Abraham Lincoln
The most famous Mathew Brady picture ever taken was of Abraham Lincoln on February 25, 1861. This portrait appears on the front of the five-dollar bill and may also have been used as an example for the Lincoln Memorial. The chair that Lincoln is sitting in was given to Brady by Lincoln as a gesture of friendship and became a signature of all Brady studio photographs. When this photo was taken Lincoln's right hand was swollen from shaking hands for twelve straight days, so Brady had him make a fist to make it look more natural. The beard that Abraham is wearing was also a new addition, for after his election an eleven-year-old girl suggested for him to grow one in order to look more important, and so he did. Lincoln was a very big man during his time for he was 6' 4" tall and weighed in at 180 lbs, which was not very common at that time.
English: Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President ...
Abraham Lincoln, three-quarter length portrait, se...
Lithograph of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln...Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president on November 6,1860. By the time this picture was taken seven states had already seceded. As soon as Lincoln maneuvered the South Carolinians into firing the first shot at Fort Sumter the Civil War officially began. During the war Lincoln unconstitutionally conducted a war without the consent of Congress; suspended habeas corpus; conscripted railroads and censored telegraph lines; imprisoned without trial some 30,000 northern citizens for merely voicing opposition to the war; deported a member of congress for opposing his income tax proposal at a Democratic Party political rally; shut down hundreds of Northern newspapers and imprisoned their editors for questioning his war policies; ordered federal troops to intimidate voters into voting Republican; and intentionally waged war against civilians. Also on April 17, 1861 Lincoln issues a Proclamation of Blockade against...