Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Two of Three].

Abraham Lincoln
- Martyr - [Part Two of Three].

I believe this Government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.
- Abraham Lincoln

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Two of Three].

VOA Learning English presents America’s Presidents.

Today we are continuing our story about Abraham Lincoln.

He led the United States during the Civil War, which lasted from 1861-1865. In
that conflict, the Southern Confederacy battled the Union – the states that
supported the federal government.

Southern states wanted to make their own laws, including those that protected
slavery. They were afraid that President Lincoln would use the power of the
federal government to ban slavery in their states, as well as in other areas.

So 11 Southern states withdrew from the rest of the country. They stopped
recognizing the power of the central government.

President Lincoln did not think states had the right to withdraw. He said he was
fighting to reunite the country.

But in time, he accepted that the Civil War would also be a fight to end slavery.

Commander-in-chief

Lincoln is known for several qualities as a wartime president. One was how he
led the military campaign.

As president, Lincoln worked with top military officials to create a plan. They
realized that the Union had more resources and more men who could fight than
the Confederate forces. So, they planned to surround the Southern states, cut off
their supplies, and prevent foreign powers from helping the Confederacy.

Lincoln hoped the Union’s generals could execute the plan quickly and end the
war as soon as possible.

But the generals were guarded. They did not want to harm their soldiers if they
did not have to. They also knew the Confederacy had a skilled commander in
General Robert E. Lee.

Troops under another Confederate general, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, also

defeated the Union army in several early battles.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Two of Three].

Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, on his horse Traveler is

surrounded by his officers. The tall man wearing cap on
horseback is Stonewall Jackson.

Lincoln was frustrated with the war effort. He wanted generals who would not
only win battles, but chase after the opposing forces and destroy them so they
could not fight again.

In one famous telegram, he wrote to his top general, George McClellan. Lincoln
said, “If General McClellan does not want to use the Army, I would like to
borrow it for a time…”

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Two of Three].

Lincoln and General McClellan on the Battlefield of

Antietam.

Finally, Lincoln replaced McClellan. Then he replaced McClellan’s

replacements.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Two of Three].

Executive power

Lincoln changed the presidency by being actively involved as a commander-in-

chief of the military. He also greatly expanded the powers of the chief executive.

Lincoln believed that, during war, the president had powers that were greater
than those of Congress and the Supreme Court. As a result, he took many
actions that critics – and even some supporters – considered illegal under the
U.S. Constitution.

For example, Lincoln spent millions of dollars in federal money without getting
permission from Congress. He also limited freedom of the press, restricted mail
service, and declared martial law in some places, even when the situation did
not require military action.

Most notably, Lincoln temporarily suspended the writ of habeas corpus. Habeas
corpus is an important right in the American legal tradition. It means that
people who are under arrest have the right to appear personally in court.

But, at some periods, Lincoln ignored that right.

He said the Confederacy’s “rebellion” justified his actions. And, he said,

extreme measures were necessary to re-unite the country.

Emancipation Proclamation

One of Lincoln’s most important legacies relates to slavery. The issue was at the
heart of the American Civil War.

For most of his career, Lincoln spoke against slavery. But he did not try to bar
the custom in states where it already existed. He agreed to leave slavery in the
South alone.

Lincoln also did not really believe in racial equality. And he worried that if
slavery ended in the United States, blacks and whites would not be able to live
peacefully together.

But as the war continued, Lincoln changed his mind about how to deal with the
issue.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Two of Three].

For one thing, anti-slavery activists were urging Lincoln to end slavery for
moral reasons.

Lincoln also considered tactical reasons -- those related to the war.

He saw that enslaved people in the South were escaping to join Union armies
in the North. Their actions helped the Union effort.

Lincoln also wanted to prevent England or France from helping the South. The
Southern states were important trading partners for Europe. But the English
and French people had rejected slavery. Lincoln hoped that if the Union also
rejected slavery, European countries would support the North – or at least not
support the South.

So Lincoln waited until the Union won a major battle in Antietam, Maryland.
Then he announced that he was using his power as a wartime president to order
the end of slavery in the Confederate states.

He produced a document called the Emancipation Proclamation. It said that

enslaved people in the rebelling states were “forever free.”

First reading of the Emancipation Proclamation before the

cabinet.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Two of Three].

Historians note that the act was important and revolutionary. But it was mostly
symbolic. The federal government was not able to enforce the order at the time.
And it did not deal with enslaved people in other areas.

But the Emancipation Proclamation was the beginning of the end of legal
slavery in the country. During the rest of his presidency, Lincoln worked in
support of an anti-slavery amendment to the Constitution. That amendment –
the Thirteenth – was approved in 1865. It officially outlawed slavery across the
country.

Next week we will finish the story of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the
editor.

You can take the audio (mp3) from my Personal Page, or the next url:

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/americas-presidents-abraham-
lincoln-part-2/3893816.html

Lazos Increíbles.

M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

The Books, and a Mexico with Competence of Integration in the World.

Visa & Passport of the 21st Century.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Two of Three].

Discover The VOA- ERD Collection for Your English.

Visit my Personal Page. Get ahead.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Two of Three].

Know the Project: Books of English, from English 1 to 5, for all

the CBTIS of the United Mexican States.

The Students can do the organization as they like it; but

absolutely, the Responses are written by hand, and the Works
are Presented by Groups with a Maximum of 5 persons.

«I formulated a project for the CBTIS (Technological Industrial and of Services Center of
Bachelor Degree) 107 of Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, México consisting in giving to the Library of this
Institution with five volumes of English language, of my authorship. A book for each semester,
from the first English book to fifth English book (according to the plan of studies in this regard
of the CBTIS). At no cost to the Institution, because this is a donation (in the staff, I solve my
expenses of the project with income of my employment as a professor that I would be in this
CBTIS).
One of the major advantages of this project is to solve the need of the student of
spending in books of English language because the books will be at your complete disposal into
the student community in the Library of the institution.
Afterward, in an immediate subsequent phase of this project is that among the student
community of this CBTIS and all the CBTIS of the United Mexican States will have these 5
volumes of English language by means of a page of Google; read it, neither cost nor restriction
to obtain them.
Well, as a last note, I must say that these books will have the format of 'workbook'.
This, as an intelligent work with foundations and then their respective exercises to resolve, into
a concurrent process».
M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.
The Books, and a Mexico with Competence of Integration in the World.
Visa & Passport of the 21st Century. - Lazos Increíbles.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Two of Three].

Links, for Your Preparation.

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