Abraham Lincoln can be considered one of the best American Presidents yet.
He was our president in a crucial part of American history, and saw us through it. He had a strong philosophy and interesting stand on slavery and on how he thought he should run the country. The cleaver was he presented his speeches held audiences' attention for his often-long speeches.
His philosophy of government was simply that he wanted to save the Union, although it was not as simple as the idea. Lincoln believed and proved to the world that democracy could be a lasting form of government. In doing this he needed to keep in mind the importance of his goal: saving the Union. Lincoln believed that the failure of the American nation would be a tragedy. Not only Americans, but ultimately all people, from every nation, would suffer. To him, the United States was an experiment in the people's ability to govern themselves. If it failed, monarchs, dictators, especially England and their supporters could say that people were not capable of ruling themselves, and that someone must rule them. "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." (The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume II, (August 1, 1858?) Lincoln held the fate of all democracies as the central issue of the Civil War.
Lincoln would do what he could to save the Union. If that meant freeing slaves he would free them but if it meant not freeing them then he would not free any slaves or if that meant freeing some and leaving others he would do that also. He knew that we would not survive as a country if half were slave state and half as free state. "A house divided against itself cannot stand - is one of his most memorable speeches because it demonstrates exactly what was the truth. He believe that there is no peaceful existence of slavery and that it would be a change for the better if we did away with slavery.
