Abraham Lincoln

Great Emancipator and Advocate of Equality

Froms the humblest of origins, Abraham Lincoln became President, led the nation through the Civil War, freed the slaves, and confirmed America’s commitment to racial equality in the Gettysburg Address.

Born a poor child on February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky, Lincoln eventually taught himself the law and became a renowned lawyer in Illinois. 

He began his political career losing a race for the state legislature in 1832. He would win two years later and serve in the Illinois House from 1834-1841. While winning a seat to Congress in the House of Representatives in 1847, he lost his bid for reelection as well as two bids for the Senate in 1855 and 1858. This repeat loser won the presidency in 1860.

Calling upon the First Principles, Lincoln argued for the emancipation of slaves, protecting the unalienable rights of African Americans, and equality before the law.

With an uncanny intellect and will he became the rock upon which the Union was preserved during the Civil War.  Lincoln could act upon the First Principles when he promulgated the Emancipation Proclamation on New Year’s Day, 1863 – declaring all slaves in states under the South’s control to be free.

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (1863) was a defining moment in the struggle to secure equality and unalienable rights for all Americans. While possessing no legal authority, it is nearly as important to the American character as the Declaration of Independence. No other speech reveals – and helped cause – the evolution of American thought. Lincoln explained that America was founded upon certain First Principles and that it must struggle to meet those principles – even at great and horrible costs – to ensure that the nation dedicated those First Principles would survive.

Lincoln was assassinated on Good Friday, 1864 by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth.

For more about Lincoln and his importance to our liberties today, buy a copy of  America’s Survival Guide.

Picture:  Alexander Gardner (1863)

 

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"America's Survival Guide describes with detail and passion the dangers that come from abandoning the "First Principles" upon which this nation was founded. But this important book offers more than a diagnosis and despair, it presents a reasoned program for restoring the U.S. Constitution its proper place at the center of American society and government. The book draws on history, politics and education to make a powerful case for freedom and fighting for it."

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