Lincoln received only 40 percent of . Lincoln communicated with various Congressmen that there was room for negotiation on issues such as fugitive slaves, slavery in the District of Columbia, and the domestic slave trade. [17] Still opposed to the expansion of slavery into the territories, Lincoln privately asked Republican Senators to oppose the compromise, and it failed to pass Congress. [265] Burton (2008) argues that Lincoln's republicanism was taken up by the Freedmen as they were emancipated. [206] By the end of the war, the income tax constituted about one-fifth of the revenue of the federal government. But the southern secession threats cast a pall over the upcoming Electoral College voting process: What if the southern states refused to take part in the Electoral College? But there was a greater than normal military presence on Capitol Hill. [109], In November 1863, Lincoln was invited to Gettysburg to dedicate the first national cemetery and honor the soldiers who had fallen. [224] Vallandigham's defeat in the 1863 election, along with Democratic electoral defeats elsewhere in 1863, represented a major victory for Lincoln and the Republicans as it signified public support for the war. [253][citation needed]. On July 11, Lincoln summoned Henry Halleck from the Western Theater of the war to take command as general-in-chief of the army. 701702; Thomas (1952) p. 27. [89] McClellan, a young West Point graduate, railroad executive, and Pennsylvania Democrat, took several months to plan and attempt his Peninsula campaign. 59-60; McClintock (2008) p. 42. In return for investing a third of their capital in federal bonds, these national banks were authorized to issue federal banknotes. Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation recognized the legal freedom of the 3.5 million slaves then held in Confederate territory and established emancipation as a Union war goal. [256][257] A 2004 study found that scholars in the fields of history and politics ranked Lincoln number one, while legal scholars placed him second after Washington. [99] Following the battle, McClellan resisted the president's demand that he pursue Lee's retreating and exposed army. Comparisons were made to the years before the 1860 election when Abraham Lincoln warned that a "house divided against itself cannot stand" and the lead-up to the 1940 election, when President . Lincoln kept his promise, and, on January 1, 1863, he issued the Final Emancipation Proclamation, declaring free the slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion. Defying Lincoln's prediction that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here", the Address became the most quoted speech in American history. The recommendations that came back were that reinforcement was both necessary, since secessionist feeling ran high and threatened the fort, and feasible, despite Anderson's misgivings. [14], In December 1860, both the House and Senate formed special committees to address the unfolding crisis. [167] In April 1862, Lincoln signed a law abolishing slavery in Washington, D.C., and, in June, he signed a law abolishing slavery in all federal territories. The Confederate States of America was a collection of 11 states that seceded from the United States in 1860 following the election of President Abraham Lincoln. Delegates then nominated Senator Hannibal Hamlin from Maine for vice president. Just over two months after he was elected, President Lincoln saw the first state to succeed when South Carolina voted to secede on December 20th 1860. He also assured the states that had already seceded that the federal government would not "assail" (violently attack) them. With the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the U.S. increased pressure on France to withdraw from Mexico, and the French presence in the Western hemisphere would be a major foreign policy issue for Lincoln's successor. Lee hoped that Confederate victories in the offensive would empower Lincoln's political opponents and convince the North that the Union could not win the war. In February, these Southern states formed the Confederated States of America (CSA) and elected Jefferson Davis as provisional president. [219] Congress later passed the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act 1863, which provided congressional authorization to the president to suspend habeas corpus and placed limits on the administration's ability to indefinitely hold prisoners. [10] President Buchanan declared that secession was illegal while denying that the government had any power to resist it. Disagreements within Congress prevented the passage of any Reconstruction bill or the recognition of governments in Arkansas and Louisiana. In April 1863, Hooker began his offensive towards Richmond, and his army encountered Lee's at the Battle of Chancellorsville. [180] Radical Republicans countered with the WadeDavis Bill, a Reconstruction plan that included protections for the rights of freed African Americans and required fifty percent of voters to swear the "Ironclad Oath" indicating that they had never and never would support a rebellion against the United States. With his re-election, any hope for a . Despite Republican success in the presidential election, the party failed to win a majority in either house of Congress,[9] although after secessions, Lincoln governed with a majority in both houses. As the WadeDavis Bill interfered with Lincoln's plans for the readmission of Louisiana and Arkansas, Lincoln pocket vetoed the bill in late 1864. During the war, Lincoln drew criticism for suspending some civil liberties, including the right of habeas corpus, but he considered such measures necessary to win the war. Lincoln's body lay in state in the East Room of the White House and then in the Capitol Rotunda through April 21, when his coffin was taken to the B&O Station. The senatorial campaign featured a remarkable series of public encounters on the slavery issue, known as the Lincoln-Douglas debates, in which Lincoln argued against the spread of slavery, while Douglas maintained that each territory should have the right to decide whether it would become free or slave. [67] Less secure than Fort Pickens, and situated in the secessionist hotbed of South Carolina, Fort Sumter emerged as an important symbolic issue in both the North and South during early 1861. [24] Lincoln spoke several times each day during the train trip. [93], In January 1862, Lincoln, frustrated by months of inaction, ordered McClellan to begin the offensive by the end of February. [133], While Grant's campaign continued, General Sherman led Union forces from Chattanooga to Atlanta, defeating Confederate Generals Joseph E. Johnston and John Bell Hood along the way. [156] As Grant continued to wear down Lee's forces, efforts to discuss peace began. European leaders saw the division of the United States as having the potential to eliminate, or at least greatly weaken, a growing rival. [237], The U.S. and the CSA both recognized the vital importance of foreign powers, as a European intervention could greatly aid the Confederate cause, much as French intervention in the American Revolutionary War had helped the United States gain its independence. 261-263. Though Lincoln once maintained that his paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery, he nonetheless came to regard emancipation as one of his greatest achievements and would argue for the passage of a constitutional amendment outlawing slavery (eventually passed as the 13th Amendment after his death in 1865). Lincolns profile rose even higher in early 1860 after he delivered another rousing speech at New York Citys Cooper Union. [76] An attack on the fort was initiated on April 12, and the fort surrendered the next day. Lincoln was carried to a boardinghouse across the street from the theater, but he never regained consciousness, and died in the early morning hours of April 15, 1865. No one, least of all Lincoln, knew the answers to these vexing questions, said Holzer. Lincoln and his team huddled in a telegraph office waiting for the key results from New York and Pennsylvania. Neill F. Sanders, " 'When A House Is on Fire': The English Consulates and Lincoln's Patronage Policy. [81] On its return in July 1861, Congress supported Lincoln's war proposals, providing appropriations for the expansion of the army to 500,000 men. Congress approved an enabling act authorizing Nevada Territory to form a state government in March 1864; similar legislation was also approved for Colorado Territory and Nebraska Territory. Nonetheless, by Inauguration Day the competing factions realized that it was important to business interests that at least some Pennsylvanian be in Lincoln's cabinet, and Cameron was made Secretary of War. On Tuesday, November 6th, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the sixteenth President of the United States, with Hannibal Hamlin of Maine his Vice-President. Throughout the first year and a half of his presidency, Lincoln made it clear that the North was fighting the war to preserve the Union and not to end slavery. Presidents The biography for President Lincoln and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association. Abraham Lincoln became the United States' 16th President in 1861,. When the U.S. Navy captured one of the fast blockade runners, it sold the ship and cargo as prize money for the American sailors, then released the crew. The Northern Democratic ticket of Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia drew 1,376,957 popular votes, but only 12 electoral votes (9 from Missouri and 3 from New Jersey). Along with the Union victory in the Siege of Vicksburg, the Battle of Gettysburg is often referred to as a turning point in the war. As such, it has not been reviewed for accuracy by the University and does not necessarily adhere to the University's scholarly standards. [194] After the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861, which imposed the first federal income tax in U.S. history. The election of 1860 shaped the future of the United States by heralding the end of slavery and marked by a time of unprecedented violence in the nation. [53] Historian William Gienapp believed that the final selection of Cameron for this soon-to-be-critical position was a clear indicator that Lincoln did not anticipate a civil war. The proclamation did not cover the nearly 500,000 slaves in the slaveholding border states that had remained in the Union; nor did it apply to Tennessee or West Virginia, both of which were largely under the control of Union forces. Although not elected in his first attempt, Lincoln persevered and won the position in 1834, serving as a Whig. He assumed that political control in the South would pass to white Unionists, reluctant secessionists, and forward-looking former Confederates. [261], In recent years, historians such as Harry Jaffa, Herman Belz, John Diggins, Vernon Burton, and Eric Foner have stressed Lincoln's redefinition of republican values. Most abolitionist leaders and Radical Republicans, including William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and Charles Sumner, decided to support Lincoln over Frmont, as they believed that Frmont's candidacy would ultimately help Democrats more than the abolitionist cause. Lincoln proved to be a shrewd military strategist and a savvy leader: His Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for slaverys abolition, while his Gettysburg Address stands as one of the most famous pieces of oratory in American history. Cameron was one of the most influential public leaders in the crucial political state of Pennsylvania, but he was also alleged to be one of the most corrupt. Compared to pre-war levels, the tariff would remain relatively high for the remainder of the 19th century. Updated on November 30, 2018 The election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860 was perhaps the most significant election in American history. Topics Abraham Lincoln Many in Congress sought far-reaching reforms to Southern society that went beyond the abolition of slavery, and they refused to recognize Lincoln's reconstituted Southern governments. [160], Grant ground down the Confederate army across several months of trench warfare. Burlingame quotes Lincoln as saying, after he was advised not to select someone to a cabinet post that was "a great deal bigger" than Lincoln, "Well, do you know of any other men who think they are bigger than I am? [226] In 1862, Lincoln sent General Pope to put down the "Sioux Uprising" in Minnesota. Congressional Democrats, on the other hand, tended to oppose Lincoln's policies regarding both the war and slavery. Historian Eric Foner notes that no one knows what Lincoln would have done about Reconstruction had he served out his second term, but he adds, Unlike Sumner and other Radicals, Lincoln did not see Reconstruction as an opportunity for a sweeping political and social revolution beyond emancipation. Those acts established the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to oversee "national banks," which would be subject to federal, rather than state, regulation. Have none of it. [50] The aging Fessenden resigned in February 1865 and was replaced with Hugh McCulloch, who had served as the Comptroller of the Currency. The election of Abraham Lincoln is considered to be one of the major events that led to the start of the civil war in 1861. [1] Though he lacked the broad support of Republican Senator William H. Seward of New York, Lincoln believed that he could emerge as the Republican presidential nominee at the convention after multiple ballots. Beauregard opened fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina. On April 14, 1865, just five days after the war's end at Appomattox, he was attending a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Mary, when he was fatally shot by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. And what if the southern states boycotted the Electoral College? What would constitute a quorum? [103] The defeat also amplified the criticisms of Radical Republicans such as Lyman Trumbull and Benjamin Wade, who believed that Lincoln had mishandled the war, particularly with regards to his selection of generals.