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Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) was the President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. This 1860 lithograph was completed during that year's presidential elections, in which Lincoln was the Republican candidate. Running against three other men while taking a moderate position regarding the practice of slavery, Lincoln swept the northern states and became president, but southern slave states declared their secession and formed the Confederacy. Over the remainder of his life President Lincoln used both military action and political means to reunite the nation and abolish slavery.
Lincoln has been consistently ranked as among the best American presidents, and his birthday on February 12 is a legal holiday in some states.Lithograph: Thomas Hicks (artist), Leopold Grozelier (lithography); restoration: Adam Cuerden