Lincoln: Divided We Stand

Abraham Lincoln's life before political stardom, from his frontier roots to his courtship of Mary Todd Lincoln, who pushed him to great political heights.

Lincoln showed how poignant oration, political savvy and moral conviction could help a lawyer from Illinois ascend from obscurity to the White House.

As Lincoln, the former one-term congressman, prepared to assume the presidency, the South severed itself from the United States.

When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, was his motive about moral integrity or military necessity for a struggling Union Army?

As the Civil War ended, Lincoln delivered the most iconic speech and piece of legislation of his career, but at great cost to his marriage and family.

After Lincoln's assassination, his wife and the country unraveled. The US was rife with racial conflict, and his death set the stage for Civil Rights struggles.