Political Party: Republican Political Titles: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 7th district, Member of the Illinois House of Representatives
Biography:Regularly regarded as one of the great American presidents, Abraham Lincoln became president in 1861, amid a crisis over slavery in the Union. Shortly after his election, seven Southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States, beginning the American Civil War.
An incredibly astute politician, Lincoln outmaneuvered several political enemies in his time. His oratory and writing appealed to the American people, particularly his Gettysburg Address, which became an iconic endorsement of democracy and republicanism.
As the war came to an end Lincoln made several moves to abolish slavery. In 1863 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation which made more than 3 million slaves free. In early 1865 he pushed Congress to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution which permanently ended slavery. Shortly before the end of the conflict, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln as he watched a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.
Lincoln's actions preserved the Union and pulled the United States through its greatest political, military and moral crisis.
1842-11-04 American socialite Mary Todd (23) weds Illinois Congressman and lawyer Abraham Lincoln (33) in Springfield, Illinois
Historical Events
1849-03-10 Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent (only US President to do so) for a device to lift a boat over shoals and obstructions
1849-05-22 Abraham Lincoln receives a patent (only US President to do so) for a device to lift a boat over shoals and obstructions
1854-03-20 Anti-slavery activists within the US Whig political party opposed to the Kansas-Nebraska Act form a new Republican Party; notable politicians who switched allegiance include Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, and Benjamin Harrison
1854-10-04 Abraham Lincoln resumes his political career with a speech denouncing recent federal legislation extending slavery, at Illinois State Fair in Springfield; event is a precursor to his famous Peoria Speech
1854-10-16 Abraham Lincoln presents his Peoria Speech, denouncing recent federal legislation extending slavery, on the lawn of the Peoria County Courthouse in Peoria, Illinois
1858-06-16 Abraham Lincoln says "A house divided against itself cannot stand" accepting Illinois Republican Party's nomination for the Senate
1858-09-08 Abraham Lincoln supposedly says in a speech "You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time"
1860-02-27 Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that is largely responsible for his election to the Presidency
1860-05-16 -18] Chicago: Republican convention selects Abraham Lincoln as candidate
1860-05-18 US Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln for president
1860-10-15 11-year-old Grace Bedell writes to Abraham Lincoln telling him to grow a beard
1860-11-06 Republican Abraham Lincoln of Illinois elected the 16th President of the United States of America
1861-02-11 US President-elect Abraham Lincoln takes train from Spingfield IL to Washington, D.C.
1861-02-13 Abraham Lincoln declared US President in Washington, D.C.
1861-02-16 Abraham Lincoln stops his train at Westfield on his way to Washington to thank 11-year old Grace Bedell in person for her advice to grow a beard to gain more votes
1861-03-04 Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th US President
1861-03-04 US President Abraham Lincoln opens Government Printing Office
1861-04-15 Federal army of 75,000 volunteers is mobilized by President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the American Civil War
1861-04-16 US President Abraham Lincoln outlaws business with Confederate States (US Civil War)
1861-04-27 US President Abraham Lincoln suspends writ of habeas corpus (US Civil War)
1861-04-30 US President Abraham Lincoln orders Federal Troops to evacuate Indian Territory (US Civil War)
1861-08-15 Abraham Lincoln orders Union reinforcements be sent to Missouri
1861-08-16 US President Abraham Lincoln prohibits Union states from trading with Confederacy
1861-12-30 Associated Banks in NYC halt gold payments to government and investors, to disrupt Abraham Lincoln's US bank reform program
1862-02-25 First Legal Tender Act 1862 is passed by the US Congress, authorizing the United States note (greenback) into circulation, the first fiat paper money that was legal tender in America
1862-05-20 US President Abraham Lincoln signs into law the Homestead Act to provide cheap land for the settlement of the American West (80 million acres by 1900)
1862-07-08 US Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act signed by Abraham Lincoln (not enforced)
1862-07-11 Abraham Lincoln appoints General Henry Halleck general-in-chief of Union forces in US Civil war
1862-08-14 Abraham Lincoln receives the first group of African Americans to confer with a US president
1862-09-22 US President Abraham Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, threatening to free all enslaved people in the rebel southern states if those states fail to re-join the Union by January 1, 1863
1862-12-06 US President Abraham Lincoln orders hanging of 39 Santee Sioux Indians
1862-12-31 President Abraham Lincoln signs act admitting West Virginia to the Union
1863-01-01 Emancipation Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln to free slaves in US confederate states
1863-02-26 Abraham Lincoln signs National Currency Act, establishes single national US currency
1863-03-03 Abraham Lincoln approves charter for National Academy of Sciences
1863-07-30 President Abraham Lincoln issues "eye-for-eye" order to shoot a rebel prisoner for every black prisoner shot
1863-10-03 US President Abraham Lincoln designates last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day
1863-11-17 Abraham Lincoln begins first draft of his Gettysburg Address
1863-11-19 US President Abraham Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg address beginning; "Four score and seven years ago..."
1863-12-08 Abraham Lincoln issues his Amnesty Proclamation and plan for Reconstruction of the South
1864-06-07 Abraham Lincoln renominated for US President by the Republican Party
1864-06-12 Confederate forces of Jubal Early attack Fort Stevens, barely 4 miles from the White House, with Abraham Lincoln observing the battle
1864-06-30 Yosemite Grant Act signed by President Abraham Lincoln bestowing 200,000 acres to the state of California, establishes America's first state-controlled park
1864-07-18 US President Abraham Lincoln asks for 500,000 volunteers for military service
1864-11-08 Abraham Lincoln (R) elected to his 2nd term as American President
1865-03-03 US Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, & Abandoned Lands established by Abraham Lincoln to help destitute free blacks
1865-03-04 Abraham Lincoln inaugurated for his 2nd term as US President. The man who would assassinate him weeks later, John Wilkes Booth, is photographed attending the inauguration.
1865-03-06 US President Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Ball
1865-04-11 Abraham Lincoln urges a spirit of generous conciliation during reconstruction
1865-04-14 U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked in his home by Lewis Powell as part of the same conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln
1865-04-14 US President Abraham Lincoln is shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington; he dies a day later
1865-04-15 Abraham Lincoln dies nine hours after he is shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington
1865-04-17 Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in Abraham' Lincoln's assassination
1865-04-21 Abraham Lincoln's funeral train leaves Washington
1865-07-07 Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Atzerodt are executed for their role in the conspiracy to assassinate US President Abraham Lincoln
1887-04-10 US President Abraham Lincoln's re-buried with his wife in Springfield, Illinois
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