text: Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865.Lincoln led the Union through the American Civil War to defend the nation as a constitutional union and succeeded in defeating the insurgent Confederacy, abolishing slavery, expanding the power of the federal government, and modernizing the U.S.economy.Lincoln was born into poverty in a log cabin in Kentucky and was raised on the frontier, primarily in Indiana.He was self-educated and became a lawyer, Whig Party leader, Illinois state legislator, and U.S.congressman from Illinois.In 1849, he returned to his successful law practice in Springfield, Illinois.In 1854, he was angered by the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which opened the territories to slavery, causing him to re-enter politics.He soon became a leader of the new Republican Party.He reached a national audience in the 1858 Senate campaign debates against Stephen A.Douglas.Lincoln ran for president in 1860, sweeping the North to gain victory.Pro-slavery elements in the South viewed his election as a threat to slavery, and Southern states began seceding from the nation.During this time, the newly formed Confederate States of America began seizing federal military bases in the South.A little over one month after Lincoln assumed the presidency, Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, a U.S.fort in South Carolina.Following the bombardment, Lincoln mobilized forces to suppress the rebellion and restore the union.Lincoln, a moderate Republican, had to navigate a contentious array of factions with friends and opponents from both the Democratic and Republican parties.His allies, the War Democrats and the Radical Republicans, demanded harsh treatment of the Southern Confederates.