When many Americans hear the name Abraham Lincoln, they see a savior and protector of the unity of the United States of America. They see him also as the steadfast liberator who freed the African Americans from the Confederacy and put an end to slavery as we know it. In addition he was also made a martyr to his cause, the very moment John Wilkes Booth pulled the trigger ending his life. All of these opinions and views are true, but was there more behind this famously revered man other than the manner of a cut and clear saint? Many others would argue that this is so. While most of these people do not go so radically as to outright name him a tyrant, but they do have a different feeling of Lincoln other than the saintly one.
While the American people in their patriotic mental capacities view Lincoln as a nurturing father to our country, others will simply point out that he was an opportunist. At the height of his political career, leading up to his election to the presidency, the hot topics of political debate were slavery and the threat of secession. Although losing a very close senatorial race to Stephen Douglas, his speech which included the phrase “A house divided amongst itself shall not stand” won him national attention. As the tensions between the North and South grew, more and more northerners began to fare towards the anti-slavery sentiment. In Lincoln's presidency race, he seized the opportunity to use that to his advantage.
On August 21, 1858, the first of the major debates between him and Douglas began, and so did Lincoln's steady stride for the White House. Fueled by the abolitionists as well as many other sects of the North that felt better represented by Lincoln, Lincoln soon secured his seat in the White House. This however would not be the end of his seemingly manipulative actions. On April 4 Lincoln took his oath of office, and less than seven days later delegates of the South met together and formed the C.S.A., or the Confederate States of America.
Lincoln was a man that felt it was definitely necessary to reunited the United States of America. To do this he would need to declare war on the Confederacy because it was clear the North was more powerful, but at the same time he could not come out of the situation as the aggressor, which would threaten to turn the border states over to the South. His prayers were answered when Fort Sumter in Southern Carolina came under siege. If Lincoln played this situation right, which he did, war would be made but at the same time it would not be the North's fault. Lincoln ordered a navy force to "aid" the distressed fort, and in retaliation to this action war was formally declared between the Confederacy and the Union.
All of this evidence of Lincoln's various manipulative prowess can however be used as well for those who call him a hero. True, he may have used his stance as an abolitionist to gain him votes, while some state that he was an outright racist, but even so it is likely that he did this because he knew he was the only man that could bring the Union back together. He was a very politically powerful man, and if there was one man that was capable of uniting the country again, he was certainly the one that could do such a thing. Lincoln saw that his beloved country was in danger, and in response he did everything he could to mend the fissure between the two sides. I believe that while Lincoln may have yearned for the presidency, as almost all men would, he was a righteous man who did what he saw was best for the nation, and not for himself. It is clear that he was a selfless man, who committed his life to being a servant of the people, and consequently faced a task no other president had or has ever faced, the splitting of the nation in two. As steward and protector it was his right to make things right again, and he accomplished just that in the end.
