Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States, was born near Hodgenville, Kentucky on February 12, 1809. On November 6, 1860, Lincoln won the presidential election without the support of a single Southern state. Talk of secession, bandied about since the 1830s, took on a serious new tone. The Civil War was not entirely caused by Lincoln’s election, but the election was one of the primary reasons the war broke out the following year (CONT) Featured Experts In Order of Appearance 4:32 - Thomas J. DiLorenzo is professor of economics at Loyola University Maryland and the author of "The Real Lincoln" 25:53 - Frank J. Williams is the retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island and is one of the country’s most renowned experts on Abraham Lincoln 37:28 - Chris Duane is Founder of Silver Shield Exchange & Sons of Liberty Academy 46:46 - Samuel Wheeler is Research Historian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum in Springfield, Illinois 59:37 - Lew Rockwell is Founder and Chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute 1:05:23 - Roger Stone is an Author, Political Strategist & Presidential Historian PART II 1:13:44 - Astrologer Constance Stellas 1:23:38 - Psychic Medium Kerrie O’Connor 1:30:00 - Psychic Empath Lisa Caza ========================================== (CONT) Lincoln’s decision to fight rather than to let the Southern states secede was not based on his feelings towards slavery. Rather, he felt it was his sacred duty as President of the United States to preserve the Union at all costs. His first inaugural address was an appeal to the rebellious states, seven of which had already seceded, to rejoin the nation. His first draft of the speech ended with an ominous message: "Shall it be peace, or the sword?" The Civil War with the opening bombardment of Fort Sumter, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861. Lincoln forced the Confederate hand with his decision to resupply the fort, which had suddenly become an outpost in a hostile nation. The Southern navy turned away the supply convoy and then fired the first shot of the war at Fort Sumter, forcing the Federal defenders to surrender after a 34-hour battle. Throughout the war Lincoln did not issue his famous Emancipation Proclamation until January 1, 1863 after the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam. The Emancipation Proclamation, which was legally based on the President’s right to seize the property of those in rebellion against the State, only freed slaves in Southern states where Lincoln’s forces had no control. Nevertheless, it changed the tenor of the war, making it, from the Northern point of view, a fight both to preserve the Union and to end slavery. On April 14, 1865, while attending a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., Abraham Lincoln was shot by Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth.