What was going on in the days leading up to Lincoln’s inauguration?

Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution, into law, freeing slaves in the United States. This caused major rifts throughout the Union: though many people believed slavery was wrong, racism was rampant and people did not believe blacks and whites could live in harmony, side by side. Lincoln was elected to a second term, which had not happened since President Jackson, and he began to adjust to the idea of a Presidency without war. He had plans to go home to Illinois with his family for a visit, and saw his life beyond war for the first time in four years. On the morning of his assassination, he awoke from a dream where the White House was in mourning for a President who had been killed. Little did he know, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy: the same evening he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at the Ford Theatre. Lincoln's funeral train went from Washington to Illinois, and was witnessed by thousands. He accomplished much in his war-torn presidency, and never caved in to any demands which would have compromised what he thought was right.