Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), often called Abe Lincoln, was an American politician who served as the 16th President of the United States (1861 to 1865), and as the first president from the Republican Party. Lincoln did not campaign or give speeches. The campaign was handled by the state and county Republican organizations. They were thorough and used the newest techniques to sustain the enthusiasm of party members and thus obtain high turnout. There was little effort to convert non-Republicans, and there was virtually no campaigning in the South except for a few border cities such as St. Louis, Missouri, and Wheeling, Virginia; indeed the party did not run a slate of electors in most of the South. In the North, there were thousands of Republican speakers, tons of campaign posters and leaflets, and thousands of newspaper editorials. They focused first on the party platform, and second on Lincoln's life story, making the most of his boyhood poverty, his pioneer background, his native genius, his rise from obscurity to fame. His nicknames, "Honest Abe" and "the Rail-Splitter," were exploited to the full. The point was to emphasize the superior power of "free labor", whereby a common farm boy could work his way to the top by his own efforts.[13] On November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States, beating Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckenridge of the Southern Democrats, and John C. Bell of the new Constitutional Union Party. Lincoln was the first Republican president. He won entirely on the strength of his support in the North: he was not even on the ballot in nine states in the South — and won only 2 of 996 counties in the other Southern states. Lincoln gained 1,865,908 votes (39.9% of the total,) for 180 electoral votes; Douglas 1,380,202 (29.5%) for 12 electoral votes; Breckenridge 848,019 (18.1%) for 72 electoral votes; and Bell 590,901 (12.5%) for 39 electoral votes. There were fusion tickets in some states, but even if his opponents had combined in every state, Lincoln had a majority vote in all but two of the states in which he won the electoral votes and would still have won the electoral college and the election. Today, he is best known for ending slavery and preserving the Union by overseeing the war effort during the American Civil War. He selected the generals and approved their strategy; selected senior civilian officials; supervised diplomacy, patronage and party operations; and rallied public opinion through messages and speeches. His influence has been magnified by his powerful oratory; his Gettysburg Address had a lasting impact on American values. To achieve his main goal of preserving the Union, Lincoln decided to abolish slavery, which he did through the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment. He took personal charge of Reconstruction, seeking to speedily re-unite the nation. He was opposed by the Radical Republicans who advocated much harsher policies.