Abraham Lincoln, who was elected as the 16th President of the United States in 1860, worked to contain and eventually abolish slavery in the country. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, declaring all slaves in Confederate territory to be free, and later supported the passage of the 13th Amendment which officially ended slavery in the United States. Lincoln's efforts to contain slavery ultimately played a significant role in the Civil War and the eventual abolition of slavery in America.
