Abraham Lincoln

What I find most fascinating about Lincoln is that he didn't receive a majority of the votes for the presidency. If it wasn't for the division in the Democratic Party, our arguably greatest president may never have been elected. Lincoln is a classic example of the old saying that tough times make great men. Even with Lincoln's election, by all rights he should have been one of our more obscure presidents; he had surrounded himself with potential political opponents, many of whom thought that they should be president. And yet, Lincoln went down in history as our greatest president. Despite his almost complete inexperience in the political theater, he acted with a decisive and forceful hand when dealing with the Secession. He refused to wait for Congress to declare war or not, and took the fight to the confederacy. Through his actions, Lincoln effectively retied the Union together, reestablishing the nation that we know today.