Abraham Lincoln

Lauded as one of the greatest orators in American history, Lincoln was largely self educated, only totaling about eighteen months of formal schooling. A voracious reader, he scrutinized the Bible, Shakespeare, and history, his favorite book being The Life of George Washington. He studied law books, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He soon developed a reputation as a creative and talented attorney.

He was shrewd and decisive both in peace and war. He went through several generals until he found one that would fight the war in the aggressive manner Lincoln favored. In Ulysses S. Grant, the president found the battler that could outlast the strategic genius of Robert E. Lee. Brought up in a family that was opposed to slavery, and personally against it, he engaged in civil war not to free the slaves, but to preserve the union which he held dear, and felt to his marrow could not be compromised.

Criticized by Abolitionists for not being more adamant against slavery, Lincoln said in August of 1862: "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that."

He is, along with George Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, considered by many historians to be one of the three ablest presidents to have served the country.

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