Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

Abraham Lincoln
- Martyr - [Part Three of Three]

« I am greatly obliged to you, and to all who have come forward [been willing] at the
call of their country». President Abraham Lincoln
«There's no one who I believe has ever captured the soul of America more
profoundly than Abraham Lincoln has». President Barack Obama

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

VOA Learning English presents America’s Presidents.

Today we will finish our story about Abraham Lincoln.

He led the United States during the Civil War. That conflict lasted from 1861 to
1865. In it, the southern states of the Confederacy battled the Northern states of
the Union.

As a wartime president, Lincoln was known for several things. He was actively
involved in plotting the military campaign. When Lincoln was unhappy with
the performance of his top generals, he dismissed them.

He also greatly increased the power of the presidency, even beyond what the
U.S. Constitution permitted.

And, Lincoln struck at the issue at the heart of the Civil War: slavery. He
ordered that enslaved people in the Confederate states be “forever free.”

His order is called the Emancipation Proclamation.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

Gettysburg

Seven months after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, the
Confederacy and the Union clashed in the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.

The army of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was on the offensive. Lee
planned to move the fighting out of the South and invade the North. He won a
major victory against Union forces at Chancellorsville, Virginia. Then he pushed
across Maryland and into Pennsylvania.

A Union army, led by General George Meade, met Lee’s troops near a small,
crossroads town called Gettysburg.

In the first days of July 1863 – a little more than two years after the start of the
Civil War – Confederate and Union troops each struggled to claim the territory.
Both sides suffered massive casualties.

But Lee believed Confederate troops were close to winning, and that Meade had
spread his soldiers thin. So, on the third day of fighting, he ordered a direct
attack on Union forces. Lee’s soldiers aimed at the center of the Union line,
positioned behind stone walls at the top of a ridge, or raised area.

Confederates first used cannons to fire artillery at the ridge.

Then about 15,000 Confederate soldiers began marching across more than a
kilometer of an open field. The Union soldiers behind the walls fired on them.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

The Confederate attack on Union forces on July 3, 1863 is

known as Pickett's Chrage. (Photo by Ron Cogswell)

At the same time, more Union forces attacked the Confederate soldiers on the
left and right.

In half an hour, three-quarters of the soldiers in the open field had been killed
or wounded.
Thousands more on each side also died.

The surviving Confederate forces quickly withdrew and waited for Meade to
attack again. But, much to Lincoln’s dissatisfaction, he did not.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

The following morning, Lee led the survivors back to Virginia. He left behind
28,000 soldiers dead, wounded or missing, more than one-third of his total
army.

The Union had suffered 23,000 casualties, almost as many.

Gettysburg Address

The Battle of Gettysburg is important in American history for several reasons.

One is the large number of killed and wounded soldiers – the largest until
World War II in the 20th century.

Another reason is because it was a turning point in the war. It ended Lee’s
invasion of the North and weakened his army permanently.

Over the same days, Union troops won another major victory under General
Ulysses S. Grant in the southern city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

The battles at Vicksburg and Gettysburg began to turn the conflict to the
Union’s favor.

Finally, the Battle of Gettysburg is almost always linked to a speech Lincoln

gave there, known as the Gettysburg Address. It is only about 270 words long.
But it is one of the most famous speeches in American history.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

Lincoln spoke at the opening of a cemetery for all the soldiers who had died at
Gettysburg. But he also used the event to speak to the entire country about the
war.

President Abraham Lincoln Writes «The Gettysburg Address».

He said the conflict was a test of whether the American form of government
could survive. That is, a “government of the people, by the people, for the
people.”

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

He also pointed to the Declaration of Independence as the country’s founding

document. He said the nation had been “conceived in liberty.” And, he said, it
was dedicated to the idea that “all men are created equal.”

Historians have noted that, in the speech, Lincoln changed the reasoning behind
the war effort. It continued to be a struggle to reunite the country. But after the
Gettysburg Address, it was also more clearly a struggle to free enslaved people.

Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse

In 1864, Lincoln won re-election to a second term as president. His new vice
president was Senator Andrew Johnson from the Southern state of Tennessee.

At the swearing-in ceremony, the president spoke about the need for the North
and South to come together again peacefully.

In that speech, his famous Second Inaugural, Lincoln called on all Americans to
finish the war. He urged them to care for the wounded, the wives and children
of soldiers killed in battle, and to seek a “just and lasting peace.”

Most importantly, Lincoln asked Americans to reunite “with malice toward

none, with charity for all.” In other words, with respect and kindness.
A few weeks later, the war effectively ended.

Lincoln’s military plan had worked. He had finally found two generals whom
he trusted: Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

Sherman led a campaign across the southern states. His path through Georgia,
from the city of Atlanta to the city of Savannah, was known as Sherman’s March
to the Sea. The march destroyed farms and houses along the way. The
destruction was terrible. It was also effective. The Confederate Army was left
with little food or communication.

At the same time, Grant surrounded Lee’s army in Virginia. Grant cut these
Southern troops off from supplies, too.

Lee realized he must surrender to Grant – although, he said, he “would rather

die a thousand deaths.”

The two men met on April 9, 1865 at a farmhouse in the town of Appomattox
Court House, Virginia. Lee famously wore his finest military uniform and
sword. Grant famously wore his fighting clothes, still marked with mud.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox

Court Hous. Reproduction of a painting by Thomas Nast.

Lee and Grant spoke briefly, then Grant wrote the terms of surrender. As
Lincoln had asked, the terms were respectful and generous. Lee’s officers were
free to keep their horses and their weapons, and the Union army would give the
Confederate soldiers food.

When some Union troops began to play a victory song, Grant told them to stop.
“The war is over,” he said. “The rebels are our countrymen again.”

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

Ford’s Theater

Five days after Lee surrendered, Lincoln and his wife Mary went to a theater in
Washington, DC.

To put it mildly, the last years had been very difficult for them. While Lincoln
was supervising the war effort, both his third and fourth son became sick with
typhoid. The younger boy recovered. The older did not. Willie Lincoln died in
the White House at age 11.

Mary and Abraham Lincoln were crushed. Mary Lincoln blamed herself; she
believed God was punishing her. In their own ways, the Lincolns continued to
mourn in the years after Willie's death.

At one point, Lincoln said he hoped he and Mary could feel happier. He urged
them to have some pleasant times together.

So, with the war coming to an end, they went to a light-hearted play at Ford’s
Theater. It was the night of Friday, April 14, 1865 – a day that Christians were
marking that year as Good Friday, the anniversary of Jesus’ death.

The theater was not far from the White House. The Lincolns had seats in a box
high above the stage.

Toward the end of the performance, a man entered their box and shot Abraham
Lincoln in the back of the head.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

The Assassination of President Lincoln.

Then the gunman jumped to the stage, breaking his leg as he landed. He called
out a Latin expression, “Sic semper Tyrranis!” It means “Thus always to
tyrants.”

Some observers say the man added, “The South is avenged.”

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

The gunman was a southerner named John Wilkes Booth. He had plotted to kill
the president after hearing Lincoln support voting rights for African-
Americans.

Booth briefly escaped, but was later captured and hanged.

Lincoln was taken to a nearby boardinghouse. He seemed lifeless and could

hardly breathe. Doctors examined him but found they could not save him.

Lincoln died the following morning. He was 56 years old.

The emotions of many Americans changed from joy at the coming end of the
Civil War to shock and mourning. Thousands lined up along railroad tracks as
Lincoln’s body made its way from Washington, DC to his home in Illinois.

Even many Southerners mourned Lincoln’s death. They understood that he

would treat them kindly when the country was reunited.

A little more than six weeks after Lincoln's assassination, the last Confederate
army surrendered, and the war was considered officially over.

The country was reunited and the process of legally freeing enslaved people
had begun.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC

Although these acts are tremendous parts of Lincoln’s legacy, in time his public
image would grow only larger and more celebrated. As one witness to Lincoln’s
death reportedly said, “Now he belongs to the ages.”

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the
editor.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

You can take the audio (mp3) from my Personal Page, or the next url:

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/americas-presidents-abraham-
lincoln-part-3/3898728.html

For Your English: https://mcenriqueruizdiaz.blogspot.mx/

Lazos Increíbles.

M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

The Books, and a Mexico with Competence of Integration in the World.
Visa & Passport of the 21st Century.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

Lincoln's Words at Gettysburg.

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln spoke at the dedication

ceremony for the National Cemetery of Gettysburg in the state of Pennsylvania.
The brief address, known as the Gettysburg Address, would be remembered as
one of the most important speeches in American history.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a
new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men
are created equal.

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any
nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great
battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a
final resting place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might
live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

"But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot

hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have
consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little
note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they
did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished
work for which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is
rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that
from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that
these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have
a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for
the people, shall not perish from the earth."

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

You can take the audio (mp3) from my Personal Page, or the next url:

http://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/gettysburg-
address/3348873.html?ltflags=mailer

For Your English: https://mcenriqueruizdiaz.blogspot.mx/

Lazos Increíbles.

M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

The Books, and a Mexico with Competence of Integration in the World.
Visa & Passport of the 21st Century.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

President Barack Obama:

Remember the spirit of Lincoln - Says the challenges
the country faces are new but not insurmountable
[insuperable].

Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States,

was born on August 4, 1961.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — President Barack Obama says the nation will weather its
current difficulties if Americans remember the spirit of President Abraham
Lincoln. He says the challenges are new but not insurmountable.

Obama spoke Thursday night at a celebration in Springfield, Ill., marking the

200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth. In his prepared remarks, he said Lincoln's
commitment to bringing the country together is what the nation should recall
decades later.

The country's first African-American president also said Lincoln's presidency,

which ended slavery, made his election possible.

Earlier Thursday at a ceremony in the stately Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol

marking the 16th president's 200th birthday, Obama said he felt "a special
gratitude" to the historical giant, who in many ways made his own story
possible.

As lawmakers and guests looked on, Obama recalled Lincoln's words in the
closing days of the Civil War, when the South's defeat was certain.

Lincoln "could have sought revenge," Obama said, but he insisted that no
Confederate troops be punished.

"All Lincoln wanted was for Confederate troops to go back home and return to
work on their farms and in their shops," Obama said. "That was the only way,
Lincoln knew, to repair the rifts that had torn this country apart. It was the only
way to begin the healing that our nation so desperately needed."

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

Source:

White House on Search NBCNews.com

http://www.nbcnews.com/

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/29159686/ns/politics-white_house/t/obama-
remember-spirit-lincoln/#.Wcv6p4_Wzcs

Lazos Increíbles.

M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.

The Books, and a Mexico with Competence of Integration in the World.
Visa & Passport of the 21st Century.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

Discover The VOA- ERD Collection for Your English.

Visit my Personal Page. Get ahead.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

Know the Project: Books of English, from English 1 to 5, for all the
CBTIS of the United Mexican States.

The Students can do the organization as they like it; but

absolutely, the Responses are written by hand, and the Works are
Presented by Groups with a Maximum of 5 persons.

«I formulated a project for the CBTIS (Technological Industrial and of Services Center
of Bachelor Degree) 107 of Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, México consisting in giving to the Library of this
Institution with five volumes of English language, of my authorship. A book for each semester,
from the first English book to fifth English book (according to the plan of studies in this regard
of the CBTIS). At no cost to the Institution, because this is a donation (in the staff, I solve my
expenses of the project with income of my employment as a professor that I would be in this
CBTIS).
One of the major advantages of this project is to solve the need of the student of
spending in books of English language because the books will be at your complete disposal
into the student community in the Library of the institution.
Afterward, in an immediate subsequent phase of this project is that among the student
community of this CBTIS and all the CBTIS of the United Mexican States will have these 5
volumes of English language by means of a page of Google; read it, neither cost nor restriction
to obtain them.
Well, as a last note, I must say that these books will have the format of 'workbook'.
This, as an intelligent work with foundations and then their respective exercises to resolve,
into a concurrent process». M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.
The Books, and a Mexico with Competence of Integration in the World.
Visa & Passport of the 21st Century. - Lazos Increíbles.

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 Abraham Lincoln - Martyr - [Part Three of Three].

Links, for Your Preparation.

«Build your own library of important books in your field. Never be cheap
about your education». Brian Tracy.
«Leaders set standards of excellence for everyone who reports to them».
Brian Tracy.
«In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not
willingly be responsible through time and eternity». President Abraham
Lincoln
«For the fullness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the
God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved».
The Book of Mormon. 1 Nefi 6:4.

Visit: https://sites.google.com/site/mcenriqueruizdiaz/
Also: https://sites.google.com/site/mccenriqueruizdiaz/
And: https://mcenriqueruizdiaz.blogspot.mx/
Get Instruments for your Training.

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