Why do we honor abraham lincoln

Abraham Lincoln Life Mask, made February 11, Abraham Lincoln allowed two sculptors to make life masks of his face—first in and then in These life masks were reproduced and several sculptors used them as a basis for statues. In , Mills proposed using this life mask for a Lincoln memorial, but it was never made. New York printmakers Currier and Ives were well known for producing inexpensive lithographic prints of landscapes, famous people, and scenes of everyday life.

This was an affordable way for the middle classes to decorate their homes. Mourning Badge, THF This mourning badge was handmade from a small oval tintype portrait of President Lincoln. Set into a rope-twist brass frame, it is surrounded by a black crepe rosette and black and white ribbons.

This would have been worn on clothing during the Spring of by the many American citizens who felt a strong bond with the martyred President. Hooked Rug memorializing President Lincoln, circa President Lincoln's assassination produced an immediate outpouring of grief. His death linked him with the hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers who had sacrificed their lives during the Civil War.

Reformers continued to offer snubs like this in the postwar period. During his run for the presidency in , for example, newspaper publisher Horace Greeley ostentatiously showed disdain for a black delegation from Pennsylvania that sought to shake his hand.

On April 29, , a delegation of six black men from North Carolina—some born free, others enslaved—came to the White House to petition Lincoln for the right to vote. As the men approached the Executive Mansion, they were directed to enter through the front door—an unexpected experience for black men from the South, who would never have been welcomed this way in their home state. One of the visitors, Rev. Isaac K. We seek, the President! We ask, and receive his sympathies and promises to do for us all he could.

Lincoln spoke with the North Carolinians for some time. He shook their hands when they entered his office and again when the meeting ended. Outside of the White House, Lincoln also showed kindness toward the black Americans he encountered. In May , he visited an army hospital at Columbian College now George Washington University where a white nurse introduced him to three black cooks who were preparing food for sick and wounded soldiers.

At least one of the cooks had been previously enslaved. Lincoln has received a good deal criticism in the modern era for his views on race. Abraham Lincoln was a strong supporter of the Thirteenth Amendment that formally ended slavery in the United States. Legislation Abraham Lincoln signed into law included the Homestead Act , the Morrill Act , the National Banking Act , and a bill that chartered the first transcontinental railroad.

Abraham Lincoln set an example of strong character, leadership, and honesty which succeeding presidents tried to emulate. Barack Obama stated during his campaign that he would look to Lincoln as a model. Abraham Lincoln's quotes are among the most famous quotes in the world. His faith in the righteousness of his pro-Union policies kept the Union alive during the darkest days of the Civil War. He was a charismatic, moral leader who had a broad strategic vision of his goal reuniting the nation like it was before the war started; later, freeing the slaves became a second goal.

He had great political skill in settling disputes among his Cabinet members and generals, especially when they were dealing with adverse circumstances. His leadership style was at the same time shrewd and disarming. He could handle the most outspoken of his opponents in a classic diplomatic manner. He came from a humble background but, over the years, he grew into a master politician who made no unnecessary enemies.

He had a great method of telling stories in an effort to manipulate people into seeing things his way. Lincoln's "story telling technique" was his most distinct and creative leadership method in comparison to other presidents.

For much of the Civil War, Lincoln was forced to serve as both commander in chief and chief of staff. This was because when the Civil War began the USA had no organization of high command suited to the vast size of the war operations. Lincoln supplied a good deal of the strategic thinking for the nation's armies despite his lack of technical military knowledge; Lincoln made his fair share of mistakes including an early-on inability to pick the right man to head the armies.

Also, some were fooled by Lincoln's reputation for granting clemency to soldiers and thus felt him too tenderhearted to wage the kind of war necessary to defeat the South. This is not the correct way to analyze Lincoln. He could be plenty tough when it came to plans to defeat the Confederacy. Let the plan for making the Blockade effective be pushed forward with all possible despatch [ sic ]. Butlerbe constantly drilled, disciplined, and instructed without more for the present.

Let Baltimore be held, as now, with a gentle, but firm, and certain hand. Let the forces in Western Virginia act, till further orders, according to instructions, or orders from Gen.

Fremont push forward his organization, and opperations [ sic ] in the West as rapidly as possible, giving rather special attention to Missouri. Let the three months forces, who decline to enter the longer service, be discharged as rapidly as circumstances will permit. July 27, When the foregoing shall have been substantially attended to 1. Let Manassas junction, or some point on one or other of the railroads near it; ; and Strasburg, be seized, and permanently held, with an open line from Washington to Manassas; and and [ sic ] open line from Harper's Ferry to Strasburgthe military men to find the way of doing these.

McClellan's; and will, at once devote all my efforts to your views, and his. McClellan's letter to you. For my own views, I have not offered, and do not now offer them as orders; and while I am glad to have them respectfully considered, I would blame you to follow them contrary to your own clear judgmentunless I should put them in the form of orders. As to Gen. McClellan's views, you understand your duty in regard to them better than I do.

With this preliminary, I state my general idea of this war to be that we have the greater numbers, and the enemy has the greater facility of concentrating forces upon points of collision; that we must fail, unless we can find some way of making our advantage an over-match for his ; and that this can only be done by menacing him with superior forces at different points, at the same time; so that we can safely attack, one, or both, if he makes no change; and if he weakens one to strengthen the other, forbear to attack the strengthened one, but seize, and hold the weakened one, gaining so much.

President Lincoln could have chosen to allow the original seven seceding states to leave the Union. Or he could have compromised and allowed slavery to expand to some or all of the western states or even the whole United Sates so the seven states would change their mind about secession.

He could have retracted his statement that slavery was morally wrong and should be put on a course of ultimate extinction, therefore, removing, the statement that insulted so many in the seceding states. He could have continued to fight the Civil War without issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. He could have, as many recommend, rescinded the Emancipation Proclamation when the War was going poorly for the United Sates of America.

He could have agreed to an end of the Civil War leaving the slaves in bondage. In each of these situations Abraham Lincoln had a choice; Lincoln always chose saving the union with the purity of its principles.

These are just some of the deeds we should remember him for. On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of mento lift artificial weights from all shouldersto clear the paths of laudable pursuit for allto afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life. Yielding to partial, and temporary departures, from necessity, this is the leading object of the government for whose existence we contend.