Abraham Lincoln's 'Inaugural Address'

Abraham Lincoln was the United States 16th President in 1861. Lincoln was known for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation declared freedom for all slaves with the Confederacy. President Lincoln warned the South in his Inaugural Address: "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it." In Lincoln's address he was warning the South of the changes to slavery that were about to occur.

President Lincoln was not a well known politician. In 1958, Lincoln ran for Senator against Stephen A. Douglas. He lost the election, but he gained national attention from his spirited debate against Douglas. This debate helped him win the
Republican nomination in 1860. Lincoln was a Republican but he rallied the northern Democrats to the Union for the cause to end slavery.

During the Civil War, President Lincoln delivered a speech on November 19, 1863 known as the "Gettysburg Address".
This speech was a dedication of soldiers who died after the Union defeated the Confederate Army at the Battle of Gettysburg. President Lincoln began his speech, "Four score and seven years ago". He began his speech referring it to the Declaration of Independence 1776. President Lincoln stated at Gettysburg: "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

In 1864, President Lincoln won re-election after the end of the Civil War. He encouraged unity with the Union and the South. In his second Inaugural Address, he spoke the following words, which are inscribed on the Lincoln Memorial: "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds...." President Lincoln's spirit was guiding him to change the South and create a country of
unity.

On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth. His death was the turning point in our country's history. President Lincoln's vision of a perfect union was demolished. In my opinion the events and obstacles President Lincoln conquered and overcame during his Presidency is why he is the "Best President". He set the foundation for others to follow, such as, Presidents John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama.