Thread: Lincoln & Civil rights?

how did he change the ways of this country, and what are the effects today?

He violated the Constitution and waged war against his own people.
And most historians agree he was the greatest President our great nation ever had. (He was also the first Republican president.)
He also freed the slaves, which went against what the Democrats stood for.

Lincoln wanted to preserve the union and slavery was used to justify that. This man also supported the Corwin Amendment and wanted to ship blacks back to Africa.

On January 1, 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. This was Lincoln’s declaration of freedom for all slaves in areas of the Confederacy not under union control.

What made him a strong leader was his faith.

Considerable uncertainty arises... when Lincoln's own religion is examined... it is obvious that Christianity exerted a profound influence on his life. His father was a member of Regular Baptist churches in Kentucky and Indiana. Lincoln himself read the Bible throughout his life, quoted from it extensively... during his years as president he did regularly attend the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington.

he was losing the war...so he freed the slaves to fight for the north

Lincoln was against slavery in his core, but from an economic standpoint he supported slavery and often took legal action as a lawyer to return slaves to their owners. At the same time he also fought to keep slaves from being sent back. it depended on who had the money to pay him.
He had no choice but to preserve the Union which according to most people was the right thing to do, but the slavery thing wasn't done to give anyone civil rights. It was done to break the bank of the confederacy because at that time slaves were a valuable commodity and traded like any other commodity.
The effects are far reaching and well beyond the scope of what I can even begin to write here, but it did change our fundamental beliefs and values as a nation. There is no doubt about that.