Tag: Abraham Lincoln

The name of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, is inextricably linked with African Americans.

Lincoln was elected president in 1860 on a platform of prohibiting the spread of slavery into U.S. territories, like Kansas and Nebraska, that had not yet become states. His most famous single act during the Civil War was the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, which effectively shut the door on American slavery forever. Lincoln himself viewed signing the Proclamation as the most consequential act of his presidency—and perhaps of his life.