1862.  The Preliminary                           1862.  Slavery abolished
Emancipation                                    in the District of
Proclamation, Sept. 22.                          Columbia, April 16.

1863.  The Final 1863.  Battle of
Emancipation Gettysburg, July 1-5. 
Proclamation,
Jan. 1.  The
Gettysburg Address,
Nov. 19.

1864.  Reelected to 1864.  Grant 1864.  Battles of the
the Presidency. appointed Wilderness, May 6-7. 
Lieutenant-General.

1865.  Inaugurated,                              1865.  Fall of Richmond,
Mar. 4.   Assassinated,                          April 3.   Surrender of
April 14; died April                            Lee, April 9.   Johnson
15; buried at                                   sworn in as President,
Springfield, May 4.                              April 15.

SELECTIONS FROM INAUGURALS, ADDRESSES AND LETTERS

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

LINCOLN’S INAUGURALS, ADDRESSES AND LETTERS

ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF SANGAMON COUNTY, MARCH 9, 1832

Fellow-citizens:  Having become a candidate for the honorable office of one of your representatives in the next General Assembly of this state, in accordance with an established custom and the principles of true republicanism, it becomes my duty to make known to you—­the people whom I propose to represent—­my sentiments with regard to local affairs.

Time and experience have verified to a demonstration, the public utility of internal improvements.  That the poorest and most thinly populated countries would be greatly benefited by the opening of good roads, and in the clearing of navigable streams within their limits, is what no person will deny.  But yet it is folly to undertake works of this or any other kind, without first knowing that we are able to finish them—­as half finished work generally proves to be labor lost.  There cannot justly be any objection to having railroads and canals, any more than to other good things, provided they cost nothing.  The only objection is to paying for them; and the objection to paying arises from the want of ability to pay.

With respect to the county of Sangamon, some more easy means of communication than we now possess, for the purpose of facilitating the task of exporting the surplus products of its fertile soil, and importing necessary articles from abroad, are indispensably necessary.  A meeting has been held of the citizens of Jacksonville, and the adjacent country, for the purpose of deliberating and enquiring into the expediency of constructing a railroad from some eligible point on the Illinois river, through the town of Jacksonville, in Morgan county, to the town of Springfield in Sangamon county.