Abraham Lincoln and Civil War - Essay Example

Lincoln was a very principled and serious lawyer who cared a lot about his country. He fought against politicians who were pro-slavery, but he was conflicted about the solution to this terrible problem. When he became president at first he didn’t believe the solution was to free all the slaves, nor did he think this was the most important issue in the Civil War between North and South. He saw too many shades of grey. But as the war progressed, he began to see that slavery was the main issue and he would have to do something about it.

I enjoyed the issue because it provided a lot of nuances to the character of Lincoln that I didn’t know about before. I thought Lincoln was just a painting in a museum; it was hard to get in his head and see how his thinking progressed and changed. The essay portrays Lincoln as a complex human being rather than a straightforward hero—and I think it is important for history to teach us that about our leaders.