Abraham Lincoln
 | Soon after Abraham Lincoln won the Election of 1860 and became the sixteenth President of the United States, South Carolina seceded from the Union. State by state, practically the whole South seceded, thus the Confederacy was formed, opposite the Union. The Confederate States of America then elected Jefferson Davis as their new leader. In his first inagural address, Lincoln declared that he will do all he can to preserve the Union. The American Civil War officially started after the attack at Fort Sumter, in which Union troops were attacked and forced to surrender. When Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, slavery soon became the moral cause of Union effort in the war. In the Election of 1864, Lincoln once again took the title as president. Shortly after General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Abraham Lincoln was shot on April 11, 1865 during his speech for peace and reconstruction plans. He died the next day. |
Above: Abraham Lincoln delivering his Gettysburg Address.
