Vast Selection of Royalty Free Images and Historical Information

Title: One of the last photographs of Lincoln

Description: One of the last photographs of Lincoln, taken in Washington, D.C, by Alexander Gardner (October 17, 1821-December 10, 1882) on Monday, April 10, 1865; the previous day, Lincoln returned from City Point, Virginia, meeting with Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (Hiran Ulysses Simpson Grant; April 27, 1822-July 23, 1885), his general-in-chief in the American Civil War (1861-1865) as prospects looked good for beating the Confederacy and preserving the Union; aboard the River Queen boat returning to Washington, Lincoln read aloud from Macbeth by British playwright William Shakespeare (April 26, 1564-April 23, 1616), especially the section in which there is an assassination and Macbeth becomes king; the photograph was taken four days before Lincoln's own assassination.

Study Application Notes: Abraham Lincoln ("Honest Abe," "The Rail Splitter," "The Great Emancipator"), born February 25, 1809 in a log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky, died April 15, 1865 in Washington, D.C.; sixteenth President of the U.S. (1861-1865); Lincoln was self-taught, moving at age twenty-two to Illinois in 1831, working on a flatboat, then later as a rail-splitter and store clerk, until moving to Springfield, Illinois to work as a lawyer in 1837; he served four terms as a state representative from Sangamon County, Illinois as a Whig; he married Mary Todd (Mary Anne Todd; December 13, 1818-July 16, 1882) in 1842, a union that produced four sons: Robert Todd Lincoln (August 1, 1843-July 26, 1926); Edward "Eddie" Baker Lincoln (March 10, 1846-February 1, 1850); William "Willie" Wallace Lincoln (December 21, 1850-February 20, 1862); and Thomas "Tad" Lincoln (April 4, 1853-July 16, 1871);

Background Information: Lincoln was narrowly elected the sixteenth President of the U.S. in 1860 as a Republican. He worked hard to preserve the Union, though eleven southern States had seceded and a Civil War ensued; his Emancipation Proclamation, announced on September 22, 1862 and put into effect on January 1, 1863, essentially freed the slaves and, with his Gettysburg Address, are some of the greatest documents ever produced by an American President; Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. shot by American stage actor John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838-April 26, 1865) and died the next day; Lincoln is buried in the Lincoln Tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois; several films profile Lincoln, the most notable being Abraham Lincoln (1930), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), and Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940);

Category: Political Figures

Topic: U.S. Presidents

Subject: Abraham Lincoln

Keywords: Abraham Lincoln Collection, abolitionists, American Civil War (1861-1865), anti-slavery, assassinations, attorneys, Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg Address, Illinois, Illinois Legislators, Kentucky, lawyers, politicians, presidential debates, presidents of the U.S., rail-splitters, slavery, Springfield, Illinois, U.S. Congress, U.S. Presidents, U.S. Senate, Whig political party.