Abraham Lincoln. President of the United States, and his role in the abolition of slavery

Abraham Lincoln - President of the United States of America, the sixteenth in a row. He ruled the country from 1861 to 1865, and this period was marked by a big shift towards the establishment of democracy. What kind of man was this? We can say that Lincoln's biography is a clear proof of the reality of the "American dream." This is a real selfmade man, who has achieved everything in life solely with his works and talents. Born in 1909 in the family of a poor farmer-settler, he reached the heights of the social ladder, headed the Republican Party (1854) and became the head of the country.

Before his goal, just as before the realization of his ideals, Lincoln-President went for a long time and persistently. Many factors influenced the formation of his personality. At the age of 9, he lost his mother. The stepmother instilled in the young Abraham a love of reading. At home there was only one book - the Bible, and the boy learned it by heart. In the future, this thorough knowledge of Holy Scripture helped him repeatedly in oratory skills. Such allusions acted stunningly at the listeners.

Forced to make a living by hard physical labor, Abraham Lincoln - the president in the future - was engaged in self-education. His political views were greatly influenced by the works of French Enlightenment figures, as well as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Even then, the young man realized that slavery was a disgraceful phenomenon, which must be eradicated. He was even more confident in this thought when the Lincoln family moved to Illinois. In this state for 12 years as slavery was abolished. Politics Lincoln-President first engaged in 1832, when he put forward his candidacy in the elections to the lower house of Illinois from the Whig party. There he achieved such popularity that he was re-elected three times. In 1856, a new party, the Republican Party, appears in the States, and Lincoln joins its ranks. Two years later he submits his candidacy for elections to the US Senate. By tradition, the election was preceded by a debate, where Lincoln jumped with his opponent, SA Douglas. Although the victory went to the latter, the speech "House divided", dedicated to the problem of slavery in America, brought Abraham to the category of figures of the first rank in the political arena.

Therefore, in 1860 in the presidential election of four candidates won Lincoln. The US President took office in the tragic moment of the country's history. In 1861, the southern states proclaimed a branch. Lincoln tried to achieve peace by half-measures, announcing that the central government does not intend to interfere in state legislation and abolish slavery, but resolutely refused to introduce it in new territories. In 1862 he approved an act on homesteads, which provided for the allocation of each citizen land allotment. This act undermined the very basis of slave-owning latifundia.

But life made adjustments. Soon it turned out that the economic prosperity of the country is impossible without the abolition of slavery throughout the state. The victory over the Confederates brought Lincoln immense popularity among the population, but in 1865, the South American actor JW Booth committed an attempt on the "captain" (so called his poet Walt Whitman), shooting that in the head. The memory of the president-martyr killed for the abolition of slavery in the United States is immortalized in Washington. The white marble memorial convincingly shows the role played by Abraham Lincoln, the president, for his country. The photographs, preserved since that time, show us a person who is not only tall (1.90 m) tall, but also thoughts. Four million Americans thanks to him found freedom.