Our sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, is often regarded as one of the best leaders ever to govern our great nation. Lincoln was born dirt poor in a log cabin in rural Kentucky. His whole family was illiterate, therefore he taught himself how to read and write from household materials such as the bible. Abraham Lincoln's admirable role in freeing the slaves, his painstaking struggle to keep the union from falling apart, and Lincoln's valiant effort as Commander in Chief led to him being an influential person. Abraham Lincoln faced much opposition on the topic regarding the issue of slavery. He had to deal with the southern states, which threatened to secede if the president did anything about slavery. But "Lincoln proved himself a masterful statesman, carefully maneuvering to take advantage of radical pressure to move forward and conservative entreaties to hold back" (Lincoln). When abolition supporters urged Lincoln to free the slaves, he wanted to proceed with caution. .
On March 13, 1862 the federal government forbade all union officers to return slaves that had escaped their owners and fled to the north. This action in effect annulled the fugitive slave laws. The fugitive slave laws stated that if a runaway slave is captured he or she must be returned to his or her slaveholder. This further strained the tensions between the north and the south. This was a good step toward the freeing of the slaves. Still, Lincoln was skeptical in freeing all of the slaves at once. That is why on June 19, 1862, Congress enacted a measure prohibiting slavery in United States territories. This decision defied the Dred Scott decision, which ruled that congress was powerless to regulate slavery in its territories. Finally, the first day in January, 1863 would go down as one of the most historic days in American history. On this day Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which states, "All persons held as slaves within any state, designated part of a state the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall then, thenceforward and forever free" (Emancipation).
