Preview

How Did Abraham Lincoln Change America

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1166 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Did Abraham Lincoln Change America
“The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.” Abraham Lincoln was born on February 14th, 1809 in a small town called Hodgenville, KY with a mission of equality. Abraham Lincoln changed Americans view on the decision toward slavery. Additionally, male slaves were captured in Africa, and forced from their native land leaving their wife and children behind. Likewise, if families were captured during this time, women and children were treated the same way. Slaves were then chained together by their legs, wrists, and around their throats, and forced to walk sometimes as much …show more content…
The country was split in half, the north wanted slavery to end and the south wanted to keep it. In the north there were some opportunities for the slave, he was considered free with some limitations. The slave could not vote, go to school, or marry outside of his race. In order to vote the slave needed to own some type of property. Unfortunately, the slave was stuck with ordinary jobs such as factory work, mechanic, and general laborer. These jobs were hard physical labor and paid very little. The slave could not save enough money to buy property, so he could vote. Furthermore, northern states believed slavery was wrong, but northerners had rules for blacks. If a salve worked in a factory or a company that promotes within, the salve would not get the opportunity to move up in the company because he was black. Before the slave was free, he worked on the farm; this covered the cost of room and board, and daily expenses. Now that the slave is free, he is able to try to make a life for himself, but most of the slaves could not make it, and went back to their original owners and worked on the farm. In the south there were no opportunities at all. Slaves would arrive at a plantation, and shown the main house first. Furthermore, this would show the slave a sense of power, and who was in charge. The slave’s house was built behind the main house near the woods, a smaller two room house with many slaves living inside. …show more content…
Local Indians under Chief Blackhawk tried to reclaim tribal homelands by force. Adventurous young men, including Lincoln rushed to volunteer. During the battle, militia men elected their own officers, and Lincoln's company overwhelmingly chose him as their captain. Sources say, Lincoln stated this gave him more comfort that any other success in life. Moreover, to have the esteem of his fellow soldiers, gave Lincoln an enormous ego boost. After the war was over, Lincoln purchased and old storage bin filled with Blackstone Law books. Lincoln the taught himself case law and soon became a judge in the state of Illinois. Over the next few years he became known as Honest Abe. Lincoln embodied integrity, honesty, and high Christen values. Lincoln had compassion for people, and generally cared, and the people knew it. Over the next few years, Lincoln spent his time studying the slavery issue. Likewise, when the Kansas/Nebraska Law act of 1854 passed, Honest Abe felt compelled to take action and enter the political arena. In 1854 he was elected to the state office. Over the next few years Lincoln demonstrated a shared vision of the future, his love for God, and his country. Including, running for president and winning the presidency in 1860. During this time President Lincoln worked on driving an end to slavery, and defeating the South, during the Civil

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The south had what we call a Farmer's Economy. In the North factories were the main means of producing textiles and all that they needed to survive. Since they were very industrial the need for slaves was not necessary in order to make production happen. Slavery was…

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    What was slavery? Slavery, another way it was called was the " Peculiar Institutions" was an everyday life routine in The South. Slavery was people of bottom class with no money, besides that people of upper class would own them they would purchase them and make them work in their cotton business. Slaves would not get paid because they were working they would just work because they were forced to not because they wanted too and would get treated very cruelly like they were a piece of garbage worth nothing. Slaves didn't do anything wrong to deserve like their being treated and owned.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Summary: The New Divide

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages

    But, the views of both the north and the south were drastically different. It was a new life for former slave owners as now they have lost lots of their property. Also, it was a whole new experience for former slaves who now were free for the first time ever. Many former slaves had no idea what to do now because they were used to the forced labor they had to do every day. The racism in the south still lived so it was not easy for the former slaves to find new jobs. Some of the new free slaves migrated up north to find better opportunities to support themselves. Theothers still had to face hardships they faced while being property. The new practice the former slave owners used was called peonage. This new way of slavery was a way for former slave owners to try to achieve the former way of life they…

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States of America. During his time as president, he ended slavery in the south by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and was the president during the bloodiest war in history, the Civil War. Through a rough childhood of poverty and his mother passing away at the age of nine, he was able to become a lawyer through self education and eventually become part of the Illinois Legislature. In January of 1863 President Lincoln issued a war measure during the American Civil War to proclaim the freedom of slaves within 10 rebellious states.…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The issue of slavery and the question of whether or not it should spread into the western states caused an uproar. The south seceded and refused to return to the Union. Even though Lincoln's original focus was reconciliation between the Union and the Confederacy, he soon realized that slavery was the way to reach his goals of peace. Later, by adding African American soldiers and slaves looking for freedom into the Union army, Lincoln had started to base the war on slavery. Although he stated in 1863, "all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The slaves were all set free in December, 1865. The south wouldn't give up because they believed blacks were worth nothing. They wanted to keep slavery and wanted to be in charge of people. The north, however, did not want slavery to last any longer. It was a long fight for slaves to be set free.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth President of the United States who freed the slaves from a complex issue that the country was facing. Lincoln views on ending slavery was very conservative because he believed that the compensated emancipation would change the revolution. Lincoln had a strong opinion about changing politics to transform people’s social life. Lincoln was “the greatest social and political revolution of the age” (McPherson), because Lincoln released the emancipation proclamation in which he declares all slaves free, it caused the start of the Civil War. The outcome was two major points of view whereas in provoking the rights of revolution, and the abolition of slavery to destroy the social structure.…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    From The Bottom to The Top At the beginning of the Civil War, Abe Lincoln made it clear that the goal of the Union was not to end slavery, but rather to keep the country as a whole (The 54th Massachusetts Infantry, n.d.). However, over time it became evident that the Civil War was not a war to only keep the Union together, but also to end slavery. Groups such as, northerner abolitionists, helped argued and persuade that the Civil War was being fought to end slavery and that African Americans should have the right to be able to fight for their freedom in the war. It was not until almost two years into the war when Abe Lincoln delivered his Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, that changed the Union’s view of the Civil War. From this…

    • 927 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    For Abraham Lincoln the link between the civil war and slavery was really saving the union. His intention was to save the union at all costs, he was for keeping slaves if the union could be saved or he was for anti slavery as long as the union was saved. His view is believed to have been for the slaves and he is very much admired for it; his intent was only to save the union. The slave’s freedom just so happen to be part of the civil war fight. Lincoln wanted to save the union with keeping slavery or without it.…

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Abraham Lincoln is known as "The Great Emancipator" who freed the slaves. Yet in the early part of his career and even in the early stages of his presidency, Lincoln had no objection to slavery where it already existed, namely, in the Southern states. As a savvy politician, he always wanted to maintain the union, and he would use any device to keep the country together. However, his views on slavery evolved during his presidency, and the personal opposition towards slavery that he claimed he always had began to show through in his policy. As Lincoln noted in 1864, "I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel" (Lorence 306). Despite such strongly worded beliefs, Lincoln policies towards slavery often shifted for the sake of political expedience. For example, he pledged that states would be compensated for their loss of property as a result of emancipation to keep the border states from seceding. Still, by 1862 Lincoln had become firm in his convictions that slavery must be abolished. He even pressed for a constitutional amendment to ensure freedom to all the slaves. Lincoln espoused strong anti-slavery views, but he often put what he viewed as the good of the country ahead of the cause. Despite many detours along the way, he proved himself to be "The Great Emancipator." As a self-made politician from humble origins, Lincoln struggled in his early political life to define his identity. He described his childhood as "The short and simple annals of the poor. That's my life, and that's all you or any one else can make of it" (Oates 4). Lincoln felt extremely embarrassed about his background and worked his entire life to overcome the limitations he faced. He made himself a "literate and professional man who commanded the respect of his colleagues" (Oates 4). It is difficult to assess Lincoln's early views on slavery and race because they were constantly changing in an effort to achieve such…

    • 2258 Words
    • 65 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In America during that time, a slave was a Piece of property just as our laptops, cars and houses are. This means that they can be bought, traded and loaned just as all of those things are today. The economy in the south at this time was bleeding because not enough cotton could be picked to make a decent profit. This is because it took a slave a whole day to pick out all of the seeds from a piece of cotton. At this rate slavery…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slaves often had dirt floor cabins with leaky roofs, and they were crowded with many in one cabin. It was illegal to teach a slave how to read and write, but wage laborers could do as they pleased, and of course, wage laborers were free people. Slave auctions were common, but an auction for wage laborers never occurred. Why not just use wage laborers? After all, the North was against slavery, every state in the North had abolished slavery, and the work was getting done.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Slaves had to live by laws, that is around anymore. The laws and rules were very struck, that they had to follow. If any slave tried to run away they would be punished for it. Even if the slaves ran away and where to be found they would be brought back into slavery. Slaves could make it to the north but they could still be sent back.…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the South slavery was a main thing, it was a struggle to take control in America. Slavery was the main stronghold and motive behind many political actions. Which is why slavery being dominate in political and economic which made it a big thing from 1840 to 1860. Which is why he way life in the South for the slaves involved resistance and survival. Slaves have been around for a long time. From slave farmers from the South. To the North where men believed that women shouldn't be allowed to work. Even though slavery was terrible some slaves managed to escape their terrible life and did it with success. While unfortunately some slaves didn’t escape well like others and had to suffer the consequences from their masters.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    President Lincoln also passed various legislations during his presidency. Firstly, he enacted the Morrill Act, which helped with the setting up of agricultural and mechanical colleges in each state. Secondly, he supported the Homestead Act, which made millions of acres of land in the West available at very low prices. Thirdly, In order to bolster the economy, he signed the National Banking Act that provided for the creation of a network of national banks as well as established the first paper…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays