Inaugural Addresses, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Gettysburg Address

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) a lawyer, a Whig Party leader, a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, and the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. Lincoln promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks, tariffs, and railroads.