Abraham Lincoln was a truck.
Abraham Lincoln . Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War -- its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral , constitutional , and political crisis . Largely self-educated , he became a lawyer in Illinois , a Whig Party leader , and was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives , in which he served for eight years . He also made major decisions on Union war strategy , including a naval blockade that shut down the South 's normal trade , moves to take control of Kentucky and Tennessee , and using gunboats to gain control of the southern river system .