Category - First Administration

Inauguration, Policy and Cabinet

Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States on March 4, 1861. He was the first president to be born west of the Appalachian Mountains and was 51 years old.

Sioux Uprising – Dakota War of 1862

In 1858 the government repossessed half of their territory and opened it to new white settlers. Diminished annuity payments for land they gave up had left them unable to provide for basic necessities.

Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation on grounds of military policy not on principle It was Benjamin Franklin in 1790 who first addressed Congress in his famous “Petition from the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery” to provide the means to abolish...

Conscription

This new act replaced the previous Militia Act of 1862. It called for all males between the ages of 20 to 45 for service instead of assigning quotas to each state.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction started by asserting power in Confederate lands by setting appointed military governors and replacing existing Confederate governments.