Abraham Lincoln, our sixteenth president, was born on February 12, 1809 in Sinking Spring Farm, Kentucky. Although his second term was cut short by his assassination, he managed to change the face of America and its future path in those short 1,503 days. During his first term alone, he opened up settlement in the western United States with the Homestead Act, he freed slaves to fight for the Union’s cause in the Civil War with the Emancipation Proclamation, and he gave the Gettysburg Address following the battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. These are just a few of the many contributions Lincoln made during his presidency, forever changing our direction as a nation and making him one of the greatest presidents in our history. President …show more content…
The policies on the battlefield gave him just the chance he needed take the next step in ending slavery, and he announced the initial Emancipation proclamation on September 22, 1862. The Proclamation made it legal for the blacks to enlist in the Union army and join the fight against the South. By issuing the final Proclamation in 1863, Lincoln cemented his belief that slavery was “an unqualified evil to the negro, the white man, and the State.” 5 , a position that had become unclear between the initial year of his first election and the outbreak of the Civil War. Even though regional and state-line borders posed some practical problems in supporting the Proclamation, the slaves would often get around those in the early years by making their way to the Union lines for …show more content…
In January 1863, Lincoln signed the National Banking Act, establishing a national currency and the United States Banking system, which is still in operation today. The Revenue Act of 1862 established the Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue which later became the IRS. This Act allowed the U.S. government to tax its citizens based on income. This law still stands today. In 1863, Lincoln also signed the Thanksgiving Proclamation as a token of gratitude for the Union’s victory at Gettysburg. This Proclamation made Thanksgiving an official national