USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In 1863, the task was to save the Union from a bloody and seemingly unending war. In 272 words, Lincoln gave purpose and meaning to the strife; he offered solace to a suffering nation and laid out a powerful vision of a future United States which could emerge from the conflict under a new birth of freedom.

Detailed explanation-2: -The “unfinished work” to which Lincoln refers, “the great task remaining before us, ” is to put into practice the proposition to which this nation was and is dedicated: that all men are created equal. Miraculous though it was, the Constitution had left that work unfinished.

Detailed explanation-3: -As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. Further, he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy.

Detailed explanation-4: -During the American Civil War, President Lincoln noted again and again that his purpose in fighting the South was to save the Union, not to free the slaves.

Detailed explanation-5: -Lincoln set a high standard for leadership in time of war. He called forth the resources of the nation, appointed the agents of victory, set the strategy, took the necessary steps to restrain those who would cooperate with the disunionists, and provided the rhetoric that stirred the people.