Abraham Lincoln's efforts to preserve the Union and abolish slavery

President Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln's life as president was a celebration of the American paradigms of equality and freedom. The President spent not only his time in office, but also his life, in attempting to understand the plight of the poor and the oppressed, and to relieve this plight. As such, Lincoln attempted to mitigate the issues leading to the Civil War in order to stop such a war from ever occurring.

While he failed in this, he ruled with wisdom throughout the War and strove to heal the rift in the country as soon as possible afterwards. The tragedy of his assassination is directly connected to his accomplishments as president, and the fact that he would never be able to carry on the work that he started at a time when his country needed it most.

Abraham Lincoln's Life

Lincoln became president within a very stormy political environment. Losing the election as Senator against Stephen a. Douglas, his debates with the winner nevertheless gained Lincoln a Republican nomination for President during the year 1860. During this time, increasing tensions between the North and South appeared to be a pathway to inevitable war. So advanced were the tensions that Lincoln had to mention it in his Inaugural Address: "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war." Despite the President's efforts to the contrary, war was indeed inevitable, as history proves. Lincoln nevertheless continued his efforts during the war and built the Republican Party into a national leadership entity that was strong and secure in its position.

In his effort towards the abolishment of slavery, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation at the beginning of 1863. Under the Proclamation, all slaves within the Confederacy were declared forever free. When the Civil War ended, Lincoln was re-elected in 1864, and continued to help the country through this difficult and wounded time. He acted as an instrument of healing between the North and the South, and displayed magnanimity, flexibility and friendship particularly towards the South, whom he encouraged to join the countrywide reunion as soon as possible. As such, Lincoln resolved to heal the nation not only in terms of the rift between the North and the South, but also in terms of culture. In this, he sought to establish freedom for the whole nation with a "government of the people, by the people, for the people...."

Abraham Lincoln reinforced this idea of a reunified country, offering freedom and opportunity to all, during his Second Inaugural Address, stating that he wished to bind up the nation's wounds through both charity and firmness in the knowledge of "the right." After the horror of the Civil War, it appeared that this president's wisdom and generosity would make him an instrument not only of peace, but also prosperity in the future of the United States.

In this lies the tragedy of his assassination.

The President would never have the opportunity to lead the country towards the bright and peaceful future he projected for it. The highly emotional issues that sparked the Civil War in the first place had not fully come to rest in the heart of people such as the actor John Wilkes Booth. Booth assassinated the President at Ford's Theater in Washington on Good Friday, April 14, 1865. This crushed all hopes of a peaceful and magnanimous reunion between North and South, and among the various ethnic cultures of the country. Instead, further upheaval resulted not only in terms of politics, but also in terms of rather hysterical speculations regarding the possibility of conspiracy.

In contrast to Lincoln's positive projections for the country's future, Booth harbored extreme enmity towards the president and his views. Ironically, the assassination was to further the cause of the South, but in fact brought harm to the whole country.

Conspiracy Theories

According to R.J. Norton, one such theory was that Lincoln's death was a Confederate conspiracy. This theory is tied to coded letters that were found in Booth's trunk when his rooms at the National Hotel were searched. Atzerodt also made a statement claiming knowledge of a Confederate plot to bomb the White House. The Union's failed raid on Richmond was also approved by Lincoln, and it was later believed that he ordered the death of Jeff Davis in a strategy to end the war. Such speculations were extremely damaging for the strength of the government, and similar conspiracy theories fascinate historians to this day. In this, at least one part of Booth's ideal was realized: government weakness. This however did not result in a revival for the South, which was in fact the ultimate aim.

In conclusion, Lincoln's death meant that his attempts at countrywide reform were immediately nullified. Without his leadership, and in concomitance with the many conspiracy theories at the time, the government was unable to carry further such work. The country was not nearly strong enough to benefit from the good work done by Lincoln. In this way, his untimely death at the hands of Booth all but drove the country back to where it was before his good influence.

The death of President Lincoln is one of the senseless tragedies of human life that could be felt on a countrywide scale, and one from which the country might never recover.