Abraham Lincoln preserved the Union and freed the slaves. For most Americans, little more is needed to be known to place Lincoln amongst the greatest Americans of all time – some say the greatest of them all. He rose from nothing, a poverty-stricken backwoods farm boy with virtually no formal education who became the most powerful figure in the nation at the time of its greatest peril. When seven states seceded from the Union, Lincoln did not hesitate to consider that action void. When the Confederates fired upon American soldiers in Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, he brought the full power of the United States to suppress and defeat the Southern rebellion. In the midst of the war, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation as a military necessity, breaking the decades-long battle over slavery and granting freedom to those held against their will in the rebellious states. Just over a month into his second term, on the heels of Confederate capitulation, Lincoln was assassinated, becoming a martyr for these causes which had plagued the nation since the dawn of the Republic.
 
It must be acknowledged that Abraham Lincoln was also the most divisive President in the history of the United States. His policies, and those of his Republican party, were so odious to the citizens of those Southern states that they opted to withdraw from the Union. They saw his ascension as a catalyst for the Federal government to impose its will in direct opposition to their sovereign rights guaranteed by the Constitution. President Lincoln elicited opposition aplenty in the Northern states as well. The Radical Republicans felt he wasn’t aggressive enough in his actions toward the treasonous rebels, while many Democrats condemned his assault on civil liberties and other constitutional protections which they saw as flagrant violations of the Constitution. Lincoln defied the orders of the Supreme Court by suspending the writ of habeas corpus, a power granted in the Constitution to the legislature during periods of rebellion, placing thousands behind bars without charge for indefinite periods. While many cheered Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, many others decried the act as changing the entire purpose of the war, as well as far exceeding his authorities granted in the Constitution.
 
The United States inherited by Abraham Lincoln when he took the oath of office on March 4, 1861, was one splitting apart. He was determined to save it, and he did. He was ultimately determined to end slavery, and he did. He was determined to use any means necessary to accomplish these objectives, and he did.