Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the country through the Civil War, issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 to free slaves in Confederate states. Lincoln worked diligently to rise from humble beginnings on a Kentucky farm through various jobs including store clerk and lawyer before entering politics in Illinois. As President, he preserved the Union and worked to end slavery, giving his famous Gettysburg Address in 1863. Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, just after the Confederacy surrendered.