Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809—April 15, 1865) was the 16th President of the United States (March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865). As an outspoken opponent of the expansion of slavery and a political leader in the western states, he won the Republican Party nomination in 1860 and was elected president later that year. ******************************* Lincoln helped preserve the United States by leading the defeat of the secessionist Confederacy in the American Civil War. He introduced measures that resulted in the abolition of slavery, issuing his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and promoting the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. ****************************** Lincoln's leadership qualities were evident in his close supervision of the victorious war effort, especially his successful selection of Ulysses S. Grant and other top generals. Historians conclude he brilliantly handled the factions of the Republican party by bringing the leaders into his cabinet and forcing them to cooperate. In crisis management, he defused a war scare with Britain (1861), he outmaneuvered the Confederacy and took control of the border slave states in 1861-62, and he managed his own landslide reelection in the 1864 presidential election. Antiwar Copperheads criticized him vehemently for refusing to compromise on slavery, declaring martial law, suspending the writ of habeas corpus, ordering arrests of 18,000 opponents, sacrificing the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the Civil War, and for unconstitutionally overstepping the bounds of executive power. On the other hand, Radical Republicans criticized him for moving too slowly in abolishing slavery, and not being ruthless enough toward the conquered South. Lincoln rallied public opinion through the powerful rhetoric of his messages and speeches; his Gettysburg Address is remembered as the prime example. At the close of the war, Lincoln took a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to speedily re-unite the nation through a policy of generous reconciliation. ********************************* Lincoln's assassination in 1865 made him a martyr for the ideal of national unity. ********************************** Scholars rank Lincoln among the top three U.S. Presidents, with the average of those surveys placing him at number one.