Abraham Lincoln

Born: 12 February 1809, Hodgenville, Kentucky, US

Died: 15 April 1865 Petersen House, Washington, D.C., US

Biography: Abraham Lincoln rose to become the 16th President of the United States. He was a lawyer and politician, noted for his anti-slavery views. In the 1850s, as the influence of the slave states on the federal government grew stronger, Lincoln returned to politics, winning the 1860 Presidential election entirely on the strength of the free states. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the national government and modernized the economy. As the war ended, he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Washington DC. Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as one of the greatest U.S. presidents.