What number president was Abraham Lincoln?

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. He took office on March 4, 1861, and served during the American Civil War, winning reelection in 1864 before his assassination in April 1865.

Lincoln’s presidency began as several Southern states had already seceded from the Union. His central wartime goal was preserving the United States, and his administration also made emancipation a major war aim. The Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, freeing enslaved people in areas controlled by the Confederacy.

Lincoln won a second term after defeating Democratic candidate George B. McClellan in the 1864 election. His second inauguration, on March 4, 1865, came shortly before the Confederacy collapsed. He was shot at Ford’s Theatre on April 14 and died the next morning.

The president immediately after Lincoln was Andrew Johnson, who became the 17th president. That succession can cause confusion, but Lincoln’s place in the presidential sequence remains firmly 16th.