Abraham Lincoln
At a Glance
Term: 16th President of the United States (1861-1865)
Born: February 12, 1809, Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky
Nickname: "Honest Abe"; "Illinois Rail-Splitter"
Religion: No formal affiliation
Marriage: November 4, 1842, to Mary Todd (1818-1882)
Children: Robert Todd (1843-1926), Edward Baker (1846-1850), William Wallace (1850-1862), Thomas "Tad" (1853-1871)
Career: Lawyer
Political Party: Whig; Republican
Writings: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (8 vols., 1953-55), ed. by Roy P. Basler
Died: April 15, 1865, Washington, D.C.
Buried: Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois
A Life in Brief: When Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, seven slave states left the Union to form the Confederate States of America, and four more joined when hostilities began between the North and South. A bloody civil war then engulfed the nation as Lincoln vowed to preserve the Union, enforce the laws of the United States, and end the secession. More....
Essays on Abraham Lincoln and His Administration
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Abraham Lincoln
A Life in Brief • Life Before the Presidency • Campaigns and Elections • Domestic Affairs • Foreign Affairs • Death of the President • Family Life • The American Franchise • Impact and Legacy • Key Events |
| First Lady Mary Lincoln |
| Vice President Hannibal Hamlin (1861 - 1865) • Andrew Johnson (1865) |
| Secretary of State William H. Seward (1861 - 1865) |
| Secretary of War Simon Cameron (1861 - 1862) • Edwin M. Stanton (1862 - 1865) |
| Postmaster General Montgomery Blair (1861 - 1864) • William Dennison (1864 - 1865) |
| Secretary of the Interior Caleb B. Smith (1861 - 1863) • John P. Usher (1863 - 1865) • James Harlan (1865 - 1866) |
| Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase (1861 - 1864) • William P. Fessenden (1864 - 1865) • Hugh McCulloch (1865 - 1865) |
| Attorney General Edward Bates (1861 - 1864) • James Speed (1864 - 1865) |
| Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles (1861 - 1865) |
Consulting Editor: Michael Burlingame
Professor Burlingame is the May Buckley Sadowski ’19 Professor Emeritus of History at Connecticut College. His writings include:
Abraham Lincoln: A Life (John Hopkins University Press, forthcoming 2008)
With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda And Other Writings Of John G. Nicolay, 1860-1865 (Southern Illinois University Press, 2006)
Lincoln Observed: Civil War Dispatches of Noah Brooks (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998)
Inside Lincoln’s White House: The Complete Civil War Diary of John Hay (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997)
The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln (University of Illinois Press, 1994)
Presidential Speeches
Below are selections from the Miller Center's Abraham Lincoln speech collection. To view the Miller Center's other speeches by Abraham Lincoln or by another President, please click the link below.
June 16, 1858 - "A House Divided" Speech
February 27, 1860 - Cooper Union Address
Miller Center Scholarship and Speakers
The Miller Center of Public Affairs is a national nonpartisan center to research, reflect, and report on American government, with special attention to the central role and history of the presidency. Below is a selection of Miller Center resources on Abraham Lincoln.
Watch Professor William Lee Miller’s 2004 presentation at the Miller Center on Lincoln as War President.
President Abraham Lincoln led the Union as Commander in Chief during the Civil War. Click here to learn more about the Miller Center's National War Powers Commission.
Click here to learn more about the Center’s National Commission on Presidential Disability and the 25th Amendment and its relationship to Lincoln.
Scripps Library Reference Resources
Below are links to reference resources prepared by the Miller Center's Scripps Library that are designed to help students and scholars quickly conduct their research.
Information on Abraham Lincoln's Private and Public Papers
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