Abraham Lincoln Moral Leadership Essay

Over hundreds of years America has had many presidents, some able to complete the tasks at hand, but many were not worthy of leading this nation. President Abraham Lincoln was one of the few who led the United States of America with great strength and courage. Abraham Lincoln was the best U.S. president because he had a great impact on ending slavery and he was one of the greatest natural strategists and leaders of all time. Abraham Lincoln is considered to be America 's wisest president.

During Abraham Lincoln’s presidency at the start of the 1860, an issue that had divided the nation was slavery. Lincoln’s election to presidency as a republic was not received well by the Southern slave states, as they thought that as a republican he was out to abolish slavery. In an effort to calm southern states and keep them from seceding from the United States, he attempts to ease them with his First Inaugural Address. In his First Inaugural Address his key points are to clam southern leaders of slave states, keep the states from seceding, and make them at ease as he enters presidency.

During the history of the United States there have been very respectable speakers Martin Luther King Jr. John F. Kennedy but perhaps no greater leader in American history came to addressing the country like Abraham Lincoln. In his Second Inaugural Address, Lincoln gave a short speech concerning the effect of the Civil War and his own personal vision for the future of the nation. In this speech Lincoln uses many different rhetorical strategies to convey his views of the Civil War to his audience.

When analyzing Abraham Lincoln’s early presidential speeches, his objective to preserve the Union becomes quite apparent. However, we must not overlook Lincoln’s devotion to equality as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Examining the Address at Independence Hall and the Gettysburg Address reveals Lincoln’s dedication to upholding the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. In reading Lincoln’s early presidential speeches, many view Lincoln’s motivation for abolishing slavery solely as a measure imperative to preserving the Union. However, his intentions run deeper than war-time necessity in that he possesses a profound reverence for the Declaration of Independence and its ideals of equality, that, although not always explicitly

4. How did the Great War for Empire change the relationship between England and its American colonies?

After the proclamation that established the end of slavery was signed and that this could not happen again, three amendments to the Constitution were adopted to clarify what the new status meant for former slaves, descendants of Africans and other races, including some whites who had been under forced servitude. Known as the Reconstruction amendments are 13, 14 and 15 respectively, which grant equal protection before the law, give the same privileges to all citizens and grant the right to vote. Despite the amendments, there were many obstacles and challenges, from the physical liberation of all slaves, their integration into society and the development of interracial relationships.

President Abraham Lincoln, in his inaugural address, addresses the topic of the civil war and its effects on the nation and argues that America could be unified once more. He supports his claim by using massive amounts of parallel structure and strong word choice. Lincoln ‘s purpose is to contemplate the effects of the civil war in order to unite the broken America once again. He adopts a very hopeful tone for his audience, the readers of the inaugural address and others interested in the topic of American history and the civil war.

The Civil War was a national devastation that had a deep impact on American society. In 1863, Lincoln proposed the Emancipation Proclamation declaring the slaves would be free, though it was limited only to the rebellious states. By careful preparation of the document, Lincoln ensured that it would offer a positive impact on the Union efforts and to redefine the purpose of the civil war. The results of the emancipation continued to have an abrupt and profound effect of equality and social justice (Roark, 402).

Allen Guelzo and Vincent Harding approached Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the eventual abolition of slavery from two very different viewpoints. The major disagreement between them is whether the slaves freed themselves, or Abraham Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation freed them. Harding argued the former view, Guelzo took the later. When these essays are compared side by side Guelzo’s is stronger because, unlike Harding, he was able to keep his own views of American race relations out of the essay and presented an argument that was based on more than emotion.

While both Abraham Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech and George Washington’s Farewell Address talks about the government and people uniting, Lincoln’s speech speaks more about slavery and Washington’s address advised warnings about the liberties necessary for the country/nation to survive. On June 16, 1858, Abraham Lincoln gave the speech at the State Republican to more than 1,000 delegates. He told them that they have to decide whether all states in the country will either promote slavery or end it completely. He states that the “government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free” because the house would not be able to stand. On the other hand, Washington’s address was published in the newspapers across the country on September

The period before the outbreak of the Civil War was one of the most tense in American history. As the Civil War began, African Americans in the North were largely excluded from the military. Only a few black regiments took shape in the some of the Union-occupied areas of the Confederacy. When Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation black enlistment increased rapidly and the Union military began to recruit Buffalo Soldiers (African Americans) soldiers and sailors. After 1863 the Buffalo soldier would play a crucial role in the Union’s victory over the Confederacy.

Lincoln’s political religion grounds itself in the American principle of equality. His political religion was necessary to bind the nation together in a time of dire need. The nation stood divided. One side believed it was their natural right to reap the fruits of another man’s labor, which denied his natural rights as well as his humanity, while the other side disagreed, affirming the humanity of the slaves and remained free. Lincoln pushed to change public sentiment in regard to slavery. In his 1858 speech “A House Divided”, he wrote,

On September 2nd, 1862, Abraham Lincoln famously signed the Emancipation Proclamation. After that, there’s been much debate on whether Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation truly played a role in freeing the slaves with many arguments opposing or favoring this issue. In Vincent Harding’s essay, The Blood-red Ironies of God, Harding argues in his thesis that Lincoln did not help to emancipate the slaves but that rather the slaves “self-emancipated” themselves through the war. On the opposition, Allen C Guelzo’s essay, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, argues in favor of the Emancipation Proclamation and Guelzo acknowledges Lincoln for the abolishment of slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation.

Abolition of slavery was a big controversy in the United State of America in the nineteenth century due to the different stances between northern and southern states which led to the American Civil war. At the present time, Abraham Lincoln was the president of the United States who supported the north (Union) thought that free the slave could help him united all the states. As the result, he passed out the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, which give freedom to slaves in the states that the Union did not control. After the war, he issued the Thirteenth Amendment on December 6, 1865, to free all slaves. Although Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery, he did not deserve to be call “ The Great Emancipator” because he freed the slaves for war purpose, only part of the slaves were freed at first, and he did not know what to do to abolish slavery.

The Unites States of America has been served by forty-three presidents so far. A good number of them were competent leaders who performed and were behind the ever-developing economy in the United States, good structure of leadership has also been the backbone of success in the country. However, the best among all the presidents that served the United States is Abraham Lincoln. This research paper hence has explained in detailed form why Abraham Lincoln performed more compared to the other president of the United States. (Pederson, William 57)