Title: Why is Abraham Lincoln so important? - eNotes.com
Headings: Abraham Lincoln's Presidency
Abraham Lincoln's Presidency
Why is Abraham Lincoln so important?
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In the decade preceding Abraham Lincoln's election, the United States became increasingly divided along sectarian lines, over the issue of slavery. With the Republican Lincoln's election, Southern states seceded from the United States, forming the Confederate States of America, triggering the Civil War. Lincoln's reputation is, in large part, founded upon his leadership in the Civil War. The Civil War was a remarkably bloody conflict, and the location of Washington DC itself rendered it potentially vulnerable to Confederate attack. Nevertheless, under Lincoln's presidency, the Union was able to defeat the Confederacy, bringing them back into the Union. Lincoln has also been celebrated for his political opposition to slavery and his role in ending it in the United States. Indeed, while fighting the Civil War, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a wartime act which banned slavery within the rebelling states. Later, his support would prove critical in shaping the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, although Lincoln himself would be assassinated before the Amendment's ratification. After Lincoln's death, his Vice President, Andrew Johnson, would inherit the responsibility of implementing Reconstruction (a task that would draw him into conflict with the Radical Republicans).