Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War

President Lincoln was one of our greatest Americans and greatest presidents who came along at a time of great need. He did not know when he began his political career that he would someday face the greatest crisis any president had encountered since George Washington faced the Revolutionary War.

As Benjamin Franklin said about George Washington, Without George Washington, we wouldn't have a country. The same is said about Abraham Lincoln, and many have said it. At the very least, we wouldn't have the same country. Both men appeared destined for the significant challenges they faced. To begin this nation and then to hold it together during such a great crisis.

Frederick Douglass, born into slavery and the most important leader of the movement for African-American civil rights in the 19th century, said about Abraham Lincoln's death, "A great man, tender of heart, strong of nerve, of boundless patience and broadest sympathies, with no motive apart from his country. He could receive counsel from a child and give counsel to a sage. The simple approached him with ease, and the learned approached him with deference. He said about Lincoln, Take him for all in all. Abraham Lincoln was one of the noblest, wisest, and best men I ever knew."