Abraham Lincoln

Served as president from 1861-1865
Era: Civil War Era

American Identity and Culture
Many wartime events happened during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln but the causes for the war include many things. One major leading cause of the war was the Book Uncle Tom’s Cabin which was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe who had written the book. The book talked about the life of a slave and his daily abuses from his slave master. Other major books that came from Lincoln’s presidency include the book War and Peace. This book was written by Leo Tolstoy and it talked about the Civil war and how it disrupted the peace of America. This book was also an epic and it was created as a response to many events, especially violent wars or massacres, throughout the world. Another major cultural creation was the painting Luncheon on the Grass, painted by Edouard Manet. This painting showed the different controversial issued from the past, such as those from Remembrance of Things Past, by Proust.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
With the Civil war beginning in the time of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, the Northern Union of the United States had many more advantages economically. The north had a strong economy of bankers that controlled well over 85 percent of the entire nation. Their capital was also in control of the nation and they produced over 90% of the manufactured goods that were created in the United States. They have a lot more transportation and controlled 70 percent of the railroads in the United States and even the majority of the farmlands that were for foods and not for cash-crops. With a large percent of the food and transportation and manufactured goods, they were put at the advantage compared to the south. The southern Confederate States of America were at a huge disadvantage economically to their Union counterpart. The Confederacy had many farmlands but most of which were for the production of Cotton and other various raw materials that were only used for profit. The large difference economically put the South in a huge disadvantage in the American Civil War.
Environment
The Civil war was one of the first wars to become modern. It used many deadly weapons and many people died. The new weapons caused major offensive changes and because of this, major defensive changes had to be made. People began to use Trenches and stay on the defense. These trenches were extremely horrible and the conditions were worse. On battlefields, and in the whole war, more people died from diseases from the living environments that soldiers had to face then from actually battle losses. The horrible conditions that were created by these brought horrible diseases such as Cholera and other deadly diseases. The rivers and geography of the United States was also put to use in the war. Through the Anaconda Plan, the Union hoped to take over the Mississippi River which and the Gulf of Mexico, which would completely block off the Confederacy’s imports and exports.
Politics and Citizenship
Major political action took place during the term of Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency. One major thing was the Emancipation proclamation that was passed in 1863. This proclamation declared that the Unions goal was to end slavery in the United States. This was a major political legislation because it riled up a lot of morale in the Union and also secured the foreigners support for the Union instead of the Confederacy. Another major political action that took place was the Fight for the citizenships of the African Americans. Through this Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans could now join the army and be guaranteed the right to become citizens. Thousands of African Americans lined up at drafting areas and signed up to join the army because of this guarantee for the citizenship of them. The Southern part of the United States had also split from the rest of the United States and seceded and began the Confederate States of America. This started when South Carolina seceded from the Union on the day of Lincoln’s inauguration.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
Slavery played a huge role in the time of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. During this time, The Southern Confederacy fought with the Northern Union to protect the practice slavery, whereas the Northern Union fought against the Southern Confederacy to first preserve the Union but later resolved to End and Abolish slavery once and for all. This goal was met when Lincoln established the Emancipation Proclamation. This Proclamation had declared that the Northern Unions goal was to completely abolish slavery. Before the Emancipation Proclamation was the Confiscation acts that freed slaves of those that rebelled against the United States. Although Lincoln declared to end slavery through that proclamation, earlier in the war he was reluctant to end slavery because: he wanted to keep the Border States with the Union, the constitution protected slave property, some northerners would not like ending slavery, and because he feared that the action of ending slavery could overturn in the next election.
War and Diplomacy
War was a major part of the Term for Abraham Lincoln. During this time the American Civil war took place. The Civil war placed as the highest amount of US deaths in all of the wars that the US took place in. In the Battle of Antietam alone, over 22,000 men were killed, making it the single bloodiest day of combat in all of American history. General Grant was also personally appointed by Lincoln for his great tactical skills and eventually led the Union to victory. The Trent Affair also took place when the Union stopped a boat named the Trent who had two negotiators on the ship that were trying to get British to side with the Confederacy. After the Union took the people off the ship, Britain threatened to go to war unless the two diplomats were to be released, and Lincoln gave into the British demands. After this incident, the Confederacy was able to buy ships from British yards and because of this they caused serious damage to the merchant ships from the Union. These commerce-raider ships had caused a lot of damage to the Union and in the end; Great Britain agreed to pay the United States $15.5 million dollars for damages that were caused from their ships that the Confederacy used.