Essay Sample on Abraham Lincoln as a Reflection of Culture and the Time He Existed

Introduction

In every culture, some iconic heroes and heroines are remembered for what they did for their people. Such people are depicted as reflections of their respective cultures since they bring out the virtues that are admirable to others in and outside their cultures. Besides, their actions and values have been carried on by the subsequent generations since they feel motivated by the success of the previous heroes. As such, the American culture has got many heroes who contributed to its development. Abraham Lincoln is not an exception due to the values and virtues he possessed during his lifetime. His heroic actions reflect the benefits of the society that he lived.

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Abraham Lincoln was born on 12th February 1809 in Kentucky where his father owned a piece of land. However, life there was not satisfactory to the family due to the land disputes that surrounded his father who did not have legal land titles to claim his land. In 1816 the family moved to Indiana where land disputes were rarely witnessed (Nicholas 12). Lincoln's father bought a piece of land there where they settled to begin a life. While in Indiana, he underwent a lot of grieving whereby he lost his mother and only sister subsequently. He was thus left with his father and step-mother. As a teenager, he was pre-occupied in reading books, poems, and other historical materials that he borrowed from his neighborhood. Besides, he performed other cash-earning tasks, and since he was still a teenager, he took all the earned money to his father. It was a requirement by their society that children below twenty years should give what they deserve to their parents.

In 1830, Abraham's father had grown old, and he had developed a visual disability, and they shifted to Illinois where the extended family lived. Abraham had reached twenty-one years, and so after helping his father to settle, he set out to settle on his own. According to their culture, people above twenty years were taken as adults who should look for a way to live and not depend on their families. For that matter, Abraham moved away from his father and went out to look for another life. Due to his strong athletic body, he was employed to move goods from New Salem to New Orleans using a flatboat. While doing his work of moving goods to different places, he realized that slavery was being perpetuated in some states of America.

During Lincoln's struggles to live on his own, he encountered women whom he desired to share his love and feelings. The society expected all young male adults to search for women who can become wives in later in life. In his search, Lincoln came across women including Ann Rutledge and Mary Owens (Randall 23). In 1836, he entered a serious relationship with Mary Owens, and they went into courtship. However, some disagreements arose in the same year, and they had to part the following year. It was until 1840 when they reconciled and engaged, and in 1842 they married after going through hard moments of breaking off. Abraham proved to be an affectionate and loving husband to his wife. As a result, they gave birth to four children. Three of their sons died, and they went through a robust and melancholic time.

Abraham Lincoln achieved a lot during his adult life that makes him a reflection of the time he lived. In the 19th century, people were depending on the discoveries that were being made to solve the problem that affected them. Those who came up with the inventions were respected and are remembered for the credit they added to the communities. As such, Abraham Lincoln came up with an inventory which can help sailors to buoy their vessels when they are obstructed from moving due to mud or sand in the waters. His invention involved attaching buoyant chambers on the sides of vessels that could be inflated or deflated to control the movement. The method made it easier for sailors to move their vessels through the waters such that they encountered a less task when the ships get obstructed. Lincoln's invention was awarded as the US patent number 6,469 on May 22, 1849. Up to now, Lincoln has remained the only president in the world to hold a patent. The knowledge he had gained during his self-directed learning led him to solve many problems that he encountered in life. At last, he applied the knowledge to solve the issues of his society.

More of Lincoln's struggles were identified when he entered politics. In 1843, he vied for the Whig nomination for Illinois' 7th district of the United States' House of Representatives. However, he was defeated by John J. Hardin. Hardin retired after two years, and Lincoln took his place after winning the nominations in 1846. He emerged out being the only Whig in the Illinois delegation. Still, he ended up being loyal to his party and active during speeches. Besides, he collaborated with abolitionist Congressman Joshua R. Giddings to write a bill for the abolishment of slavery in the District of Columbia. He later abandoned the proposal after it failed to gain support from the Whigs. After that, he went on to fight against the Mexican American war with the aim of maintaining peace in the two states. The conflict arose after the Mexican Army was accused of killing American soldiers. The objective of Lincoln here was to convince the American Congress to debate before allowing the war to go on but they did not take any of his advice. He finally ended his term while trying to enhance peace in America.

After quitting the House of Representatives, Lincoln resumed his job as a lawyer in the USA. As a prairie lawyer, he maintained integrity in the cases he was involved and handled many cases involving transportation, political, and murder. He appeared in the Supreme Court in 175 cases whereby in 51 of the cases he was a sole. Among the 51 individual cases, 31 were decided in his favor.

Among his accomplishments as a lawyer was in 1858 when he defended William Armstrong, who was being tried for killing James Preston Metzker (Hindle 71). In this case, he used the fact that had been established by the Judicial later to challenge the issues raised by the eyewitnesses presented during the case. On eyewitness claimed that he had to see the criminal perform the act in the moonlight on that night. However, Lincoln produced a Farmers' Almanac that revealed the moon being on a low angle at that night, thus, hindering clear visibility. Due to the strength of his point, Armstrong was acquitted by the Supreme Court. In this case, Lincoln was a trusted lawyer who did enough research before appearing at the court of law to defend his clients. As a consequence, he earned a lot of reputation from the clients who then nicknamed him as the "Honest Abe." His knowledge as a lawyer at his times has also contributed to his fame in the world of history.

Lincoln was a type a person who was always focused on achieving his dreams. As such, he rarely gave up in what he was up to doing. Having worked as a lawyer from 1850 to 1859, Lincoln opted to enter politics for a presidential seat in 1860. After holding a thorough campaign throughout the year, he finally won the elections for the Presidential city on November 6, 1860, as the 16th president of the United States of America (Curran 32). However, he got few votes from the southern part of America which was the stronghold of Steven Douglas. Most of his votes came from the Northern Democrats who supported Lincoln's ideologies which included the banning of slavery in the United States (Riddle 31). In essence, Lincoln understood very well that if the other contestants emerged as winners during the elections the country would become unfavorable for most people, especially the black Americans in the country. Therefore, his goal in vying for the presidency was to promote peace and humanity.

After Lincoln was elected as the president, he began the liberation process. He fought against the war that had erupted between the Northern and the Southern Democrats by organizing his soldiers to fight against the rebelling people from the southern part (Bulla 26). Besides, he used his position to sign the Homeland Act which allowed the poor people in the United States to obtain land. Before being elected as the president, land ownership unequally distributed such that the rich owned large pieces of land while the poor in the society had no chance to occupy the grounds. They had to persevere with the hard life in slums and as workers in the farms of the wealthy merchants. Even though the Homeland Act intensified the war from the rebels from the southern part, the poor people in the country were able to get a piece of land build and live. With the help of his armies, Lincoln managed to fight against the rebelling people ensure that the country attains the right track regarding peace and unity.

Abraham Lincoln, as the president, supported the Republicans since they were also supporting the issue of abolishing slavery. As such, he made sure that all enslaved individuals in the country are set free. Firstly, he signed the "habeas corpus" which authorized the release of all the people in jail so that they can express themselves as free people in the Free State (Foner 5). Although the signed "habeas corpus" was followed with a great rebellion from the southern states in the form of war, the Union army fought effortlessly while advancing to the south. By the middle of the war, about three million slaves had been set free. The union army was pursuing the Southern Democrats one step at a time, and this was becoming a great success for Abraham Lincoln who was determined to win over the rebels so that he can liberate the country. According to him, freeing all the slaves was a good step in liberating the country, as the slaves were also normal citizens who should have a right to express themselves.

During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln proved his ability to liberate America such that even with the continuing war, he was able to start reconstructing the country. With his cabinet, they restructured on how they would fix the damage that was being created at the southern part of the country by the Union armies who were determined to win over the rebellious southern groups (Maizlish 444). Even though he supported the war against the South, he still planned on how he would unite it with entire America. Besides, he pushed for the Emancipation Proclamation which paved a direct move to open the way for the banning of slavery in the country. In this case, he ordered the military to free all the slaves that had been captured, especially in the Southern part of America. Also, Lincoln passed the 13th Amendment which outlawed slavery in the country. He wanted to make sure that the state continues with its development and not to wait until the war ends.

By 1865, the Union forces had swept all over the Southern part. The rebels had also surrendered since they could not manage to win offer the powerful union army. As such, Abraham Lincoln had achieved his goal of winning over the Southern rebels (Jacobs 114). Therefore, the subsequent plans to reconstruct and liberate America would become easy. He had proved his supremacy as a leader in by winning over the South which had been stable before his entry into the government as a president.

However, on the night 14th April 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by one of the famous actor called John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln had gone to attend a play at Ford's theatre in Washington DC. According to reports, the leaders from the South wanted to capture Lincoln so that they can cool him down and get the chance to overthrow the government. The initial plan was not to kill him (Hoffman 52). Still, the Southern part leaders did not manage to overthrow the government even after killing him. Instead, they were arrested and executed for planning the president's assassination.

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