Why is abraham lincoln a hero

In doing so, Lincoln maintained that the President was one of three "coordinate" departments of government, not in any way subordinate to Congress or the courts. Moreover, he demonstrated that the President had a special duty that went beyond the duty of Congress and the courts, a duty that required constant executive action in times of crisis.

While the other branches of government are required to support the Constitution, Lincoln's actions pointed to the notion that the President alone is sworn to preserve, protect, and defend it. In times of war, this power makes the President literally responsible for the well-being and survival of the nation. Lincoln's legacy of executive authority did not last beyond his death, and over the next forty years both Congress and the courts overshadowed the White House in power and influence.

Still, the most lasting accomplishments attributed to Lincoln are the preservation of the Union, the vindication of democracy, and the death of slavery, all accomplished by the ways in which he handled the crisis that most certainly would have ended differently with a lesser man in office. His great achievement, historians tell us, was his ability to energize and mobilize the nation by appealing to its best ideals while acting "with malice towards none" in the pursuit of a more perfect, more just, and more enduring Union.

No President in American history ever faced a greater crisis and no President ever accomplished as much. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Help inform the discussion Support the Miller Center. If the Confederates fired on it, they would be the ones to start a war. If they relented, Sumter would be saved. Faced with a conundrum, the Confederate government opened fire on Sumter before the relief expedition had a chance to arrive.

When the nation learned of the Confederate attack, tens of thousands rushed to enlist in the Union army headed by the US Commander-in-Chief, President Lincoln. The border states that had considered joining the Confederacy recoiled and stayed in the Union. With that single brilliant decision, Lincoln had outmaneuvered his enemies and passed the most difficult trial ever faced by a president. It would point the country toward a future that required it first to dismantle the past.

The next five years of Civil War brought disruption, turmoil, and renewed trials and crises. It was sealed into law in January with the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Three months later, a Confederate sympathizer shot Lincoln dead while he was taking in a show at Washington's Ford Theatre.

But in vain, for by then, Lincoln had permanently unraveled the system of slavery that had dominated America's economy and kept black people in bondage for years. Lincoln's insistence that the United States, as a nation, hew to the values on which it was founded, sadly did not wipe out racism. That is still alive and well. But Lincoln's every decision, as difficult as the outcomes may have been, did honestly uphold the democratic ideal that all humans are created equal and therefore deserve equal treatment in society and under the law.

Who's your HistoryHero? Tell us in the comments below, or message us the name of your HistoryHero here. Fiona Hill. Maria Yovanovitch. He was often at odds with his generals, his Cabinet, his party and a majority of the American people.

On January 1, , Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation , reshaping the cause of the Civil War from saving the Union to abolishing slavery. The Union Army's first year and a half of battlefield defeats made it difficult to keep up morale and support strong for a reunification of the nation.

And the Union victory at Antietam on September 22, , while by no means conclusive, was hopeful, giving Lincoln the confidence to officially change the goals of the war. On November 19, , Lincoln delivered what would become his most famous speech and one of the most important speeches in American history, the Gettysburg Address. Addressing a crowd of around 15, people, Lincoln delivered his word speech at one of the bloodiest battlefields of the Civil War, the Gettysburg National Cemetery in Pennsylvania.

The Civil War, Lincoln said, was the ultimate test of the preservation of the Union created in , and the people who died at Gettysburg fought to uphold this cause. A common interpretation was that the President was expanding the cause of the Civil War from simply reunifying the Union to also fighting for equality and abolishing slavery. But by , the Confederate armies had eluded major defeat and Lincoln was convinced he'd be a one-term president. His nemesis, George B.

McClellan , the former commander of the Army of the Potomac, challenged him for the presidency, but the contest wasn't even close. Lincoln received 55 percent of the popular vote and of Electoral votes. On April 9, , General Robert E. The Civil War was for all intents and purposes over. Reconstruction has already began during the Civil War as early as in areas firmly under Union military control, and Lincoln favored a policy of quick reunification with a minimum of retribution.

He was confronted by a radical group of Republicans in the Senate and House that wanted complete allegiance and repentance from former Confederates. Before a political debate had any chance to firmly develop, Lincoln was assassinated. He was taken to the Petersen House across the street and laid in a coma for nine hours before dying the next morning. His death was mourned by millions of citizens in the North and South alike.

Lincoln's body lay in state at the U. Capitol before a funeral train took him back to his final resting place in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln is frequently cited by historians and average citizens alike as America's greatest president. An aggressively activist commander-in-chief, Lincoln used every power at his disposal to assure victory in the Civil War and end slavery in the United States. Some scholars doubt that the Union would have been preserved had another person of lesser character been in the White House.

According to historian Michael Burlingame, "No president in American history ever faced a greater crisis and no president ever accomplished as much. Lincoln's philosophy was perhaps best summed up in this Second Inaugural Address, when he stated, "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, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Ulysses S. Grant served as U. Robert Todd Lincoln was an American lawyer and secretary of war best known as the first-born son of President Abraham Lincoln. William Seward was a New York governor and U. James Garfield is best known as the 20th president of the United States.

He was assassinated after only a few months in office. Thaddeus Stevens, a member of the U. House of Representatives during Abraham Lincoln's presidency, fought to abolish slavery and helped draft the 14th Amendment during Reconstruction. James Buchanan was the 15th president of the United States. He served from to , during the build-up to the Civil War. Jefferson Davis was a 19th century U.

Dwight D. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. He preserved the Union during the U.