Julius Caesar and Abraham Lincoln: a Comparison Study

Caesar and Lincoln

The lives of two great historical men, Julius Caesar and Abraham Lincoln, have many unique differences and similarities. The similarities between the two are compared by their lives history. Both individuals were once leaders in the past who shared a large amount of power in their countries, with people still looking up to them in today’s society. There is the background of Julius Caesar, Abraham Lincoln, then we will look at the the two backgrounds comparatively.

The birth of Julius Caesar in approximately 100 B.C. marked a new chapter in Roman history. A series of men aspired to become the absolute leader of Rome, but Julius Caesar was the only one who seemed likely to achieve that. The citizens of Rome whom favored democratic leadership more feared that Caesar would enslave Roman citizens. This eventually lead to a group of conspirators, which was comprised of approximately 60 men including Marcus Brutus, coming together planning for what became the assassination of Julius Caesar. As he gained more power, more people began to hate him. Caesar wanted to control as much land and power as possible. After only a year of ruling Rome, he was assassinated by his own senators at a meeting in a hall next to Pompey’s Theatre in approximately 44 B.C. leaving his son Caesarion without a father.

Abraham Lincoln, born in 1809 had a huge life ahead of him. He became a self taught lawyer, legislator, and a vocal opponent of slavery. Later he became the 16th president of the United States with the Civil War soon to follow. Although Lincoln only had a brief, undistinguished service in the Black Hawk War, he quickly surprised many people when he proved to be a capable wartime leader. He learned quickly about strategy and tactics during the dawn of the Civil War. Lincoln, being a speaker against slavery, had many enemies early on in his political life. By the time he was elected president, seven southern states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate states of America. After Lincoln won the re-election in 1864 he addressed the need to reconstruct the South and rebuild the Union in his second inaugural address in 1865. A couple months later Lincoln presented a speech on the lawn of the White House urging the audience he had to welcome the seven southern states back into the Union. Tragically he did not live to fulfill this reconstruction of the Union. A few days later he was assassinated in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth. A group of three conspirators met in a bar in Washington to plot the abduction of the president, but when the president had changed his plans the day that they had planned to abduct him, the plan failed. The same three conspirators altered the plan to kill president Abraham Lincoln, vice president Andrew Johnson, and secretary of state William Seward on the same evening. One of the men backed out of his part which was to assassinate the vice president. The secretary was stabbed many times before the man fled away. Then, president Lincoln was shot in the back of the head and died.

Although these two historical men are from two totally different time periods they have their similarities along with their differences. Even though they both had a large amount of power in their countries, Caesar wanted to control more land and power while Lincoln wanted the reform the Union and abolish slavery. Both powerful leaders began to have more enemies as they gained more power in their countries for different reasons. In Lincoln’s case many people in the south began to be against him for wanting to abolish slavery. In Caesar’s case more and more people began to disagree with him because of the amount of power he was gaining. They feared him having too much power would lead to him enslaving the Roman citizens. With both of them having enemies this lead to their assassinations. Caesar was assassinated by a group of 60 men, while Lincoln was assassinated by one man. Lincoln was assassinated after serving 5 years as president while Caesar only served one year as dictator.

To compare these two you must look at each of their backgrounds then compare both of them together. Caesar was a powerful man who wanted more power and land, while Lincoln only wanted a better country for his citizens and to reform the Union. There are many other great leaders of the past whether that be from 50 B.C. or from 1860, that many people from todays society still look up to today.