Presidency of Abraham Lincoln

Historical Context Note

Lucas Paul Richert (University of Saskatchewan)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Domains

Changes of government, elections and reigns

Dates

Date of occurrence 1861-03-04-1865-04-15

Places

United States (Location)

Resources

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In 1860, Abraham Lincoln, who had risen to prominence mainly through his scintillating debates with Stephen Douglas, was awarded the Republican nomination for president. He subsequently won the office of presidency, largely because the Democratic Party was divided. Following his inauguration, Lincoln was immediately forced to deal with the secession of seven southern states. These break-away states called themselves the Confederate States of America. The outbreak of hostilities between southern and U.S. forces occurred at Fort Sumter. The U.S. Civil War would thereafter completely dominate President Lincoln's agenda and he would have little time for anything else. Lincoln, as a wartime commander, exhibited flexibility. He experimented with his top military personnel. And he took advice…

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549 words

Citation: Richert, Lucas Paul. "Presidency of Abraham Lincoln". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=10, accessed 26 April 2024.]

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