Abraham Lincoln 1809–1865

By almost every standard, Abraham Lincoln is rated as America’s greatest president. This recognition stems from five factors. First, Lincoln presided, with ultimate success, over the direst crisis in American history. Had he been less skilled or less determined, the Civil War might very well have ended in the permanent division of the nation. Second, Lincoln accomplished the abolition of slavery in the United States and led the nation in taking its first steps toward racial justice. Third, Lincoln was one of the most impeccable craftsmen of the English language to ever hold political office in the United States. Indeed, with the possible exception of Thomas Jefferson, no other national politician ever demonstrated such a stunning ability to express himself and inspire others through language and text. Fourth, Lincoln came from the humblest background of any person elected to the presidency. Born in a log cabin on the Kentucky frontier, lacking any formal education, scrupulously honest, and enormously hardworking, Lincoln embodied values that almost all Americans admire while symbolizing the idea that any American can escape poverty to achieve greatness. His two nicknames—“Honest Abe” and “the Rail Splitter”—convey his honesty, his humble roots, and his willingness to work hard to improve himself and his nation. Finally, Lincoln’s death at the hands of an assassin mere days after the U.S. army’s triumph in the Civil War made him into a hero and a national martyr of almost mythic proportions. The national outpouring of grief at his death, even in parts of the defeated South, was unprecedented.