VOA新闻杂志2023--Abraham Lincoln: Martyr

Abraham Lincoln: Martyr¹

VOA Learning English presents America's Presidents.

Today we are talking about Abraham Lincoln.

He was the 16th president of the United States. Many Americans consider him one of country's greatest leaders.

Yet people alive when Lincoln was elected in 1860 would probably be surprised by modern-day opinions about him. He had little formal education or government experience.

During the presidential campaign, critics made fun of his appearance and his simple way of talking. They warned that he was not very intelligent and would harm the nation's image.

Some of his opponents – especially in Southern states – had even bigger concerns. They were afraid Lincoln would use the power of the federal government to end slavery in their states.

They were right.

Early life

Abraham Lincoln was born in the frontier state of Kentucky. His family was very poor and had a simple home: a log cabin.

Lincoln had to support his parents and his sister by working, so he rarely went to school. Instead, he taught himself by reading books.

Eventually, he became a lawyer in the state of Illinois.

As a young man, Lincoln was known for several qualities. He was tall and thin. He was very strong – his neighbors remembered him cutting down trees. And he was honest. The people he defended in court called him "Honest Abe."

In time, Lincoln was elected to the Illinois General Assembly, the state's legislature. He also served one term as a congressman² in the U.S. House of Representatives.

But he was not popular there. Voters did not like his opposition³ to the country's war with Mexico.

So Lincoln withdrew from politics and turned his attention to his family. He had married a Southern belle⁴ named Mary Todd in 1842. They had four sons. But two died when they were very young.

Lincoln also developed his legal career representing railroad companies. Some people thought he might become the best railroad lawyer in the country. But that is not what happened.

Election of 1860

In the 1850s, Lincoln returned to national politics. The division over the issue of slavery was deepening. Lincoln was not an anti-slavery activist⁵, an abolitionist. But he did not support the country's policies on slavery.

Lincoln believed slavery violated the American Declaration of Independence, which said all men had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

To be clear, Lincoln did not believe that black people should have the same rights as white U.S. citizens. But he did not agree that one person should own other people, or profit from their work while they earned nothing and were held captive.

Lincoln decided⁶ to compete in elections for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He was chosen as the candidate of a new, anti-slavery party. Members called themselves Republicans.

During the election campaign, Lincoln famously discussed the issue of slavery in a series of debates with Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party's candidate.

Lincoln's words moved some voters. But they did not earn him enough votes to get elected.

So, while Douglas took the seat in the Senate, Lincoln prepared to run for president. Lincoln said that, if he were elected, he would not expand slavery to new territories in the country's west. But he promised not to interfere⁷ with slavery in the Southern states, where it already existed.

Voters in Southern, slave-holding states did not trust Lincoln. Not a single Southern state supported him in the election of 1860.

But he won anyway. The support of anti-slavery Northerners gave him the presidency⁸.

In answer, seven Southern states withdrew from the Union. Four more later joined them. These states formed a new government, called the Confederate States of America – or, the Confederacy.

Confederate officials chose their own president and wrote their own constitution, which permitted each state control over its own laws – especially laws that protected slavery. Confederate officials said they no longer recognized the power of the U.S. federal government, or its chief executive.

As that chief executive, Lincoln would have to decide what to do.

Civil War

President Lincoln's first test came a little more than a month after he was sworn-in.

The event involved Fort Sumter, a federal military base on an island off the coast of South Carolina. Soldiers on the base needed food. Lincoln said he would send some by ship.

But Confederate officials considered the fort part of South Carolina, which belonged to the Confederacy. They demanded that the Union soldiers leave the fort.

But Union forces and the U.S. president ignored the Confederates' demands.

As promised, Lincoln sent the supply ships. As expected, Confederate soldiers attacked. A day and a half later, the fort's Union soldiers surrendered.

The clash did not last long, and no one was killed in the fighting. But the battle at Fort Sumter marked the official beginning of hostilities⁹ between the Union and the Confederacy.

Lincoln immediately took action to answer the loss of Fort Sumter. He called on state militias¹⁰ for troops and asked for a special meeting of Congress.

The president was careful not to ask Congress to make an official declaration of war, in part because he did not want to recognize the Confederacy as a separate nation. Instead, he called the Southern states' opposition a rebellion.

However, the conflict between the Southern Confederacy and the Northern Union was a civil war.

Neither side expected the fighting to last very long – a few weeks or maybe months. Instead, the Civil War lasted four and a half years.

Most of the major battles took place near Washington, DC, in the states of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Soldiers and civilians¹¹ also clashed in the west, in Tennessee, as well as in the southern states of Mississippi, South Carolina, and Georgia.

But the war involved the entire country. At least 4 million men fought in it. Among the soldiers were African-American and Native-American men.

The conflict divided families. Brothers, fathers and sons fought against each other.

Women in both the North and South also supported the war effort. They cooked meals, made and repaired clothing for the troops, served as nurses and cared for the soldiers. Both white and African-American women also took over the work of men who had left to fight.

And more than 620,000 men died -- recent scholarship says as many as 750,000. The Civil War remains¹² the bloodiest¹³ war in American history.

And it changed the country. The war radically¹⁴ affected¹⁵ American politics, economics, and society.

Abraham Lincoln was the U.S. president through all of it.

Next week's article will discuss Lincoln's presidency and legacy¹⁶.

Words in This Story

formal - adj. received in a school

frontier - n. a distant area where few people live

cabin - n. a small, simple house made of wood

belle - n. a very attractive and popular girl or woman 

abolitionist - n. a person who wants to stop or abolish slavery

entire - adj. complete or full; not lacking or leaving out any part

nurse - n. a person who is trained to care for sick or injured people

1 martyr   

n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲

参考例句：

• The martyr laid down his life for the cause of national independence.这位烈士是为了民族独立的事业而献身的。
• The newspaper carried the martyr's photo framed in black.报上登载了框有黑边的烈士遗像。

2 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

3 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

4 belle   

n.靓女

参考例句：

• She was the belle of her Sunday School class.在主日学校她是她们班的班花。
• She was the belle of the ball.她是那个舞会中的美女。

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

8 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

9 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

10 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

11 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

12 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

13 bloodiest   

adj.血污的( bloody的最高级 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的

参考例句：

• The Russians were going to suffer their bloodiest defeat of all before Berlin. 俄国人在柏林城下要遭到他们的最惨重的失败。 来自辞典例句
• It was perhaps the bloodiest hour in the history of warfare. 这也许是战争史上血腥味最浓的1个小时。 来自互联网

14 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。

15 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

16 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。