I have mixed feelings about Lincoln. I could write some papers on that, which would be very controversial in themselves. He was a true politician, and used the Emancipation Proclamation (which is a work of great poetry, and written from the heart) as a political move to try and save the north in the War, after receiving so many blows of defeat in the many battles. More than 600,000 Americans died in the NOT-SO "Civil War," which wasn't even a civil war by definition. Could you imagine the outrage if today's President waged such a war in the USA? Talk about some stress, and the guy was already suffering from depression.
BTW, today is also Charles Darwin's birthday.