Abraham Lincoln †Symbol of the unlimited possibilities Essay

at that place ar few men whose characters are so extraordinary that they foundation be credited with saving a nation. The 16th president of the United States, Abraham capital of Nebraska was peerless such art object. more(prenominal) than one hundred years by and by his assassination, Honest Abe as he has become k nowadaysn, shows no signs of losing his touch. He sits enshrined in his own monument with his famous words etched in rock music around him. He commands respect, honour and the everlasting thanks of the the Statesn people. More than a thousand books have been published on his life and deeds. This is the man who not scarce freed the slaves only who held the nation together through the terror of the Civil state of war. His bloody assassination has become the nightmare scenario of legend. The myths that make up the myth of Abraham capital of Nebraska have been re-told many cartridge clips. At their root is the story about the boy born into the Kentucky wilderness , who had less than a year in total of formal schooling.That same boy went on to become Americas most famous President. capital of Nebraskas rise from a poor pioneer family who taught himself to become a lawyer is the story of the American stargaze. From state legislator to his nomination as Presidential candidate that dream is the forget of legends. He has become a symbol of the unlimited possibilities of American life. To apprize the bravery and the courage that capital of Nebraska undoubtedly showed, it is not enough to register that he saved the Union. Neither is it enough to say that he braved his critics to read in freedom and to end the appalling slave trade. To amply picture Lincolns achievements, is to try and gain an insight into American ordering of that time. The republic was only a matter of a few decades old. In this melting pot of nationhood and states, political feelings ran high. Lincoln, above all, saw himself and his countrymen as inheritors of a sacred t rust. He believed that democracy was entrusted into his hands and those of his countrymen.He was prepared to set up up and fight for those beliefs. The concomitant is as laudable as these sentiments were, thither could not possibly have been a more difficult time to try and put them into practice. The issue of slavery above all others reign the day. It would split both politics and the country as a whole. Abraham Lincoln was not in two minds about slavery. He found it abhorrent. The fact is that many states, primarily in the North, s overlyd against slavery. Many in the South did not. They were mysophobic that a Republican President effectively from the North would try and ex margeinate slavery throughout the nation. Lincoln was elected President for his starting term in 1860 at the point when a huge part of the Union, peril to break away over the issue of slavery. The situation was for Lincoln uncomplete a reason for secession nor Civil War. In his inaugural address desti nation he spoke about the need to find a pacific way forwards.In spite of Lincolns plea, the Confederacy stone-broke away and on March 4 1861 and the country erupted into the Civil War he had feared above all else. That scenario was a nightmare of complications and strategies that had to be win inside a cauldron of dissent. There was no road map. There were no precedents for dealing with states that had succeeded. Lincoln was at heart and by trade, a lawyer. He was not a soldier. However he did not rebound from his duty, or from the task in front of him. Where lesser men capability have lost heart, Lincoln began the long struggle towards unity and reunification. When he judged that the time was right, he announced the abolition of the slave trade, issuing the emancipation proclamation on January 1st 1863. The war took a heavy toll. Lincoln mourned the tragedy of lives lost on the battlefield. His speech after the battle of Gettysburg on November 19th 1863 is one of the most mov ing and famous of all elegies for travel soldiers.In spite of high casualties and falling morale, when Atlanta finally brutish to the Union, Lincoln was re-elected for a second term. Lincolns second inaugural address is according to some, one of the greatest of all his speeches. In it, he looks forwards not only to the coming end of the war but also towards the future. His plea should never be forgotten, Malice towards none humanity towards all. Part of Abraham Lincolns legacy is the fact that he was very much a human figure. We know many dilate of his life including that of his courtship and quiet marriage to Mary Todd. Theirs was tender and winning relationship scarred by loss and tragedy. Of the four sons born to them, only one grew into adulthood. The quiet and loving home life the president enjoyed was in stark contrast to the violence and hatred that was tearing the nation apart. afterwards the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomatox on April 9 1865, a scare off nation waited to see what Lincolns response would be.An expectant advertise gathered outside the White House. Lincoln addressed them for the last time. In his speech he tackled the thorny issues of reuniting a country split by war. In that same speech he talked about the rights of freed slaves. He now talked openly about black suffrage. Listening in that crowd was one John Wilkes Booth, a racist and a Confederate who vowed that this would be Lincolns last speech. Indeed it was. Booth assassinated the President on April 14th 1865. Mary his wife was sitting beside her husband as they watched a play. She was holding his hand as he was shot. She never recovered fully from his death. It was a death that Lincoln himself had reportedly foreseen in a dream some three days earlier. The assassination of Lincoln stunned the nation.His torso was mourned for three weeks at it was toured through the cities of the North. Public grief was immense for possibly the most extraordinary figure in political history. Today the scene of the gaunt tall and severe man is as familiar to us as our own fathers. Indeed to many, Abraham is the Father figure of America. We can only hope, like so many before us that we too can live up to the vision and the dreams that he left for us. understructure his statue lie the famous words of the Gettysburg address, in which the president extolled, That this nation, under paragon shall have a new birth of freedom and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall never perish from the earth.They are words that are as relevant to us today as the day on which they were first spoken. How ironic then that in the same speech the President say that the words spoken there would not long be remembered. Fortunately, for each US citizen, he was wrong His words, his deeds and his hopes, like those of any father, are his legacy to all his children.Sources used in this speech and related trainingAbraham Lincoln Birthplace http//lincoln.ho dgenville.net/lincoln/ Abraham Lincoln On-line http//showcase.netins.net/web/germinal/lincoln/speeches/last.htm CV for Abraham Lincoln http//www-personal.engin.umich.edu/sldavis/firstsite/index.htm