Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States. He served from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln successfully led the United States through its darkest hour … the American Civil War. In the end, Lincoln was able to preserve the Union and end slavery.

Prior to his election in 1860, as the first U.S. Republican president, Lincoln was a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, a member of the United States House of Representatives, and an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate twice.

Concerning slavery, Lincoln was forthright and open in his opposition to the expansion of slavery. This attitude earned him the Republican nomination in 1860; later that year he was elected president.