Kleiboeker Family Tree - Person Sheet
Kleiboeker Family Tree - Person Sheet
NameAbraham Lincoln 
Birth12 Feb 1809, Sinking Spring Farm, Hardin, Kuntucky
BurialApr 1865
Death15 Apr 1865, Washington, D. C.
FatherThomas Lincoln (1778-1851)
MotherNancy Hanks (1784-1818)
Spouses
Marriage4 Nov 1842, Springfield, Sangamon, IL
ChildrenRobert Todd (1843-1926)
Edward Baker (1846-1850)
William Wallace (1850-1862)
Thomas "tad" (1853-1871)
Notes for Abraham Lincoln
[isaiahharrisondescendents.FTW]
This artical below on Abraham Lincoln the President can be copied forresearch only but can n ot be published.
Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, near Hodgenville, Kentucky, theson of Nancy Hanks an d Thomas Lincoln, pioneer farmers. At the age oftwo he was taken by his parents to nearby Kn ob Creek and at eight toSpencer County, Indiana. The following year his mother died. In 181 9his father married Sarah Bush Johnston, a kindly widow, who soongained the boy's affection .
Lincoln grew up a tall, gangling youth, who could hold his own inphysical contests and als o showed great intellectual promise,although he had little formal education. In 1831, afte r moving withhis family to Macon County, Illinois, he struck out on his own, takingcargo o n a flatboat to New Orleans, Louisiana. He then returned toIllinois and settled in New Salem , a short-lived community on theSangamon River, where he split rails and clerked in a store . Hegained the respect of his fellow townspeople, including the so-calledClary Grove boys , who had challenged him to physical combat, and waselected captain of his company in the Bl ack Hawk War (1832).Returning from the war, he began an unsuccessful venture in shopkeeping that ended when his partner died. In 1833 he was appointedpostmaster but had to supplemen t his income with surveying andvarious other jobs. At the same time he began to study law. T hat hegradually paid off his and his deceased partner's debts firmlyestablished his reputat ion for honesty. The story of his romance withAnn Rutledge, a local young woman whom he kne w briefly before heruntimely death, is unsubstantiated.
Illinois Politician and Lawyer
Defeated in 1832 in a race for the state legislature, Lincoln waselected on the Whig ticke t two years later and served in the lowerhouse from 1834 to 1841. He quickly emerged as on e of the leaders ofthe party and was one of the authors of the removal of the capital toSpr ingfield, where he settled in 1837. After his admission to the bar(1836), he entered into su ccessive partnerships with John T. Stuart,Stephen T. Logan, and William Herndon, and soon wo n recognition as aneffective and resourceful attorney.
In 1842 Lincoln married Mary Todd, the daughter of a prominentKentucky banker, and despite h er somewhat difficult disposition, themarriage seems to have been reasonably successful. Th e Lincolns hadfour children, only one of whom reached adulthood.
His birth in a slave state notwithstanding, Lincoln had long opposedslavery. In the legislat ure he voted against resolutions favorable tothe "peculiar institution" and in 1837 was on e of two members whosigned a protest against it. Elected to Congress in 1846, he attracteda ttention because of his outspoken criticism of the war with Mexicoand formulated a plan fo r gradual emancipation in the District ofColumbia. He was not an abolitionist, however. Conc eding the right ofthe states to manage their own affairs, he merely sought to preventthe sp read of human bondage.
National Recognition
Disappointed in a quest for federal office at the end of his one termin Congress (1847-49) , Lincoln returned to Springfield to pursue hisprofession. In 1854, however, because of hi s alarm at Senator StephenA. Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Act, he became politically active aga in.Clearly setting forth his opposition to the repeal of the MissouriCompromise, he argue d that the measure was wrong because slavery waswrong and that Congress should keep the terr itories free for actualsettlers (as opposed to those who traveled there mainly to vote for or against slavery). The following year he ran for the U.S. Senate, butseeing that he could n ot win, he yielded to Lyman Trumbull, aDemocrat who opposed Douglas's bill. He campaigned fo r the newlyfounded Republican party in 1856, and in 1858 he became its senatorialcandidat e against Douglas. In a speech to the party's stateconvention that year he warned that "a ho use divided against itselfcannot stand" and predicted the eventual triumph of freedom. Meeti ngDouglas in a series of debates, he challenged his opponent in effectto explain how he cou ld reconcile his principles of popularsovereignty with the Dred Scott decision (see DRED SCO TT CASE). Inhis reply, Douglas reaffirmed his belief in the practical ability ofsettlers t o keep slavery out of the territories despite the SupremeCourt's denial of their right to d o so. Although Lincoln lost theelection to Douglas, the debates won him national recognition .
Election and Secession Crisis
In 1860 the Republicans, anxious to attract as many different factionsas possible, nominate d Lincoln for the presidency on a platform ofslavery restriction, internal improvements, hom esteads, and tariffreform. In a campaign against Douglas and John C. Breckinridge, tworiva l Democrats, and John Bell, of the Constitutional Union party,Lincoln won a majority of th e electoral votes and was electedpresident.
Immediately after the election, South Carolina, followed by six otherSouthern states, took s teps to secede from the Union. Declaring thatsecession was illegal but that he had no powe r to oppose it,President James Buchanan preferred to rely on Congress to find acompromise . The success of this effort, however, depended on Lincoln,the president-elect, who was ope n to concessions but refused tocountenance any possible extension of slavery. Thus, the Crit tendenCompromise, the most promising scheme of adjustment, failed, and a newSouthern govern ment was inaugurated in February 1861.
Lincoln as President
When Lincoln took the oath of office on March 4, 1861, he wasconfronted with a hostile Confe deracy determined to expand andthreatening the remaining federal forts in the South, the mos timportant of which was Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, SouthCarolina. Anxious no t to offend the upper South, which had not yetseceded, Lincoln at first refused to take deci sive action. After thefailure of an expedition to Fort Pickens, Florida, however, he decided to relieve Fort Sumter and informed the governor of South Carolinaof his intention to sen d food to the beleaguered garrison. TheConfederates, unwilling to permit continued federal o ccupation oftheir soil, opened fire to reduce the fort, thus starting the CivilWar. When Li ncoln countered with a call for 75,000 volunteers, theNorth responded with enthusiasm, but t he upper South seceded.
Military Leadership
As commander in chief, Lincoln encountered great difficulties in thesearch for capable gener als. After the defeat of Irvin McDowell atthe First Battle of Bull Run, the president appoin ted George B.McClellan to lead the eastern army but found him excessively cautious.His Peni nsular campaign against Richmond, Virginia, the Confederatecapital, failed, and Lincoln, who se own strategy had not succeeded intrapping Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley of V irginia,virtually superseded McClellan with John Pope. When Pope was defeatedat the Secon d Battle of Bull Run, the president turned once more toMcClellan, only to be disappointed ag ain. Despite his victory atAntietam, Maryland, the general was so hesitant that Lincoln fina llyhad to remove him. The president's next choice, Ambrose Burnside, wasalso unfortunate. D ecisively beaten at Fredericksburg, Virginia,Burnside gave way to Joseph Hooker, who in tur n was routed atChancellorsville, Virginia. Then Lincoln appointed George G. Meade,who trium phed at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, but failed to follow uphis victory. Persisting in his dete rmination to discover a generalwho could defeat the Confederates, the president in 1864 entr ustedoverall command to Ulysses S. Grant, the victor at Fort Donelson,Tennessee, Vicksburg , Mississippi, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. Thischoice was a good one. Grant, in a series o f coordinated campaigns,finally brought the war to a successful conclusion.
Emancipation
In dealing with the problem of emancipation, Lincoln proved himself amasterful statesman. Ca refully maneuvering to take advantage ofradical pressure to move forward and conservative en treaties to holdback, he was able to retain the loyalty of the Democrats and theborder stat es while still bringing about the final abolition ofslavery. Lincoln pleased the radicals i n 1861, when he signed thefirst Confiscation Act, freeing slaves used by the Confederates fo rmilitary purposes. He deferred to the conservatives when hecountermanded emancipation orde rs of the Union generals John C.FrÈmont and David Hunter, but again courted the radicals b y revertingto a cautious antislavery program. Thus, he exerted pressure on theborder state s to inaugurate compensated emancipation, signed the billfor abolition in the District of Co lumbia, and consented to thesecond Confiscation Act.
On July 22, 1862, in response to radical demands and diplomaticnecessity, he told his cabine t that he intended to issue anemancipation proclamation but took care to soften the blow t o theborder states by specifically exempting them. Advised to await somefederal victory, h e did not make his proclamation public untilSeptember 22, following the Battle of Antietam , when he announcedthat all slaves in areas still in rebellion within 100 days would be"the n, thenceforward, and forever, free." The final EmancipationProclamation followed on Januar y 1, 1863. Promulgated by thepresident in his capacity as commander in chief in times of act ualarmed rebellion, it freed slaves in regions held by the insurgents andauthorized the cre ation of black military units. Lincoln wasdetermined to place emancipation on a more permane nt basis, however,and in 1864 he advocated the adoption of an antislavery amendment tothe U .S. Constitution. The amendment was passed after Lincoln'sreelection, when he made use of al l the powers of his office toensure its success in the House of Representatives (January 31 ,1865).
Political Skill
A consummate politician, Lincoln sought to maintain harmony among thedisparate elements of h is party by giving them representation in hiscabinet. Recognizing former Whigs by the appoin tment of William H.Seward as secretary of state and Edward Bates as attorney general, heals o extended invitations to such former Democrats as MontgomeryBlair, who became postmaster ge neral, and Gideon Welles, who becamesecretary of the navy. He honored local factions by appo inting SimonCameron of Pennsylvania secretary of war and Caleb B. Smith of Indianasecretar y of the interior, while satisfying the border states withBates and Blair. At the same time , he offset the conservative Bateswith the radical Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chas e and laterwith Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Although Lincoln was muchcloser to the r adicals and gradually moved toward ever more radicalmeasures, he did not needlessly offend t he conservatives and oftencollaborated with them. His careful handling of the slavery issu e isa case in point, as is his appointment of Democratic generals and hisdeference to the s ensibilities of the border states. In December 1862he foiled critics demanding the dismissa l of the conservative Seward.Refusing to accept Seward's resignation and inducing the radica lChase to offer to step down as well, he maintained the balance of hiscabinet by retainin g both secretaries.
Lincoln's political influence was enhanced by his great gifts as anorator. Able to stress es sentials in simple terms, he effectivelyappealed to the nation in such classical short speec hes as theGettysburg Address and his second inaugural address. Moreover, he wasa capable di plomat. Firmly rejecting Seward's proposal in April 1861that the country be united by mean s of a foreign war, he sought tomaintain friendly relations with the nations of Europe, use d theEmancipation Proclamation to win friends for the Union, andeffectively countered Confe derate efforts to gain foreignrecognition.
Reelection and Reconstruction
In 1864 a number of disgruntled Republicans sought to preventLincoln's renomination. Adroitl y outmaneuvering his opponents,especially the ambitious Chase, he succeeded in obtaining hi s party'sendorsement at Baltimore, Maryland, even though a few extremistsnominated FrÈmont . Lincoln's renomination did not end his politicalproblems, however. Unhappy with his Procla mation of Amnesty (December1863), which called for the restoration of insurgent states if 1 0percent of the electorate took an oath of loyalty, Congress in July1864 passed the Wade-Da vis Bill, which provided for more onerousconditions and their acceptance by 50 percent of th e voters. WhenLincoln used the pocket veto to kill it, some radicals sought todisplace hi m and in the so-called Wade-Davis Manifesto passionatelyattacked the administration.
The president, nevertheless, prevailed again. His poor prospects inAugust 1864 improved whe n the Democrats nominated General McClellanon a peace platform. Subsequent federal victorie s and the withrawalof FrÈmont, coupled with the resignation of the conservative Blair,reuni ted the party, and in November 1864 Lincoln was triumphantlyreelected.
The president's success at the polls enabled him to seek to establishhis own Reconstructio n policies. To blunt conservative criticism, hemet with leading Confederates at Hampton Road s, Virginia, anddemonstrated the impossibility of a negotiated peace. The radicals,however , were also dissatisfied. Because of their demand for blacksuffrage, Lincoln was unable to i nduce Congress to accept themembers-elect of the free state government of Louisiana, which h e hadorganized. In addition, after the fall of Richmond, he alarmed hiscritics by invitin g the Confederate legislature of Virginia to repealthe secession ordinance. His Reconstructi on policies, however, hadbeen determined by military necessity. As soon as the Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia,Lincoln withdrew the inv itation to the Virginians. He again provedhow close he was to the radicals by endorsing a li mited blackfranchise.
The Assassination
At his second inaugural, Lincoln, attributing the war to the evilconsequences of slavery, su mmed up his attitude in the famous phrase"with malice toward none, with charity for all. " A few weeks later,he publicly announced his support for limited black suffrage inLouisian a. This open defiance of conservative opinion could only havestrengthened the resolve of on e in his audience, John Wilkes Booth, awell-known actor who had long been plotting against t he president.Aroused by the prospect of votes for blacks, he determined to carryout his ass assination scheme and on April 14, 1865, shot Lincoln atFord's Theater in Washington, D.C. T he president died the next day.
The subject of numerous myths, Lincoln ranks with the greatest ofAmerican statesmen. His hum anitarian instincts, brilliant speeches,and unusual political skill ensured his hold on th e electorate andhis success in saving the Union. That he also gained fame as the GreatEmanc ipator was due to a large degree to his excellent sense oftiming and his open-mindedness. Th us, he was able to bring about theabolition of slavery and to advocate a policy of Reconstru ction thatenvisaged the gradual enfranchisement of the freedmen. It was adisaster for the c ountry that he did not live to carry it out.
This artical below on Abraham Lincoln the President can be copied forresearch only but can n ot be published.
Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, near Hodgenville, Kentucky, theson of Nancy Hanks an d Thomas Lincoln, pioneer farmers. At the age oftwo he was taken by his parents to nearby Kn ob Creek and at eight toSpencer County, Indiana. The following year his mother died. In 181 9his father married Sarah Bush Johnston, a kindly widow, who soongained the boy's affection .
Lincoln grew up a tall, gangling youth, who could hold his own inphysical contests and als o showed great intellectual promise,although he had little formal education. In 1831, afte r moving withhis family to Macon County, Illinois, he struck out on his own, takingcargo o n a flatboat to New Orleans, Louisiana. He then returned toIllinois and settled in New Salem , a short-lived community on theSangamon River, where he split rails and clerked in a store . Hegained the respect of his fellow townspeople, including the so-calledClary Grove boys , who had challenged him to physical combat, and waselected captain of his company in the Bl ack Hawk War (1832).Returning from the war, he began an unsuccessful venture in shopkeeping that ended when his partner died. In 1833 he was appointedpostmaster but had to supplemen t his income with surveying andvarious other jobs. At the same time he began to study law. T hat hegradually paid off his and his deceased partner's debts firmlyestablished his reputat ion for honesty. The story of his romance withAnn Rutledge, a local young woman whom he kne w briefly before heruntimely death, is unsubstantiated.
Illinois Politician and Lawyer
Defeated in 1832 in a race for the state legislature, Lincoln waselected on the Whig ticke t two years later and served in the lowerhouse from 1834 to 1841. He quickly emerged as on e of the leaders ofthe party and was one of the authors of the removal of the capital toSpr ingfield, where he settled in 1837. After his admission to the bar(1836), he entered into su ccessive partnerships with John T. Stuart,Stephen T. Logan, and William Herndon, and soon wo n recognition as aneffective and resourceful attorney.
In 1842 Lincoln married Mary Todd, the daughter of a prominentKentucky banker, and despite h er somewhat difficult disposition, themarriage seems to have been reasonably successful. Th e Lincolns hadfour children, only one of whom reached adulthood.
His birth in a slave state notwithstanding, Lincoln had long opposedslavery. In the legislat ure he voted against resolutions favorable tothe "peculiar institution" and in 1837 was on e of two members whosigned a protest against it. Elected to Congress in 1846, he attracteda ttention because of his outspoken criticism of the war with Mexicoand formulated a plan fo r gradual emancipation in the District ofColumbia. He was not an abolitionist, however. Conc eding the right ofthe states to manage their own affairs, he merely sought to preventthe sp read of human bondage.
National Recognition
Disappointed in a quest for federal office at the end of his one termin Congress (1847-49) , Lincoln returned to Springfield to pursue hisprofession. In 1854, however, because of hi s alarm at Senator StephenA. Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Act, he became politically active aga in.Clearly setting forth his opposition to the repeal of the MissouriCompromise, he argue d that the measure was wrong because slavery waswrong and that Congress should keep the terr itories free for actualsettlers (as opposed to those who traveled there mainly to vote for or against slavery). The following year he ran for the U.S. Senate, butseeing that he could n ot win, he yielded to Lyman Trumbull, aDemocrat who opposed Douglas's bill. He campaigned fo r the newlyfounded Republican party in 1856, and in 1858 he became its senatorialcandidat e against Douglas. In a speech to the party's stateconvention that year he warned that "a ho use divided against itselfcannot stand" and predicted the eventual triumph of freedom. Meeti ngDouglas in a series of debates, he challenged his opponent in effectto explain how he cou ld reconcile his principles of popularsovereignty with the Dred Scott decision (see DRED SCO TT CASE). Inhis reply, Douglas reaffirmed his belief in the practical ability ofsettlers t o keep slavery out of the territories despite the SupremeCourt's denial of their right to d o so. Although Lincoln lost theelection to Douglas, the debates won him national recognition .
Election and Secession Crisis
In 1860 the Republicans, anxious to attract as many different factionsas possible, nominate d Lincoln for the presidency on a platform ofslavery restriction, internal improvements, hom esteads, and tariffreform. In a campaign against Douglas and John C. Breckinridge, tworiva l Democrats, and John Bell, of the Constitutional Union party,Lincoln won a majority of th e electoral votes and was electedpresident.
Immediately after the election, South Carolina, followed by six otherSouthern states, took s teps to secede from the Union. Declaring thatsecession was illegal but that he had no powe r to oppose it,President James Buchanan preferred to rely on Congress to find acompromise . The success of this effort, however, depended on Lincoln,the president-elect, who was ope n to concessions but refused tocountenance any possible extension of slavery. Thus, the Crit tendenCompromise, the most promising scheme of adjustment, failed, and a newSouthern govern ment was inaugurated in February 1861.
Lincoln as President
When Lincoln took the oath of office on March 4, 1861, he wasconfronted with a hostile Confe deracy determined to expand andthreatening the remaining federal forts in the South, the mos timportant of which was Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, SouthCarolina. Anxious no t to offend the upper South, which had not yetseceded, Lincoln at first refused to take deci sive action. After thefailure of an expedition to Fort Pickens, Florida, however, he decided to relieve Fort Sumter and informed the governor of South Carolinaof his intention to sen d food to the beleaguered garrison. TheConfederates, unwilling to permit continued federal o ccupation oftheir soil, opened fire to reduce the fort, thus starting the CivilWar. When Li ncoln countered with a call for 75,000 volunteers, theNorth responded with enthusiasm, but t he upper South seceded.
Military Leadership
As commander in chief, Lincoln encountered great difficulties in thesearch for capable gener als. After the defeat of Irvin McDowell atthe First Battle of Bull Run, the president appoin ted George B.McClellan to lead the eastern army but found him excessively cautious.His Peni nsular campaign against Richmond, Virginia, the Confederatecapital, failed, and Lincoln, who se own strategy had not succeeded intrapping Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley of V irginia,virtually superseded McClellan with John Pope. When Pope was defeatedat the Secon d Battle of Bull Run, the president turned once more toMcClellan, only to be disappointed ag ain. Despite his victory atAntietam, Maryland, the general was so hesitant that Lincoln fina llyhad to remove him. The president's next choice, Ambrose Burnside, wasalso unfortunate. D ecisively beaten at Fredericksburg, Virginia,Burnside gave way to Joseph Hooker, who in tur n was routed atChancellorsville, Virginia. Then Lincoln appointed George G. Meade,who trium phed at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, but failed to follow uphis victory. Persisting in his dete rmination to discover a generalwho could defeat the Confederates, the president in 1864 entr ustedoverall command to Ulysses S. Grant, the victor at Fort Donelson,Tennessee, Vicksburg , Mississippi, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. Thischoice was a good one. Grant, in a series o f coordinated campaigns,finally brought the war to a successful conclusion.
Emancipation
In dealing with the problem of emancipation, Lincoln proved himself amasterful statesman. Ca refully maneuvering to take advantage ofradical pressure to move forward and conservative en treaties to holdback, he was able to retain the loyalty of the Democrats and theborder stat es while still bringing about the final abolition ofslavery. Lincoln pleased the radicals i n 1861, when he signed thefirst Confiscation Act, freeing slaves used by the Confederates fo rmilitary purposes. He deferred to the conservatives when hecountermanded emancipation orde rs of the Union generals John C.FrÈmont and David Hunter, but again courted the radicals b y revertingto a cautious antislavery program. Thus, he exerted pressure on theborder state s to inaugurate compensated emancipation, signed the billfor abolition in the District of Co lumbia, and consented to thesecond Confiscation Act.
On July 22, 1862, in response to radical demands and diplomaticnecessity, he told his cabine t that he intended to issue anemancipation proclamation but took care to soften the blow t o theborder states by specifically exempting them. Advised to await somefederal victory, h e did not make his proclamation public untilSeptember 22, following the Battle of Antietam , when he announcedthat all slaves in areas still in rebellion within 100 days would be"the n, thenceforward, and forever, free." The final EmancipationProclamation followed on Januar y 1, 1863. Promulgated by thepresident in his capacity as commander in chief in times of act ualarmed rebellion, it freed slaves in regions held by the insurgents andauthorized the cre ation of black military units. Lincoln wasdetermined to place emancipation on a more permane nt basis, however,and in 1864 he advocated the adoption of an antislavery amendment tothe U .S. Constitution. The amendment was passed after Lincoln'sreelection, when he made use of al l the powers of his office toensure its success in the House of Representatives (January 31 ,1865).
Political Skill
A consummate politician, Lincoln sought to maintain harmony among thedisparate elements of h is party by giving them representation in hiscabinet. Recognizing former Whigs by the appoin tment of William H.Seward as secretary of state and Edward Bates as attorney general, heals o extended invitations to such former Democrats as MontgomeryBlair, who became postmaster ge neral, and Gideon Welles, who becamesecretary of the navy. He honored local factions by appo inting SimonCameron of Pennsylvania secretary of war and Caleb B. Smith of Indianasecretar y of the interior, while satisfying the border states withBates and Blair. At the same time , he offset the conservative Bateswith the radical Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chas e and laterwith Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Although Lincoln was muchcloser to the r adicals and gradually moved toward ever more radicalmeasures, he did not needlessly offend t he conservatives and oftencollaborated with them. His careful handling of the slavery issu e isa case in point, as is his appointment of Democratic generals and hisdeference to the s ensibilities of the border states. In December 1862he foiled critics demanding the dismissa l of the conservative Seward.Refusing to accept Seward's resignation and inducing the radica lChase to offer to step down as well, he maintained the balance of hiscabinet by retainin g both secretaries.
Lincoln's political influence was enhanced by his great gifts as anorator. Able to stress es sentials in simple terms, he effectivelyappealed to the nation in such classical short speec hes as theGettysburg Address and his second inaugural address. Moreover, he wasa capable di plomat. Firmly rejecting Seward's proposal in April 1861that the country be united by mean s of a foreign war, he sought tomaintain friendly relations with the nations of Europe, use d theEmancipation Proclamation to win friends for the Union, andeffectively countered Confe derate efforts to gain foreignrecognition.
Reelection and Reconstruction
In 1864 a number of disgruntled Republicans sought to preventLincoln's renomination. Adroitl y outmaneuvering his opponents,especially the ambitious Chase, he succeeded in obtaining hi s party'sendorsement at Baltimore, Maryland, even though a few extremistsnominated FrÈmont . Lincoln's renomination did not end his politicalproblems, however. Unhappy with his Procla mation of Amnesty (December1863), which called for the restoration of insurgent states if 1 0percent of the electorate took an oath of loyalty, Congress in July1864 passed the Wade-Da vis Bill, which provided for more onerousconditions and their acceptance by 50 percent of th e voters. WhenLincoln used the pocket veto to kill it, some radicals sought todisplace hi m and in the so-called Wade-Davis Manifesto passionatelyattacked the administration.
The president, nevertheless, prevailed again. His poor prospects inAugust 1864 improved whe n the Democrats nominated General McClellanon a peace platform. Subsequent federal victorie s and the withrawalof FrÈmont, coupled with the resignation of the conservative Blair,reuni ted the party, and in November 1864 Lincoln was triumphantlyreelected.
The president's success at the polls enabled him to seek to establishhis own Reconstructio n policies. To blunt conservative criticism, hemet with leading Confederates at Hampton Road s, Virginia, anddemonstrated the impossibility of a negotiated peace. The radicals,however , were also dissatisfied. Because of their demand for blacksuffrage, Lincoln was unable to i nduce Congress to accept themembers-elect of the free state government of Louisiana, which h e hadorganized. In addition, after the fall of Richmond, he alarmed hiscritics by invitin g the Confederate legislature of Virginia to repealthe secession ordinance. His Reconstructi on policies, however, hadbeen determined by military necessity. As soon as the Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia,Lincoln withdrew the inv itation to the Virginians. He again provedhow close he was to the radicals by endorsing a li mited blackfranchise.
The Assassination
At his second inaugural, Lincoln, attributing the war to the evilconsequences of slavery, su mmed up his attitude in the famous phrase"with malice toward none, with charity for all. " A few weeks later,he publicly announced his support for limited black suffrage inLouisian a. This open defiance of conservative opinion could only havestrengthened the resolve of on e in his audience, John Wilkes Booth, awell-known actor who had long been plotting against t he president.Aroused by the prospect of votes for blacks, he determined to carryout his ass assination scheme and on April 14, 1865, shot Lincoln atFord's Theater in Washington, D.C. T he president died the next day.
The subject of numerous myths, Lincoln ranks with the greatest ofAmerican statesmen. His hum anitarian instincts, brilliant speeches,and unusual political skill ensured his hold on th e electorate andhis success in saving the Union. That he also gained fame as the GreatEmanc ipator was due to a large degree to his excellent sense oftiming and his open-mindedness. Th us, he was able to bring about theabolition of slavery and to advocate a policy of Reconstru ction thatenvisaged the gradual enfranchisement of the freedmen. It was adisaster for the c ountry that he did not live to carry it out.