Abraham Lincoln was an extremely important president of the United States.

His

leadership and policies were a huge part of the reason the Union won the civil war. The way he

stepped into the presidency might have been unorthodox, but it was what America needed at that

time. Some people believed him to be a poor leader due to some of the wartime decisions he

made, and although he made mistakes in his day, his leadership lead the Union to victory and

helped reunite the United States. Without Abraham Lincoln, the United States might not be the

way it is today.

Before his presidency, he had little experience in public office, and his campaign to be in

the house of representatives was a failure. As a self-trained lawyer and a previous leader of a

militia in the Black Hawk War, Lincoln used his experiences and wisdom when he got into

office. His past of being born in a log cabin and moving around the country gave him a diverse

background. Abraham Lincoln did not start out as a popular president, with only 39.8% of the

vote, barely winning the election. The main reason he won the election was by default as the

other candidates were all unlikely to win. Quickly after his election was when South Carolina

decided to succeed from the Union, quickly followed by six other southern states.

As he stepped into the presidency in early 1861 he kept his public opinion that he did not

want slavery to spread but he would not stop it in the places that it was already in existence.

Soon after, the civil war began, and his decision-making would be important for the future of the

country. After the Confederates had taken over all of the Union forts in the south other than Fort

Sumter, Lincoln had to decide whether he would send supplies to this island fort or give it up. He

made the decision to supply it, causing the first battle of the Civil War, resulting in no casualties

after the Union gave up the fort to the Confederates after their bombing began.
Some of Lincolns decisions during the war made him disliked, especially his choice in Generals.

General McClellan, who before the war was seen as an expert general was put into place by

Lincoln but as the war went on, he showed himself to be a coward time and again. Lincoln fired

him quickly but after a bit of time had to rehire him again. Soon after the rehiring, McClellan

failed to defeat the Confederates at the Battle of Antietam, and instead only chased them out

even after finding their battle plans, causing Lincoln to fire him for the final time. Ulysses S.

Grant was another general that he fired due to his drunkenness only to rehire. Although with

Grant, he proved himself to be an excellent general, eventually being awarded lieutenant general,

which only George Washington had been awarded before.

Lincoln also had trouble maintaining his public appearance because of some of the other

decisions he made that affected citizens. During his presidency, he started the first income tax

since British rule, the creation of a uniform currency called “Greenback Dollars”, the start of the

draft, and sometimes overused his power as a president. These new rules upset many people at

the time, but, these new things were justified, as they all aided the war effort and were part of the

reason the Union won the war. During the first part of the war, he told the public that the war

was about the Union to keep control of everyone, but later he came out with the statement that it

was in fact, a war against slavery. I believe that Lincoln’s decision making was important

because all that he did was to aid the war effort and help the Union. In the election of 1864, he

changed the party he was affiliated with from Republican to the Union Party, a combination of

Republicans and War Democrats, who had democratic views but supported the civil war. This

aided his poll numbers as the Republican party had gotten less popular, but he ended up with

Andrew Johnson, a war Democrat, as a Vice President, who became a poor replacement for
Lincoln when he was murdered by John Wilkes Booth on April 14th, 1865 in Ford’s theatre

shortly after the Civil War Ended.

Overall, what Lincoln did for America was extremely important and his presidency

resulted in the Abolishment of slavery and the rejoining of the United States. Many people

thought his decision making was poor but most everything he did was justified, even if it did not

seem like it would help the Union at the time. Lincoln was one of the Greatest Leaders of

America and even without considerable military experience, he still managed to use what he

knew to bring the Confederacy to an end. People who doubted him had good reasons, as many of

them were facing restrictions and changes that they previously believed they would never have

to, and although it seemed bad at the time, without Lincolns policies, the War would have never

been won.