president abraham lincoln and the american civil war

The Complex Story of Abraham Lincoln and How He Saved the Union – M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

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The Complex Story of Abraham Lincoln

and How He Saved the Union.

Abraham Lincoln.

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. This week on our program, we remember President Abraham

Lincoln. This Thursday is the two hundredth anniversary of his birth.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Abraham Lincoln is the only president in American history to lead a nation divided by civil

war.



At the heart of the issues that divided the South from the North was slavery. Southern

states withdrew from the Union because they saw a threat to their way of life. Their

agricultural economy depended on the labor of slaves originally brought from Africa. The

states thought the federal government would free the slaves.

South Carolina was the first to leave. It did so shortly after Lincoln's election in November

of eighteen sixty. Six other states followed by the time he took office in March of eighteen

sixty-one. In his inaugural speech, Lincoln begged southern states not to leave the Union.

READER:

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have

strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

VOICE TWO:

Abraham Lincoln did not receive a majority of the popular vote in the eighteen sixty

election. But he won enough electoral votes to become president.

Lincoln fought to keep the Union together. He led a civil war in which more than six

hundred thousand Americans were killed. And, in leading that war, he took the first steps

that would destroy the institution of slavery.

(MUSIC: "Battle Hymn of the Republic")

VOICE ONE:

Most whites did not consider blacks -- or negroes, as they called them -- to be their equal.

Lincoln was no different. But he believed that slavery was wrong.

Yet he thought that slavery would die out naturally over time -- and that outsiders should

not force southerners to end slavery. He explained his position many times in speeches,

debates and letters, including this one written in eighteen fifty-eight:

READER:

I have made it equally plain that I think the negro is included in the word "men" used in

the Declaration of Independence.

I believe the declaration that "all men are created equal" is the great fundamental

principle upon which our free institutions rest; that negro slavery is violative of that

principle; but that, by our frame of government, that principle has not been made one of

legal obligation; that by our frame of government, the states which have slavery are to

retain it, or surrender it at their own pleasure; and that all others — individuals, free

states and national government — are constitutionally bound to leave them alone about

it.



VOICE TWO:

But Lincoln changed his mind. Some historians think the death of his eleven-year-old son

Willie had an influence. The president and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, had four children,

all sons. Three got sick and died. Only one lived past the age of eighteen.

Tom Schwartz is the Illinois state historian and an expert on Abraham Lincoln. He says the

president began to think seriously about the meaning of life after Willie died in eighteen

sixty-two. Lincoln never joined a church, but he believed in a supreme being who created

every person with a purpose in life.

After his son's death, Lincoln decided that one of his purposes was to be an emancipator -

- to begin the process of freeing the slaves. A few months later, he wrote the

Emancipation Proclamation.

VOICE ONE:

Many people think the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves. It did not. It only

declared slaves in the Confederacy to be free. In other words, only slaves in the southern

states that did not recognize Lincoln as president.

Lincoln read the first draft of the document to his cabinet in July of eighteen sixty-two,

five months after Willie's death.

A new stage play has been written about those five months in Lincoln's life. "The Heavens

Are Hung In Black" by James Still is the first play being presented in the newly

redecorated Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. That is the same theater where President

Lincoln was shot in eighteen sixty-five.

VOICE TWO:

Historians say that by writing the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln established a moral

purpose for the war. No longer was the purpose simply to bring the southern states back

into the Union. Now his declaration made freeing the slaves a long-term goal of the

conflict.

It put the Confederate states in the position of fighting for slavery -- even though most of

the soldiers were too poor to own slaves. And it increased the military strength of the

Union by making it possible for free blacks to serve in the northern army.

VOICE ONE:

Political opponents and the press criticized actions taken by President Lincoln.

The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees free speech and a free press. Yet

Lincoln briefly closed some newspapers.



Another action that he took was to suspend the right of habeas corpus. Habeas corpus is

a legal term for the right to have a judge decide if a person is being detained lawfully. The

request is made to the court in a written document called a writ.

The Constitution, in setting limits on Congress, says in Article One: "The privilege of the

Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or

Invasion the public Safety may require it."

VOICE TWO:

Suspending habeas corpus means that a prisoner can be held without trial for as long as

the government wants.

Abraham Lincoln or his cabinet officers suspended that right several times. They believed

they were acting within the Constitution.

VOICE ONE:

President Lincoln knew that he would be criticized for issuing such orders without waiting

for congressional approval. Yet he himself was not sure what powers he had in many

situations. American history could offer no guide. After all, the country had never before

had a civil war.

Lincoln made his orders temporary. And he made sure the country held its next

presidential election as planned in eighteen sixty-four, when he was re-elected.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Abraham Lincoln was born into a poor family in Kentucky. He grew up in Indiana and later

moved to Illinois. He loved to learn. He was a self-taught lawyer who served for eight

years as an Illinois state representative.

But he also suffered from depression all his life. Doctors at that time called it melancholia.

He wrote letters about killing himself and saying that he was the "most miserable man

alive."

Lincoln was a tall man with a long face, long arms and large hands. Political opponents

called him names like "gorilla." Many said he was unqualified to be president because of

his limited experience in national government. Lincoln had served only two years in

Congress before his election to the White House.



VOICE ONE:

Yet Abraham Lincoln is often called America's greatest president. He is remembered as

the man who saved the Union and re-invented it at the same time.

By including blacks, Lincoln expanded "the borders of freedom," says historian Tom

Schwartz. Lincoln himself said his purpose was to provide "an open field and a fair chance

in life." He succeeded in beginning that process, though black Americans did not gain full

civil rights until the nineteen sixties.

VOICE TWO:

Abraham Lincoln was the first presidential candidate of the modern Republican Party. He

included political opponents in his cabinet, which is unusual. Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote

about this in her two thousand five book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham

Lincoln."

But some historians suggest that the inclusion of opponents may not have been as smart

an idea as Lincoln had hoped. In fact, they say that in some cases it may have created

more problems than it solved.

VOICE ONE:

But Lincoln was the leading force behind the Thirteenth Amendment which officially

ended slavery in the United States. It became law in December of eighteen sixty-five.

By then, Lincoln was dead. On April fourteenth, eighty sixty-five, Southern sympathizer

and actor John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in Ford's Theatre. It happened five days after

the South surrendered and the Civil War ended.

VOICE TWO:

Not surprisingly, America's sixteenth president is a hero of another former Illinois

lawmaker. Barack Obama has spoken repeatedly of Lincoln's influence in making it

possible for the country to have its first African-American president.

President Obama will return to Illinois to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's two hundredth

birthday at a big dinner in Springfield this Thursday.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve

Ember.



VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Doug Johnson was our reader. Join us again next week for THIS IS

AMERICA in VOA Special English.

You can take the audio (mp3) from the next url, or, request it the teacher or from my

Personal Page.

http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/a-23-2009-02-07-voa5-

83140772/129577.html

«The English language is a work in progress. Have fun with it».

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Know the Project: Books of English, from English 1 to 5.

«I formulated a project for the CBTIS 107 of Tuxtepec, Oax., México consisting in

giving to the Library of this Institution with five volumes of English language, of

my authorship. A book for each semester, from the first English book up to fifth

English book (according to the plan of studies in this regard of the CBTIS). At no

cost to the Institution, because this is a donation (in the staff, I solve my expenses

of the project with income of my employment as a professor that I would be in

this CBTIS).

One of the major advantages of this project is to solve the need of the student of

spending in books of English language because the books will be at your complete

disposal into the student community in the Library of the institution.

Then, in an immediate subsequent phase of this project is that among the student

community of this CBTIS and all the CBTIS of the United Mexican States will

have these 5 volumes of English language by means of a page Google; read it,

without cost or restriction to the student.

Well, as a last note, I must say that these books will have the format of

'workbook'. This, as an intelligent work with foundations and then their

respective exercises to resolve, into a concurrent process».

M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz. Con título y cédula profesional 5632071 en la Maestría en Ciencias de la

Computación. Egresado del Instituto Tecnológico de Orizaba, Ver. (México).



Discover my Collection of Texts of the VOA Special English Program for you.

Visit my Personal Page. Excel Yourself.



Mi Diploma por mi Ponencia en el Instituto Politécnico Nacional,

México, D.F. 2007. Durante mis estudios de Maestría.



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president abraham lincoln and the american civil war

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