Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865, leading the Union through the Civil War and issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, which declared enslaved people in Confederate-held territory free. His political career developed in part in response to the Supreme Court's 1857 decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which he publicly condemned during his 1858 debates with Stephen Douglas as a decision that denied Black Americans the rights of citizenship.
Facts
Classification
Political RolePresident of the United States 1 FAQs
How did the Emancipation Proclamation change the purpose of the Civil War?
It turned a fight to preserve the Union into a fight for freedom.
Midway through the war, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves within the Confederacy. According to the Miller Center, this changed the war from a battle to preserve the Union into a battle for freedom.
Connections
Drafted
Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as a wartime executive order under his authority as Commander-in-Chief.
Source Abraham Lincoln (Miller Center)
Influenced By
Lincoln publicly condemned the Supreme Court's 1857 Dred Scott decision during his 1858 debates with Stephen Douglas, and the case sharpened his emerging national political profile in the years before his election.
Source Abraham Lincoln (Miller Center)
Sources
1. Abraham Lincoln (Wikipedia)
2. Abraham Lincoln (Miller Center)
Miller Center, University of VirginiaEntity description, gender reference sentence
Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865, leading the Union through the Civil War and issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, which declared enslaved people in Confederate-held territory free.
- Presidential biography
- Influenced By: Dred Scott v. Sandford, Presidential biography, Lincoln-Douglas debates
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