The hotly contested question “Who was America’s greatest president?” is bound to encourage heated debate, fiery arguments, and differing opinions. However, time and time again, Americans choose one president as one of the most brilliant, eloquent, and respected Americans of all time—Abraham Lincoln.
It is no secret that people like to root for the underdog—the person, team, or organization who pulls off a David-over-Goliath victory over an opponent more powerful, recognized, and well-financed. Abraham Lincoln represents one of America’s first underdogs. Born in a now-iconized one-room log cabin in Kentucky, Lincoln found himself and his family constantly moving due to financial hardships and land disputes. Growing up, Lincoln self-educated himself in the midst of his mother’s death, constant moves, and obligatory work as the eldest son. Despite his lack of formal education and experience, Lincoln turned to politics at an early age when he began his first campaign for the Illinois General Assembly, and after several failures, he was elected in 1834. From thence forward, his political career continued to grow despite his lack of mass recognition as he was elected into the U.S. House of Representatives and eventually the White House. Regardless of his lackluster background, relative inexperience, and multiple failures, Lincoln’s diligence and perseverance proved to be all he needed to propel himself into the White House to lead his country through the American Civil War.
As heart-warming as his rags-to-riches story is, Lincoln’s claim to fame lies in his handling of the American Civil War. Lincoln stepped into office knowing that South Carolina had already seceded and that several states had threatened to secede from the Union. Although he handled every decision made in that tumultuous and tense period with political prowess and virtuous sensitivity, the volatile situation was simply a gunpowder keg ready to be ignited, and on April 12, 1861, that keg was ignited when Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter and effectively began the conflict that pitted brother against brother and killed more Americans than any other war in its history. Although his wartime strategy faced criticism at the time for failing to quickly end the war, historians and Americans today applaud his leadership, patriotism, and courage for trying his utmost to lead the nation with sympathy and compassion, understand the plight of every widow and orphan victimized by war, and patiently wait for the prodigal son—the South—to return.
Whether as an impoverished settler, a little-known senator, or the president of a nation divided, Abraham Lincoln consistently exemplified courage, patriotism, diligence, perseverance, and virtue. Although Lincoln himself could not have imagined the longevity and magnitude of his legacy, his loyalty and love of the United States of America have cemented his place as one of the country’s most beloved Americans. After all, why else would his face be chiseled into Mount Rushmore, minted on the penny, and memorialized in the Lincoln Memorial?