When the dispute between union vs. states’ rights erupted into the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln guided the nation through its greatest challenge.
PRESIDENT Abraham Lincoln made it clear from the start that while he had no plans to end slavery where it already existed, he would not allow any state to leave the union because of it. The Southern states had other ideas.
South Carolina was the first state to secede, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. A civil war was imminent.
On April 12, 1861, the first official shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Afterward, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina seceded. Richmond, Va. was named capital of the new Confederacy. Jefferson Davis was named Confederate president.
The western half of Virginia, however, did not want to join the Confederacy and, on June 20, 1863, was admitted to the Union as the state of West Virginia.
The Civil War dominated the Lincoln presidency. The first battle of the Civil War at Bull Run Va. on July 18, 1861, resulted in a great loss for the Union at the hands of Gen. Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson.
Convinced that the emancipation of slaves was crucial to a Union victory, on Jan. 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring freedom for Confederate slaves. Lincoln later met with abolitionist Frederick Douglass to discuss full equality for Union black soldiers.
On Nov. 19, 1863, Lincoln poignantly dedicated the military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa. and vowed “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.” His two-minute Gettysburg Address remains one of the most important speeches in history.
The beginning of the end for the Confederacy came with Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s infamous march through the South. He stormed through Georgia and South Carolina, destroying everything in his path, except the city of Savannah, Ga. which he “presented” to Lincoln as a gift.
Lincoln was re-elected in 1864. In his second inaugural address, he said, “With malice toward none; with charity for all… let us strive on to finish the work we are in…to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”
The Civil War came to an end on April 9, 1865, with Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendering to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
In the end, after nearly 400 battles, 600,000 soldiers – more than 2 percent of the nation’s population, were dead. Disease killed more than actual combat – nearly two for one.
On April 14, 1865, Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln attended the play “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. John Wilkes Booth shot the president in the back of the head. Lincoln died the next day. He was the first president to be assassinated in office. He remains one of the nation’s most revered president.
On Dec. 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified and slavery was legally abolished. However, African-Americans would suffer for another century before the Civil Rights Act was passed.
Today’s lesson fulfills the following New York standards: ELA 1c, 2b, 3c, 3d, 4a, 4b, 5a, Social Studies Standard 1
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New York Post activities
There is so much more to learn about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Visit http://www.pbs.org/civilwar to learn more.
Have a class discussion on what you think the country would have been like if the Confederacy had won the war.
Read Lincoln’s Cooper Union speech, Gettysburg Address and second inaugural speech. Write an essay on what we can we learn from them today