| Collection |
WSJHS |
| Description |
Portrait doll (hand made) of Abraham Lincoln, hand painted dark hair and painted facial hair, black felt suit with long jacket, white cotton shirt, ribbon tie, black satin vest, scarf- multi-colored (red, gold, blue, green) of woven fabric, shoes-painted black leather.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) also known as Honest Abe, the Rail-Splitter, or the Great Emancipator was the 16th president of the United States (1861-65), who preserved the Union during the American Civil War and brought about the emancipation of the slaves. By the time Lincoln began to be prominent in national politics, about 20 years after launching his legal career, Lincoln had made himself one of the most distinguished and successful lawyers in Illinois. He was noted not only for his shrewdness and practical common sense, which enabled him always to see to the heart of any legal case, but also for his invariable fairness and utter honesty. When Lincoln entered politics he most admired Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, and Lincoln associated himself with their party, the Whigs. As a Whig member, Lincoln served in the Illinois State Legislature (1834-40) and in the U.S. Congress (1847-49). In 1854 his political rival Stephen A. Douglas maneuvered through Congress the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which provoked violent opposition in Illinois and the other states of the old Northwest. It gave rise to the Republican Party, which Lincoln soon joined. Lincoln challenged the incumbent Douglas for the Senate seat in 1858, and the series of famous debates they engaged in throughout Illinois was political oratory of the highest order. In the end, Lincoln lost the election to Douglas. Lincoln had, nevertheless, gained national recognition and soon began to be mentioned as a presidential prospect for 1860. On May 18, 1860, Lincoln was nominated and although he received no votes from the Deep South and no more than 40 out of 100 in the country as a whole, the popular votes were so distributed that he won a clear and decisive majority in the Electoral College. After Lincoln's election and before his inauguration, the state of South Carolina proclaimed its withdrawal from the Union. To forestall similar action by other Southern states, the Crittenden Compromise was proposed. Lincoln advised Republicans in Congress to vote against it. Six additional states then seceded and, with South Carolina, combined to form the Confederate States of America. Thus, before Lincoln had even moved into the White House, a disunion crisis was upon the country. Unhampered by outworn military dogma, Lincoln could all the better apply his practical insight and common sense-some would say his military genius-to the winning of the Civil War. Yet, as president, Lincoln was at first reluctant to adopt an abolitionist policy. 'My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery." Meanwhile, in response to the rising antislavery sentiment, Lincoln came forth with the Emancipation proclamation. Furthermore, using his resources of patronage and persuasion upon certain of the Democrats, he managed to get the necessary two-thirds vote before the session's end in 1864 to pass the 13th amendment. During his presidency, the big issue was the "reconstruction" of the South. Lincoln proposed the 10% plan, which the radicals rejected and carried through Congress the Wade-Davis Bill. When Lincoln pocket-vetoed that bill, its authors published a "manifesto" denouncing him. His terms for peace satisfied neither the Confederate leaders nor the Radical Republicans, and so no peace was possible until the final defeat of the Confederacy. On the evening of April 14, 1865, 26-year-old John Wilkes Booth-a rabid advocate of slavery with ties to the South-shot Lincoln as he sat in Ford's Theatre in Washington. Early the next morning Lincoln died. Lincoln became a legend and a folk hero after his assassination, however, his reputation had begun to grow while he was still alive. In the midst of the Civil War, for instance, the Washington Chronicle found a resemblance between him and George Washington in their "sure judgment," "perfect balance of thoroughly sound faculties," and "great calmness of temper, great firmness of purpose, supreme moral principle, and intense patriotism." At Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Lincoln made the culminating, supreme statement, concluding with the words: …that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. |
| Object Name |
Dolls, portrait |
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