Abraham Lincoln

             Abraham Lincoln agreed with other presidential candidates of his period; he felt that it was undignified to campaign actively. During his election campaign, he stayed quietly in Springfield for the most part. But his followers more than made up for his inactivity.
             It cannot be said that nothing happened during his campaign though. One very important thing happened between he and his biggest political rival, Stephen A. Douglas, shortly before his campaign started. The issue between them was slavery. Douglas believed in "popular sovereignty." He believed that the population of the new territories should vote on whether or not there should be slavery in their area, and he also believed that the territories were by nature unsuited to the slave economy, and that no legislative action was needed to keep slavery out. Lincoln disagreed with this belief. Lincoln insisted that "the territories must be kept free," he further said, because "new free states" were "places for poor people to go and better their condition." The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 were a series of debates in several places around the country, in which they both raced for a position in Congress. Although Lincoln failed to get the position, he gained sufficient popularity for the presidential candidacy in 1860.
             During his campaign, he was known as "the Railsplitter." This nickname, remembering the days in which Lincoln had split rails for fences, helped make him even better known to the delegates. Another nickname he was well known by was "Honest Abe." Lincoln made several important addresses at Cooper Union in New York City in early 1860. These addresses and others made in New England made a strong impression on many influential eastern Republicans.
             In the election of 1864, many people condemned Lincoln for supporting General Grant, dubbed "the butcher," who suffered thousands of casualties in the S...

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Abraham Lincoln. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 19:30, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/37840.html