There was a politician named Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln ( [ ˈeɪbrəhæm_ˈlIŋkən ] February 12 , 1809 -- April 15 , 1865 ) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865 . 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 . Reentering politics in 1854 , he became a leader in building the new Republican Party , which had a statewide majority in Illinois . The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1 , 1863 . The term Reconstruction Era , in the context of the history of the United States , has two senses : the first covers the complete history of the entire country from 1865 to 1877 following the American Civil War ( 1861 to 1865 ) ; the second sense focuses on the attempted transformation of the Southern United States from 1863 to 1877 , as directed by Congress , with the reconstruction of state and society .