ABRAHAM LINCOLN

"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you.... You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it."

Personal• Birthday: February 12, 1809• How old would he be now? 205• School attended: Did not attend college, but read at

home. • Wife: Mary Todd Lincoln• Occupations before he was President: Store clerk,

rail-splitter, lawyer• Other ways he served: Congressman• Height: 6 feet 4 inches, tallest president• Favorite Foods: Fruit salad, cheese, crackers• Hobbies or Sports: Walking, wrestling• Pets: Horse named “Old Bob”

Fast Facts• 16th President (1860-1865)

• President during the Civil War

• Goal was to save the Union

• Emancipation Proclamation

• Gettysburg Address

• Assassinated by John Wilkes Booth

On Slavery• “When men defend the

institution of slavery, I’m always tempted to ask them if they themselves could endure the bonds of slavery…”

• Lincoln HATED slavery

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

• 1858• Lincoln ran for Senator against the popular

Stephen Douglas (wrote Kansas Nebraska Act)• Lincoln lost the election• The debates made Lincoln unpopular in the

South because of his stand against slavery

Election of 1860• Showed a clear division in the US• Turning point in US history• Caused southern states to secede (leave the

United States)

Save the Union!• Lincoln’s ultimate goal

in the secession crisis and Civil War was to preserve the United States and keep it intact

• He was opposed to secession by the south

Emancipation Proclamation• January 1, 1863• Freed all slaves in

areas under Confederate control

• Largely symbolic • Union could not

enforce it• Added a humanitarian

objective to the Civil War

Gettysburg Address• “Four score and seven years ago our

fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…”

• Dedicated the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, PA

• November 19, 1863 (four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg)

Assassination• Killed by John

Wilkes Booth

• April 14, 1865

• Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC

• Booth thought Lincoln was helping the south

"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the

work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds.... "

Lincoln – Kennedy Similarities• Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.

John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.• Lincoln failed to win the Vice Presidential nomination in

1856. Kennedy failed to win the Vice Presidential nomination in 1956.  

• Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.  

• Lincoln defeated Stephen Douglas who was born in 1813. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon who was born in 1913.  

• Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.• Both wives lost children while in the White House.   • Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.

• Both Presidents were shot in the head.   • Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy. Kennedy's

secretary was named Lincoln.   • Both were assassinated by Southerners.• Both were succeeded by Southerners.   • Both Presidents had Vice Presidents named Johnson.   

Lincoln's Vice President was called Andrew Johnson who served in the House of Representatives in 1847. Kennedy's Vice President was called Lyndon Johnson who served in the House of Representatives in1947.  

• Both successors (their Vice Presidents) were named Johnson.

• Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.  

• John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839. Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.  

• Both assassins were known by the three names. Both names are composed of fifteen letters.  

• Lincoln was shot at the theatre called "Ford.“ Kennedy was shot in a car named "Lincoln", made by Ford.  

• Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse.Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.  

• Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.