of great national significance. He made allusions to a recent act of mob violence in Illinois, and also addressed the issue of slavery. Though Lincoln was talking to a smalltown audience of friends and neighbors, he seemed to have ambitions beyond Springfield and his position as a state representative. Lincoln's Address at Cooper Union In late February 1860 Abraham Lincoln took a series of trains from Springfield, Illinois to New York City. He had been invited to speak to a gathering of the Republican Party, a fairly new political party which was opposed to the spread of slavery. Lincoln had gained some fame while debating Stephen A. Douglas two years earlier in a Senate race in Illinois. But he was essentially unknown in the East. The speech he delivered at Cooper Union on February 27, 1860, would make him an overnight star, elevating him to the level of running for president. Lincoln's First Inaugural Address Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address was delivered under circumstances never seen before or since, as the country was literally coming...
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...that Abraham Lincoln was among one of the greats. Abraham Lincoln is most known for his essential role as a leader in protecting the Union during the Civil war and when he ended slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln’s personality and leadership, speeches and letters, and humble roots are what brought him to be highly appreciated. Abraham Lincoln had many qualities that proved that he was a great leader and president. The first quality people liked was that he was a great listener. Lincoln dealt with a lot of conflicting opinions and...
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...Abraham Lincoln: The Gettysburg Address (1863) At the centre of all that Americans value is freedom. This includes political, religious, economic and personal freedom etc., and many Americans regard their society as the best and freest society in the world. Freedom is a value that is deeply rooted in the history of the country, as it goes back to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and later also the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights. The ideal in these is that liberty and equality go hand in hand, but this is not always the case. The American Civil War is one the greatest examples on this. The war had its roots in the question about slavery, and it ended up costing the lives of more Americans than all of the U.S.’s subsequent wars together. On the afternoon of November 19 1863, four months after one of the Civil Wars bloody fights, the president at that time, Abraham Lincoln, holds a speech in which he encourages the people of America to end the war. Furthermore, he reminds the audience of the ideals on which America was founded, and how the Civil War is threatening them. Last but not least, Lincoln honors the fallen and encourages people to finish their unfinished work. Abraham Lincoln frames his speech in a historical perspective and introduces two of the most important American values already in his first sentence of his speech. “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition...
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...Eyejan Saadoon ALCE 1605 King and Chaplin 30 November 2010 The Cause of the Civil War The United States Civil War was the result of conflictive ideologies between the Northern states and the Southern states. The North was abolitionist and heavily developed while the South was poorly industrialized and strongly dependent on agriculture. More than being a social issue slavery was the basis of economy in the Southern part of the United States. The problem was not about whether slavery was morally correct, but whether the South could economically survive without this type of labor; for Southerners slavery was an economical pillar and crucial for their subsistence, to the extent that it would rather fight or secede from the Union before giving up their profitable labor system. In contrast, the North was more densely populated and had more resources in terms of money, men, and supplies than the South did. Slavery for the North was not as necessary as it was for the rural South. Further more, the South was a strong believer of small national government and strongly advocated state rights over national laws, while the North was a strong supporter of federalism and believer in the Union with no option of secession or nullification, which was a common thread of Southern states against the Union. As all these differences grew bigger between the two, more issues and sectionalism emerged and finally led to the American civil war. To summarize, the American Civil War was...
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...Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States and is regarded as one of America’s greatest heroes due to both his incredible impact on the nation and his unique appeal. He rose from humble beginnings to achieve the highest office in government. Lincoln’s distinctively humane personality and historical role as savior of the Union and emancipator of the slaves created a legacy that endures. His eloquence of Democracy and insistence that the Union was worth saving embody the ideals of self-government that all nations strive to achieve. He was born in Hardin County, Kentucky to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Lincoln and his family moved from place to place due to a land dispute in 1817 when they moved from Kentucky to Perry...
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...stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power"(Abraham Lincoln). Different people hold different attitude bout power, some people may think power will bring people harm; some people may prefer power because it represents a man’s character. However, The real question comes out the whole play, Topdog/Underdog, is who is the top dog? Who is the under dog? As far as I am concerned, they are both topdogs. Lincoln is the topdog. For example,the author of the play states in the beginning pages of the play writes out the answer of this question: Lincoln, the older brother, is the "top dog" ; Booth, the younger brother, is "the under dog." Thus, whether reading the play or not, the result has already made completely sense. The older brother is always on top, the younger brother is always in the shadow. Moreover, in the entire play, Lincoln always dresses up nice: an antique frock coat and a top hat. He looks like Abraham Lincoln, who was a powerful man. In addition, he is a former street corner hustler, he plays three cards so well that his unemployed brother Booth wishes he has the same three-card monte abilities. he and his team sometimes can make thousands dollars in a week. Lincoln is also successful at his loving life at the early stage of his adulthood. He got married with Cookie, though she divorced with him later, when he is not able to earn some big money. Furthermore, Lincoln lets Booth win a few times on purpose when Booth plays cards with him, when...
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...far the most significant war that America had seen thus far. This war was the separation of our so far ‘United Country’, and had it gone the other way, who knows how our society would be like today. The fact is, the South was at a disadvantage right from the get-go, before the war even started. From then on, the south was hurt not only economically at the beginning of the war, but also with man power and many other complications to come. One being that most of the population living in the South at that time was made up of slaves. They were also far behind the North with industry, technology and transporting goods which was a huge setback because the North controlled goods coming from England and other countries. When Abraham Lincoln became president, he and the Republican Party had a long list of things they wanted to accomplish right away, which included the Homestead Act, and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The ongoing bickering and intense hatred between the North and South before the civil war was so distinct that you could cut the tension with a knife. In 1820, forty years before the Civil war, it was the beginning of a monster to come. As the country rapidly moved west into new territories, there had to be a decision made. Were the new territories going to be slave states or Free states? This argument was what fueled the fire for forty years to come. The Missouri Compromise was thought to be the ultimate fix to the slave issue. Any state about the 36 30 parallel was...
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