Abraham Lincoln - Confederacy, Outbreak of American Civil War

Abraham Lincoln

Table of Contents

Quotes References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Abraham Lincoln: statue at the Lincoln Memorial

Follow Abraham Lincoln from a frontier cabin to the White House where he guided America through the Civil War

Learn how Abraham Lincoln's frontier childhood and early appetite for reading shaped his character

Clearing up pop culture myths about Abraham Lincoln

Learn how reading Shakespeare and the King James Bible helped Abraham Lincoln compose his best-remembered address in American history

For Students

Abraham Lincoln summary

Abraham Lincoln Timeline

Abraham Lincoln’s Achievements

Read Next

President's bingo. Guess and select to correct president based on images.

Britannica’s U.S. Presidents Bingo

Battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862, lithograph by Kurz and Allison, circa 1888.

9 Questions About the American Civil War Answered

The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C., April 14th, 1865; from a lithograph by Currier and Ives.

9 Infamous Assassins and the World Leaders They Dispatched

Close up of a hand placing a ballot in a ballot box. Election vote voter voting

Have Any U.S. Presidents Decided Not to Run For a Second Term?

Broadside advertising reward for capture of president Abraham Lincoln assassination conspirators, illustrated with photographic prints of John H. Surratt, John Wilkes Booth, and David E. Herold, 1865.

“O Captain! My Captain!”

Discover

The Sun Was Eaten: 6 Ways Cultures Have Explained Eclipses

Queen Elizabeth II addresses at opening of Parliament. (Date unknown on photo, but may be 1958, the first time the opening of Parliament was filmed.)

All 119 References in “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Explained

Artist interpretation of a Space meteoroid impact. Meteor impact. Asteroid, End of the world, danger, destruction, dinosaur extinct, Judgement Day, Planet Earth, Doomsday Predictions, comet

10 Failed Doomsday Predictions

Adolf Hitler (Nazi, nazism, German leader).

9 Things You Might Not Know About Adolf Hitler

Still from the film Deliverance, 1919. The story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan. View shows Keller in the cockpit/front seat of an airplane.

How Did Helen Keller Fly a Plane?

earthquake. Heavily damaged school in the town of Yingxiu after a major earthquake struck China's Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008.

The 6 Deadliest Earthquakes Since 1950

solar eclipse, sun, moon, astronomy, space

How Do You Tell the Difference Between Total, Annular, Solar, and Lunar Eclipses?

No sooner was he in office than Lincoln received word that the Sumter garrison, unless supplied or withdrawn, would shortly be starved out. Still, for about a month, Lincoln delayed acting. He was beset by contradictory advice. On the one hand, General Scott, Secretary of State William H. Seward, and others urged him to abandon the fort; and Seward, through a go-between, gave a group of Confederate commissioners to understand that the fort would in fact be abandoned. On the other hand, many Republicans insisted that any show of weakness would bring disaster to their party and to the Union. ...(100 of 9224 words)

Access the full article

Help support true facts by becoming a member.