Abraham Lincoln As A Role Model

People tend to have a favorite role model or hero; this may be someone who is determined, have done exceptional things in their life, or puts forth reachable goals for oneself. A role model could be anyone; a family member, famous hero, or someone who will always be remembered for their accomplishments, like the President of the United States. Accomplishing many tasks in his lifetime and presidency, Abraham Lincoln is no doubt a remembered hero to all; from using wise words in his Second Inaugural Address, to establishing the Emancipation Proclamation, to finally facing his fatal assassination, Lincoln was determined to save the Union, no matter what it took.

The Emancipation Proclamation, finally passed in 1863, not only changed the outcome

Abraham Lincoln headed into his second election with his head held high, even though the “prospects for reelection looked dim” (“Second Inauguration”). The Union and Confederate States seemed to be at a draw for a moment, but it was not until September 2, the turning point of the election, when Union troops captured the city of Atlanta, Georgia, that the country would be changed forever. Lincoln won 10 percent more popular votes than McClellan's 45 percent on November 8, not including a landslide victory in the Electoral College (“Second Inauguration”). According to journalist Noah Brooks, “the sun...burst forth in its unclouded meridian splendor and flooded the spectacle with glory and light” as soon as Lincoln began to speak his famous inaugural address. Delivered on March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address put forth a plan for reconstruction, to “bind up the nation’s wounds” after the effects of the Civil War (“Second Inauguration”). Lincoln’s address manly consisted of two important topics, the “true cause of the war and its ultimate meaning” (“Second Inauguration”). Lincoln believed that God gave the nation “the problem of slavery to solve,” and it just so happens that the war would fix that problem; but because slavery was the true cause of this terrible war, and indeed it was, Lincoln saw that the only way to truly abolish this was for the North and South to work together (“Second Inauguration”). Ending his speech with the famous words, “With malice toward none; with charity for all…” Lincoln only wanted peace in the nation that he loved (“Second