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Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 April 15, 1865) served as the 16th President of the United

States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led the country through its greatest

internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserved the Union, and ended slavery. Reared in a poor family on thewestern frontier, he was mostly self-educated. He became a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, and a one-

term member of the United States House of Representatives, but failed in two attempts at a seat in the United Stat

Senate. He was an affectionate, though often absent, husband, and father of four children.Lincoln was an outspoken opponent of the expansion of slavery in the United States, which he deftly

articulated in his campaign debates and speeches. As a result, he secured the Republican nomination and was

elected president in 1860. As president he concentrated on the military and political dimensions of the war effort,always seeking to reunify the nation after the secession of the eleven Confederate States of America. He vigorousl

exercised unprecedented war powers, including the arrest and detention, without trial, of thousands of suspected

secessionists. He issued his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and promoted the passage of the Thirteenth

Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery.Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including Ulysses S.

Grant. He brought leaders of various factions of his party into his cabinet and pressured them to cooperate. He

defused a confrontation with Britain in the Trent affair late in 1861. Under his leadership, the Union took control othe border slave states at the start of the war and tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond.

Each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded in 1865. A shrewd politician

deeply involved with patronage and power issues in each state, he reached out to War Democrats and managed hisown re-election in the 1864 presidential election.

As the leader of the moderate faction of the Republican party, Lincoln came under attack from all sides

Radical Republicans wanted harsher treatment of the South, Democrats desired more compromise, andsecessionists saw him as their enemy.Lincoln fought back with patronage, by pitting his opponents against each

other, and by appealing to the American people with his powers of oratory;for example, his Gettysburg Address o

1863 became one of the most quoted speeches in history. It was an iconic statement of America's dedication to the

principles of nationalism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. At the close of the war, Lincoln held a moderateview of Reconstruction, seeking to speedily reunite the nation through a policy of generous reconciliation in the

face of lingering and bitter divisiveness. Just six days after the decisive surrender of the commanding general of th

Confederate army, Lincoln fell victim to an assassin the first President to suffer such a fate. Lincoln hasconsistently been ranked by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.

George Washington

George Washington (February 22, 1732 December 14, 1799) was the dominant military andpolitical leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1797, leading the American victory over Britainin the American Revolutionary War as commander in chief of the Continental Army, 17751783, and presiding

over the writing of the Constitution in 1787. As the unanimous choice to serve as the first President of the United

States (17891797), he developed the forms and rituals of government that have been used ever since, such as usina cabinet system and delivering an inaugural address. The president built a strong, well-financed national

government that avoided war, suppressed rebellion and won acceptance among Americans of all types. Acclaimed

ever since as the "Father of his country", Washington, along with Abraham Lincoln, has become a central icon ofrepublican values, self sacrifice in the name of the nation, American nationalism and the ideal union of civic and

military leadership.

In Colonial Virginia Washington was born into the provincial gentry in a wealthy, well connected fami

that owned tobacco plantations using slave labor. Washington was home schooled by his father and older brotherbut both died young and Washington became attached to the powerful Fairfax clan. They promoted his career as

surveyor and soldier. Strong, brave, eager for combat and a natural leader, young Washington quickly became a

senior officer of the colonial forces, 175458, during the first stages of the French and Indian War. Indeed his rashactions helped precipitate the war. Washington's experience, his military bearing, his leadership of the Patriot caus

in Virginia, and his political base in the largest colony made him the obvious choice of the Second Continental

Congress in 1775 as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army to fight the British in the American Revolution

He forced the British out of Boston in 1776, but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New

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York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the dead of winter he defeated the enemy in two battles, retook

New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause. Because of his strategy, Revolutionary forces captured

two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. Negotiating with Congress, governors, andFrench allies, he held together a tenuous army and a fragile nation amid the threats of disintegration and invasion.

Historians give the commander in chief high marks for his selection and supervision of his generals, his

encouragement of morale, his coordination with the state governors and state militia units, his relations withCongress, and his attention to supplies, logistics, and training. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly

outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies. Washington is given full credit for the strategies that forced

the British evacuation of Boston in 1776 and the surrender at Yorktown in 1781. After victory was finalized in

1783, Washington resigned rather than seize power, and returned to his plantation at Mount Vernon, proving hisopposition to dictatorship and his commitment to republican government.

Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention that drafted the United States Constitution in

1787 because of his dissatisfaction with the weaknesses of Articles of Confederation that had time and againimpeded the war effort. Washington became the first President of the United States in 1789. He attempted to bring

rival factions together in order to create a more unified nation. He supported Alexander Hamilton's programs to pa

off all the state and national debts, implement an effective tax system, and create a national bank, despite oppositiofrom Thomas Jefferson. Washington proclaimed the U.S. neutral in the wars raging in Europe after 1793. He

avoided war with Britain and guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795

despite intense opposition from the Jeffersonians. Although never officially joining the Federalist Party, he

supported its programs. Washington's "Farewell Address" was an influential primer on republican virtue and a ster

warning against partisanship, sectionalism, and involvement in foreign wars.Washington had a vision of a great and powerful nation that would be built on republican lines using

federal power. He sought to use the national government to improve the infrastructure, open the western lands,create a national university, promote commerce, found a capital city (later named Washington, D.C.), reduce

regional tensions and promote a spirit of nationalism. "The name of AMERICAN," he said, must override any loc

attachments."At his death Washington was hailed as "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of hiscountrymen".The Federalists made him the symbol of their party, but for many years the Jeffersonians continued t

distrust his influence and delayed building the Washington Monument. As the leader of the first successful

revolution against a colonial empire in world history, Washington became an international icon for liberation andnationalism. His symbolism especially resonated in France and Latin America.Historical scholars consistently ran

him as one of the two or three greatest presidents.