Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln
Who is Abraham Lincoln was and what his part in the slavery during the American Civil War? In this essay I will enlighten the question I have chosen as my research question. The essay itself will be set up in a chronologic order.

Abraham Lincoln grew up in a little log cabin, where he lived with his family in his early years. After losing his mother at the age of nine his father remarried Sarah Johnston, who encouraged him to read. Lincoln fell in love with reading and would walk miles just to borrow a book. Lincoln left his family at the age of 22 pursuing different jobs. In 1834 he became a popular man, because of his charismatic personality and his eloquence. After this he began his political carrier as a member of the “Whig party”. The “Whig Party” and his popularity led to his basic ideas of slavery. It was also around this point, that Lincoln got the idea of becoming a lawyer and started to teach himself law. This led him to run for president in 1860. Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, and became the sixteenth president of the United States.

Almost as soon as Abraham Lincoln took office, the civil war broke out. This war was between the southern states (The Confederates) and the northern states of America (The Union). But why did this happen? This happened because of Lincoln’s view on slavery, which the southern states could not accept. The southern states held a lot of slaves and therefore they weren’t too pleased about Lincoln’s opinion on slavery. Therefore seven nations left the Union and decided to fight for what they considered their rights to perform slavery. The Civil War started at Fort Sumter, which was under the control of the Union. However, The Confederates claimed the fort due to the fact that it was situated in South Carolina. The Union lost the fort.

In the middle of the war Lincoln issued “The Emancipation Proclamation” to fight back the Confederates. In the proclamation it said that all slaves of the Confederate states should be set free.

Shortly after “The Emancipation Proclamation” the famous “Battle of Gettysburg” happened. The battle lasted from 1-3 July 1863 and ended with a Union victory. Though the Union won, both sides suffered great losses concerning the death of thousands of people. Therefore Lincoln went to the National Cemetery of Gettysburg and spoke to the people. It wasn’t a long speech, it was actually quite short, but he spoke to the people in a way that would always be remembered in American history.

The Civil War was the bloodiest war ever to be fought on American ground. On one side the deserters from the south stood and on the other we had the remaining states in the Union. Shortly after the war began, four more states left the Union and joined the southern legions. The war lasted for four years (1861-1865) and became one of the most expensive wars in American history. It finally came to an end when the Confederate surrendered on April 9, 1865. Though it seemed like The Union might have won, but the war had claimed a lot of sacrifices. There were hundreds of thousands killed and millions were left injured – and if that wasn’t enough, The South was completely torn apart. Both the land and even the population of The South were left shattered. Though these were massive losses the war claimed one more. At the end of the war one more man died. The man who the nation needed the most died just five days later, on April 14 1865. Abraham Lincoln was shot in Ford’s theater in Washington D.C. The man who shot him was the actor, John Wilkes Booth, who was a Confederate. Lincoln slipped into a coma and was taken across the street to a Peterson House. He laid in coma for 9 hours, but died of his injuries.

Lincoln did his part in the freeing of the slaves and eventually paid with his life. He helped set free the slaves but did he really ‘set free’ the black people? We know that it is against the law to hold slaves in America, but we also know that the black kept on being suppressed by white people after the Civil War. The suppression has lasted almost up until present day. So we know that he freed the slaves, but did he free them from the racist eyes looking back at them? Were they really “free” or did they end up being ‘slaves’ to the racialz mind of the white people?

Reference list
 Biography.com: Abraham Lincoln. Udgivet af Biography.com. Internetadresse: http://www.biography.com/people/abraham-lincoln-9382540    - Besøgt d. 06.10.2013 (Internet)

 Brittanica: Battle of Gettysburg. Udgivet af Brittanica. Internetadresse: http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/232210/Battle-of-Gettysburg    - Besøgt d. 06.10.2013 (Internet)

Brittanica: The Gettysburg Address: Seven score and seven years ago (Picture of the day). Udgivet af Brittanica.com. Internetadresse:  http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2010/11/the-gettysburg-address-seven-score-and-seven-years-ago-picture-of-the-day/    - Besøgt d. 06.10.2013 (Internet)

 History.com: Abraham Lincoln. Udgivet af Histroy.com. Internetadresse:  http://www.history.com/topics/abraham-lincoln    - Besøgt d. 06.10.2013 (Internet)

<p class="MsoFootnoteText"> History.com: American Civil War. Udgivet af History.com. Internetadresse:  http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war    - Besøgt d. 06.10.2013 (Internet)

<p class="MsoFootnoteText"> Kjærgaard, Kristen L.: Abraham Lincoln. Side 73-85. 1. udg. Det Schønbergske forlag, 1935. (Bog)

<p class="MsoFootnoteText">Picture of Abraham Lincoln: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln

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<p class="MsoFootnoteText">http://www.biography.com/people/abraham-lincoln-9382540 <p class="MsoFootnoteText"> Kjærgaard, Kristen L.: Abraham Lincoln. Side 73-85. 1. udg. Det Schønbergske forlag, 1935. (Bog)

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