For this reason it happened that when Lincoln became President most of the slave states resolved to leave the Union, and, if necessary, to make war rather than be compelled to stay in it.

[Footnote 16:  Union:  several years after the close of the Revolutionary War, by which we gained our independence of Great Britain, the people of the thirteen states formed a new government.  That new government bound all the states together more strongly than before, thus making, as was then said, “a more perfect union.”

In 1861 eleven of the southern states endeavored to withdraw from the Union; this attempt brought on the war.]

260.  The North and the South in the war; President Lincoln frees the slaves; General Grant and General Lee; peace is made.—­The North had the most men and the most money to fight with, but the people of the South had the advantage of being able to stay at home and fight on their own ground.

The war lasted four years (1861-1865).  Many terrible battles were fought; thousands of brave men were killed on both sides.  During the war President Lincoln gave the slaves their freedom in all the states which were fighting against the Union, and those in the other slave states got their freedom later.  After a time General Grant obtained the command of all the armies of the North, and General Lee became the chief defender of the South.

[Illustration:  STATUE OF LINCOLN WRITING THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WHICH GAVE THE SLAVES THEIR FREEDOM, IN FAIRMOUNT PARK, PHILADELPHIA.]

[Illustration:  MONUMENT TO GENERAL GRANT IN LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO.]

[Illustration:  MONUMENT TO GENERAL LEE, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.]

The last battles were fought around Richmond, Virginia, between these two great generals.  When the Southern soldiers saw that it was useless to attempt to fight longer, they laid down their arms, and peace was made—­a peace honorable to both sides.

261.  The success of the North preserves the Union and makes all slaves free; the North and the South shake hands; murder of President Lincoln.—­The success of the North in the war preserved the Union, and as all negro laborers were now free, there was no longer any dispute about slavery.  The North and the South could shake hands and be friends, for both were now ready to pull in the same direction.

The saddest thing at the close of the war was the murder of President Lincoln by a madman named Booth.  Not only the people of the North but many of those at the South shed tears at his death, because they felt that they had an equal place in his great heart.  He loved both, as a true American must ever love his whole country.

[Illustration:  MONUMENT OVER THE GRAVE OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN, AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.]