Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), sometimes called Abe Lincoln and nicknamed Honest Abe, the Rail Splitter, and the Great Emancipator, 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. 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. His leadership qualities were evident in his first diplomatic handling of the border slave states at the beginning of the fighting, in his defeat of a congressional attempt to reorganize his cabinet in 1862, in his many speeches and writings which helped mobilize and inspire the North, and in his defusing of the peace issue in the 1864 presidential campaign. Copperheads criticized him for violating the Constitution, overstepping the bounds of executive power, refusing to compromise on slavery, declaring martial law, suspending habeas corpus, ordering the arrest of 18,000 opponents including public officials and newspaper publishers, and killing hundreds of thousands of young men who were soldiers in the war. Radical Republicans criticized him for moving too slowly in abolishing slavery, and not being ruthless enough toward the conquered South. Jefferson Davis (June 3, 1808–December 6, 1889) was an American statesman and advocate for American slavery and, until he became President of the Confederate States of America, for States' Rights. He is most famous for serving as the only President of the Confederate States of America, leading the rebelling southern slave states (the Confederate States) to defeat during the American Civil War, 1861-65. Davis was never touched by corruption, but he lacked the astute political skills of his counterpart Abraham Lincoln, and was unable to devise a successful military strategy in the face of the much larger and more industrially developed Union. His insistence on independence even in the face of crushing defeat prolonged the war. Sam Houston of Texas uttered perhaps the most succinct characterization of Davis when he said the Mississippian was "ambitious as Lucifer and cold as a lizard." He was held for two years in federal prison after his capture in 1865, then released, with no charges being brought. Before the Civil War, Davis served in the Mississippi Legislature, the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. He fought in the Mexican-American War as a colonel of a volunteer regiment. Later he became Secretary of War in the cabinet of U.S. President Franklin Pierce.