Lincoln, Colorado, and The West

Abraham Lincoln never set foot in the mountain West. Nonetheless Lincoln’s legacy has special importance to Colorado and the West. As a candidate for office in the 1850s, Lincoln drew the line against the expansion of slavery to the West. As President during the Civil War, he held that line. Thanks to his resolve, Colorado and the West remained forever free of slaveholder sovereignty.

Lincoln, and the Republican Party he helped shape in the 1850s, positioned themselves as the party of expansion and opportunity for small, free family farmers. Their policies guided the development of the West and Colorado for years to come. THE HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1862 gave free land to thousands of settlers. The government-sponsored RAILROAD ACT OF 1862 created a way for people to reach the West and precious metals, livestock, and produce to go east. THE MORRILL COLLEGE LAND GRANT ACT OF 1862 created colleges to educate students — and created research institutions to discover and demonstrate what could best grow in a landscape once thought of as “The Great American Desert.”

Lincoln also sent leaders to Colorado to help keep the territory loyal to the Union. Colorado Unionists fought successfully to keep Confederates from establishing a western war front. Lincoln encouraged Westerners to keep the peace with Indian tribes. Yet his legacy of opening the West to settlers in the 1860s came at a price. Settlement intensified tensions with native peoples, brought on tragedies such as the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, and led to years of warfare and ultimate displacement.