Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, guided his country through the most devastating experience in its national history—the Civil War. He is considered by many historians to have been the greatest American president. Lincoln’s achievements—saving the Union and freeing the slaves—and his martyrdom just at the war’s end assured his continuing fame. No small contribution was made by his eloquence as exemplified the Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863), in which he defined the war as a rededication to the egalitarian ideals of the Declaration of Independence, and in his second inaugural address (March 4, 1865), in which he urged “malice toward none” and “charity for all” in the peace to come.
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, guided his country through the most devastating experience in its national history—the Civil War. He is considered by many historians to have been the greatest American president. Lincoln’s achievements—saving the Union and freeing the slaves—and his martyrdom just at the war’s end assured his continuing fame. No small contribution was made by his eloquence as exemplified the Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863), in which he defined the war as a rededication to the egalitarian ideals of the Declaration of Independence, and in his second inaugural address (March 4, 1865), in which he urged “malice toward none” and “charity for all” in the peace to come.
Washington, DC