Torpe

outlaw slavery, and helping push through Congress the Thirteenth, which finally freed all the black slaves nationwide in December 1865. Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially theselection of top generals, including commanding general Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln brought leaders of various factions of his party into his cabinet and pressured them to cooperate. Under Lincoln'sleadership, the Union set up a naval blockade that shut down the South's normal trade, took control of the border slave states at the start of the war, gained control of communications with gunboats on thesouthern river systems, and tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. Each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another until finally Grant succeeded in 1865.An exceptionally astute politician deeply involved with power issues in each state, he reached out to War Democrats and managed his own re-election in the 1864 presidential election. As the leaderof the moderate faction of the Republican party, Lincoln found his policies and personality were "blasted from all sides": Radical Republicans demanded harsher treatment of the South, War Democratsdesired more compromise, Ccopperheads’ despised him, and irreconcilable secessionists plotted his death.[3] Politically, Lincoln fought back with patronage, by pitting his opponents against each other,and by appealing to the American people with his powers of oratory.[4] His Gettysburg Address of 1863 became the most quoted speech in American history.[5] It was an iconic statement of America'sdedication to the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. At the close of the war, Lincoln held a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to reunite the nationspeedily through a policy of generous reconciliation in the face of lingering and bitter divisiveness. Six days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee, however, Lincoln...