During his first term as president, he would know what it was like to feel both the joy of victory, such as issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, and the overwhelming sorrow of what the Civil War would bring.

Arguably, one of the most horrific times in American history, the Civil War (1861-1865) divided a nation and put a newly elected president in the unenviable position of keeping the United States, just that "united". In the end, he not only succeeded in keeping the nation together but also assured his own legacy.

One of the major accomplishments that came about from the Civil War was the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation, a decree which declared that all slaves held in the states that had seceeded from the Union would be "forever free". The document would eventually play an instrumental part in the creation of the Thirteenth Amendment, wich abolished slavery.

With a Union victory apparent, President Lincoln entered his second term with an outlook of peace and reconstruction for the country. However, while attending Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., he was shot by John Wilkes Booth. He died a day later, on April 15, 1865.

Here are a list of links to other sites about Abraham Lincoln:

www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/proj/lincoln

www.ipl.org/ref/POTUS/alincoln.html

www.usdreams.com/LincolnW7.html

www.thelincolnmuseum.org

www.alincoln-library.com