“Government of the people, by the people, for the people”, are among the most recognizable words of any US Politician. They belong to Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America. Lincoln's remarkable leadership during the Civil War led him to become one of the greatest presidents in American history. His role in freeing the slaves won him the recognition as The Great Emancipator and paved the way to forever abolish slavery in the United States. His dramatic and untimely death left Americans in shock, leaving behind a presidential legacy that will never be forgotten. Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in rural Kentucky, to Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. He had an older sister, Sarah and a younger brother named Thomas Jr. who died in infancy soon after being born. While Abraham Lincoln was still very young, his family moved to southern Indiana. Due to a harsh winter, they spent their first year in a temporary shelter. The next year, the Lincolns were able to build a more suitable log cabin for their family. Together, Abraham Lincoln and his dad, built a farm for their family. The young Lincoln would help clear the fields and took care of crops, but disliked hunting and fishing. Sadly, when Lincoln was 9, his mom, suddenly fell ill from milk sickness and died shortly after, leaving behind a devastated Lincoln. With his mother gone, Lincoln grew further apart from his dad and quietly resented all the hard work that his dad required him to do. The following year after Nancy’s death, Thomas Lincoln married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow with 3 children of her own that he had known while living in Kentucky. Sarah was a tremendous help to the grieving Lincoln. She saw potential in Abraham Lincoln at such a young age, and fueled his reading and intellect. Lincoln and his new step-mom quickly formed a strong bond. Sarah provided Lincoln with love and encouragement, and Lincoln soon started calling her “Mother”. As he grew older, Lincoln continued to help his father on the farm and gained a reputation for his exceptional skills with an axe. Lincoln didn’t receive very much schooling, and most of what he learned was self-taught while he devoured as many books as he could. By the age of 21, Lincoln had grown up to be a very tall man - 6ft 4 inches tall. He had a whole life waiting ahead of him, and the Lincolns moved to Illinois. Here, Lincoln, with absolutely no desire to be a farmer, tried various occupations. He went from railsplitter, helping to clear and fence his father’s new farm, to becoming a flatboatmen, where he made a voyage down the Mississippi river to New Orleans. But upon his return to Illinois, Lincoln settled in a small village, known as New Salem, where he worked different jobs from time to time, he explored occupations as a storekeeper, postman, and surveyor. When the Black Hawk War, a brief conflict between the US and native americans, broke out, volunteers in the area elected Lincoln to be their leader. Lincoln saw no combat during this time, but made important political connections. Soon, Lincoln began his career in politics when he was elected as a member of the Whig Party to the Illinois state legislature. During this time, Lincoln devoted himself to a huge project for constructing an extensive network of railroads, highways and canals. Even from this early in his political career, Lincoln opposed slavery and had a vision of expanding the United States’ commerce and cities, rather than agriculture. During his terms serving with the Illinois state legislature, Lincoln taught himself law, and after passing the bar examination in 1836, he began working as a lawyer. Soon he moved to Springfield, Illinois- the new state capital- which offered more opportunities. There, he served clients ranging from individual residents to national railroad lines. A few years later, he met Mary Todd, a well-educated woman, and the two were soon married. They went on to have 4 children together, Robert, Edward, William, and Thomas, whom Abraham Lincoln nicknamed Tad. Lincoln ran for congressman for the United States, and won the election. He served one term, and decided not to seek reelection. He then returned to Springfield to continue practicing law, where success in court cases started bringing him more and more clients, including banks, insurance companies, manufacturing firms and even a few criminal trials. Sadly, Lincoln’s son, Edward, passed away shortly before his 4th birthday and only months before William was born. For the next couple of years, Lincoln barely took part in politics. Then, when a new crisis, splitting up the Northern and Southern US, came up, Lincoln was pushed back into national politics. At this point in time, between 1815 and 1861, there were many economic differences in the US. The Northern States were rapidly modernizing, and although they still relied on some agriculture, manufacturing and other industries were well established. In contrast, the economy of the Southern States was mainly based on large plantations or farms that depended on slaves for labor. The North did not approve of having slaves. The north and south also disagreed over state’s rights and whether or not slavery would be allowed in the new western states. In 1854, the US Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska act, stating that settlers in Kansas and Nebraska would decide for themselves whether to allow slaves in their states. Violence soon broke out between anti-slavery and pro-slavery supporters as what is today known as Bleeding Kansas. Opposition to the act in the North caused the Republican party to form and the Whig Party to fade away. The new act enraged Lincoln, and so he went before a large crowd of people denouncing slavery and calling it a violation of the most basic principles from the Declaration of Independence. Joining the Republican Party, he tried running for the US Senate and challenged sitting senator Stephen A. Douglas, and while he wasn’t elected, he gained national recognition for his views against slavery. In 1858, after he accepted the nomination for state senator for the Illinois Republican Party, Lincoln delivered his famous “house divided” speech. Soon, people were mentioning Lincoln as a presidential prospect for the 1860 election. In May of 1860, Republicans chose Lincoln as their presidential candidate, so he set aside his law practice and started focusing on his campaign. That November at the presidential election, Lincoln once again faced Douglas, but with support from the northern states, he was able to win the White House and become the 16th president of the United States. It was a difficult time in the US and Lincoln was facing a divided nation. Upon his election, many of the Southern States believed Lincoln was against slavery and in favor of the interests of the Northern States, so they felt their cause was never going to be heard. Even before Lincoln’s presidential inauguration, South Carolina became the first slave state to secede from the US. Six additional states followed: (Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas). And together with South Carolina, they formed the Confederate States of America- commonly referred to as the Confederacy. As soon as Lincoln took office in March, the Confederacy threatened the federal-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Lincoln ordered a fleet to resupply the fort, but the Confederates started firing. It was 1861, and the American Civil War had started. Lincoln was off to a bad start. Lincoln called on state governors for troops, but 4 more southern states took sides, seceded from the US and joined the Confederacy. (Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee). Lincoln soon proclaimed the blockade of the Southern Ports. During the American Civil War, the United States was divided between the Union and the Confederacy. The Union, commonly referred to as the North, was the federal government with president Lincoln as their commander in chief and included 20 free states and 5 border states. (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, and after 1863, the new state of West Virginia). The Confederacy was made up of 11 slave states, all of which seceded from the United States and had Jefferson Davis as their president. The free states prohibited slavery, while slave states allowed slavery. The border states were states that allowed slavery but that did not leave the Union. The country was in crisis, but Lincoln was determined to keep the country together. Jefferson Davis, was a man who knew the military. Being a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, a hero of the Mexican-American War, and secretary of war, he was an experienced war-time leader. And then there was Lincoln, who’ve had only one experience in a war, that being the Black Hawk War, where he saw absolutely no action. Despite this, Lincoln proved to be a capable leader during the war. He quickly learned successful tactics and strategies and took control of the war choosing his generals wisely. Sadly on top of everything that Lincoln had been dealing with during the civil war, his beloved son, William, died at the age of 11. His death cast a dark shadow over the Lincolns, and Abraham Lincoln never fully recovered from losing another one of his sons. After several Union losses, Confederate General Robert E. Lee led an attempt to invade the North. And so came the battle of Antietam in 1862, the bloodiest single-day battle in American history and one of the key turning points of the Civil War. The Union’s victory gave Lincoln the perfect time to announce the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared freedom for all slaves in the rebellious states. Thousands of former slaves soon went on to join the Union army. Two important Union victories at Vicksburg, Mississippi and at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, followed in July 1863. The Battle of Gettysburg once again ended the Confederacy's attempts of invading the north and left them in a defensive position, turning the tide of the war in the Union’s favor. This victory led Lincoln to deliver The Gettysburg Address. The speech, though brief but effective, expressed the war’s purpose and the pursuit of human equality. The Gettysburg Address became Lincoln’s most famous speech and one of the most quoted speeches in history. The time came in 1864, when Lincoln faced a tough re-election. But Union victories in battle, especially the capture of Atlanta by general William T. Sherman and his famous “March to the Sea”, swung many votes in Lincoln’s favor and he was re-elected. As Union military triumphs indicated that an end to the war was near, Lincoln encouraged Southerners to stop fighting and join him in reuniting the country. In his second inaugural address, Lincoln expressed the need to reconstruct the South and rebuild the Union, without hatred and instead offering help to those who needed it. Since Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed only those slaves held in the Confederate States, Lincoln submitted a proposed amendment to the Constitution that would abolish slavery for the entire United States. That amendment became the 13th amendment and was passed in January, 1865. Finally, after 4 years of continuous fighting, confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865, and the American Civil War finally ended that year. A couple nights later, Lincoln and his wife were watching a play at the Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., where a tragic fate awaited him. During the play, actor and confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth, slipped into the president’s box and shot Lincoln straight in the back of his head. President Lincoln was carried to a boarding house across the street, but it was too late. Abraham Lincoln died a few hours later, on the morning of April 15, 1865. Abraham Lincoln was killed at a time when he was needed to complete the difficult task of reuniting his country after ending the war. Lincoln’s incredible impact on the nation left the US with an enduring legacy. Lincoln’s face is featured on pennies and five dollar bills. He’s had many important memorials built in his honor, including the famous Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Abraham Lincoln's inspiring and effective leadership throughout the Civil War and as the 16th President of the United States forever earned him a place in history.