Why Abraham Lincoln Is the Greatest Leader

There was a boy born in the dust and silence of the country side, in a little log cabin, to a modest family of uneducated hard working laborers. Life was hard, yet simple. Days were filled with hard work and a yearning to survive. The absence of ambition and education within the community ran as ramped as the hills and forests that surrounded the community where the boy grew. Yet that boy rose up out of the dust and the trees in search for something more. That boy grew up, and took America by the hand, guided it through one of them most important changes in history.

Abraham Lincoln is the greatest leader the United States of America has ever had. Abraham Lincoln was driven, but it was his charisma that made him such a likeable man. He also had the gift of speech, writing and delivering in a manner that resonated with many. His path to Presidency came at an important and opportune time. Abraham Lincoln preserved the Union, without him, this country would be different.

Most importantly Abraham Lincoln changed this country, in a time when opposition could not be fiercer, by freeing the slaves. Nancy Lincoln gave birth to Abraham on February 12, 1809 in Hardin (now Larue) Country, Kentucky.In 1816 Thomas Lincoln, Abraham’s father moved his family to Little Pigeon Creek in Perry (now Spencer) County, Indiana. The area was still wild, and wooded, the family had to tame and work the land. Two years after the family had settled in 1818, Nancy passed away. Thomas Lincoln remarried a year later.

Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow herself, proved to be a kind and nurturing mother for Abraham. Life was filled with work, and not much time for education. It is said that Lincoln maybe received one year of formal education, split between five schools, spanning his childhood.When he was able to focus on his studies, he focused on penmanship, reading and arithmetic, yet most of his time was spent farming. Abraham was driven by a thirst for knowledge.

He borrowed every book in the neighborhood and when those where done, he went on to read “Revised Statutes of Indiana”. In 1831 at 6’4” with a tangled tall statue at the ripe age of 22, Lincoln ended up in New Salem, Illinois waiting for a friend. While he was there, an election was taking place in town. One of the clerks had taken till and there was no one else who could write, Lincoln could and was immediately sworn in as clerk.

This event sparked Lincoln’s interest for politics. (Abraham Lincoln biography) (Apple for teachers, 2009) Lincoln showed wonderful political ability on his road to the presidency. He first ran for office of the State Assembly in Indiana legislature and lost, but eventually ran again and was elected multiple times. Lincoln stepped away from politics; he spent about five years focusing on work rather than political matters. Then there was a political crisis that gave him a passion to run for office.

In 1854 Abraham Lincoln’s political rival Stephen A.Douglas pushed a Bill through congress for reopening the entire Louisiana Purchase to slavery, also allowing Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves regarding slavery in those territories. The states of the Northwest opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Lincoln disagreed with the opposition and was passionate about the matter and became a Republican in 1856.

In 1858 Stephen Douglas was making a run for the leader of the Republican Party, which would ultimately lead to the Presidency. Lincoln still passionate about the opposition of the act ran against Douglas. Douglas and Lincoln partook in a series of debates.Lincoln and Douglas did engage in many heated political arguments, yet they were closer in their views than they seemed. Neither really wanted to end slavery and neither were really proslavery.

But Lincoln, unlike Douglas, insisted that Congress must exclude slavery from the territories. Lincoln once said: “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe the government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. ” Both were excellent speakers and expert debaters. Lincoln eventually won and on May 18, 1860, Lincoln was nominated and started a run for Presidency.

With a total of four candidates running for office Lincoln won the election on November 6. He received no votes from the south, but the popular votes were so widely distributed, that Lincoln won the majority of votes in the Electoral College, which won him the Presidency. Lincoln felt passionate about his country, the view on where his country was headed and used his political skills to spread his message, ultimately becoming president. (Abraham Lincoln biography) (Britannica) Perhaps Lincoln’s greatest achievement as a leader was preserving the union. It was his belief in a house divided cannot tand that led him towards presidency and preserved the United States of America.

Before Lincoln became President, the country was in turmoil as to keep slavery or abolish it. It was an issue that was literally ripping this nation apart. Even before Lincoln took office, South Carolina had seceded from the union. The Southern states tried to put forth constitutional amendments’ that would guarantee slavery forever.

Lincoln did not like what the southern states wanted to do, so he convinced all Republicans to vote against the measure which resulted in six more states leaving the union.The called themselves the Confederate States of America. Although Lincoln respected them for sticking to their values, he could not stand by and watch the country divide in front of his eyes without doing something about it. Lincoln makes his inauguration speech to a country divided, yet Lincoln held firm to the Union’s indestructibility.

The county was divided and war finally broke out. (Licoln library, 2011) (Britannica) War continued from 1861 through 1865 with both sides fighting diligently. No other President has ever had to lead a country through a civil war.Although Lincoln did not like the idea of slavery himself, he also felt he did not have the right to tell people in slave states that they could not have them.

As the war continued, Lincoln had an idea that might get the Confederates to stop slavery. It was brought in front of the Delaware delegates that $400 would be paid for each slave, in return for the abolishment of slavery, in hopes that other states would follow. Delaware did not take the offer to the dismay of Lincoln. He offered this plan several more times to no avail. Then the Battle of Antietam in 1862 served to be the turning point for Lincoln and the Union.

During this battle, the North pushed the South back across the Potomac River giving the North the upper hand. This gave Lincoln the incentive to once again offer them a deal and this time they took it. To this, the Government paid money and Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in confederate states. Ultimately the union was preserved by the freeing of slaves.

Lincoln did not accomplish this single handedly. (Martin) (Apple for teachers, 2009) (Britannica) Lincoln surrounded himself with the smartest most capable advisors, cabinet members and generals that he had the greatest confidence in.Whether he agreed with what they had to say, he always gave them the chance to explain themselves. During the war, Lincoln had gone through many Generals in his Army; Lincoln experimented with strategies by moving command personal and understanding organizational systems. Although none of them were terribly bad, when some would lose a battle, he would fire them and appoint a new one.

There were even times when Lincoln himself would go out to the battlefields. A notable general Lincoln surrounded himself with was Ulysses S. Grant, who played a key role in the effort to win the war. William H.

Seewald, who was one of Lincoln’s first advisors held high anti-slavery convictions and played a huge role in speeches Lincoln gave. (institute, 2002) (Licoln library, 2011) (Britannica) Lincoln was a charismatic, articulate man who seemed to be well liked. He spoke to the people just like he was one of them; he came from nothing and did not portray himself as something he wasn’t. Often he would tell jokes to warm a crowd.

* No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens. * The man who murdered his parents, then pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan. Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. These are all jokes that Lincoln told.

All his life he was hard working and diligent and people took notice, which gave Lincoln the respect of many around him. He spoke what was in his heart and what he felt was right. He did not veer from the words he spoke and people could trust him. His speeches and letters were so eloquent that many have with stood the hands of time and our still quoted today.

So notable quotes of Abraham Lincoln: * Whatever you are, be a good one. * You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die. * I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.

They have clung to me all my life. * If I only had an hour to chop down a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my axe. * I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. * I am not concerned that you have fallen; I am concerned that you arise.

* A house divided against it cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free.I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.

Although he did not deliver speeches as well as he wrote them the message rang out loud and clear.His most famous speech, The Gettysburg Address, might have only been a few minutes in length, but it spoke volumes and is one of them most quoted speeches, especially “and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” Abraham Lincoln. Licoln library, 2011) (Famous quotes) (Abraham Lincoln biography) John F. Kennedy was also a great President of the United States. Like Abraham Lincoln Kennedy was extremely well liked by his constituents, people almost felt a real connection with him. Kennedy had charisma and was articulate in public speaking as well.

John F. Kennedy spoke volumes to the country when he asked this; “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country”. John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960. 960 was a time of unrest and divided thoughts of America’s social structure, just as it had been when Lincoln took office in 1860.

Kennedy led during the Civil Rights movement. A movement that worked towards equalized treatment of African Americans, by eliminating unjust laws and attempting to change the thoughts and norms of society. Yet Lincoln laid the foundation for Kennedy, without Lincoln’s preservation of the Union through the Emancipation Proclamation there is not movement. (Sparrow) (Famous quotes) Abraham Lincoln is the greatest leader the United States of America has ever had.Lincoln was a charismatic, articulate, hardworking man that saved America by freeing the slaves and preserving the union. Without Lincoln America would be different.

Lincoln preserved the union by speaking to the minds and hearts of the citizens, and by developing a network of people who were capable of change. Abraham Lincoln is on the Penny and the Five Dollar Bill, and is a symbol to all Americans about where their country has been. It is also a symbol about how a boy in dust and the silence of the country side, born in a little log cabin can grow up to be the greatest leader the United States has ever had.