Making Connections
Learning More About President Lincoln
The Civil War
The first time Lincoln ran for president, he lost, but he ran again in the next election in 1860 and won! Many people agreed with him that slavery was wrong and voted for him. When he became president, seven states seceded from the Union (the north). They left because they wanted to have slaves and they knew President Lincoln would not support that. However, Lincoln did not want these states to leave. He wanted the states to be together as the United States.
In 1861, the south fired the first shots that started The Civil War. Four more states joined the south, called the Confederacy. The war went on for several years. Lincoln did not want to fight, but he wanted to preserve the Union. Over one million people from both sides died fighting in the war.
In 1863, Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all the slaves in the south. In another speech called The Gettysburg Address, Lincoln reminded Americans that all people are equal and should be treated as such. In 1865, during Lincoln’s second term as president, slavery was ended once and for all! The Civil War was over. The U.S. became one great nation.
