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Alabama | Industry | Industry
Alabama's industrial outputs include iron and steel products (including cast-iron and steel pipe); paper, lumber, and wood products; mining (mostly coal); plastic products; cars and trucks; and apparel. In addition, Alabama produces aerospace and electronic products, mostly in the Huntsville area, the location of NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center and the U.S. Army Materiel Command, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal.
thumb|Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Tuscaloosa County was the first automotive facility to locate within the state.
A great deal of Alabama's economic growth since the 1990s has been due to the state's expanding automotive manufacturing industry. Located in the state are Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, as well as their various suppliers. Since 1993, the automobile industry has generated more than 67,800 new jobs in the state. Alabama currently ranks 4th in the nation for vehicle exports.
Automakers accounted for approximately a third of the industrial expansion in the state in 2012. The eight models produced at the state's auto factories totaled combined sales of 74,335 vehicles for 2012. The strongest model sales during this period were the Hyundai Elantra compact car, the Mercedes-Benz GL-Class sport utility vehicle and the Honda Ridgeline sport utility truck.
thumb|left|Airbus Mobile Engineering Center at the Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile
Steel producers Outokumpu, Nucor, SSAB, ThyssenKrupp, and U.S. Steel have facilities in Alabama and employ more than 10,000 people. In May 2007, German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp selected Calvert in Mobile County for a 4.65billion combined stainless and carbon steel processing facility. ThyssenKrupp's stainless steel division, Inoxum, including the stainless portion of the Calvert plant, was sold to Finnish stainless steel company Outokumpu in 2012. The remaining portion of the ThyssenKrupp plant had final bids submitted by ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel for $1.6billion in March 2013. Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional submitted a combined bid for the mill at Calvert, plus a majority stake in the ThyssenKrupp mill in Brazil, for $3.8billion. In July 2013, the plant was sold to ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel.
The Hunt Refining Company, a subsidiary of Hunt Consolidated, Inc., is based in Tuscaloosa and operates a refinery there. The company also operates terminals in Mobile, Melvin, and Moundville."Hunt Refining Company ". Linkedin. JVC America, Inc. operates an optical disc replication and packaging plant in Tuscaloosa."Company Overview". JVC America, Inc.
The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company operates a large plant in Gadsden which employs about 1,400 people. It has been in operation since 1929.
Construction of an Airbus A320 family aircraft assembly plant in Mobile was formally announced by Airbus CEO Fabrice Brégier from the Mobile Convention Center on July 2, 2012. The plans include a $600million factory at the Brookley Aeroplex for the assembly of the A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. Construction began in 2013, with plans for it to become operable by 2015 and produce up to 50 aircraft per year by 2017.b The assembly plant is the company's first factory to be built within the United States. It was announced on February 1, 2013, that Airbus had hired Alabama-based Hoar Construction to oversee construction of the facility. The factory officially opened on September 14, 2015, covering one million square feet on 53 acres of flat grassland. |
Alabama | Tourism and entertainment | Tourism and entertainment
thumb|Alabama's beaches are one of the state's major tourist destinations.
According to Business Insider, Alabama ranked 14th in most popular states to visit in 2014. An estimated 26 million tourists visited the state in 2017 and spent $14.3 billion, providing directly or indirectly 186,900 jobs in the state, which includes 362,000 International tourists spending $589 million.
The state is home to various attractions, natural features, parks and events that attract visitors from around the globe, notably the annual Hangout Music Festival, held on the public beaches of Gulf Shores; the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, one of the ten largest Shakespeare festivals in the world; the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, a collection of championship caliber golf courses distributed across the state; casinos such as Victoryland; amusement parks such as Alabama Splash Adventure; the Riverchase Galleria, one of the largest shopping centers in the southeast; Guntersville Lake, voted the best lake in Alabama by Southern Living Magazine readers; and the Alabama Museum of Natural History, the oldest museum in the state.
thumb|left|upright|Mobile is the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the U.S.
Mobile is known for having the oldest organized Mardi Gras celebration in the United States, beginning in 1703. It was also host to the first formally organized Mardi Gras parade in the U.S. in 1830, a tradition that continues to this day. Mardi Gras is an official state holiday in Mobile and Baldwin counties.
In 2018, Mobile's Mardi Gras parade was the state's top event, producing the most tourists with an attendance of 892,811. The top attraction was the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville with an attendance of 849,981, followed by the Birmingham Zoo with 543,090. Of the parks and natural destinations, Alabama's Gulf Coast topped the list with 6,700,000 visitors.
Alabama has historically been a popular region for film shoots due to its diverse landscapes and contrast of environments. Movies filmed in Alabama include Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Get Out, 42, Selma, Big Fish, The Final Destination, Due Date, and Need for Speed. |
Alabama | Healthcare | Healthcare
UAB Hospital, USA Health University Hospital, Huntsville Hospital, and Children's Hospital of Alabama are the only LevelI trauma centers in Alabama. UAB is the largest state government employer in Alabama, with a workforce of about 18,000. A 2017 study found that Alabama had the least competitive health insurance market in the country, with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama having a market share of 84% followed by UnitedHealth Group at 7%. |
Alabama | Banking | Banking
thumb|Regions-Harbert Plaza, Regions Center, and Wells Fargo Tower in Birmingham's financial district
Regions Financial Corporation is the largest bank headquartered in or operating in Alabama. PNC Financial Services and Wells Fargo also have a major presence in Alabama.
Wells Fargo has a regional headquarters, an operations center campus, and a $400million data center in Birmingham. Many smaller banks are also headquartered in the Birmingham area, including ServisFirst and New South Federal Savings Bank. Birmingham also serves as the headquarters for several large investment management companies, including Harbert Management Corporation. |
Alabama | Electronics and communications | Electronics and communications
Telecommunications provider AT&T, formerly BellSouth, has a major presence in Alabama with several large offices in Birmingham.
Many technology companies are headquartered in Huntsville, such as ADTRAN, a network access company; Intergraph, a computer graphics company; and Avocent, an IT infrastructure company. |
Alabama | Construction | Construction
Brasfield & Gorrie, BE&K, Hoar Construction, and B.L. Harbert International, based in Alabama and subsidiaries of URS Corporation, are all routinely are included in the Engineering News-Record lists of top design, international construction, and engineering firms. |
Alabama | Law and government | Law and government |
Alabama | State government | State government
thumb|The State Capitol Building in Montgomery, completed in 1851
The foundational document for Alabama's government is the Alabama Constitution, the current one having been adopted in 2022. The former Alabama constitution adopted in 1901 was, with over 850 amendments and almost 87,000 words, by some accounts the world's longest constitution and roughly forty times the length of the United States Constitution.Tim Lockette, Is the Alabama Constitution the longest constitution in the world?Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 , Anniston Star.Campbell Robertson, Alabama Simmers Before Vote on Its Constitution's Racist Language , New York Times, October 10, 2012.
There has been a significant movement to rewrite and modernize Alabama's constitution. Critics have argued that Alabama's constitution maintains highly centralized power with the state legislature, leaving practically no power in local hands. Most counties do not have home rule. Any policy changes proposed in different areas of the state must be approved by the entire Alabama legislature and, frequently, by state referendum. The former constitution was particularly criticized for its complexity and length intentionally codifying segregation and racism.
thumb|The Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building in Montgomery. It houses the Supreme Court of Alabama, Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, and Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.
Alabama's government is divided into three coequal branches. The legislative branch is the Alabama Legislature, a bicameral assembly composed of the Alabama House of Representatives, with 105 members, and the Alabama Senate, with 35 members. The Legislature is responsible for writing, debating, passing, or defeating state legislation. The Republican Party currently holds a majority in both houses of the Legislature. The Legislature has the power to override a gubernatorial veto by a simple majority (most state Legislatures require a two-thirds majority to override a veto).
Until 1964, the state elected state senators on a geographic basis by county, with one per county. It had not redistricted congressional districts since passage of its constitution in 1901; as a result, urbanized areas were grossly underrepresented. It had not changed legislative districts to reflect the decennial censuses, either. In Reynolds v. Sims (1964), the U.S. Supreme Court implemented the principle of "one man, one vote", ruling that congressional districts had to be reapportioned based on censuses (as the state already included in its constitution but had not implemented.) Further, the court ruled that both houses of bicameral state legislatures had to be apportioned by population, as there was no constitutional basis for states to have geographically based systems.
At that time, Alabama and many other states had to change their legislative districting, as many across the country had systems that underrepresented urban areas and districts. This had caused decades of underinvestment in such areas. For instance, Birmingham and Jefferson County taxes had supplied one-third of the state budget, but Jefferson County received only 1/67th of state services in funding. Through the legislative delegations, the Alabama legislature kept control of county governments.
thumb|Republican Kay Ivey is the governor of Alabama as of 2024.
The executive branch is responsible for the execution and oversight of laws. It is headed by the governor of Alabama. Other members of the executive branch include the cabinet, the lieutenant governor of Alabama, the Attorney General of Alabama, the Alabama Secretary of State, the Alabama State Treasurer, and the State Auditor of Alabama. The current governor is Republican Kay Ivey.
The members of the Legislature take office immediately after the November elections. Statewide officials, such as the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and other constitutional officers, take office the following January.
The judiciary is responsible for interpreting the Constitution of Alabama and applying the law in state criminal and civil cases. The state's highest court is the Supreme Court of Alabama. Alabama uses partisan elections to select judges. Since the 1980s judicial campaigns have become increasingly politicized.Judicial Selection in the States: Alabama , American Judicature Society. The current chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court is Republican Tom Parker. All sitting justices on the Alabama Supreme Court are members of the Republican Party. There are two intermediate appellate courts, the Court of Civil Appeals and the Court of Criminal Appeals, and four trial courts: the circuit court (trial court of general jurisdiction), and the district, probate, and municipal courts.
Alabama has the death penalty with authorized methods of execution that include the electric chair and the gas chamber. Some critics believe the election of judges has contributed to an exceedingly high rate of executions.[ Alabama has the highest per capita death penalty rate in the country. In some years, it imposes more death sentences than does Texas, a state which has a population five times larger. However, executions per capita are significantly higher in Texas. Some of its cases have been highly controversial; the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned 24 convictions in death penalty cases. It was the only state to allow judges to override jury decisions in whether or not to use a death sentence; in 10 cases judges overturned sentences of life imprisonment without parole that were voted unanimously by juries. This judicial authority was removed in April 2017.
On May 14, 2019, Alabama passed the Human Life Protection Act, banning abortion at any stage of pregnancy unless there is a "serious health risk", with no exceptions for rape and incest. The law subjects doctors who perform abortions with 10 to 99 years imprisonment. The law was originally supposed to take effect the following November, but on October 29, 2019, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson blocked the law from taking effect due to it being in conflict with the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. On June 24, 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Judge Thompson lifted the injunction, allowing the law to go into effect.
Alabama is one of the few states that does not allow the creation of state lotteries.Alabama Law, Article IV, §65 |
Alabama | Taxes | Taxes
Taxes are collected by the Alabama Department of Revenue. Alabama levies a 2%, 4%, or5% personal income tax, depending on the amount earned and filing status. Taxpayers are allowed to deduct their federal income tax from their Alabama state tax, even if taking the standard deduction; those who itemize can also deduct FICA (the Social Security and Medicare tax).
The state's general sales tax rate is 4%. Sales tax rates for cities and counties are also added to purchases. For example, the total sales tax rate in Mobile County, Alabama is 10% and there is an additional restaurant tax of 1%, which means a diner in Mobile County, Alabama would pay an 11% tax on a meal.
In 2020, sales and excise taxes in Alabama accounted for 38% of all state and local revenue. Only Alabama, Mississippi, and South Dakota tax groceries at the full state sales tax rate.
The corporate income tax rate in Alabama is 6.5%. The overall federal, state, and local tax burden in Alabama ranks the state as the second least tax-burdened state in the country. Property taxes of .40% of assessed value per year, are the second-lowest in the U.S., after Hawaii. The state constitution currently requires a voter referendum to raise property taxes.
Historically, an Alabama excise tax "on the storage, use or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased at retail for storage, use or other consumption in this state" was the focus of a 1941 U S Supreme Court ruling, Curry v United States. |
Alabama | County and local governments | County and local governments
Alabama has 67 counties. Each county has its own elected legislative branch, usually called the county commission. It also has limited executive authority in the county. Because of the constraints of the Alabama Constitution, which centralizes power in the state legislature, only seven counties (Jefferson, Lee, Mobile, Madison, Montgomery, Shelby, and Tuscaloosa) in the state have limited home rule. Instead, most counties in the state must lobby the Local Legislation Committee of the state legislature to get simple local policies approved, ranging from waste disposal to land use zoning.
The state legislature has retained power over local governments by refusing to pass a constitutional amendment establishing home rule for counties, as recommended by the 1973 Alabama Constitutional Commission. Legislative delegations retain certain powers over each county. United States Supreme Court decisions in Baker v. Carr (1964) required that both houses have districts established on the basis of population, and redistricted after each census, to implement the principle of "one man, one vote". Before that, each county was represented by one state senator, leading to under-representation in the state senate for more urbanized, populous counties. The rural bias of the state legislature, which had also failed to redistrict seats in the state house, affected politics well into the 20th century, failing to recognize the rise of industrial cities and urbanized areas.
"The lack of home rule for counties in Alabama has resulted in the proliferation of local legislation permitting counties to do things not authorized by the state constitution. Alabama's constitution has been amended more than 700 times, and almost one-third of the amendments are local in nature, applying to only one county or city. A significant part of each legislative session is spent on local legislation, taking away time and attention of legislators from issues of statewide importance."
Alabama is an alcoholic beverage control state, meaning the state government holds a monopoly on the sale of alcohol. The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board controls the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages in the state. A total of 25 of the 67 counties are "dry counties" which ban the sale of alcohol, and there are many dry municipalities in counties which permit alcohol sales.
Rank County Population(2019 Estimate) Population(2010 Census) Seat Largest city+ Largest counties in Alabama by population 1 Jefferson 658,573 658,158 Birmingham Birmingham 2 Mobile 413,210 412,992 Mobile Mobile 3 Madison 372,909 334,811 Huntsville Huntsville 4 Montgomery 226,486 229,363 Montgomery Montgomery 5 Shelby 217,702 195,085 Columbiana Hoover (part)Alabaster 6 Baldwin 223,234 182,265 Bay Minette Daphne 7 Tuscaloosa 209,355 194,656 Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa 8 Lee 164,542 140,247 Opelika Auburn 9 Morgan 119,679 119,490 Decatur Decatur 10 Calhoun 113,605 118,572 Anniston Anniston 11 Houston 105,882 101,547 Dothan Dothan 12 Etowah 102,268 104,303 Gadsden Gadsden 13 Limestone 98,915 82,782 Athens Athens 14 Marshall 96,774 93,019 Guntersville Albertville 15 Lauderdale 92,729 92,709 Florence Florence |
Alabama | Politics | Politics
During Reconstruction following the American Civil War, Alabama was occupied by federal troops of the Third Military District under General John Pope. In 1874, the political coalition of white Democrats known as the Redeemers took control of the state government from the Republicans, in part by suppressing the black vote through violence, fraud, and intimidation. After 1890, a coalition of White Democratic politicians passed laws to segregate and disenfranchise African American residents, a process completed in provisions of the 1901 constitution. Provisions which disenfranchised blacks resulted in excluding many poor Whites. By 1941 more Whites than Blacks had been disenfranchised: 600,000 to 520,000. The total effects were greater on the black community, as almost all its citizens were disfranchised and relegated to separate and unequal treatment under the law.
From 1901 through the 1960s, the state did not redraw election districts as population grew and shifted within the state during urbanization and industrialization of certain areas. As counties were the basis of election districts, the result was a rural minority that dominated state politics through nearly three-quarters of the century, until a series of federal court cases required redistricting in 1972 to meet equal representation. Alabama state politics gained nationwide and international attention in the 1950s and 1960s during the civil rights movement, when whites bureaucratically, and at times violently, resisted protests for electoral and social reform. Governor George Wallace, the state's only four-term governor, was a controversial figure who vowed to maintain segregation. Only after passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 did African Americans regain the ability to exercise suffrage, among other civil rights. In many jurisdictions, they continued to be excluded from representation by at-large electoral systems, which allowed the majority of the population to dominate elections. Some changes at the county level have occurred following court challenges to establish single-member districts that enable a more diverse representation among county boards.
In 2007, the Alabama Legislature passed, and Republican governor Bob Riley signed a resolution expressing "profound regret" over slavery and its lingering impact. In a symbolic ceremony, the bill was signed in the Alabama State Capitol, which housed Congress of the Confederate States of America. In 2010, Republicans won control of both houses of the legislature for the first time in 136 years.
, there are a total of 3,707,233 registered voters, with 3,318,679 active, and the others inactive in the state.
The 2023 American Values Atlas by Public Religion Research Institute found that a majority of Alabama residents support same-sex marriage. |
Alabama | Elections | Elections
thumb|Senator Doug Jones won a special election in 2017. |
Alabama | State elections | State elections
With the disfranchisement of Blacks in 1901, the state became part of the "Solid South", a system in which the Democratic Party operated as effectively the only viable political party in every Southern state. For nearly a hundred years local and state elections in Alabama were decided in the Democratic Party primary, with generally only token Republican challengers running in the general election. Since the mid- to late 20th century, however, white conservatives started shifting to the Republican Party. In Alabama, majority-white districts are now expected to regularly elect Republican candidates to federal, state and local office.
Members of the nine seats on the Supreme Court of Alabama and all ten seats on the state appellate courts are elected to office. Until 1994, no Republicans held any of the court seats. In that general election, the then-incumbent chief justice, Ernest C. Hornsby, refused to leave office after losing the election by approximately 3,000 votes to Republican Perry O. Hooper Sr. Hornsby sued Alabama and defiantly remained in office for nearly a year before finally giving up the seat after losing in court. The Democrats lost the last of the nineteen court seats in August 2011 with the resignation of the last Democrat on the bench.
In the early 21st century, Republicans hold all seven of the statewide elected executive branch offices. Republicans hold six of the eight elected seats on the Alabama State Board of Education. In 2010, Republicans took large majorities of both chambers of the state legislature, giving them control of that body for the first time in 136 years. The last remaining statewide Democrat, who served on the Alabama Public Service Commission, was defeated in 2012.
Only three Republican lieutenant governors have been elected since the end of Reconstruction, when Republicans generally represented Reconstruction government, including the newly emancipated freedmen who had gained the franchise. The three GOP lieutenant governors are Steve Windom (1999–2003), Kay Ivey (2011–2017), and Will Ainsworth (2019–present). |
Alabama | Local elections | Local elections
Many metropolitan and suburban counties have voters who are majority Democrats, resulting in local elections being decided in the Democratic primary. Similarly, most rural counties are majority-Republican and elections are effectively decided in the Republican Primary. However, since local governments in Alabama are weaker than in other parts of the country, Republicans have the upper hand in government.
Alabama's 67 county sheriffs are elected in partisan, at-large races, and Republicans retain the vast majority of those posts. The current split is 18 Democrats, and 49 Republicans as of 2023. However, most of the Democratic sheriffs preside over urban and more populated counties. The majority of Republican sheriffs have been elected in the more rural counties with lower population. As of 2025, the state of Alabama has 11 African-American sheriffs. |
Alabama | Federal elections | Federal elections
The state's two U.S. senators are Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville, both of whom are Republican. In the U.S. House of Representatives, the state is represented by seven members, five of whom are Republicans (Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Dale Strong, Barry Moore, and Gary Palmer) and two Democrats (Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures). |
Alabama | Education | Education |
Alabama | Primary and secondary education | Primary and secondary education
thumb|right|Vestavia Hills High School in the suburbs of Birmingham
Public primary and secondary education in Alabama is under the purview of the Alabama State Board of Education as well as local oversight by 67 county school boards and 60 city boards of education. Together, 1,496 individual schools provide education for 744,637 elementary and secondary students.
Public school funding is appropriated through the Alabama Legislature through the Education Trust Fund. In FY 2006–2007, Alabama appropriated $3,775,163,578 for primary and secondary education. That represented an increase of $444,736,387 over the previous fiscal year. In 2007, more than 82 percent of schools made adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward student proficiency under the National No Child Left Behind law, using measures determined by the state of Alabama.
While Alabama's public education system has improved in recent decades, it lags behind in achievement compared to other states. According to U.S. Census data (2000), Alabama's high school graduation rate (75%) is the fourth lowest in the U.S. (after Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi). The largest educational gains were among people with some college education but without degrees.Education Statistics . CensusScope.org According to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP), Alabama ranks 39 in reading and 40 in math among fourth-grade students in the rankings from 2022.
Generally prohibited in the West at large, school corporal punishment is not unusual in Alabama, with 27,260 public school students paddled at least one time, according to government data for the 2011–2012 school year. The rate of school corporal punishment in Alabama is surpassed by only Mississippi and Arkansas. |
Alabama | Colleges and universities | Colleges and universities
thumb|left|Harrison Plaza at the University of North Alabama in Florence. The school was chartered as LaGrange College by the Alabama Legislature in 1830.
Alabama's programs of higher education include 14 four-year public universities, two-year community colleges, and 17 private, undergraduate and graduate universities. In the state are four medical schools (as of fall 2015) UAB Heersink School of Medicine, University of South Alabama and Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine and The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine—Auburn Campus), two veterinary colleges (Auburn University and Tuskegee University), a dental school (UAB School of Dentistry, an optometry college (UAB School of Optometry), two pharmacy schools (Auburn University and Samford University), and five law schools (University of Alabama School of Law, Birmingham School of Law, Cumberland School of Law, Miles Law School, and the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law). Public, post-secondary education in Alabama is overseen by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education and the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education. Colleges and universities in Alabama offer degree programs from two-year associate degrees to a multitude of doctoral level programs.
thumb|right|William J. Samford Hall at Auburn University
The largest single campus is the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, with 37,665 enrolled for fall 2016. Troy University was the largest institution in the state in 2010, with an enrollment of 29,689 students across four Alabama campuses (Troy, Dothan, Montgomery, and Phenix City), as well as sixty learning sites in seventeen other states and eleven other countries. The oldest institutions are the public University of North Alabama in Florence and the Catholic Church-affiliated Spring Hill College in Mobile, both founded in 1830.
Accreditation of academic programs is through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) as well as other subject-focused national and international accreditation agencies such as the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE), the Council on Occupational Education (COE), and the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS).
According to the 2024 U.S. News & World Report, Alabama had three universities ranked in the top 100 Public Schools in America (Auburn University at 47, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) at 76, and University of Alabama at 91).
According to the 2024 U.S. News & World Report, Alabama had four tier one universities (Auburn University, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), University of Alabama and University of Alabama in Huntsville).National University Rankings |Top National Universities |US News Best Colleges . U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved on July 12, 2013. |
Alabama | Media | Media
Major newspapers include Birmingham News, Mobile Press-Register, and Montgomery Advertiser.
Major television network affiliates in Alabama include:
ABC
WGWW 40.2 ABC, Anniston
WBMA 58/WABM 68.2 ABC, Birmingham
WDHN 18 ABC, Dothan
WAAY 31 ABC, Huntsville
WEAR 3 ABC Pensacola, Florida/Mobile
WNCF 32 ABC, Montgomery
WDBB 17.2 ABC, Tuscaloosa
CBS
WIAT 42 CBS, Birmingham
WTVY 4 CBS, Dothan
WHNT 19 CBS, Huntsville
WKRG 5 CBS, Mobile
WAKA 8 CBS, Selma/Montgomery
Fox
WBRC 6 FOX, Birmingham
WZDX 54 FOX, Huntsville
WALA 10 FOX, Mobile
WCOV 20 FOX, Montgomery
WDFX 34 FOX, Ozark/Dothan
NBC
WVTM 13 NBC, Birmingham
WRGX 23 NBC, Dothan
WAFF 48 NBC, Huntsville
WPMI 15 NBC, Mobile
WSFA 12 NBC, Montgomery
PBS/Alabama Public Television
WBIQ 10 PBS, Birmingham
WIIQ 41 PBS, Demopolis
WDIQ 2 PBS, Dozier
WFIQ 36 PBS, Florence
WHIQ 25 PBS, Huntsville
WGIQ 43 PBS, Louisville
WEIQ 42 PBS, Mobile
WAIQ 26 PBS, Montgomery
WCIQ 7 PBS, Mount Cheaha
The CW
WTTO 21, Homewood/Birmingham
WTVY 4.3, Dothan
WHDF 15, Florence/Huntsville
WFNA 55, Gulf Shores/Mobile/Pensacola, FL
WDBB 17, Tuscaloosa
WBMM 22, Tuskegee/Montgomery |
Alabama | Culture | Culture |
Alabama | Literature | Literature
Alabama literature is characterized by themes of race and issues of gender and war, and is influenced by events such as the American Civil War, the Reconstruction era, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Vietnam War. Some notable examples of Alabama literature include Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, Winston Groom's Forrest Gump, Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe, and the biographies of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. |
Alabama | Sports | Sports
thumb|right|Bryant–Denny Stadium at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa
thumb|Regions Field in Birmingham
thumb|Von Braun Center in Huntsville
thumb|Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham |
Alabama | Professional sports | Professional sports
Alabama has several professional and semi-professional sports teams, including three minor league baseball teams.
Club City Sport League Venue AFC Mobile Mobile Soccer Gulf Coast Premier League Archbishop Lipscomb Athletic Complex Birmingham Bulls Pelham Ice hockey Southern Professional Hockey League Pelham Civic Center Birmingham Legion FC Birmingham Soccer USL Championship PNC Field Birmingham Barons Birmingham Baseball Southern League (Double-A) Regions Field Birmingham Stallions Birmingham Football United Football League Protective Stadium Huntsville Havoc Huntsville Ice hockey Southern Professional Hockey League Von Braun Center Montgomery Biscuits Montgomery Baseball Southern League (Double-A) Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium Rocket City Trash Pandas Madison Baseball Southern League (Double-A) Toyota Field Tennessee Valley Tigers Huntsville Football Independent Women's Football League Milton Frank Stadium
The Talladega Superspeedway motorsports complex hosts a series of NASCAR events. It has a seating capacity of 143,000 and is the thirteenth largest stadium in the world and sixth largest stadium in America. Also, the Barber Motorsports Park has hosted IndyCar Series and Rolex Sports Car Series races.
The ATP Birmingham was a World Championship Tennis tournament held from 1973 to 1980.
Alabama has hosted several professional golf tournaments, such as the 1984 and 1990 PGA Championship at Shoal Creek, the Barbasol Championship (PGA Tour), the Mobile LPGA Tournament of Champions, Airbus LPGA Classic, and Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic (LPGA Tour), and The Tradition (Champions Tour). |
Alabama | College sports | College sports
College football is extremely popular in Alabama, particularly the University of Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn University Tigers, rivals in the Southeastern Conference. Alabama averages over 100,000 fans per game and Auburn averages over 80,000—both numbers among the top twenty in the nation. Bryant–Denny Stadium is the home of the Alabama football team, and has a seating capacity of 101,821, and is the fifth largest stadium in America. Jordan-Hare Stadium is the home field of the Auburn football team and seats up to 87,451.
Protective Stadium is home of the UAB Blazers football program and the Birmingham Bowl. It seats 45,000. Ladd–Peebles Stadium in Mobile is the home of the University of South Alabama football team, and serves as the home of the NCAA Senior Bowl, LendingTree Bowl, and Alabama-Mississippi All Star Classic; the stadium seats 40,646. In 2009, Bryant–Denny Stadium and Jordan-Hare Stadium became the homes of the Alabama High School Athletic Association state football championship games, after previously being held at Legion Field in Birmingham. |
Alabama | Transportation | Transportation
thumb|Terminal at the Montgomery Regional Airport in Montgomery
thumb|Interstate 59 (co-signed with Interstate 20) approaching Interstate 65 in downtown Birmingham
thumb|Aerial view of the port of Mobile |
Alabama | Aviation | Aviation
Major airports with sustained operations in Alabama include Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM), Huntsville International Airport (HSV), Dothan Regional Airport (DHN), Mobile Regional Airport (MOB), Montgomery Regional Airport (MGM), Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL) and Northeast Alabama Regional Airport (GAD). |
Alabama | Rail | Rail
For rail transport, Amtrak schedules the Crescent, a daily passenger train, running from New York to New Orleans with station stops at Anniston, Birmingham, and Tuscaloosa. |
Alabama | Roads | Roads
Alabama has six major interstate routes: Interstate 65 (I-65) travels north–south roughly through the middle of the state; I-20/I-59 travel from the central west Mississippi state line to Birmingham, where I-59 continues to the north-east corner of the state and I-20 continues east towards Atlanta; I-85 originates in Montgomery and travels east-northeast to the Georgia state line, providing a main thoroughfare to Atlanta; and I-10 traverses the southernmost portion of the state, traveling from west to east through Mobile. I-22 enters the state from Mississippi and connects Birmingham with Memphis, Tennessee. In addition, there are currently five auxiliary interstate routes in the state: I-165 in Mobile, I-359 in Tuscaloosa, I-459 around Birmingham, I-565 in Decatur and Huntsville, and I-759 in Gadsden. A sixth route, I-685, will be formed when I-85 is rerouted along a new southern bypass of Montgomery. A proposed northern bypass of Birmingham will be designated as I-422. Since a direct connection from I-22 to I-422 will not be possible, I-222 has been proposed, as well.
Several U.S. Highways also pass through the state, such as U.S. Route 11 (US-11), US-29, US-31, US-43, US-45, US-72, US-78, US-80, US-82, US-84, US-90, US-98, US-231, US-278, US-280, US-331, US-411, and US-431.
There are four toll roads in the state: Montgomery Expressway in Montgomery; Northport/Tuscaloosa Western Bypass in Tuscaloosa and Northport; Emerald Mountain Expressway in Wetumpka; and Beach Express in Orange Beach. |
Alabama | Ports | Ports
The Port of Mobile, Alabama's only saltwater port, is a large seaport on the Gulf of Mexico with inland waterway access to the Midwest by way of the Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway. The Port of Mobile was ranked 12th by tons of traffic in the United States during 2009. The newly expanded container terminal at the Port of Mobile was ranked as the 25th busiest for container traffic in the nation during 2011. The state's other ports are on rivers with access to the Gulf of Mexico.
+ Alabama Water ports, from north to south Port name Location Connected to Port of Florence Florence/Muscle Shoals, on Pickwick Lake Tennessee River Port of Decatur Decatur, on Wheeler Lake Tennessee River Port of Demopolis Demopolis, on Tombigbee River Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway Port of Guntersville Guntersville, on Lake Guntersville Tennessee River Port of Birmingham Birmingham, on Black Warrior River Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway Port of Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa, on Black Warrior River Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway Port of Montgomery Montgomery, on Woodruff Lake Alabama River Port of Mobile Mobile, on Mobile Bay Gulf of Mexico |
Alabama | See also | See also
Index of Alabama-related articles
Outline of Alabama — organized list of topics about Alabama
USS Alabama, 7 ships |
Alabama | Notes | Notes |
Alabama | Subnotes | Subnotes |
Alabama | Other notes | Other notes |
Alabama | References | References |
Alabama | Further reading | Further reading
Atkins, Leah Rawls, Wayne Flynt, William Warren Rogers, and David Ward. Alabama: The History of a Deep South State (1994).
Flynt, Wayne. Alabama in the Twentieth Century (2004).
Owen Thomas M. History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography (4 vols, 1921).
Jackson, Harvey H. Inside Alabama: A Personal History of My State (2004).
Mohl, Raymond A. "Latinization in the Heart of Dixie: Hispanics in Late-twentieth-century Alabama" Alabama Review (2002, 55(4): 243–274).
Peirce, Neal R. The Deep South States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Seven Deep South States (1974).
Williams, Benjamin Buford. A Literary History of Alabama: The Nineteenth Century (1979).
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Alabama | External links | External links
Alabama: State Resource Guide from the Library of Congress, A guide that provides access to digital materials related to the state of Alabama at the Library of Congress, as well as links to external websites and a selected print bibliography.
All About The Archives (archived 2020) at the Alabama Department of Archives and History
Code of Alabama 1975 (archived 2009) on Alabama Legislature website
Science in your state: Alabama (archived 2007) State facts, real-time information, and other scientific resources and links about Alabama
Alabama QuickFacts (archived 2007) from the U.S. Census Bureau
Alabama State Fact Sheet from Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
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Alabama | Table of Content | Short description, Etymology, History, Pre-European settlement, European settlement, 19th century, Civil War and Reconstruction, 20th century, 21st century, Geography, Climate, Flora and fauna, Major cities, Demographics, Race and ethnicity, Language, Religion, Health, Economy, Largest employers, Agriculture, Aquaculture, Industry, Tourism and entertainment, Healthcare, Banking, Electronics and communications, Construction, Law and government, State government, Taxes, County and local governments, Politics, Elections, State elections, Local elections, Federal elections, Education, Primary and secondary education, Colleges and universities, Media, Culture, Literature, Sports, Professional sports, College sports, Transportation, Aviation, Rail, Roads, Ports, See also, Notes, Subnotes, Other notes, References, Further reading, External links |
Achilles | Short description | In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's Iliad, he was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, king of Phthia and famous Argonaut. Achilles was raised in Phthia along with his childhood companion Patroclus and received his education by the centaur Chiron. In the Iliad, he is presented as the commander of the mythical tribe of the Myrmidons.
Achilles' most notable feat during the Trojan War was the slaying of the Trojan prince Hector outside the gates of Troy. Although the death of Achilles is not presented in the Iliad, other sources concur that he was killed near the end of the Trojan War by Paris, who shot him with an arrow. Later legends (beginning with Statius' unfinished epic Achilleid, written in the first century CE) state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for one heel. According to that myth, when his mother Thetis dipped him in the river Styx as an infant, she held him by one of his heels, leaving it untouched by the waters and thus his only vulnerable body part.
Alluding to these legends, the term Achilles' heel has come to mean a point of weakness which can lead to downfall, especially in someone or something with an otherwise strong constitution. The Achilles tendon is named after him following the same legend. |
Achilles | Etymology | Etymology
Linear B tablets attest to the personal name Achilleus in the forms a-ki-re-u and a-ki-re-we, Retrieved 5 May 2017. the latter being the dative of the former. The name grew more popular, becoming common soon after the seventh century BCEEpigraphical database gives 476 matches for Ἀχιλ-.The earliest ones: Corinth 7th c. BCE, Delphi 530 BCE, Attica and Elis 5th c. BC. and was also turned into the female form (Achilleía), attested in Attica in the fourth century BCE (IG II² 1617) and, in the form Achillia, on a stele in Halicarnassus as the name of a female gladiator fighting an "Amazon".
Achilles' name can be analyzed as a combination of (), 'distress, pain, sorrow, grief'Scholia to the Iliad, 1.1. and (), 'people, soldiers, nation', resulting in a proto-form *Akhí-lāu̯os, 'he who has the people distressed' or 'he whose people have distress'. The grief or distress of the people is a theme raised numerous times in the Iliad (and frequently by Achilles himself). Achilles' role as the hero of grief or distress forms an ironic juxtaposition with the conventional view of him as the hero of ('glory', usually in war). Furthermore, has been construed by Gregory Nagy, following Leonard Palmer, to mean 'a corps of soldiers', a muster. With this derivation, the name obtains a double meaning in the poem: when the hero is functioning rightly, his men bring distress to the enemy, but when wrongly, his men get the grief of war. The poem is in part about the misdirection of anger on the part of leadership.
Some researchers deem the name a loan word, possibly from a Pre-Greek language. Achilles' descent from the Nereid Thetis and a similarity of his name with those of river deities such as Acheron and Achelous have led to speculations about his being an old water divinity .Cf. the supportive position of – A critical point of view is taken by Robert S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin of the name, based among other things on the coexistence of -λλ- and -λ- in epic language, which may account for a palatalized phoneme /ly/ in the original language.Robert S. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, pp. 183ff. |
Achilles | Other names | Other names
Among the appellations under which Achilles is generally known are the following:
Pyrisous, "saved from the fire", his first name, which seems to favour the tradition in which his mortal parts were burned by his mother Thetis
Aeacides, from his grandfather Aeacus
Aemonius, from Aemonia, a country which afterwards acquired the name of Thessaly
Aspetos, "inimitable" or "vast", his name at Epirus
Larissaeus, from Larissa (also called Cremaste), a town of Achaia Phthiotis in Thessaly
Ligyron, his original name
Nereius, from his mother Thetis, one of the Nereids
Pelides, from his father, Peleus
Phthius, from his birthplace, Phthia
Podarkes, "swift-footed", from the wings of Arke () being attached to his feet (, )Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History, Book 6 (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190, trans. Pearse):
"It is said ... that he [Akhilleus (Achilles)] was called Podarkes (Podarces, Swift-Footed) by the Poet [i.e. Homer], because, it is said, Thetis gave the newborn child the wings of Arke (Arce) and Podarkes means that his feet had the wings of Arke. And Arke was the daughter of Thaumas and her sister was Iris; both had wings, but, during the struggle of the gods against the Titanes (Titans), Arke flew out of the camp of the gods and joined the Titanes. After the victory Zeus removed her wings before throwing her into Tartaros and, when he came to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, he brought these wings as a gift for Thetis." |
Achilles | Birth and early years | Birth and early years
thumb|left|upright=1.2|Thetis Dipping the Infant Achilles into the River Styx by Peter Paul Rubens (; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam)
Achilles was the son of Thetis—a Nereid and daughter of the Old Man of the Sea—and Peleus, the king of the Myrmidons. Zeus and Poseidon had been rivals for Thetis's hand in marriage until Prometheus, the fore-thinker, warned Zeus of a prophecy (originally uttered by Themis, goddess of divine law) that Thetis would bear a son greater than his father. For this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit, and had her wed Peleus.Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 755–768; Pindar, Nemean 5.34–37, Isthmian 8.26–47; Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.13.5; Poeticon astronomicon 2.15.
There is a tale which offers an alternative version of these events: In the Argonautica (4.760) Zeus' sister and wife Hera alludes to Thetis' chaste resistance to the advances of Zeus, pointing out that Thetis was so loyal to Hera's marriage bond that she coolly rejected the father of gods. Thetis, although a daughter of the sea-god Nereus, was also brought up by Hera, further explaining her resistance to the advances of Zeus. Zeus was furious and decreed that she would never marry an immortal.Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.13.5.
thumb|The Education of Achilles, by Eugène Delacroix, pastel on paper, (Getty Center, Los Angeles)
According to the Achilleid, written by Statius in the first century CE, and to non-surviving previous sources, when Achilles was born Thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx; however, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which she held him: his left heelStatius, Achilleid 1.269; Hyginus, Fabulae 107. . It is not clear if this version of events was known earlier. In another version of this story, Thetis anointed the boy in ambrosia and put him on top of a fire in order to burn away the mortal parts of his body. She was interrupted by Peleus and abandoned both father and son in a rage.Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.869–879.
thumb|The Education of Achilles (), by James Barry (Yale Center for British Art)
None of the sources before Statius make any reference to this general invulnerability. To the contrary, in the Iliad, Homer mentions Achilles being wounded: in Book 21 the Paeonian hero Asteropaios, son of Pelagon, challenged Achilles by the river Scamander. He was ambidextrous, and cast a spear from each hand; one grazed Achilles' elbow, "drawing a spurt of blood". In the few fragmentary poems of the Epic Cycle which describe the hero's death (i.e. the Cypria, the Little Iliad by Lesches of Pyrrha, the Aethiopis and Iliupersis by Arctinus of Miletus), there is no trace of any reference to his general invulnerability or his famous weakness at the heel. In the later vase paintings presenting the death of Achilles, the arrow (or in many cases, arrows) hit his torso.
Peleus entrusted Achilles to Chiron, who lived on Mount Pelion and was known as the most righteous of the Centaurs, to be reared.Hesiod, Catalogue of Women, fr. 204.87–89 MW; Iliad 11.830–832. In some accounts, Achilles' original name was "Ligyron" and he was later named Achilles by his tutor Chiron.Apollodorus, Library, Book III 3.13.6 According to Homer, Achilles grew up in Phthia with his childhood companion Patroclus. Homer further writes that Achilles taught Patroclus what he himself had been taught by Chiron, including the medical arts.Homer, The Iliad Book XI 822-836 Thetis foretold that her son's fate was either to gain glory and die young, or to live a long but uneventful life in obscurity. Achilles chose the former, and decided to take part in the Trojan War.Iliad 9.410ff.
thumb|Chiron teaching Achilles how to play the lyre, Roman fresco from Herculaneum, first century CE
According to Photius, the sixth book of the New History by Ptolemy Hephaestion reported that Thetis burned in a secret place the children she had by Peleus. When she had Achilles, Peleus noticed, tore him from the flames with only a burnt foot, and confided him to the centaur Chiron. Later Chiron exhumed the body of the Damysus, who was the fastest of all the giants, removed the ankle, and incorporated it into Achilles' burnt foot.Photius, Bibliotheca, cod. 190: "Thetis burned in a secret place the children she had by Peleus; six were born; when she had Achilles, Peleus noticed and tore him from the flames with only a burnt foot and confided him to Chiron. The latter exhumed the body of the giant Damysos who was buried at Pallene—Damysos was the fastest of all the giants—removed the 'astragale' and incorporated it into Achilles' foot using 'ingredients'. This 'astragale' fell when Achilles was pursued by Apollo and it was thus that Achilles, fallen, was killed. It is said, on the other hand, that he was called Podarkes by the Poet, because, it is said, Thetis gave the newborn child the wings of Arce and Podarkes means that his feet had the wings of Arce." |
Achilles | Physical description | Physical description
In Homer's Iliad, Achilles is portrayed as tall and striking, with strength and looks that were unmatched among the Greek warriors. Homer describes him as having long hair or a mane ().Homer, Iliad, 23.141 (in Greek) Along with other characters, his hair is described with the word xanthḗ (), which meant 'yellow', or at times shades thereof, such as brown or auburn, and was used mostly for fair hair.Myres, John Linton (1967). Who were the Greeks?, pp. 192–199. University of California Press. A later Latin account, probably from the fifth century CE, falsely attributed to Dares Phrygius described Achilles as having "... a large chest, a fine mouth, and powerfully formed arms and legs. His head was covered with long wavy chestnut-colored hair. Though mild in manner, he was very fierce in battle. His face showed the joy of a man richly endowed."Dares Phrygius, History of the Fall of Troy 13 |
Achilles | Hidden on Skyros | Hidden on Skyros
thumb|A Roman mosaic from the Poseidon Villa in Zeugma, Commagene (now in the Zeugma Mosaic Museum) depicting Achilles disguised as a woman and Odysseus tricking him into revealing himself
Some post-Homeric sourcesEuripides, Skyrioi, surviving only in fragmentary form; Philostratus Junior, Imagines i; Scholiast on Homer's Iliad, 9.326; Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.162–180; Ovid, Tristia 2.409–412 (mentioning a Roman tragedy on this subject); Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.13.8; Statius, Achilleid 1.689–880, 2.167ff. claim that in order to keep Achilles safe from the war, Thetis (or, in some versions, Peleus) hid the young man dressed as a princess or at least a girl at the court of Lycomedes, king of Skyros.
There, Achilles, properly disguised, lived among Lycomedes' daughters, perhaps under the name "Pyrrha" (the red-haired girl), Cercysera or Aissa ("swift"). With Lycomedes' daughter Deidamia, with whom he had begun a relationship, Achilles there fathered two sons, Neoptolemus (also called Pyrrhus, after his father's possible alias) and Oneiros. According to this story, Odysseus learned from the prophet Calchas that the Achaeans would be unable to capture Troy without Achilles' aid. Odysseus went to Skyros in the guise of a pedlar selling women's clothes and jewellery and placed a shield and spear among his goods. When Achilles instantly took up the spear, Odysseus saw through his disguise and convinced him to join the Greek campaign. In another version of the story, Odysseus arranged for a trumpet alarm to be sounded while he was with Lycomedes' women. While the women fled in panic, Achilles prepared to defend the court, thus giving his identity away. |
Achilles | In the Trojan War | In the Trojan War
thumb|upright=1.3|A marble representation of Achilles at the court of King Lycomedes,
According to the Iliad, Achilles arrived at Troy with 50 ships, each carrying 50 Myrmidons. He appointed five leaders (each leader commanding 500 Myrmidons): Menesthius, Eudorus, Peisander, Phoenix and Alcimedon.Iliad 16.168–197. |
Achilles | Telephus | Telephus
When the Greeks left for the Trojan War, they accidentally stopped in Mysia, ruled by King Telephus. In the resulting battle, Achilles gave Telephus a wound that would not heal; Telephus consulted an oracle, who stated that "he that wounded shall heal". Guided by the oracle, he arrived at Argos, where Achilles healed him in order that he might become their guide for the voyage to Troy.
According to other reports in Euripides' lost play about Telephus, he went to Aulis pretending to be a beggar and asked Achilles to heal his wound. Achilles refused, claiming to have no medical knowledge. Alternatively, Telephus held Orestes for ransom, the ransom being Achilles' aid in healing the wound. Odysseus reasoned that the spear had inflicted the wound; therefore, the spear must be able to heal it. Pieces of the spear were scraped off onto the wound and Telephus was healed. |
Achilles | Troilus | Troilus
thumb|left|Achilles slaying Troilus, red-figure kylix signed by Euphronios
According to the Cypria (the part of the Epic Cycle that tells the events of the Trojan War before Achilles' wrath), when the Achaeans desired to return home, they were restrained by Achilles, who afterwards attacked the cattle of Aeneas, sacked neighbouring cities (such as Pedasus and Lyrnessus, where the Greeks capture the queen Briseis) and killed Tenes, a son of Apollo, as well as Priam's son Troilus in the sanctuary of Apollo Thymbraios; however, the romance between Troilus and Chryseis described in Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde and in William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida is a medieval invention.
In Dares Phrygius' Account of the Destruction of Troy, the Latin summary through which the story of Achilles was transmitted to medieval Europe, as well as in older accounts, Troilus was a young Trojan prince, the youngest of King Priam's and Hecuba's five legitimate sons (or according other sources, another son of Apollo).Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.151. Despite his youth, he was one of the main Trojan war leaders, a "horse fighter" or "chariot fighter" according to Homer.Iliad 24.257. Cf. Vergil, Aeneid 1.474–478. Prophecies linked Troilus' fate to that of Troy and so he was ambushed in an attempt to capture him. Yet Achilles, struck by the beauty of both Troilus and his sister Polyxena, and overcome with lust, directed his sexual attentions on the youth—who, refusing to yield, instead found himself decapitated upon an altar-omphalos of Apollo Thymbraios.Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca Epitome 3.32. Later versions of the story suggested Troilus was accidentally killed by Achilles in an over-ardent lovers' embrace.Scholia to Lycophron 307; Servius, Scholia to the Aeneid 1.474. In this version of the myth, Achilles' death therefore came in retribution for this sacrilege.James Davidson, "Zeus Be Nice Now" in London Review of Books, 19 July 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2007. Ancient writers treated Troilus as the epitome of a dead child mourned by his parents. Had Troilus lived to adulthood, the First Vatican Mythographer claimed, Troy would have been invincible; however, the motif is older and found already in Plautus' Bacchides.Plautus, Bacchides 953ff. |
Achilles | In the ''Iliad'' | In the Iliad
thumb|Achilles and Agamemnon, from a mosaic from Pompeii, first century CE
Homer's Iliad is the most famous narrative of Achilles' deeds in the Trojan War. Achilles' wrath (, ) is the central theme of the poem. The first two lines of the Iliad read:
Μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληιάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκε, [...]Sing, Goddess, of the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
the accursed rage that brought great suffering to the Achaeans, [...]
thumb|Achilles cedes Briseis to Agamemnon, from the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii, fresco, first century CE (Naples National Archaeological Museum)
The Homeric epic only covers a few weeks of the decade-long war, and does not narrate Achilles' death. It begins with Achilles' withdrawal from battle after being dishonoured by Agamemnon, the commander of the Achaean forces. Agamemnon has taken a woman named Chryseis as his slave. Her father Chryses, a priest of Apollo, begs Agamemnon to return her to him. Agamemnon refuses, and Apollo sends a plague amongst the Greeks. The prophet Calchas correctly determines the source of the troubles but will not speak unless Achilles vows to protect him. Achilles does so, and Calchas declares that Chryseis must be returned to her father. Agamemnon consents, but then commands that Achilles' slave Briseis, the daughter of Briseus, be brought to him to replace Chryseis. Angry at the dishonour of having his plunder and glory taken away (and, as he says later, because he loves Briseis),Iliad 9.334–343. with the urging of his mother Thetis, Achilles refuses to fight or lead his troops alongside the other Greek forces. At the same time, burning with rage over Agamemnon's theft, Achilles prays to Thetis to convince Zeus to help the Trojans gain ground in the war, so that he may regain his honour.
As the battle turns against the Greeks, thanks to the influence of Zeus, Nestor declares that the Trojans are winning because Agamemnon has angered Achilles, and urges the king to appease the warrior. Agamemnon agrees and sends Odysseus and two other chieftains, Ajax and Phoenix. They promise that, if Achilles returns to battle, Agamemnon will return the captive Briseis and other gifts. Achilles rejects all Agamemnon offers him and simply urges the Greeks to sail home as he is planning to do.
thumb|left|The Rage of Achilles, fresco by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1757, Villa Valmarana ai Nani, Vicenza)
The Trojans, led by Hector, subsequently push the Greek army back toward the beaches and assault the Greek ships. With the Greek forces on the verge of absolute destruction, Patroclus leads the Myrmidons into battle, wearing Achilles' armour, although Achilles remains at his camp. Patroclus succeeds in pushing the Trojans back from the beaches, but is killed by Hector before he can lead a proper assault on the city of Troy.
After receiving the news of the death of Patroclus from Antilochus, the son of Nestor, Achilles grieves over his beloved companion's death. His mother Thetis comes to comfort the distraught Achilles. She persuades Hephaestus to make new armour for him, in place of the armour that Patroclus had been wearing, which was taken by Hector. The new armour includes the Shield of Achilles, described in great detail in the poem.
Enraged over the death of Patroclus, Achilles ends his refusal to fight and takes the field, killing many men in his rage but always seeking out Hector. Achilles even engages in battle with the river god Scamander, who has become angry that Achilles is choking his waters with all the men he has killed. The god tries to drown Achilles but is stopped by Hera and Hephaestus. Zeus himself takes note of Achilles' rage and sends the gods to restrain him so that he will not go on to sack Troy itself before the time allotted for its destruction, seeming to show that the unhindered rage of Achilles can defy fate itself. Finally, Achilles finds his prey.
thumb|upright=1.7|The Triumph of Achilles, fresco by Franz von Matsch in the Achilleion, Greece
Achilles chases Hector around the wall of Troy three times before Athena, in the form of Hector's favorite and dearest brother, Deiphobus, persuades Hector to stop running and fight Achilles face to face. After Hector realizes the trick, he knows the battle is inevitable. Wanting to go down fighting, he charges at Achilles with his only weapon, his sword, but misses. Accepting his fate, Hector begs Achilles not to spare his life, but to treat his body with respect after killing him. Achilles tells Hector it is hopeless to expect that of him, declaring that, "my rage, my fury would drive me now to hack your flesh away and eat you raw – such agonies you have caused me.""The Iliad", Fagles translation. Penguin Books, 1991: 22.346. Achilles then kills Hector and drags his corpse by its heels behind his chariot. After having a dream where Patroclus begs Achilles to hold his funeral, Achilles hosts a series of funeral games in honour of his companion.
At the onset of his duel with Hector, Achilles is referred to as the brightest star in the sky, which comes on in the autumn, Orion's dog (Sirius); a sign of evil. During the cremation of Patroclus, he is compared to Hesperus, the evening/western star (Venus), while the burning of the funeral pyre lasts until Phosphorus, the morning/eastern star (also Venus) has set (descended).
With the assistance of the god Hermes (Argeiphontes), Hector's father Priam goes to Achilles' tent to plead with Achilles for the return of Hector's body so that he can be buried. Achilles relents and promises a truce for the duration of the funeral, lasting 9 days with a burial on the 10th (in the tradition of Niobe's offspring). The poem ends with a description of Hector's funeral, with the doom of Troy and Achilles himself still to come. |
Achilles | Penthesilea and Memnon | Penthesilea and Memnon
thumb|Achilles and Memnon fighting, between Thetis and Eos, Attic black-figure amphora, , from Vulci
Later works, including the Aethiopis (seventh century BCE) and a work named Posthomerica, composed by Quintus of Smyrna in the fourth century CE, relate further events from the Trojan War. When Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons and daughter of Ares, arrives in Troy, Priam hopes that she will defeat Achilles. After his temporary truce with Priam, Achilles fights and kills the warrior queen, only to grieve over her death later.Propertius, 3.11.15; Quintus Smyrnaeus 1. Initially taken aback, he did not fight as intensely as usual. Once he realized that his distraction was endangering his life, he refocused and killed her.
Following the death of Patroclus, Nestor's son Antilochus becomes Achilles' closest companion. Achilles already loved Antilochus, so Menelaus thought Antilochus would be the best person to inform Achilles of Patroclus' death.Philostratus, Imagines, 2.7.1 (Original Greek text) Later, Memnon, son of the Dawn Goddess Eos and king of Ethiopia, slays Antilochus as he sacrifices himself to save his father. According to Philostratus' Imagines, Achilles laments his death on the battlefield, promising Antilochus a glorious funeral and vengeance. Achilles once more obtains revenge on the battlefield, killing Memnon.Philostratus, Imagines, 2.7.2 (Original Greek text) Consequently, Eos will not let the sun rise until Zeus persuades her. The fight between Achilles and Memnon over Antilochus echoes that of Achilles and Hector over Patroclus, except that Memnon (unlike Hector) was also the son of a goddess.
Many Homeric scholars argued that episode inspired many details in the Iliads description of the death of Patroclus and Achilles' reaction to it. The episode then formed the basis of the cyclic epic Aethiopis, which was composed after the Iliad, possibly in the seventh century BCE. The Aethiopis is now lost, except for scattered fragments quoted by later authors. |
Achilles | Achilles and Patroclus | Achilles and Patroclus
thumb|Achilles tending Patroclus wounded by an arrow, Attic red-figure kylix, (Altes Museum, Berlin)
The exact nature of Achilles' relationship with Patroclus has been a subject of dispute in both the classical period and modern times. In the Iliad, it appears to be the model of a deep and loyal friendship. Homer does not suggest that Achilles and his close friend Patroclus had sexual relations. Although there is no direct evidence in the text of the Iliad that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers, this theory was expressed by some later authors. Commentators from classical antiquity to the present have often interpreted the relationship through the lens of their own cultures. In fifth-century BCE Athens, the intense bond was often viewed in light of the Greek custom of paiderasteia, which is the relationship between an older male and a younger one, usually a teenager. In Plato's Symposium, the participants in a dialogue about love assume that Achilles and Patroclus were a couple; Phaedrus argues that Achilles was the younger and more beautiful one so he was the beloved and Patroclus was the lover.Plato, Symposium, 180a; the beauty of Achilles was a topic already broached at Iliad 2.673–674. In Xenophon's Symposium, Socrates says that Achilles and Patroclus were not lovers but had a platonic relationship. Kenneth Dover argues that ancient Greek had no words to distinguish heterosexual and homosexual,Kenneth Dover, Greek Homosexuality (Harvard University Press, 1978, 1989), p. 1 et passim. and it was assumed that a man could both desire handsome young men and have sex with women. Many pairs of men throughout history have been compared to Achilles and Patroclus to imply a homosexual relationship. |
Achilles | Death | Death
thumb|left|Dying Achilles (Achilleas thniskon) in the gardens of the Achilleion
The death of Achilles, even if considered solely as it occurred in the oldest sources, is a complex one, with many different versions.Abrantes 2016: c. 4.3.1 Starting with the oldest account, In book 22 of the Iliad, Hector predicts with his last dying breath that Paris and Apollo will slay him at the Scaean Gates leading to Troy (with an arrow to the heel according to Statius). In book 23, the sad spirit of dead Patroclus visits Achilles just as he drifts off into slumber, requesting that his bones be placed with those of Achilles in his golden vase, a gift of his mother.
thumb|right|Ajax carries off the body of Achilles, Attic black-figure lekythos from Sicily, (Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich).
In book 11 of the Odyssey, Odysseus sails to the underworld and converses with the shades. One of these is Achilles, who when greeted as "blessed in life, blessed in death", responds that he would rather be a slave to the worst of masters than be king of all the dead. But Achilles then asks Odysseus of his son's exploits in the Trojan war, and Odysseus tells him of Neoptolemus' actions.Odyssey 11.467–564.
Book 24 of Odyssey gives dead King Agamemnon's ghostly account of Achilles' death: the bleached bones from Achilles' funeral pyre had been mixed with those of Patroclus and put into his mother's golden vase. Also, the bones of Antilochus, who had become closer to Achilles than any other following Patroclus' death, were separately enclosed. The customary funeral games of a hero were performed, and a massive tomb or mound was built on the Hellespont for approaching seagoers to celebrate.
Achilles was represented in the Aethiopis as living after his death in the island of Leuke at the mouth of the river Danube. Another version of Achilles' death is that he fell deeply in love with one of the Trojan princesses, Polyxena. Achilles asks Priam for Polyxena's hand in marriage. Priam is willing because it would mean the end of the war and an alliance with the world's greatest warrior. But while Priam is overseeing the private marriage of Polyxena and Achilles, Paris, who would have to give up Helen if Achilles married his sister, hides in the bushes and shoots Achilles with a divine arrow, killing him. According to some accounts, he had married Medea in life, so that after both their deaths they were united in the Elysian Fields of Hades—as Hera promised Thetis in Apollonius' Argonautica (third century BCE). |
Achilles | Fate of Achilles' armour | Fate of Achilles' armour
thumb|left|Oinochoe, , Ajax and Odysseus fighting over the armour of Achilles
Achilles' armour was the object of a feud between Odysseus and Ajax the Great. They competed for it by giving speeches on why they were the bravest after Achilles to their Trojan prisoners, who, after considering both men's presentations, decided Odysseus was more deserving of the armour. Furious, Ajax cursed Odysseus, which earned him the ire of Athena, who temporarily made Ajax so mad with grief and anguish that he began killing sheep, thinking them his comrades. After a while, when Athena lifted his madness and Ajax realized that he had actually been killing sheep, he was so ashamed that he committed suicide. Odysseus eventually gave the armour to Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. When Odysseus encounters the shade of Ajax much later in the House of Hades (Odyssey 11.543–566), Ajax is still so angry about the outcome of the competition that he refuses to speak to Odysseus.
The armour they fought for was made by Hephaestus and thus much stronger and more beautiful than any armour a mortal could craft. Thetis had the gear made for Achilles because his first set was worn by Patroclus when he went to battle and taken by Hector when he killed Patroclus. The Shield of Achilles was also made by the fire god. His legendary spear was given to him by his mentor Chiron before he participated in the Trojan War. It was called the Pelian Spear, which allegedly no other man could wield.
A relic claimed to be Achilles' bronze-headed spear was preserved for centuries in the temple of Athena on the acropolis of Phaselis, Lycia, a port on the Pamphylian Gulf. The city was visited in 333 BCE by Alexander the Great, who envisioned himself as the new Achilles and carried the Iliad with him, but his court biographers do not mention the spear; however, it was shown in the time of Pausanias in the second century CE."Alexander came to rest at Phaselis, a coastal city which was later renowned for the possession of Achilles' original spear." Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great, 1973, p. 144.Pausanias, iii.3.6; see Christian Jacob and Anne Mullen-Hohl, "The Greek Traveler's Areas of Knowledge: Myths and Other Discourses in Pausanias' Description of Greece", Yale French Studies 59: Rethinking History: Time, Myth, and Writing (1980:65–85, especially 81). |
Achilles | Achilles, Ajax and a game of ''petteia'' | Achilles, Ajax and a game of petteia
Numerous paintings on pottery have suggested a tale not mentioned in the literary traditions. At some point in the war, Achilles and Ajax were playing a board game (petteia)."Petteia". "Greek Board Games". They were absorbed in the game and oblivious to the surrounding battle."Latrunculi". The Trojans attacked and reached the heroes, who were saved only by an intervention of Athena.Ioannis Kakridis (1988). Ελληνική Μυθολογία [Greek mythology]. Athens: Ekdotiki Athinon. Vol. 5, p. 92. |
Achilles | Worship and heroic cult | Worship and heroic cult
thumb|Sacrifice of Polyxena and tumulus-shaped tomb of Achilles with a tripod in front, on the Polyxena sarcophagus,
thumb|Roman statue of a man with the dead body of a boy, identified as Achilles and Troilus, second century CE (Naples National Archaeological Museum)
The tomb of Achilles,Cf. Homer, Iliad 24.80–84. extant throughout antiquity in the Troad,Herodotus, Histories 5.94; Pliny, Naturalis Historia 5.125; Strabo, Geographica 13.1.32 (C596); Diogenes Laërtius 1.74. was venerated by Thessalians, but also by Persian expeditionary forces, as well as by Alexander the Great and the Roman emperor Caracalla. Achilles' cult was also to be found at other places, e. g. on the island of Astypalaea in the Sporades,Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.45. in Sparta which had a sanctuary,Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.20.8. in Elis and in Achilles' homeland Thessaly, as well as in the Magna Graecia cities of Tarentum, Locri and Croton,Lycophron 856. accounting for an almost Panhellenic cult to the hero.
The cult of Achilles is illustrated in the Polyxena sarcophagus (500 BCE), which depicts the sacrifice of Polyxena near the tumulus of Achilles. Strabo (13.1.32) also suggested that such a cult of Achilles existed in Troad:
The spread and intensity of the hero's veneration among the Greeks that had settled on the northern coast of the Pontus Euxinus, today's Black Sea, appears to have been remarkable. An archaic cult is attested for the Milesian colony of Olbia as well as for an island in the middle of the Black Sea, today identified with Snake Island (, , near Kiliia, Ukraine). Early dedicatory inscriptions from the Greek colonies on the Black Sea (graffiti and inscribed clay disks, these possibly being votive offerings, from Olbia, the area of Berezan Island and the Tauric Chersonese) attest the existence of a heroic cult of Achilles from the sixth century BCE onwards. The cult was still thriving in the third century CE, when dedicatory stelae from Olbia refer to an Achilles Pontárchēs (Ποντάρχης, roughly 'lord of the sea', or 'lord of the Pontus Euxinus'), who was invoked as a protector of the city of Olbia, venerated on par with Olympian gods such as the local Apollo Prostates, Hermes Agoraeus, or Poseidon.Quintus Smyrnaeus, 3.770–779.
Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) in his Natural History mentions a "port of the Achæi" and an "island of Achilles", famous for the tomb of that "man" (), situated somewhat nearby Olbia and the Dnieper-Bug Estuary; furthermore, at 125 Roman miles from this island, he places a peninsula "which stretches forth in the shape of a sword" obliquely, called Dromos Achilleos (Ἀχιλλέως δρόμος, Achilléōs drómos, 'the Race-course of Achilles')Pliny, Naturalis Historia 4.12.83 (chapter 4.26). and considered the place of the hero's exercise or of games instituted by him. This last feature of Pliny's account is considered to be the iconic spit, called today Tendra (or Kosa Tendra and Kosa Djarilgatch), situated between the mouth of the Dnieper and Karkinit Bay, but which is hardly 125 Roman miles (around 185 km) away from the Dnieper-Bug estuary, as Pliny states (to the "Race-course" he gives a length of , whereas the spit measures around today).
In the following chapter of his book, Pliny refers to the same island as Achillea and introduces two further names for it: Leuce or Macaron (from Greek , 'island of the blest'). The "present day" measures, he gives at this point, seem to account for an identification of Achillea or Leuce with today's Snake Island.Pliny, Naturalis Historia 4.13.93 (chapter 4.27): "Researches which have been made at the present day place this island at a distance of 140 miles from the Borysthenes, of 120 from Tyras, and of fifty from the island of Peuce. It is about ten miles in circumference." Although afterwards he speaks again of "the remaining islands in the Gulf of Carcinites" which are "Cephalonesos, Rhosphodusa [or Spodusa], and Macra". Pliny's contemporary Pomponius Mela () tells that Achilles was buried on an island named Achillea, situated between the Borysthenes and the Ister, adding to the geographical confusion.Pomponius Mela, De situ orbis 2.7. Ruins of a square temple, measuring 30 meters to a side, possibly that dedicated to Achilles, were discovered by Captain in 1823 on Snake Island. A second exploration in 1840 showed that the construction of a lighthouse had destroyed all traces of this temple. A fifth-century BCE black-glazed lekythos inscription, found on the island in 1840, reads: "Glaukos, son of Poseidon, dedicated me to Achilles, lord of Leuke." In another inscription from the fifth or fourth centuries BCE, a statue is dedicated to Achilles, lord of Leuke, by a citizen of Olbia, while in a further dedication, the city of Olbia confirms its continuous maintenance of the island's cult, again suggesting its quality as a place of a supra-regional hero veneration.
The heroic cult dedicated to Achilles on Leuce seems to go back to an account from the lost epic Aethiopis according to which, after his untimely death, Thetis had snatched her son from the funeral pyre and removed him to a mythical (, 'White Island').Proclus, Chrestomathia 2. Already in the fifth century BCE, Pindar had mentioned a cult of Achilles on a "bright island" (, ) of the Black Sea,Pindar, Nemea 4.49ff.; Arrian, Periplus of the Euxine Sea 21. while in another of his works, Pindar would retell the story of the immortalized Achilles living on a geographically indefinite Island of the Blest together with other heroes such as his father Peleus and Cadmus.Pindar, Olympia 2.78ff. Well known is the connection of these mythological Fortunate Isles (μακαρῶν νῆσοι, makárôn nêsoi) or the Homeric Elysium with the stream Oceanus which according to Greek mythology surrounds the inhabited world, which should have accounted for the identification of the northern strands of the Euxine with it. Guy Hedreen has found further evidence for this connection of Achilles with the northern margin of the inhabited world in a poem by Alcaeus, speaking of "Achilles lord of Scythia"D. Page, Lyrica Graeca Selecta, Oxford 1968, p. 89, no. 166. and the opposition of North and South, as evoked by Achilles' fight against the Aethiopian prince Memnon, who in his turn would be removed to his homeland by his mother Eos after his death.
The Periplus of the Euxine Sea () gives the following details:
The Greek geographer Dionysius Periegetes, who probably lived during the first century CE, wrote that the island was called Leuce "because the wild animals which live there are white. It is said that there, in Leuce island, reside the souls of Achilles and other heroes, and that they wander through the uninhabited valleys of this island; this is how Jove rewarded the men who had distinguished themselves through their virtues, because through virtue they had acquired everlasting honour."Dionysius Periegetes, Orbis descriptio 5.541, quoted in Densuşianu 1913. Similarly, others relate the island's name to its white cliffs, snakes or birds dwelling there.Arrian, Periplus of the Euxine Sea 21; Scholion to Pindar, Nemea 4.79. Pausanias has been told that the island is "covered with forests and full of animals, some wild, some tame. In this island there is also Achilles' temple and his statue."Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.19.11. Leuce had also a reputation as a place of healing. Pausanias reports that the Delphic Pythia sent a lord of Croton to be cured of a chest wound.Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.19.13. Ammianus Marcellinus attributes the healing to waters (aquae) on the island.Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 22.8.
Strabo mentioned that the cape of the Racecourse of Achilles was sacred to Achilles and although it was treeless, was called Alsos (ἄλσος).Strabo, Geography, 7.3.19 Alsos in Greek means 'grove'.
A number of important commercial port cities of the Greek waters were dedicated to Achilles. Herodotus, Pliny the Elder and Strabo reported on the existence of a town (), built by settlers from Mytilene in the sixth century BCE, close to the hero's presumed burial mound in the Troad. Later attestations point to an Achílleion in Messenia (according to Stephanus Byzantinus) and an Achílleios (Ἀχίλλειος) in Laconia.Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.25.4. Nicolae Densuşianu recognized a connection to Achilles in the names of Aquileia and of the northern arm of the Danube delta, called Chilia (presumably from an older Achileii), although his conclusion, that Leuce had sovereign rights over the Black Sea, evokes modern rather than archaic sea-law.Nicolae Densuşianu: Dacia preistorică. Bucharest: Carol Göbl, 1913.
The kings of Epirus claimed to be descended from Achilles through his son, Neoptolemus. Alexander the Great, son of the Epirote princess Olympias, could therefore also claim this descent, and in many ways strove to be like his great ancestor. He is said to have visited the tomb of Achilles at Achilleion while passing Troy.Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri 1.12.1, Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta 24. In 216, the Roman emperor Caracalla, while on his way to war against Parthia, emulated Alexander by holding games around Achilles' tumulus.Dio Cassius 78.16.7. |
Achilles | Reception during antiquity | Reception during antiquity |
Achilles | In Greek tragedy | In Greek tragedy
The Greek tragedian Aeschylus wrote a trilogy of plays about Achilles, given the title Achilleis by modern scholars. The tragedies relate the deeds of Achilles during the Trojan War, including his defeat of Hector and eventual death when an arrow shot by Paris and guided by Apollo punctures his heel. Extant fragments of the Achilleis and other Aeschylean fragments have been assembled to produce a workable modern play. The first part of the Achilleis trilogy, The Myrmidons, focused on the relationship between Achilles and chorus, who represent the Achaean army and try to convince Achilles to give up his quarrel with Agamemnon; only a few lines survive today.Pantelis Michelakis, Achilles in Greek Tragedy, 2002, p. 22 In Plato's Symposium, Phaedrus points out that Aeschylus portrayed Achilles as the lover and Patroclus as the beloved; Phaedrus argues that this is incorrect because Achilles, being the younger and more beautiful of the two, was the beloved, who loved his lover so much that he chose to die to avenge him.Plato, Symposium, translated Benjamin Jowett, Dover Thrift Editions, page 8
The tragedian Sophocles also wrote The Lovers of Achilles, a play with Achilles as the main character. Only a few fragments survive.S. Radt. Tragicorum Graecorum fragmenta, vol. 4, (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1977) frr. 149–157a.
Towards the end of the fifth century BCE, a more negative view of Achilles emerges in Greek drama; Euripides refers to Achilles in a bitter or ironic tone in Hecuba, Electra, and Iphigenia in Aulis.Latacz 2010
Other contemporary tragedians, such as Astydamas, wrote works on Achilles that are completely lost today. |
Achilles | In Greek philosophy | In Greek philosophy |
Achilles | Zeno | Zeno
The philosopher Zeno of Elea centred one of his paradoxes on an imaginary footrace between "swift-footed" Achilles and a tortoise, by which he attempted to show that Achilles could not catch up to a tortoise with a head start, and therefore that motion and change were impossible. As a student of the monist Parmenides and a member of the Eleatic school, Zeno believed time and motion to be illusions. |
Achilles | Plato | Plato
In Hippias Minor, a Socratic dialogue attributed to Plato, an arrogant man named Hippias argues with Socrates. The two get into a discussion about lying. They decide that a person who is intentionally false must be "better" than a person who is unintentionally false, on the basis that someone who lies intentionally must understand the subject about which they are lying. Socrates uses various analogies, discussing athletics and the sciences to prove his point. The two also reference Homer extensively. Socrates and Hippias agree that Odysseus, who concocted a number of lies throughout the Odyssey and other stories in the Trojan War Cycle, was false intentionally. Achilles, like Odysseus, told numerous falsehoods. Hippias believes that Achilles was a generally honest man, while Socrates believes that Achilles lied for his own benefit. The two argue over whether it is better to lie on purpose or by accident. Socrates eventually abandons Homeric arguments and makes sports analogies to drive home the point: someone who does wrong on purpose is a better person than someone who does wrong unintentionally. |
Achilles | In Roman and medieval literature | In Roman and medieval literature
The Romans, who traditionally traced their lineage to Troy, took a highly negative view of Achilles. Virgil refers to Achilles as a savage and a merciless butcher of men,Aeneid 2.28, 1.30, 3.87. while Horace portrays Achilles ruthlessly slaying women and children.Odes 4.6.17–20. Other writers, such as Catullus, Propertius, and Ovid, represent a second strand of disparagement, with an emphasis on Achilles' erotic career. This strand continues in Latin accounts of the Trojan War by writers such as Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius and in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's and Guido delle Colonne's Historia destructionis Troiae, which remained the most widely read and retold versions of the Matter of Troy until the seventeenth century.
Achilles was described by the Byzantine chronicler Leo the Deacon, not as Hellene, but as Scythian, while according to the Byzantine author John Malalas, his army was made up of a tribe previously known as Myrmidons and later as Bulgars. |
Achilles | In modern literature and arts | In modern literature and arts
thumb|right|Briseis and Achilles, engraving by Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–1677)
thumb|The Wrath of Achilles (), painting by Peter Paul Rubens
thumb|The death of Hector, unfinished oil painting by Peter Paul Rubens
thumb|upright=1.3|Achilles and Agamemnon by Gottlieb Schick (1801)
thumb|The Wrath of Achilles, by François-Léon Benouville (1847; Musée Fabre) |
Achilles | Literature | Literature
Achilles appears in Dante's Inferno (composed 1308–1320). He is seen in Hell's second circle, that of lust.
Achilles is portrayed as a former hero who has become lazy and devoted to the love of Patroclus, in William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida (1602). Despicably, he has his Myrmidons murder the unarmed Hector, and then gets them to announce that Achilles himself has slain Hector, as if it had been in a fair fight (Act 5.9.5-14).
The French dramatist Thomas Corneille wrote a tragedy La Mort d'Achille (1673).
Achilles is the subject of the poem Achilleis (1799), a fragment by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
In 1899, the Polish playwright, painter and poet Stanisław Wyspiański published a national drama, based on Polish history, named Achilles.
In 1921, Edward Shanks published The Island of Youth and Other Poems, concerned among others with Achilles.
The 1983 novel Kassandra by Christa Wolf also treats the death of Achilles.
H.D.'s 1961 long poem Helen in Egypt features Achilles prominently as a figure whose irrational hatred of Helen traumatizes her, the bulk of the poem's plot being about her recovery.
Achilles is killed by a poisoned Centaur arrow shot by Cassandra in Marion Zimmer Bradley's novel The Firebrand (1987).
Achilles is one of various 'narrators' in Colleen McCullough's novel The Song of Troy (1998).
The Death of Achilles (Смерть Ахиллеса, 1998) is an historical detective novel by Russian writer Boris Akunin that alludes to various figures and motifs from the Iliad.
The character Achilles in Ender's Shadow (1999), by Orson Scott Card, shares his namesake's cunning mind and ruthless attitude.
Achilles is one of the main characters in Dan Simmons's novels Ilium (2003) and Olympos (2005).
Achilles is a major supporting character in David Gemmell's Troy series of books (2005–2007).
Achilles is the main character in David Malouf's novel Ransom (2009).
The ghost of Achilles appears in Rick Riordan's The Last Olympian (2009). He warns Percy Jackson about the Curse of Achilles and its side effects.
Achilles is a main character in Terence Hawkins' 2009 novel The Rage of Achilles.
Achilles is a major character in Madeline Miller's debut novel, The Song of Achilles (2011), which won the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction. The novel explores the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles from boyhood to the fateful events of the Iliad.
Achilles appears in the light novel series Fate/Apocrypha (2012–2014) as the Rider of Red.
Achilles is a main character in Pat Barker's 2018 novel The Silence of the Girls, much of which is narrated by his slave Briseis. |
Achilles | Visual arts | Visual arts
Achilles with the Daughters of Lycomedes is a subject treated in paintings by Anthony van Dyck (before 1618; Museo del Prado, Madrid) and Nicolas Poussin (; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) among others.
Peter Paul Rubens has authored a series of works on the life of Achilles, comprising the titles: Thetis dipping the infant Achilles into the river Styx, Achilles educated by the centaur Chiron, Achilles recognized among the daughters of Lycomedes, The wrath of Achilles, The death of Hector, Thetis receiving the arms of Achilles from Vulcanus, The death of Achilles (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam), and Briseis restored to Achilles (Detroit Institute of Arts; all )
Pieter van Lint, "Achilles Discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes", 1645, at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Dying Achilles is a sculpture created by Christophe Veyrier (; Victoria and Albert Museum, London).
The Rage of Achilles is a fresco by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1757, Villa Valmarana Ai Nani, Vicenza).
Eugène Delacroix painted a version of The Education of Achilles for the ceiling of the Paris Palais Bourbon (1833–1847), one of the seats of the French Parliament.
created a statue group Achilles and Penthesilea (1895; Vienna).
Achilleus (1908) is a lithography by Max Slevogt. |
Achilles | Music | Music
Achilles has been frequently the subject of operas, ballets and related genres.
Operas titled Deidamia were composed by Francesco Cavalli (1644) and George Frideric Handel (1739).
Achille et Polyxène (Paris 1687) is an opera begun by Jean-Baptiste Lully and finished by Pascal Collasse.
Achille et Déidamie (Paris 1735) is an opera composed by André Campra.
Achilles (London 1733) is a ballad opera, written by John Gay, parodied by Thomas Arne as Achilles in petticoats in 1773.
Achille in Sciro is a libretto by Metastasio, composed by Domenico Sarro for the inauguration of the Teatro di San Carlo (Naples, 4 November 1737). An even earlier composition is from Antonio Caldara (Vienna 1736). Later operas on the same libretto were composed by Leonardo Leo (Turin 1739), Niccolò Jommelli (Vienna 1749 and Rome 1772), Giuseppe Sarti (Copenhagen 1759 and Florence 1779), Johann Adolph Hasse (Naples 1759), Giovanni Paisiello (St. Petersburg 1772), Giuseppe Gazzaniga (Palermo 1781) and many others. It has also been set to music as Il Trionfo della gloria.
Achille (Vienna 1801) is an opera by Ferdinando Paër on a libretto by Giovanni de Gamerra.
Achille à Scyros (Paris 1804) is a ballet by Pierre Gardel, composed by Luigi Cherubini.
Achilles, oder Das zerstörte Troja ("Achilles, or Troy Destroyed", Bonn 1885) is an oratorio by the German composer Max Bruch.
Achilles auf Skyros (Stuttgart 1926) is a ballet by the Austrian-British composer and musicologist Egon Wellesz.
Achilles' Wrath is a concert piece by Sean O'Loughlin.Entry at Musical World.
Temporary Like Achilles is a song on the 1966 double-album Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan
Achilles Last Stand is a song on the 1976 Led Zeppelin album Presence.
Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts is the first song on the 1992 Manowar album The Triumph of Steel.
Achilles Come Down is a song on the 2017 Gang of Youths album Go Farther in Lightness. |
Achilles | Film and television | Film and television
Achilles has been portrayed in the following films and television series:
The 1924 film Helena by Carlo Aldini
The 1954 film Ulysses by Piero Lulli
The 1956 film Helen of Troy by Stanley Baker
The 1961 film The Trojan Horse by Arturo Dominici
The 1962 film The Fury of Achilles by Gordon Mitchell
The 1997 television miniseries The Odyssey by Richard Trewett
The 2003 television miniseries Helen of Troy by Joe Montana
The 2004 film Troy by Brad Pitt |
Achilles | Architecture | Architecture
In 1890, Elisabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria, had a summer palace built in Corfu. The building is named the Achilleion, after Achilles. Its paintings and statuary depict scenes from the Trojan War, with particular focus on Achilles.
The Wellington Monument is a statue representing Achilles erected in 1822 as a memorial to Arthur Wellesley, the first duke of Wellington, and his victories in the Peninsular War and the latter stages of the Napoleonic Wars. |
Achilles | Namesakes | Namesakes
The name of Achilles has been used for at least nine Royal Navy warships since 1744—both as and with the French spelling . A 60-gun ship of that name served at the Battle of Belleisle in 1761 while a 74-gun ship served at the Battle of Trafalgar. Other battle honours include Walcheren 1809. An armored cruiser of that name served in the Royal Navy during the First World War.
was a which served with the Royal New Zealand Navy in World War II. It became famous for its part in the Battle of the River Plate, alongside and . In addition to earning the battle honour 'River Plate', HMNZS Achilles also served at Guadalcanal 1942–1943 and Okinawa in 1945. After returning to the Royal Navy, the ship was sold to the Indian Navy in 1948, but when she was scrapped parts of the ship were saved and preserved in New Zealand.
A species of lizard, Anolis achilles, which has widened heel plates, is named for Achilles.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Achilles", p. 1). |
Achilles | Gallery | Gallery |
Achilles | References | References |
Achilles | Further reading | Further reading
Ileana Chirassi Colombo (1977), "Heroes Achilleus – Theos Apollon". In Il Mito Greco, edd. Bruno Gentili and Giuseppe Paione. Rome: Edizione dell'Ateneo e Bizzarri.
Anthony Edwards (1985a), "Achilles in the Underworld: Iliad, Odyssey, and Æthiopis". Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies. 26: pp. 215–227.
Anthony Edwards (1985b), "Achilles in the Odyssey: Ideologies of Heroism in the Homeric Epic". Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie. 171.
Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths, Harmondsworth, London, England, Penguin Books, 1960.
Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition. Penguin Books Limited. 2017.
Hélène Monsacré (1984), Les larmes d'Achille. Le héros, la femme et la souffrance dans la poésie d'Homère, Paris: Albin Michel.
Gregory Nagy (1984), The Name of Achilles: Questions of Etymology and 'Folk Etymology, Illinois Classical Studies. 19.
Gregory Nagy (1999), The Best of The Acheans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry. Johns Hopkins University Press (revised edition, online ).
Dale S. Sinos (1991), The Entry of Achilles into Greek Epic, PhD thesis, Johns Hopkins University. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International.
Jonathan S. Burgess (2009), The Death and Afterlife of Achilles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Abrantes, M.C. (2016), Themes of the Trojan Cycle: Contribution to the study of the greek mythological tradition (Coimbra). . |
Achilles | External links | External links
Trojan War Resources
Gallery of the Ancient Art: Achilles
Poem by Florence Earle Coates
Category:Greek mythological heroes
Category:Kings of the Myrmidons
Category:Achaean Leaders
Category:Thessalians in the Trojan War
Category:Metamorphoses characters
Category:Mythological rapists
Category:Demigods in classical mythology
Category:LGBTQ themes in Greek mythology
Category:Deeds of Apollo
Category:Medea
Category:Princes in Greek mythology |
Achilles | Table of Content | Short description, Etymology, Other names, Birth and early years, Physical description, Hidden on Skyros, In the Trojan War, Telephus, Troilus, In the ''Iliad'', Penthesilea and Memnon, Achilles and Patroclus, Death, Fate of Achilles' armour, Achilles, Ajax and a game of ''petteia'', Worship and heroic cult, Reception during antiquity, In Greek tragedy, In Greek philosophy, Zeno, Plato, In Roman and medieval literature, In modern literature and arts, Literature, Visual arts, Music, Film and television, Architecture, Namesakes, Gallery, References, Further reading, External links |
Abraham Lincoln | Short description | Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defeating the Confederate States of America, playing a major role in the abolition of slavery, expanding the power of the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.
Lincoln was born into poverty in Kentucky and raised on the frontier. He was self-educated and became a lawyer, Illinois state legislator, and U.S. representative. Angered by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854, which opened the territories to slavery, he became a leader of the new Republican Party. He reached a national audience in the 1858 Senate campaign debates against Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election, but the South viewed his election as a threat to slavery, and Southern states began seceding to form the Confederate States of America. A month after Lincoln assumed the presidency, Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, starting the Civil War.
Lincoln, a moderate Republican, had to navigate a contentious array of factions in managing the war effort. He suspended the writ of habeas corpus in April 1861, leading to Chief Justice Roger Taney's opinion in Ex parte Merryman, and he averted war with Britain by defusing the Trent Affair. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the slaves in the states "in rebellion" to be free. On November 19, 1863, he delivered the Gettysburg Address, which became one of the most famous speeches in American history. Lincoln closely supervised the strategy and tactics in the war effort, including the selection of generals, and implemented a naval blockade of Southern ports. He promoted the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which, in 1865, abolished slavery, except as punishment for a crime. Lincoln managed his own successful 1864 re-election campaign. He sought to heal the war-torn nation through reconciliation, calling for "malice toward none; with charity for all" in his second inaugural address. On April 14, 1865, five days after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, he was attending a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., when he was fatally shot by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth.
Lincoln is remembered as a martyr and a national hero for his wartime leadership and for his efforts to preserve the Union and abolish slavery. He is often ranked in both popular and scholarly polls as the greatest president in American history. |
Abraham Lincoln | Family and childhood | Family and childhood |
Abraham Lincoln | Early life | Early life
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a log cabin on Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. The second child of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, he was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from England to Massachusetts in 1638. The family through subsequent generations migrated west, passing through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lincoln was also a descendant of the Harrison family of Virginia; his paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln, moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Kentucky. The captain was killed in an Indian raid in 1786. Thomas, Abraham's father, then worked at odd jobs in Kentucky and Tennessee before the family settled in Hardin County, Kentucky, in the early 1800s. Lincoln's mother Nancy Lincoln is widely assumed to have been the daughter of Lucy Hanks. Thomas and Nancy married on June 12, 1806, and moved to Elizabethtown, Kentucky. They had three children: Sarah, Abraham, and Thomas, who died as an infant.
Thomas Lincoln bought multiple farms in Kentucky but could not get clear property titles to any, losing hundreds of acres in legal disputes. In 1816, the family moved to Indiana, where the land surveys and titles were more reliable. They settled in an "unbroken forest" in Little Pigeon Creek Community, Indiana. In Kentucky and Indiana, Thomas worked as a farmer, cabinetmaker, and carpenter. At various times he owned farms, livestock, and town lots, appraised estates, and served on county patrols. Thomas and Nancy were members of a Separate Baptist Church, which "condemned profanity, intoxication, gossip, horse racing, and dancing." Most of its members opposed slavery. Overcoming financial challenges, Thomas in 1827 obtained clear title to in Little Pigeon Creek Community.
On October 5, 1818, Nancy Lincoln died from milk sickness, leaving 11-year-old Sarah in charge of a household including her father, nine-year-old Abraham, and Nancy's 19-year-old orphan cousin, Dennis Hanks. Ten years later, on January 20, 1828, Sarah died while giving birth to a stillborn son, devastating Lincoln. On December 2, 1819, Thomas married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow with three children of her own. Abraham became close to his stepmother and called her "Mother". |
Abraham Lincoln | Education and move to Illinois | Education and move to Illinois
Lincoln was largely self-educated. His formal schooling was from itinerant teachers. It included two short stints in Kentucky, where he learned to read, but probably not to write. In Indiana at age seven, due to farm chores, he attended school only sporadically, for a total of less than 12 months by age 15. Nonetheless, he remained an avid reader and retained a lifelong interest in learning.
When Lincoln was a teen, his "father grew more and more to depend on him for the 'farming, grubbing, hoeing, making fences' necessary to keep the family afloat. He also regularly hired his son out to work ... and by law, he was entitled to everything the boy earned until he came of age". Lincoln was tall, strong, and athletic, and became adept at using an ax. He and some friends took goods by flatboat to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he first witnessed slave markets.
In March 1830, fearing another milk sickness outbreak, several members of the extended Lincoln family, including Abraham, moved west to Illinois and settled in Macon County. Abraham became increasingly distant from Thomas, in part due to his father's lack of interest in education; he would later refuse to attend his father's deathbed or funeral. |
Abraham Lincoln | Marriage and children | Marriage and children
thumb|alt=Black-and-white photo of a woman with two young boys|Mary Todd Lincoln with Willie and Tad
Some historians, such as Michael Burlingame, identify Lincoln's first romantic interest as Ann Rutledge, whom he met when he moved to New Salem. Lewis Gannett, however, disputes that the evidence supports a romantic relationship between the two. David Herbert Donald states that "How that friendship [between Lincoln and Rutledge] developed into a romance cannot be reconstructed from the record". Rutledge died on August 25, 1835. Lincoln took the death very hard, sinking into a serious depression and contemplating suicide.
In the early 1830s, he met Mary Owens from Kentucky. Late in 1836, Lincoln agreed to a match with Owens if she returned to New Salem. Owens arrived that November and he courted her, but they both had second thoughts. On August 16, 1837, he wrote Owens a letter saying he would not blame her if she ended the relationship, and she never replied.
In 1839, Lincoln met Mary Todd in Springfield, Illinois, and the following year they became engaged. She was the daughter of Robert Smith Todd, a wealthy lawyer and businessman in Lexington, Kentucky. Lincoln initially broke off the engagement in early 1841, but the two were reconciled and married on November 4, 1842. In 1844, the couple bought a house in Springfield near his law office.
The marriage was turbulent; Mary was verbally abusive and at times physically violent towards her husband. They had four sons. The eldest, Robert Todd Lincoln, was born in 1843, and was the only child to live to maturity. Edward Baker Lincoln (Eddie), born in 1846, died February 1, 1850, probably of tuberculosis. Lincoln's third son, "Willie" Lincoln, was born on December 21, 1850, and died of a fever at the White House on February 20, 1862. The youngest, Thomas "Tad" Lincoln, was born on April 4, 1853, and died of edema at age 18 on July 16, 1871.
Lincoln "was remarkably fond of children", and the Lincolns were not considered to be strict with their own. The deaths of Eddie and Willie had profound effects on both parents. Lincoln suffered from "melancholy", a condition now thought to be clinical depression. Later in life, Mary struggled with the stresses of losing her husband and sons, and in 1875 Robert committed her to an asylum. |
Abraham Lincoln | Early vocations and militia service | Early vocations and militia service
In 1831, Thomas moved the family to a new homestead in Coles County, Illinois, after which Abraham struck out on his own. He made his home in New Salem, Illinois, for six years. During 1831 and 1832, Lincoln worked at a general store in New Salem, Illinois. He gained a reputation for strength and courage after winning a wrestling match with the leader of ruffians known as the Clary's Grove boys. In 1832, he declared his candidacy for the Illinois House of Representatives, though he interrupted his campaign to serve as a captain in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War. He was elected the captain of his militia company but did not see combat. In his political campaigning, Lincoln advocated for navigational improvements on the Sangamon River. He could draw crowds as a raconteur, but lacked name recognition, powerful friends, and money, and lost the election.
When Lincoln returned home from the war, he planned to become a blacksmith, but instead purchased a New Salem general store in partnership with William Berry. Because a license was required to sell customers beverages, Berry obtained bartending licenses for Lincoln and himself, and in 1833 the Lincoln-Berry General Store became a tavern as well. But Berry was "an undisciplined, hard-drinking fellow", and Lincoln "was too soft-hearted to deny anyone credit"; although the economy was booming, the business struggled and went into debt, prompting Lincoln to sell his share. Lincoln served as New Salem's postmaster and later as county surveyor, but he continued his voracious reading and decided to become a lawyer. Rather than studying in the office of an established attorney, as was the custom, Lincoln borrowed legal texts from attorneys John Todd Stuart and Thomas Drummond, purchased books including Blackstone's Commentaries and Chitty's Pleadings, and read law on his own. He later said of his legal education that he "studied with nobody." |
Abraham Lincoln | Early political offices and prairie lawyer | Early political offices and prairie lawyer |
Abraham Lincoln | Illinois state legislature (1834–1842) | Illinois state legislature (1834–1842)
thumb|Lincoln's home in Springfield, Illinois, where he resided from 1844 until becoming president in 1861
Lincoln's second state house campaign in 1834, this time as a Whig, was a success over a powerful Whig opponent. Then followed his four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives for Sangamon County. As a representative, he championed construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Lincoln voted to expand suffrage beyond white landowners to all white males, but opposed both slavery and abolition. In 1837, he declared, "slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy, but the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils." He echoed Henry Clay's support for the American Colonization Society, which advocated abolition in conjunction with settling freed slaves in Liberia.
Lincoln was admitted to the Illinois bar on September 9, 1836. He moved to Springfield and began to practice law under John T. Stuart, Mary Todd's cousin. He emerged as a formidable trial combatant during cross-examinations and closing arguments. He partnered several years with Stephen T. Logan and, in 1844, began his practice with William Herndon, "a studious young man".
On January 27, 1838, Lincoln delivered a major speech at the Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, after the murder of anti-slavery newspaper editor Elijah Parish Lovejoy. Lincoln denounced the "mobocratic spirit ... now abroad in the land", indirectly attacking Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party, and anti-abolitionism. He was criticized in the press for a planned duel with James Shields, whom he had ridiculed in letters published under the name "Aunt Rebecca"; though the duel ultimately did not take place, "the affair embarrassed Lincoln terribly". |
Abraham Lincoln | U.S. House of Representatives (1847–1849) | U.S. House of Representatives (1847–1849)
Lincoln professed to friends in 1861 to be "an old line Whig, a disciple of Henry Clay". Their party favored economic modernization in banking, and tariffs to fund internal improvements including railroads, and urbanization. In 1843, Lincoln sought the Whig nomination for Illinois's 7th district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; John J. Hardin was the successful candidate, though Lincoln prevailed with the party in limiting Hardin to one term. Lincoln not only pulled off his strategy of gaining the nomination in 1846, but also won the election. The only Whig in the Illinois delegation, he participated in almost all votes and made speeches that toed the party line. He was assigned to the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads and the Committee on Expenditures in the War Department. Lincoln teamed with Joshua R. Giddings on a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, but dropped the bill when it eluded Whig support. |
Abraham Lincoln | Early political views | Early political views
Lincoln spoke against the Mexican–American War, for which he said President James K. Polk "had some strong motive... to involve the two countries in a war, and trusting to escape scrutiny, by fixing the public gaze upon the exceeding brightness of military glory—that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood". He supported the Wilmot Proviso, a failed proposal to ban slavery in any U.S. territory won from Mexico. Lincoln emphasized his opposition to Polk by drafting and introducing his Spot Resolutions. The war had begun with a killing of American soldiers in disputed territory, and Polk insisted that Mexican soldiers had "invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil"; Lincoln demanded that Polk tell Congress the exact spot, "implying that this spot was actually Mexican soil". The resolution cost Lincoln political support in his district, and newspapers derisively nicknamed him "spotty Lincoln". Lincoln later regretted some of his statements, especially his attack on presidential war-making powers.
Lincoln had pledged in 1846 to serve only one term in the House. Realizing Clay was unlikely to win the presidency, he supported General Zachary Taylor for the Whig nomination in the 1848 presidential election. Taylor won and Lincoln hoped in vain to be appointed Commissioner of the United States General Land Office. The administration offered to appoint him secretary of the Oregon Territory as consolation. This would have disrupted his legal and political career in Illinois, so he declined and resumed his law practice. |
Abraham Lincoln | Prairie lawyer | Prairie lawyer
In his Springfield practice, Lincoln handled "virtually every kind of business that could come before a prairie lawyer". Twice a year for sixteen years he appeared for 10 consecutive weeks in county seats in the Midstate county courts. Lincoln handled transportation cases in the midst of the nation's western expansion, particularly river barge conflicts under the many new railroad bridges. As a riverboat man, Lincoln initially favored those interests, but he represented whoever hired him. He represented a bridge company against a riverboat company in Hurd v. Rock Island Bridge Company, a landmark case involving a canal boat that sank after hitting a bridge. In 1849 he received a patent for a flotation device for the movement of boats in shallow water. The idea was never commercialized, but it made Lincoln the only president to hold a patent. Lincoln appeared before the Illinois Supreme Court in 175 cases; he was sole counsel in 51 cases, of which 31 were decided in his favor. From 1853 to 1860, one of his largest clients was the Illinois Central Railroad.
Lincoln represented William "Duff" Armstrong in his 1858 trial for the murder of James Preston Metzker. The case is famous for Lincoln's use of a fact established by judicial notice to challenge the credibility of an eyewitness. After a witness testified to seeing the crime in the moonlight, Lincoln produced a Farmers' Almanac showing the Moon was at a low angle, drastically reducing visibility. Armstrong was acquitted. In an 1859 murder case, he defended "Peachy" Quinn Harrison, the grandson of Peter Cartwright, Lincoln's political opponent. Harrison was charged with the murder of Greek Crafton who, according to Cartwright, said as he lay dying that he had "brought it upon myself" and that he forgave Harrison. Lincoln angrily protested the judge's initial decision to exclude Cartwright's claim as hearsay. Lincoln argued that the testimony involved a dying declaration and was not subject to the hearsay rule. Instead of holding Lincoln in contempt of court as expected, the judge, a Democrat, admitted the testimony into evidence, resulting in Harrison's acquittal. |
Abraham Lincoln | Republican politics (1854–1860) | Republican politics (1854–1860) |
Abraham Lincoln | Emergence as Republican leader | Emergence as Republican leader
thumb|upright|Lincoln in 1858, the year of his debates with Stephen Douglas over slavery
The Compromise of 1850 failed to alleviate tensions over slavery between the slave-holding South and the free North. As the slavery debate in the Nebraska and Kansas territories became particularly acrimonious, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas proposed popular sovereignty as a compromise; the measure would allow the electorate of each territory to decide the status of slavery. The legislation alarmed many Northerners, who sought to prevent the spread of slavery, but Douglas's Kansas–Nebraska Act narrowly passed Congress in May 1854. Lincoln's Peoria Speech of October 1854, in which he declared his opposition to slavery, was one of over 170 speeches he delivered in the next six years on the topic of excluding slavery from the territories. Lincoln's attacks on the Kansas–Nebraska Act marked his return to political life.
Nationally, the Whigs were irreparably split by the Kansas–Nebraska Act and other ineffective efforts to compromise on the slavery issue. Reflecting on the demise of his party, Lincoln wrote in 1855, "I think I am a whig; but others say there are no whigs, and that I am an abolitionist.... I now do no more than oppose the extension of slavery." The new Republican Party was formed as a northern party dedicated to antislavery, drawing from the antislavery wing of the Whig Party and combining Free Soil, Liberty, and antislavery Democratic Party members, Lincoln resisted early Republican entreaties, fearing that the new party would become a platform for extreme abolitionists. Lincoln held out hope for rejuvenating the Whigs, though he lamented his party's growing closeness with the nativist Know Nothing movement. In 1854, Lincoln was elected to the Illinois legislature, but before the term began he declined to take his seat so that he would be eligible to run in the upcoming U.S. Senate election. At that time, senators were elected by state legislatures. After leading in the first six rounds of voting, he was unable to obtain a majority. Lincoln instructed his backers to vote for Lyman Trumbull, an antislavery Democrat who had received few votes in the earlier ballots. Lincoln's decision to withdraw enabled his Whig supporters and Trumbull's antislavery Democrats to combine and defeat the mainstream Democratic candidate, Joel Aldrich Matteson. |
Abraham Lincoln | 1856 campaign | 1856 campaign
Violent political confrontations in Kansas continued, and opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act remained strong throughout the North. As the 1856 elections approached, Lincoln joined the Republicans and attended the Bloomington Convention, where the Illinois Republican Party was established. The convention platform endorsed Congress's right to regulate slavery in the territories and backed the admission of Kansas as a free state. Lincoln gave the final speech of the convention, calling for the preservation of the Union. At the June 1856 Republican National Convention, though Lincoln received support to run as vice president, John C. Frémont and William Dayton were on the ticket, which Lincoln supported throughout Illinois. The Democrats nominated James Buchanan and the Know-Nothings nominated Millard Fillmore. Buchanan prevailed, while Republican William Henry Bissell won election as Governor of Illinois, and Lincoln became a leading Republican in Illinois. |
Abraham Lincoln | ''Dred Scott v. Sandford'' | Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave whose master took him from a slave state to a territory that was free as a result of the Missouri Compromise. After Scott was returned to the slave state, he petitioned a federal court for his freedom. His petition was denied in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857). In his opinion, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote that Black people were not citizens and derived no rights from the Constitution, and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional for infringing upon slave owners' "property" rights. While many Democrats hoped that Dred Scott would end the dispute over slavery in the territories, the decision sparked further outrage in the North. Lincoln denounced it as the product of a conspiracy of Democrats to support the Slave Power. He argued that the decision was at variance with the Declaration of Independence, which stated that all men were equal "in certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". |
Abraham Lincoln | Lincoln–Douglas debates and Cooper Union speech | Lincoln–Douglas debates and Cooper Union speech
thumb|left|Abraham Lincoln, a portrait by Mathew Brady taken February 27, 1860, the day of Lincoln's Cooper Union speech in New York City
In 1858, Douglas was up for re-election in the U.S. Senate, and Lincoln hoped to defeat him. Many in the party felt that a former Whig should be nominated in 1858, and Lincoln's 1856 campaigning and support of Trumbull had earned him a favor. For the first time, Illinois Republicans held a convention to agree upon a Senate candidate, and Lincoln won the nomination with little opposition. Lincoln accepted the nomination with great enthusiasm and zeal. After his nomination he delivered his House Divided Speech: "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other." The speech created a stark image of the danger of disunion. When informed of Lincoln's nomination, Douglas stated, "[Lincoln] is the strong man of the party ... and if I beat him, my victory will be hardly won."
The Senate campaign featured seven debates between Lincoln and Douglas. These are the most famous political debates in American history; they had an atmosphere akin to a prizefight and drew thousands. Lincoln warned that the Slave Power was threatening the values of republicanism, and he accused Douglas of distorting Jefferson's premise that all men are created equal. In his Freeport Doctrine, Douglas argued that, despite the Dred Scott decision, which he claimed to support, local settlers, under the doctrine of popular sovereignty, should be free to choose whether to allow slavery within their territory, and he accused Lincoln of having joined the abolitionists. Lincoln's argument assumed a moral tone, as he claimed that Douglas represented a conspiracy to promote slavery. Douglas's argument was more legal in nature, claiming that Lincoln was defying the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court as exercised in the Dred Scott decision.
Though the Republican legislative candidates won more popular votes, the Democrats won more seats, and the legislature re-elected Douglas. However, Lincoln's articulation of the issues had given him a national political presence. In May 1859, Lincoln purchased the Illinois Staats-Anzeiger, a German-language newspaper that was consistently supportive; most of the state's 130,000 German Americans voted for Democrats, but the German-language paper mobilized Republican support. In the aftermath of the 1858 election, newspapers frequently mentioned Lincoln as a potential Republican presidential candidate. While Lincoln was popular in the Midwest, he lacked support in the Northeast and was unsure whether to seek the office. In January 1860, Lincoln told a group of political allies that he would accept the presidential nomination if offered and, in the following months, William O. Stoddard's Central Illinois Gazette, the Chicago Press & Tribune, and other local papers endorsed his candidacy.
On February 27, 1860, powerful New York Republicans invited Lincoln to give a speech at Cooper Union, in which he argued that the Founding Fathers had little use for popular sovereignty and had repeatedly sought to restrict slavery. He insisted that morality required opposition to slavery and rejected any "groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong". Many in the audience thought he appeared awkward and even ugly. But Lincoln demonstrated intellectual leadership, which brought him into contention. Journalist Noah Brooks reported, "No man ever before made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York audience". Historian David Herbert Donald described the speech as "a superb political move for an unannounced presidential aspirant." In response to an inquiry about his ambitions, Lincoln said, "The taste is in my mouth a little". |
Abraham Lincoln | 1860 presidential election | 1860 presidential election
alt= Lincoln being carried by two men on a long board. |thumb|The Rail Candidate, a critical Currier and Ives illustration, which depicted Lincoln's platform in the 1860 presidential campaign as being held up by a slave and his party
On May 9–10, 1860, the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in Decatur. Exploiting his embellished frontier legend (clearing land and splitting fence rails), Lincoln's supporters adopted the label of "The Rail Candidate". On May 18 at the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Lincoln won the nomination on the third ballot. A former Democrat, Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, was nominated for vice president to balance the ticket.
Throughout the 1850s, Lincoln had doubted the prospects of civil war, and his supporters rejected claims that his election would incite secession. When Douglas was selected as the candidate of the Northern Democrats, delegates from eleven slave states walked out of the Democratic convention; they opposed Douglas's position on popular sovereignty, and selected incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge as their candidate. A group of former Whigs and Know Nothings formed the Constitutional Union Party and nominated John Bell of Tennessee. Lincoln and Douglas competed for votes in the North, while Bell and Breckinridge primarily found support in the South. A nationwide militaristic Republican youth organization, the Wide Awakes, "turned it into one of the most excited elections in American history" and "triggered massive popular enthusiasm". People of the Northern states knew the Southern states would vote against Lincoln and rallied supporters for him.
As Douglas and the other candidates campaigned, Lincoln gave no speeches, relying on the enthusiasm of the Republican Party. The party did the legwork that produced majorities across the North. Republican speakers focused first on the party platform, and second on Lincoln's life story, emphasizing his childhood poverty. The goal was to demonstrate the power of "free labor", which allowed a common farm boy to work his way to the top by his own efforts. The Republican Party's production of campaign literature dwarfed the combined opposition; a Chicago Tribune writer produced a pamphlet that detailed Lincoln's life and sold 100,000–200,000 copies. Though he did not give public appearances, many sought to visit and write to Lincoln. In the runup to the election, he took an office in the Illinois state capitol to deal with the influx of attention. He also hired John George Nicolay as his personal secretary, who would remain in that role during the presidency.
On November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected the 16th president. He was the first Republican president and his victory was entirely due to his support in the North and West. No ballots were cast for him in 10 of the 15 Southern slave states, and he won only two of 996 counties in all the Southern states. Lincoln received 1,866,452 votes, or 39.8 percent of the total in a four-way race, carrying the free Northern states, as well as California and Oregon, and winning the Electoral vote decisively. |
Abraham Lincoln | Presidency (1861–1865) | Presidency (1861–1865) |
Abraham Lincoln | First term | First term |
Abraham Lincoln | Secession and inauguration | Secession and inauguration
The South was outraged by Lincoln's election, and in response secessionists implemented plans to leave the Union before he took office in March 1861. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina adopted an ordinance of secession; by February 1, 1861, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed. Six of these states declared themselves to be a sovereign nation, the Confederate States of America, selecting Jefferson Davis as its provisional president. The upper South and border states (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Arkansas) initially rejected the secessionist appeal. President Buchanan and President-elect Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy, declaring secession illegal. On February 11, 1861, Lincoln gave a particularly emotional farewell address upon leaving Springfield for Washington.
Lincoln and the Republicans rejected the proposed Crittenden Compromise as contrary to the Party's platform of free-soil in the territories. Lincoln said, "I will suffer death before I consent ... to any concession or compromise which looks like buying the privilege to take possession of this government to which we have a constitutional right". Lincoln supported the Corwin Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which passed Congress and was awaiting ratification by the required three-fourths of the states when Lincoln took office, whereupon Southern states began to secede. That doomed amendment would have protected slavery in states where it already existed. On March 4, 1861, in his first inaugural address, Lincoln said that, because he holds "such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express, and irrevocable".
thumb|Lincoln was mocked by opposition papers falsely claiming that he snuck into Washington in disguise after the 1860 election.
Due to secessionist plots, unprecedented attention to security was given to him and his train. En route to his inauguration, Lincoln addressed crowds and legislatures across the North. The president-elect evaded suspected assassins in Baltimore. He traveled in disguise, wearing a soft felt hat instead of his customary stovepipe hat and draping an overcoat over his shoulders while hunching slightly to conceal his height. On February 23, 1861, he arrived in Washington, D.C., which was placed under substantial military guard. Many in the opposition press criticized his secretive journey; opposition newspapers mocked Lincoln with caricatures showing him sneaking into the capital. Lincoln directed his inaugural address to the South, proclaiming once again that he had no inclination to abolish slavery in the Southern states:
Lincoln cited his plans for banning the expansion of slavery as the key source of conflict between North and South, stating "One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute." The president ended his address with an appeal to the people of the South: "We are not enemies, but friends.... The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." The failure of the Peace Conference of 1861 signaled that legislative compromise was impossible. By March 1861, no leaders of the insurrection had proposed rejoining the Union on any terms. Meanwhile, Lincoln and the Republican leadership agreed that the dismantling of the Union could not be tolerated. |
Abraham Lincoln | Personnel | Personnel
In the selection and use of his cabinet Lincoln employed the strengths of his rivals in a manner that emboldened his presidency. Lincoln commented on his thought process, "We need the strongest men of the party in the Cabinet. We needed to hold our own people together. I had looked the party over and concluded that these were the very strongest men. Then I had no right to deprive the country of their services." Goodwin described the group in her biography of Lincoln as a Team of Rivals. Lincoln named his main political rival, William H. Seward, as Secretary of State. However, Lincoln quickly appointed some top diplomats "to counteract Confederate efforts at gaining recognition from European nations".
Lincoln's philosophy on court nominations was that "we cannot ask a man what he will do, and if we should, and he should answer us, we should despise him for it. Therefore we must take a man whose opinions are known." Lincoln made five appointments to the Supreme Court. Noah Haynes Swayne was against slavery and a prominent corporate lawyer. Samuel Freeman Miller was an avowed abolitionist and received widespread support from Iowa politicians. David Davis was Lincoln's campaign manager in 1860 and had served as a judge in the Illinois court circuit where Lincoln practiced. Democrat Stephen Johnson Field, a previous California Supreme Court justice, provided geographic and political balance. Finally, Lincoln appointed his Treasury Secretary, Salmon P. Chase, as Chief Justice. Lincoln believed Chase was an able jurist, would support Reconstruction legislation, and that his appointment would unite the Republican Party.
+Supreme Court JusticesJusticeNominatedAppointedNoah Haynes SwayneJanuary 21, 1862January 24, 1862Samuel Freeman MillerJuly 16, 1862July 16, 1862David DavisDecember 1, 1862December 8, 1862Stephen Johnson FieldMarch 6, 1863March 10, 1863Salmon Portland Chase (Chief Justice)December 6, 1864December 6, 1864 |
Abraham Lincoln | Commander-in-Chief | Commander-in-Chief
thumb|alt=President Abraham Lincoln in 1862|Portrait of Lincoln 1862
In early April 1861, Major Robert Anderson, commander of Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, advised that he was nearly out of food. After considerable debate, Lincoln decided to send provisions, apparently "consider[ing] hostilities to be probable". On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on Union troops at Fort Sumter. Donald concludes: His repeated efforts to avoid collision in the months between inauguration and the firing on Fort Sumter showed he adhered to his vow not to be the first to shed fraternal blood. But he had also vowed not to surrender the forts.... The only resolution of these contradictory positions was for the Confederates to fire the first shot.
On April 15, Lincoln called for 75,000 militiamen to recapture forts, protect Washington, and "preserve the Union". This call forced states to choose whether to secede or to support the Union. North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas seceded; Kentucky remained neutral. The Fort Sumter attack rallied the North to defend the nation. As states sent regiments south, on April 19 Baltimore mobs in control of the rail links attacked Union troops who were changing trains. Local leaders' groups later burned critical rail bridges to the capital and the Army responded by arresting local Maryland officials. Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus, allowing arrests without charges.
John Merryman, a Maryland officer arrested for hindering U.S. troop movements, petitioned Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney to issue a writ of habeas corpus. In June, in Ex parte Merryman, Taney, not ruling on behalf of the Supreme Court,"One significant point of disagreement among historians and political scientists is whether Roger Taney heard Ex parte Merryman as a U.S. circuit judge or as a Supreme Court justice in chambers." issued the writ, believing that the Constitution authorized only Congress and not the president to suspend it. But Lincoln engaged in nonacquiescence and persisted with the policy of suspension in select areas. Under the suspension, 15,000 civilians were detained without trial; several, including Copperhead leader Clement L. Vallandigham, were tried in military courts for "treasonable" actions, an approach which was highly criticized. |
Abraham Lincoln | Early Union military strategy | Early Union military strategy
Lincoln took executive control of the war and shaped the Union military strategy. He responded to the unprecedented political and military crisis as commander-in-chief by exercising unprecedented authority. He expanded his war powers, imposed a blockade on Confederate ports, disbursed funds before appropriation by Congress, suspended habeas corpus, and arrested and imprisoned thousands of suspected Confederate sympathizers. Lincoln gained the support of Congress and the northern public for these actions. Lincoln also had to reinforce Union sympathies in the border slave states and keep the war from becoming an international conflict. It was clear from the outset that bipartisan support was essential to success, and that any compromise alienated factions on both sides of the aisle. Copperheads (anti-war Democrats) criticized Lincoln for refusing to compromise on slavery; the Radical Republicans (who demanded harsh treatment against secession) criticized him for moving too slowly in abolishing slavery. On August 6, 1861, Lincoln signed the Confiscation Act of 1861, which authorized judicial proceedings to confiscate and free slaves who were used to support the Confederates. The law had little practical effect, but it signaled political support for abolishing slavery.
thumb|alt=A group of men sitting at a table as another man creates money on a wooden machine.|Running the Machine, an 1864 political cartoon satirizing Lincoln and his administration, including William Fessenden, Edwin Stanton, William Seward, Gideon Welles, Lincoln, and others
Lincoln's war strategy had two priorities: ensuring that Washington was well-defended and conducting an aggressive war effort for a prompt, decisive victory. Twice a week, Lincoln met with his cabinet. Occasionally, Lincoln's wife, Mary, prevailed on him to take a carriage ride, concerned that he was working too hard. Lincoln selected civilian generals from varied political and ethnic backgrounds "to secure their and their constituents' support for the war effort and ensure that the war became a national struggle". In January 1862, after complaints of inefficiency and profiteering in the War Department, Lincoln replaced War Secretary Simon Cameron with Edwin Stanton. Stanton worked more often and more closely with Lincoln than did any other senior official. According to Stanton's biographers Benjamin Thomas and Harold Hyman, "Stanton and Lincoln virtually conducted the war together".
For his edification Lincoln relied on a book by his chief of staff General Henry Halleck, Elements of Military Art and Science. Lincoln began to appreciate the critical need to control strategic points, such as the Mississippi River. Lincoln saw the importance of Vicksburg and understood the necessity of defeating the enemy's army, rather than merely capturing territory. In directing the Union's war strategy, Lincoln valued the advice of Winfield Scott, even after his retirement as Commanding General of the United States Army. In June 1862, Lincoln made an unannounced visit to West Point, where he spent five hours consulting with Scott regarding the handling of the war.
Internationally, Lincoln wanted to forestall foreign military aid to the Confederacy. He relied on his combative Secretary of State William Seward while working closely with Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Charles Sumner. In 1861 the U.S. Navy illegally intercepted a British mail ship, the Trent, on the high seas and seized two Confederate envoys. Although the North celebrated the seizure, Britain protested vehemently, and the Trent Affair threatened war between the Americans and the British. Lincoln ended the crisis by releasing the two diplomats. |
Abraham Lincoln | General McClellan | General McClellan
alt=Lincoln among a group of soldiers in a military camp|thumb|Lincoln meeting with Union Army officers on October 3, 1862 following the Battle of Antietam, including left to right: Col. Delos Sackett; 4. Gen. George W. Morell; 5. Alexander S. Webb, Chief of Staff, V Corps; 6. McClellan;. 8. Jonathan Letterman; 10. Lincoln; 11. Henry J. Hunt; 12. Fitz John Porter; 15. Andrew A. Humphreys; 16. Capt. George Armstrong Custer
After the Union rout at Bull Run and Winfield Scott's retirement, Lincoln appointed Major General George B. McClellan general-in-chief. McClellan spent months planning his Virginia Peninsula Campaign. McClellan's slow progress frustrated Lincoln, as did his position that no troops were needed to defend Washington. McClellan, in turn, blamed the failure of the campaign on Lincoln's reservation of troops for the capital. In 1862, Lincoln removed McClellan as general-in-chief for the general's continued inaction. He elevated Henry Halleck to the post and appointed John Pope as head of the new Army of Virginia. But in the summer of 1862 Pope was soundly defeated at the Second Battle of Bull Run, forcing him to retreat to Washington. Soon after, the Army of Virginia was disbanded.
Despite his dissatisfaction with McClellan's failure to reinforce Pope, Lincoln restored him to command of all forces around Washington, which included both the Army of the Potomac and the remains of the Army of Virginia. Two days later, General Robert E. Lee's forces crossed the Potomac River into Maryland, leading to the Battle of Antietam. That battle, a Union victory, was among the bloodiest in American history. A crisis of command occurred for Lincoln when McClellan then resisted the president's demand that he pursue Lee's withdrawing army, while General Don Carlos Buell likewise refused orders to move the Army of the Ohio against rebel forces in eastern Tennessee. Lincoln replaced Buell with William Rosecrans and McClellan with Ambrose Burnside. The appointments were both politically neutral and adroit on Lincoln's part. Against presidential advice Burnside launched an offensive across the Rappahannock River and was defeated by Lee at Fredericksburg in December. Facing low morale and discontent among the troops, Lincoln replaced Burnside with Joseph Hooker. In the spring of 1863, Lincoln ordered attacks by Hooker on Lee north of Richmond, Rosecrans on Chattanooga, Grant on Vicksburg, and a naval assault on Charleston. Hooker was routed by Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May, then resigned in June and was replaced by George Meade. Meade followed Lee north into Pennsylvania and defeated him in the Gettysburg campaign but then failed to effectively block Lee's orderly retreat to Virginia, despite Lincoln's demands. At the same time, Grant captured Vicksburg and gained control of the Mississippi River. |
Abraham Lincoln | Emancipation Proclamation | Emancipation Proclamation
Before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, two Union generals issued their own emancipation orders, but Lincoln overrode both: he found that the decision to emancipate was not within the generals' power, and that it might upset loyal border states enough for them to secede. However, in June 1862, Congress passed an act banning slavery in all federal territories, which Lincoln signed. In July, the Confiscation Act of 1862 was enacted. Its section 9 freed slaves "within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States". On July 22, 1862, Lincoln reviewed a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation with his cabinet. Copperheads argued that emancipation was a stumbling block to peace and reunification, but Republican editor Horace Greeley of the New-York Tribune, in his public letter, "The Prayer of Twenty Millions", implored Lincoln to embrace emancipation. In a public letter of August 22, 1862, Lincoln replied to Greeley, writing that while he personally wished all men could be free, his first obligation as president was to preserve the Union:
On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in 10 states not then under Union control, with exemptions specified for areas under such control. Lincoln's comment on signing the Proclamation was: "I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper." On New Year's Eve in 1862, African Americans – enslaved and free – gathered across the United States to hold Watch Night ceremonies for "Freedom's Eve", looking toward the stroke of midnight and the promised fulfillment of the Proclamation. With the abolition of slavery in the rebel states now a military objective, Union armies advancing south "enable[d] thousands of slaves to escape to freedom".
As Lincoln had hoped, the proclamation turned foreign popular opinion in favor of the Union by gaining the support of anti-slavery countries and countries that had already abolished slavery (especially the developed countries in Europe such as Britain and France). The Proclamation was immediately denounced by Copperhead Democrats, who opposed the war and advocated restoring the union by allowing slavery. It was also seen as a betrayal of his promise to Southern Unionists not to tamper with slavery; Emerson Etheridge, then Clerk of the House of Representatives, joined an unsuccessful plot to give Democrats and Southern Unionists control of the House.Robert B. Jones, "Henry Emerson Etheridge," NCpedia. Originally published in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 1986. As a result of the Proclamation, enlisting freedmen became official policy. In a letter to Tennessee military governor Andrew Johnson, Lincoln wrote, "The bare sight of fifty thousand armed, and drilled black soldiers on the banks of the Mississippi would end the rebellion at once". |
Abraham Lincoln | Gettysburg Address (1863) | Gettysburg Address (1863)
alt=Text of the Gettysburg Address|thumb|Gettysburg Address engraved in the Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the Gettysburg battlefield cemetery on November 19, 1863. In 272 words, taking only three minutes, Lincoln asserted that the nation was "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal". He defined the war as dedicated to the principles of liberty and equality for all. He declared that the deaths of so many soldiers would not be in vain, that the future of democracy would be assured, and that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth". The Address became the most quoted speech in American history.
After victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving holiday, to be celebrated on the 26th, the final Thursday of November 1863. |
Abraham Lincoln | Promoting General Grant | Promoting General Grant
General Ulysses Grant's victories at the Battle of Shiloh and in the Vicksburg campaign impressed Lincoln. Responding to criticism of Grant after Shiloh, Lincoln said, "I can't spare this man. He fights." Meade's failure to capture Lee's army after Gettysburg and Grant's success at Chattanooga persuaded Lincoln to promote Grant to commander of all Union armies. Grant then waged the bloody Overland Campaign, which exacted heavy losses on both sides.
Amid the turmoil of military actions, on June 30, 1864, Lincoln signed into law the Yosemite Grant enacted by Congress, which provided unprecedented federal protection for the area now known as Yosemite National Park. According to Rolf Diamant and Ethan Carr, "[T]he Yosemite Grant was a direct consequence of the war ... an embodiment of the ongoing process of remaking government ... an intentional assertion of a steadfast belief in the eventual Union victory."
Lincoln reacted to Union losses by mobilizing support throughout the North. Lincoln authorized Grant to target infrastructure—plantations, railroads, and bridges—to weaken the South's morale and fighting ability. He emphasized defeat of the Confederate armies over destruction for its own sake. As Grant continued to weaken Lee's forces, efforts to discuss peace began. At one point, Confederate Vice President Stephens led a meeting with Lincoln, Seward, and others at Hampton Roads. Lincoln refused to negotiate with the Confederacy as a coequal. In early April, the Confederate government evacuated Richmond and Lincoln visited the conquered capital, whereupon on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Grant at Appomattox. |
Abraham Lincoln | Fiscal and monetary policy | Fiscal and monetary policy
thumb|alt=Both sides of a one-dollar bill|One dollar "Greenback"
After the Battle of Fort Sumter, Lincoln and Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase faced the challenge of funding a wartime economy. Congress quickly approved Lincoln's request to assemble a 500,000-man army, but it initially resisted raising taxes. After the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861, which imposed the first U.S. federal income tax. The act created a flat tax of three percent on incomes above $800 ($ in current dollars). This taxation reflected the increasing amount of wealth held in stocks and bonds rather than property, which the federal government had taxed in the past. As the average urban worker made approximately $600 per year, the income tax burden fell primarily on the rich. Lincoln also signed the second and third Morrill Tariffs, the first having become law in the final months of Buchanan's tenure. These tariffs raised import duties considerably and were designed both to raise revenue and to protect domestic manufacturing against foreign competition. During the war, the tariff also helped manufacturers offset the burden of new taxes. Throughout the war, Congress debated whether to raise additional revenue primarily by increasing tariff rates, which most strongly affected rural areas in the West, or by increasing income taxes, which most strongly affected wealthier individuals in the Northeast.
The revenue measures of 1861 proved inadequate for funding the war, forcing Congress to pass further bills to generate revenue.
In February 1862, Congress passed the Legal Tender Act, which authorized the minting of $150 million of "greenbacks"—the first banknotes issued by the U.S. government since the end of the American Revolution. Greenbacks were not backed by gold or silver, but rather by the government's promise to honor their value. By the end of the war, $450 million worth of greenbacks were in circulation. Congress also passed the Revenue Act of 1862, which established an excise tax affecting nearly every commodity, as well as the first national inheritance tax. The Revenue Act of 1862 also added a progressive tax structure to the federal income tax, implementing a tax of five percent on incomes above $10,000. To collect these taxes, Congress created the Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
Despite these new measures, funding the war continued to be a challenge. The government continued to issue greenbacks and borrow large amounts of money, and the U.S. national debt grew from $65 million in 1860 to $2 billion in 1866. The Revenue Act of 1864 represented a compromise between those who favored a more progressive tax structure and those who favored a flat tax. It established a five-percent tax on incomes greater than $600, a ten-percent tax on incomes above $10,000, and it raised taxes on businesses. In early 1865, Congress levied a tax of ten percent on incomes above $5000. By the end of the war, the income tax constituted about one-fifth of the federal government's revenue, though it was intended as a temporary wartime measure.
Lincoln also took action against rampant fraud during the war, enacting the False Claims Act of 1863. This imposed civil and criminal penalties for false claims and made it possible for private citizens to file false claims (qui tam) lawsuits on behalf of the U.S. government. Hoping to stabilize the currency, Chase convinced Congress to pass the National Banking Act in February 1863, as well as a second banking act in 1864. Those acts established the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to oversee "national banks" subject to federal, rather than state, regulation. In return for investing a third of their capital in federal bonds, these national banks were authorized to issue federal banknotes. After Congress imposed a tax on private banknotes in March 1865, federal banknotes became the dominant form of paper currency. |
Abraham Lincoln | Foreign policy | Foreign policy
Lincoln had "limited familiarity with diplomatic practices" but had a "substantial influence on U.S. diplomacy" as the Union attempted to avoid war with Britain and France. At the start of the war, Russia was the lone great power to support the Union, while the other European powers had varying degrees of sympathy for the Confederacy. Lincoln's policy succeeded: all foreign nations were officially neutral throughout the Civil War, with none recognizing the Confederacy. European leaders saw the division of the United States as having the potential to eliminate, or at least greatly weaken, a growing rival. They looked for ways to exploit the inability of the U.S. to enforce the Monroe Doctrine. Spain invaded the Dominican Republic in 1861, while France established a puppet regime in Mexico. However, many in Europe also hoped for a quick end to the war, both for humanitarian reasons and because of the economic disruption it caused.
Lincoln's foreign policy was deficient in 1861 in terms of appealing to European public opinion. The European aristocracy (the dominant class in every major country) was "absolutely gleeful in pronouncing the American debacle as proof that the entire experiment in popular government had failed." Union diplomats had to explain that United States was not committed to the ending of slavery, and instead they argued that secession was unconstitutional. Confederate spokesmen, on the other hand, were more successful by ignoring slavery and instead focusing on their struggle for liberty, their commitment to free trade, and the essential role of cotton in the European economy. However, the Confederacy's hope that cotton exports would compel European interference did not come to fruition, as Britain found alternative sources of cotton and experienced economic growth in industries that did not rely on cotton. Though the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately end the possibility of European intervention, it rallied European public opinion to the Union by adding abolition as a Union war goal. Any chance of a European intervention in the war ended with the Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, as European leaders came to believe that the Confederate cause was doomed. |
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