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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +THE WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN + +CONSTITUTIONAL EDITION + + + +VOLUME 1. + + +INTRODUCTORY + +Immediately after Lincoln's re-election to the Presidency, in an +off-hand speech, delivered in response to a serenade by some of +his admirers on the evening of November 10, 1864, he spoke as +follows: + +"It has long been a grave question whether any government not too +strong for the liberties of its people can be strong enough to +maintain its existence in great emergencies. On this point, the +present rebellion brought our republic to a severe test, and the +Presidential election, occurring in regular course during the +rebellion, added not a little to the strain.... The strife of +the election is but human nature practically applied to the facts +in the case. What has occurred in this case must ever occur in +similar cases. Human nature will not change. In any future +great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall +have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as +good. Let us therefore study the incidents in this as philosophy +to learn wisdom from and none of them as wrongs to be avenged.... +Now that the election is over, may not all having a common +interest reunite in a common fort to save our common country? +For my own part, I have striven and shall strive to avoid placing +any obstacle in the way. So long as I have been here, I have not +willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am deeply +sensible to the high compliment of a re-election and duly +grateful, as I trust, to Almighty God for having directed my +countrymen to a right conclusion, as I think for their own good, +it adds nothing to my satisfaction that any other man may be +disappointed or pained by the result." + +This speech has not attracted much general attention, yet it is +in a peculiar degree both illustrative and typical of the great +statesman who made it, alike in its strong common-sense and in +its lofty standard of morality. Lincoln's life, Lincoln's deeds +and words, are not only of consuming interest to the historian, +but should be intimately known to every man engaged in the hard +practical work of American political life. It is difficult to +overstate how much it means to a nation to have as the two +foremost figures in its history men like Washington and Lincoln. +It is good for every man in any way concerned in public life to +feel that the highest ambition any American can possibly have +will be gratified just in proportion as he raises himself toward +the standards set by these two men. + +It is a very poor thing, whether for nations or individuals, to +advance the history of great deeds done in the past as an excuse +for doing poorly in the present; but it is an excellent thing to +study the history of the great deeds of the past, and of the +great men who did them, with an earnest desire to profit thereby +so as to render better service in the present. In their +essentials, the men of the present day are much like the men of +the past, and the live issues of the present can be faced to +better advantage by men who have in good faith studied how the +leaders of the nation faced the dead issues of the past. Such a +study of Lincoln's life will enable us to avoid the twin gulfs of +immorality and inefficiency--the gulfs which always lie one on +each side of the careers alike of man and of nation. It helps +nothing to have avoided one if shipwreck is encountered in the +other. The fanatic, the well-meaning moralist of unbalanced +mind, the parlor critic who condemns others but has no power +himself to do good and but little power to do ill--all these were +as alien to Lincoln as the vicious and unpatriotic themselves. +His life teaches our people that they must act with wisdom, +because otherwise adherence to right will be mere sound and fury +without substance; and that they must also act high-mindedly, or +else what seems to be wisdom will in the end turn out to be the +most destructive kind of folly. + +Throughout his entire life, and especially after he rose to +leadership in his party, Lincoln was stirred to his depths by the +sense of fealty to a lofty ideal; but throughout his entire life, +he also accepted human nature as it is, and worked with keen, +practical good sense to achieve results with the instruments at +hand. It is impossible to conceive of a man farther removed from +baseness, farther removed from corruption, from mere self- +seeking; but it is also impossible to conceive of a man of more +sane and healthy mind--a man less under the influence of that +fantastic and diseased morality (so fantastic and diseased as to +be in reality profoundly immoral) which makes a man in this work- +a-day world refuse to do what is possible because he cannot +accomplish the impossible. + +In the fifth volume of Lecky's History of England, the historian +draws an interesting distinction between the qualities needed for +a successful political career in modern society and those which +lead to eminence in the spheres of pure intellect or pure moral +effort. He says: + +"....the moral qualities that are required in the higher spheres +of statesmanship [are not] those of a hero or a saint. Passionate +earnestness and self-devotion, complete concentration of every +faculty on an unselfish aim, uncalculating daring, a delicacy of +conscience and a loftiness of aim far exceeding those of the +average of men, are here likely to prove rather a hindrance than +an assistance. The politician deals very largely with the +superficial and the commonplace; his art is in a great measure +that of skilful compromise, and in the conditions of modern life, +the statesman is likely to succeed best who possesses secondary +qualities to an unusual degree, who is in the closest +intellectual and moral sympathy with the average of the +intelligent men of his time, and who pursues common ideals with. +mow than common ability.... Tact, business talent, knowledge of +men, resolution, promptitude and sagacity in dealing with +immediate emergencies, a character which lends itself easily to +conciliation, diminishes friction and inspires confidence, are +especially needed, and they are more likely to be found among +shrewd and enlightened men of the world than among men of great +original genius or of an heroic type of character." + +The American people should feel profoundly grateful that the +greatest American statesman since Washington, the statesman who +in this absolutely democratic republic succeeded best, was the +very man who actually combined the two sets of qualities which +the historian thus puts in antithesis. Abraham Lincoln, the +rail-splitter, the Western country lawyer, was one of the +shrewdest and most enlightened men of the world, and he had all +the practical qualities which enable such a man to guide his +countrymen; and yet he was also a genius of the heroic type, a +leader who rose level to the greatest crisis through which this +nation or any other nation had to pass in the nineteenth century. + +THEODORE ROOSEVELT + +SAGAMORE HILL, +OYSTER BAY, N. Y., +September 22, 1905. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE + +"I have endured," wrote Lincoln not long before his death, "a +great deal of ridicule without much malice, and have received a +great deal of kindness not quite free from ridicule." On Easter +Day, 1865, the world knew how little this ridicule, how much this +kindness, had really signified. Thereafter, Lincoln the man +became Lincoln the hero, year by year more heroic, until to-day, +with the swift passing of those who knew him, his figure grows +ever dimmer, less real. This should not be. For Lincoln the +man, patient, wise, set in a high resolve, is worth far more than +Lincoln the hero, vaguely glorious. Invaluable is the example of +the man, intangible that of the hero. + +And, though it is not for us, as for those who in awed stillness +listened at Gettysburg with inspired perception, to know Abraham +Lincoln, yet there is for us another way whereby we may attain +such knowledge--through his words--uttered in all sincerity to +those who loved or hated him. Cold, unsatisfying they may seem, +these printed words, while we can yet speak with those who knew +him, and look into eyes that once looked into his. But in truth +it is here that we find his simple greatness, his great +simplicity, and though no man tried less so to show his power, no +man has so shown it more clearly. + +Thus these writings of Abraham Lincoln are associated with those +of Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, and of the other "Founders of +the Republic," not that Lincoln should become still more of the +past, but, rather, that he with them should become still more of +the present. However faint and mythical may grow the story of +that Great Struggle, the leader, Lincoln, at least should remain +a real, living American. No matter how clearly, how directly, +Lincoln has shown himself in his writings, we yet should not +forget those men whose minds, from their various view-points, +have illumined for us his character. As this nation owes a great +debt to Lincoln, so, also, Lincoln's memory owes a great debt to +a nation which, as no other nation could have done, has been able +to appreciate his full worth. Among the many who have brought +about this appreciation, those only whose estimates have been +placed in these volumes may be mentioned here. To President +Roosevelt, to Mr. Schurz and to Mr. Choate, the editor, for +himself, for the publishers, and on behalf of the readers, wishes +to offer his sincere acknowledgments. + +Thanks are also due, for valuable and sympathetic assistance +rendered in the preparation of this work, to Mr. Gilbert A. +Tracy, of Putnam, Conn., Major William H. Lambert, of +Philadelphia, and Mr. C. F. Gunther, of Chicago, to the Chicago +Historical Association and personally to its capable Secretary, +Miss McIlvaine, to Major Henry S. Burrage, of Portland, Me., and +to General Thomas J. Henderson, of Illinois. + +For various courtesies received, the editor is furthermore +indebted to the Librarian of the Library of Congress; to Messrs. +McClure, Phillips & Co., D. Appleton & Co., Macmillan & Co., +Dodd, Mead & Co., and Harper Brothers, of New York; to Houghton, +Mifflin & Co., Dana, Estes & Co., and L. C. Page & Co., of +Boston; to A. C. McClurg & Co., of Chicago; to The Robert Clarke +Co., of Cincinnati, and to the J. B. Lippincott Co., of +Philadelphia. + +It is hardly necessary to add that every effort has been made by +the editor to bring into these volumes whatever material may +there properly belong, material much of which is widely scattered +in public libraries and in private collections. He has been +fortunate in securing certain interesting correspondence and +papers which had not before come into print in book form. +Information concerning some of these papers had reached him too +late to enable the papers to find place in their proper +chronological order in the set. Rather, however, than not to +present these papers to the readers they have been included in +the seventh volume of the set, which concludes the "Writings." + +[These later papers are, in this etext, re-arranged into +chronologic order. D.W.] + + +October, 1905, + +A. B. L. + + + + + + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN: + +AN ESSAY BY CARL SHURZ + +No American can study the character and career of Abraham Lincoln +without being carried away by sentimental emotions. We are +always inclined to idealize that which we love,--a state of mind +very unfavorable to the exercise of sober critical judgment. It +is therefore not surprising that most of those who have written +or spoken on that extraordinary man, even while conscientiously +endeavoring to draw a lifelike portraiture of his being, and to +form a just estimate of his public conduct, should have drifted +into more or less indiscriminating eulogy, painting his great +features in the most glowing colors, and covering with tender +shadings whatever might look like a blemish. + +But his standing before posterity will not be exalted by mere +praise of his virtues and abilities, nor by any concealment of +his limitations and faults. The stature of the great man, one of +whose peculiar charms consisted in his being so unlike all other +great men, will rather lose than gain by the idealization which +so easily runs into the commonplace. For it was distinctly the +weird mixture of qualities and forces in him, of the lofty with +the common, the ideal with the uncouth, of that which he had +become with that which he had not ceased to be, that made him so +fascinating a character among his fellow-men, gave him his +singular power over their minds and hearts, and fitted him to be +the greatest leader in the greatest crisis of our national life. + +His was indeed a marvellous growth. The statesman or the +military hero born and reared in a log cabin is a familiar figure +in American history; but we may search in vain among our +celebrities for one whose origin and early life equalled Abraham +Lincoln's in wretchedness. He first saw the light in a miserable +hovel in Kentucky, on a farm consisting of a few barren acres in +a dreary neighborhood; his father a typical "poor Southern +white," shiftless and without ambition for himself or his +children, constantly looking for a new piece of land on which he +might make a living without much work; his mother, in her youth +handsome and bright, grown prematurely coarse in feature and +soured in mind by daily toil and care; the whole household +squalid, cheerless, and utterly void of elevating inspirations... +Only when the family had "moved" into the malarious backwoods of +Indiana, the mother had died, and a stepmother, a woman of thrift +and energy, had taken charge of the children, the shaggy-headed, +ragged, barefooted, forlorn boy, then seven years old, "began to +feel like a human being." Hard work was his early lot. When a +mere boy he had to help in supporting the family, either on his +father's clearing, or hired out to other farmers to plough, or +dig ditches, or chop wood, or drive ox teams; occasionally also +to "tend the baby," when the farmer's wife was otherwise engaged. +He could regard it as an advancement to a higher sphere of +activity when he obtained work in a "crossroads store," where he +amused the customers by his talk over the counter; for he soon +distinguished himself among the backwoods folk as one who had +something to say worth listening to. To win that distinction, he +had to draw mainly upon his wits; for, while his thirst for +knowledge was great, his opportunities for satisfying that thirst +were wofully slender. + +In the log schoolhouse, which he could visit but little, he was +taught only reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic. Among +the people of the settlement, bush farmers and small tradesmen, +he found none of uncommon intelligence or education; but some of +them had a few books, which he borrowed eagerly. Thus he read +and reread, AEsop's Fables, learning to tell stories with a point +and to argue by parables; he read Robinson Crusoe, The Pilgrim's +Progress, a short history of the United States, and Weems's Life +of Washington. To the town constable's he went to read the +Revised Statutes of Indiana. Every printed page that fell into +his hands he would greedily devour, and his family and friends +watched him with wonder, as the uncouth boy, after his daily +work, crouched in a corner of the log cabin or outside under a +tree, absorbed in a book while munching his supper of corn bread. +In this manner he began to gather some knowledge, and sometimes +he would astonish the girls with such startling remarks as that +the earth was moving around the sun, and not the sun around the +earth, and they marvelled where "Abe" could have got such queer +notions. Soon he also felt the impulse to write; not only making +extracts from books he wished to remember, but also composing +little essays of his own. First he sketched these with charcoal +on a wooden shovel scraped white with a drawing-knife, or on +basswood shingles. Then he transferred them to paper, which was +a scarce commodity in the Lincoln household; taking care to cut +his expressions close, so that they might not cover too much +space,--a style-forming method greatly to be commended. Seeing +boys put a burning coal on the back of a wood turtle, he was +moved to write on cruelty to animals. Seeing men intoxicated +with whiskey, he wrote on temperance. In verse-making, too, he +tried himself, and in satire on persons offensive to him or +others,--satire the rustic wit of which was not always fit for +ears polite. Also political thoughts he put upon paper, and some +of his pieces were even deemed good enough for publication in the +county weekly. + +Thus he won a neighborhood reputation as a clever young man, +which he increased by his performances as a speaker, not seldom +drawing upon himself the dissatisfaction of his employers by +mounting a stump in the field, and keeping the farm hands from +their work by little speeches in a jocose and sometimes also a +serious vein. At the rude social frolics of the settlement he +became an important person, telling funny, stories, mimicking the +itinerant preachers who had happened to pass by, and making his +mark at wrestling matches, too; for at the age of seventeen he +had attained his full height, six feet four inches in his +stockings, if he had any, and a terribly muscular clodhopper he +was. But he was known never to use his extraordinary strength to +the injury or humiliation of others; rather to do them a kindly +turn, or to enforce justice and fair dealing between them. All +this made him a favorite in backwoods society, although in some +things he appeared a little odd, to his friends. Far more than +any of them, he was given not only to reading, but to fits of +abstraction, to quiet musing with himself, and also to strange +spells of melancholy, from which he often would pass in a moment +to rollicking outbursts of droll humor. But on the whole he was +one of the people among whom he lived; in appearance perhaps even +a little more uncouth than most of them,--a very tall, rawboned +youth, with large features, dark, shrivelled skin, and rebellious +hair; his arms and legs long, out of proportion; clad in deerskin +trousers, which from frequent exposure to the rain had shrunk so +as to sit tightly on his limbs, leaving several inches of bluish +shin exposed between their lower end and the heavy tan-colored +shoes; the nether garment held usually by only one suspender, +that was strung over a coarse homemade shirt; the head covered in +winter with a coonskin cap, in summer with a rough straw hat of +uncertain shape, without a band. + +It is doubtful whether he felt himself much superior to his +surroundings, although he confessed to a yearning for some +knowledge of the world outside of the circle in which he lived. +This wish was gratified; but how? At the age of nineteen he went +down the Mississippi to New Orleans as a flatboat hand, +temporarily joining a trade many members of which at that time +still took pride in being called "half horse and half alligator." +After his return he worked and lived in the old way until the +spring of 1830, when his father "moved again," this time to +Illinois; and on the journey of fifteen days "Abe" had to drive +the ox wagon which carried the household goods. Another log +cabin was built, and then, fencing a field, Abraham Lincoln split +those historic rails which were destined to play so picturesque a +part in the Presidential campaign twenty-eight years later. + +Having come of age, Lincoln left the family, and "struck out for +himself." He had to "take jobs whenever he could get them." The +first of these carried him again as a flatboat hand to New +Orleans. There something happened that made a lasting impression +upon his soul: he witnessed a slave auction. "His heart bled," +wrote one of his companions; "said nothing much; was silent; +looked bad. I can say, knowing it, that it was on this trip that +he formed his opinion on slavery. It run its iron in him then +and there, May, 1831. I have heard him say so often." Then he +lived several years at New Salem, in Illinois, a small mushroom +village, with a mill, some "stores" and whiskey shops, that rose +quickly, and soon disappeared again. It was a desolate, +disjointed, half-working and half-loitering life, without any +other aim than to gain food and shelter from day to day. He +served as pilot on a steamboat trip, then as clerk in a store and +a mill; business failing, he was adrift for some time. Being +compelled to measure his strength with the chief bully of the +neighborhood, and overcoming him, he became a noted person in +that muscular community, and won the esteem and friendship of the +ruling gang of ruffians to such a degree that, when the Black +Hawk war broke out, they elected him, a young man of twenty- +three, captain of a volunteer company, composed mainly of roughs +of their kind. He took the field, and his most noteworthy deed +of valor consisted, not in killing an Indian, but in protecting +against his own men, at the peril of his own life, the life of an +old savage who had strayed into his camp. + +The Black Hawk war over, he turned to politics. The step from +the captaincy of a volunteer company to a candidacy for a seat in +the Legislature seemed a natural one. But his popularity, +although great in New Salem, had not spread far enough over the +district, and he was defeated. Then the wretched hand-to-mouth +struggle began again. He "set up in store-business" with a +dissolute partner, who drank whiskey while Lincoln was reading +books. The result was a disastrous failure and a load of debt. +Thereupon he became a deputy surveyor, and was appointed +postmaster of New Salem, the business of the post-office being so +small that he could carry the incoming and outgoing mail in his +hat. All this could not lift him from poverty, and his surveying +instruments and horse and saddle were sold by the sheriff for +debt. + +But while all this misery was upon him his ambition rose to +higher aims. He walked many miles to borrow from a schoolmaster +a grammar with which to improve his language. A lawyer lent him +a copy of Blackstone, and he began to study law. + +People would look wonderingly at the grotesque figure lying in +the grass, "with his feet up a tree," or sitting on a fence, as, +absorbed in a book, he learned to construct correct sentences and +made himself a jurist. At once he gained a little practice, +pettifogging before a justice of the peace for friends, without +expecting a fee. Judicial functions, too, were thrust upon him, +but only at horse-races or wrestling matches, where his +acknowledged honesty and fairness gave his verdicts undisputed +authority. His popularity grew apace, and soon he could be a +candidate for the Legislature again. Although he called himself +a Whig, an ardent admirer of Henry Clay, his clever stump +speeches won him the election in the strongly Democratic +district. Then for the first time, perhaps, he thought seriously +of his outward appearance. So far he had been content with a +garb of "Kentucky jeans," not seldom ragged, usually patched, and +always shabby. Now, he borrowed some money from a friend to buy +a new suit of clothes--"store clothes" fit for a Sangamon County +statesman; and thus adorned he set out for the state capital, +Vandalia, to take his seat among the lawmakers. + +His legislative career, which stretched over several sessions-- +for he was thrice re-elected, in 1836, 1838, and 1840--was not +remarkably brilliant. He did, indeed, not lack ambition. He +dreamed even of making himself "the De Witt Clinton of Illinois," +and he actually distinguished himself by zealous and effective +work in those "log-rolling" operations by which the young State +received "a general system of internal improvements" in the shape +of railroads, canals, and banks,--a reckless policy, burdening +the State with debt, and producing the usual crop of political +demoralization, but a policy characteristic of the time and the +impatiently enterprising spirit of the Western people. Lincoln, +no doubt with the best intentions, but with little knowledge of +the subject, simply followed the popular current. The +achievement in which, perhaps, he gloried most was the removal of +the State government from Vandalia to Springfield; one of those +triumphs of political management which are apt to be the pride of +the small politician's statesmanship. One thing, however, he did +in which his true nature asserted itself, and which gave distinct +promise of the future pursuit of high aims. Against an +overwhelming preponderance of sentiment in the Legislature, +followed by only one other member, he recorded his protest +against a proslavery resolution,--that protest declaring "the +institution of slavery to be founded on both injustice and bad +policy." This was not only the irrepressible voice of his +conscience; it was true moral valor, too; for at that time, in +many parts of the West, an abolitionist was regarded as little +better than a horse-thief, and even "Abe Lincoln" would hardly +have been forgiven his antislavery principles, had he not been +known as such an "uncommon good fellow." But here, in obedience +to the great conviction of his life, he manifested his courage to +stand alone, that courage which is the first requisite of +leadership in a great cause. + +Together with his reputation and influence as a politician grew +his law practice, especially after he had removed from New Salem +to Springfield, and associated himself with a practitioner of +good standing. He had now at last won a fixed position in +society. He became a successful lawyer, less, indeed, by his +learning as a jurist than by his effectiveness as an advocate and +by the striking uprightness of his character; and it may truly be +said that his vivid sense of truth and justice had much to do +with his effectiveness as an advocate. He would refuse to act as +the attorney even of personal friends when he saw the right on +the other side. He would abandon cases, even during trial, when +the testimony convinced him that his client was in the wrong. He +would dissuade those who sought his service from pursuing an +obtainable advantage when their claims seemed to him unfair. +Presenting his very first case in the United States Circuit +Court, the only question being one of authority, he declared +that, upon careful examination, he found all the authorities on +the other side, and none on his. Persons accused of crime, when +he thought them guilty, he would not defend at all, or, +attempting their defence, he was unable to put forth his powers. +One notable exception is on record, when his personal sympathies +had been strongly aroused. But when he felt himself to be the +protector of innocence, the defender of justice, or the +prosecutor of wrong, he frequently disclosed such unexpected +resources of reasoning, such depth of feeling, and rose to such +fervor of appeal as to astonish and overwhelm his hearers, and +make him fairly irresistible. Even an ordinary law argument, +coming from him, seldom failed to produce the impression that he +was profoundly convinced of the soundness of his position. It is +not surprising that the mere appearance of so conscientious an +attorney in any case should have carried, not only to juries, but +even to judges, almost a presumption of right on his side, and +that the people began to call him, sincerely meaning it, "honest +Abe Lincoln." + +In the meantime he had private sorrows and trials of a painfully +afflicting nature. He had loved and been loved by a fair and +estimable girl, Ann Rutledge, who died in the flower of her youth +and beauty, and he mourned her loss with such intensity of grief +that his friends feared for his reason. Recovering from his +morbid depression, he bestowed what he thought a new affection +upon another lady, who refused him. And finally, moderately +prosperous in his worldly affairs, and having prospects of +political distinction before him, he paid his addresses to Mary +Todd, of Kentucky, and was accepted. But then tormenting doubts +of the genuineness of his own affection for her, of the +compatibility of their characters, and of their future happiness +came upon him. His distress was so great that he felt himself in +danger of suicide, and feared to carry a pocket-knife with him; +and he gave mortal offence to his bride by not appearing on the +appointed wedding day. Now the torturing consciousness of the +wrong he had done her grew unendurable. He won back her +affection, ended the agony by marrying her, and became a faithful +and patient husband and a good father. But it was no secret to +those who knew the family well that his domestic life was full of +trials. The erratic temper of his wife not seldom put the +gentleness of his nature to the severest tests; and these +troubles and struggles, which accompanied him through all the +vicissitudes of his life from the modest home in Springfield to +the White House at Washington, adding untold private heart- +burnings to his public cares, and sometimes precipitating upon +him incredible embarrassments in the discharge of his public +duties, form one of the most pathetic features of his career. + +He continued to "ride the circuit," read books while travelling +in his buggy, told funny stories to his fellow-lawyers in the +tavern, chatted familiarly with his neighbors around the stove in +the store and at the post-office, had his hours of melancholy +brooding as of old, and became more and more widely known and +trusted and beloved among the people of his State for his ability +as a lawyer and politician, for the uprightness of his character +and the overflowing spring of sympathetic kindness in his heart. +His main ambition was confessedly that of political distinction; +but hardly any one would at that time have seen in him the man +destined to lead the nation through the greatest crisis of the +century. + +His time had not yet come when, in 1846, he was elected to +Congress. In a clever speech in the House of Representatives he +denounced President Polk for having unjustly forced war upon +Mexico, and he amused the Committee of the Whole by a witty +attack upon General Cass. More important was the expression he +gave to his antislavery impulses by offering a bill looking to +the emancipation of the slaves in the District of Columbia, and +by his repeated votes for the famous Wilmot Proviso, intended to +exclude slavery from the Territories acquired from Mexico. But +when, at the expiration of his term, in March, 1849, he left his +seat, he gloomily despaired of ever seeing the day when the cause +nearest to his heart would be rightly grasped by the people, and +when he would be able to render any service to his country in +solving the great problem. Nor had his career as a member of +Congress in any sense been such as to gratify his ambition. +Indeed, if he ever had any belief in a great destiny for himself, +it must have been weak at that period; for he actually sought to +obtain from the new Whig President, General Taylor, the place of +Commissioner of the General Land Office; willing to bury himself +in one of the administrative bureaus of the government. +Fortunately for the country, he failed; and no less fortunately, +when, later, the territorial governorship of Oregon was offered +to him, Mrs. Lincoln's protest induced him to decline it. +Returning to Springfield, he gave himself with renewed zest to +his law practice, acquiesced in the Compromise of 1850 with +reluctance and a mental reservation, supported in the +Presidential campaign of 1852 the Whig candidate in some +spiritless speeches, and took but a languid interest in the +politics of the day. But just then his time was drawing near. + +The peace promised, and apparently inaugurated, by the Compromise +of 1850 was rudely broken by the introduction of the Kansas- +Nebraska Bill in 1854. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, +opening the Territories of the United States, the heritage of +coming generations, to the invasion of slavery, suddenly revealed +the whole significance of the slavery question to the people of +the free States, and thrust itself into the politics of the +country as the paramount issue. Something like an electric shock +flashed through the North. Men who but a short time before had +been absorbed by their business pursuits, and deprecated all +political agitation, were startled out of their security by a +sudden alarm, and excitedly took sides. That restless trouble of +conscience about slavery, which even in times of apparent repose +had secretly disturbed the souls of Northern people, broke forth +in an utterance louder than ever. The bonds of accustomed party +allegiance gave way. Antislavery Democrats and antislavery Whigs +felt themselves drawn together by a common overpowering +sentiment, and soon they began to rally in a new organization. +The Republican party sprang into being to meet the overruling +call of the hour. Then Abraham Lincoln's time was come. He +rapidly advanced to a position of conspicuous championship in the +struggle. This, however, was not owing to his virtues and +abilities alone. Indeed, the slavery question stirred his soul +in its profoundest depths; it was, as one of his intimate friends +said, "the only one on which he would become excited"; it called +forth all his faculties and energies. Yet there were many others +who, having long and arduously fought the antislavery battle in +the popular assembly, or in the press, or in the halls of +Congress, far surpassed him in prestige, and compared with whom +he was still an obscure and untried man. His reputation, +although highly honorable and well earned, had so far been +essentially local. As a stump-speaker in Whig canvasses outside +of his State he had attracted comparatively little attention; but +in Illinois he had been recognized as one of the foremost men of +the Whig party. Among the opponents of the Nebraska Bill he +occupied in his State so important a position, that in 1856 he +was the choice of a large majority of the "Anti-Nebraska men" in +the Legislature for a seat in the Senate of the United States +which then became vacant; and when he, an old Whig, could not +obtain the votes of the Anti-Nebraska Democrats necessary to make +a majority, he generously urged his friends to transfer their +votes to Lyman Trumbull, who was then elected. Two years later, +in the first national convention of the Republican party, the +delegation from Illinois brought him forward as a candidate for +the vice-presidency, and he received respectable support. Still, +the name of Abraham Lincoln was not widely known beyond the +boundaries of his own State. But now it was this local +prominence in Illinois that put him in a position of peculiar +advantage on the battlefield of national politics. In the +assault on the Missouri Compromise which broke down all legal +barriers to the spread of slavery Stephen Arnold Douglas was the +ostensible leader and central figure; and Douglas was a Senator +from Illinois, Lincoln's State. Douglas's national theatre of +action was the Senate, but in his constituency in Illinois were +the roots of his official position and power. What he did in the +Senate he had to justify before the people of Illinois, in order +to maintain himself in place; and in Illinois all eyes turned to +Lincoln as Douglas's natural antagonist. + +As very young men they had come to Illinois, Lincoln from +Indiana, Douglas from Vermont, and had grown up together in +public life, Douglas as a Democrat, Lincoln as a Whig. They had +met first in Vandalia, in 1834, when Lincoln was in the +Legislature and Douglas in the lobby; and again in 1836, both as +members of the Legislature. Douglas, a very able politician, of +the agile, combative, audacious, "pushing" sort, rose in +political distinction with remarkable rapidity. In quick +succession he became a member of the Legislature, a State's +attorney, secretary of state, a judge on the supreme bench of +Illinois, three times a Representative in Congress, and a Senator +of the United States when only thirty-nine years old. In the +National Democratic convention of 1852 he appeared even as an +aspirant to the nomination for the Presidency, as the favorite of +"young America," and received a respectable vote. He had far +outstripped Lincoln in what is commonly called political success +and in reputation. But it had frequently happened that in +political campaigns Lincoln felt himself impelled, or was +selected by his Whig friends, to answer Douglas's speeches; and +thus the two were looked upon, in a large part of the State at +least, as the representative combatants of their respective +parties in the debates before popular meetings. As soon, +therefore, as, after the passage of his Kansas-Nebraska Bill, +Douglas returned to Illinois to defend his cause before his +constituents, Lincoln, obeying not only his own impulse, but also +general expectation, stepped forward as his principal opponent. +Thus the struggle about the principles involved in the Kansas- +Nebraska Bill, or, in a broader sense, the struggle between +freedom and slavery, assumed in Illinois the outward form of a +personal contest between Lincoln and Douglas; and, as it +continued and became more animated, that personal contest in +Illinois was watched with constantly increasing interest by the +whole country. When, in 1858, Douglas's senatorial term being +about to expire, Lincoln was formally designated by the +Republican convention of Illinois as their candidate for the +Senate, to take Douglas's place, and the two contestants agreed +to debate the questions at issue face to face in a series of +public meetings, the eyes of the whole American people were +turned eagerly to that one point: and the spectacle reminded one +of those lays of ancient times telling of two armies, in battle +array, standing still to see their two principal champions fight +out the contested cause between the lines in single combat. + +Lincoln had then reached the full maturity of his powers. His +equipment as a statesman did not embrace a comprehensive +knowledge of public affairs. What he had studied he had indeed +made his own, with the eager craving and that zealous tenacity +characteristic of superior minds learning under difficulties. +But his narrow opportunities and the unsteady life he had led +during his younger years had not permitted the accumulation of +large stores in his mind. It is true, in political campaigns he +had occasionally spoken on the ostensible issues between the +Whigs and the Democrats, the tariff, internal improvements, +banks, and so on, but only in a perfunctory manner. Had he ever +given much serious thought and study to these subjects, it is +safe to assume that a mind so prolific of original conceits as +his would certainly have produced some utterance upon them worth +remembering. His soul had evidently never been deeply stirred by +such topics. But when his moral nature was aroused, his brain +developed an untiring activity until it had mastered all the +knowledge within reach. As soon as the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise had thrust the slavery question into politics as the +paramount issue, Lincoln plunged into an arduous study of all its +legal, historical, and moral aspects, and then his mind became a +complete arsenal of argument. His rich natural gifts, trained by +long and varied practice, had made him an orator of rare +persuasiveness. In his immature days, he had pleased himself for +a short period with that inflated, high-flown style which, among +the uncultivated, passes for "beautiful speaking." His inborn +truthfulness and his artistic instinct soon overcame that +aberration and revealed to him the noble beauty and strength of +simplicity. He possessed an uncommon power of clear and compact +statement, which might have reminded those who knew the story of +his early youth of the efforts of the poor boy, when he copied +his compositions from the scraped wooden shovel, carefully to +trim his expressions in order to save paper. His language had +the energy of honest directness and he was a master of logical +lucidity. He loved to point and enliven his reasoning by +humorous illustrations, usually anecdotes of Western life, of +which he had an inexhaustible store at his command. These +anecdotes had not seldom a flavor of rustic robustness about +them, but he used them with great effect, while amusing the +audience, to give life to an abstraction, to explode an +absurdity, to clinch an argument, to drive home an admonition. +The natural kindliness of his tone, softening prejudice and +disarming partisan rancor, would often open to his reasoning a +way into minds most unwilling to receive it. + +Yet his greatest power consisted in the charm of his +individuality. That charm did not, in the ordinary way, appeal +to the ear or to the eye. His voice was not melodious; rather +shrill and piercing, especially when it rose to its high treble +in moments of great animation. His figure was unhandsome, and +the action of his unwieldy limbs awkward. He commanded none of +the outward graces of oratory as they are commonly understood. +His charm was of a different kind. It flowed from the rare depth +and genuineness of his convictions and his sympathetic feelings. +Sympathy was the strongest element in his nature. One of his +biographers, who knew him before he became President, says: +"Lincoln's compassion might be stirred deeply by an object +present, but never by an object absent and unseen. In the former +case he would most likely extend relief, with little inquiry into +the merits of the case, because, as he expressed it himself, it +`took a pain out of his own heart.'" Only half of this is +correct. It is certainly true that he could not witness any +individual distress or oppression, or any kind of suffering, +without feeling a pang of pain himself, and that by relieving as +much as he could the suffering of others he put an end to his +own. This compassionate impulse to help he felt not only for +human beings, but for every living creature. As in his boyhood +he angrily reproved the boys who tormented a wood turtle by +putting a burning coal on its back, so, we are told, he would, +when a mature man, on a journey, dismount from his buggy and wade +waist-deep in mire to rescue a pig struggling in a swamp. +Indeed, appeals to his compassion were so irresistible to him, +and he felt it so difficult to refuse anything when his refusal +could give pain, that he himself sometimes spoke of his inability +to say "no" as a positive weakness. But that certainly does not +prove that his compassionate feeling was confined to individual +cases of suffering witnessed with his own eyes. As the boy was +moved by the aspect of the tortured wood turtle to compose an +essay against cruelty to animals in general, so the aspect of +other cases of suffering and wrong wrought up his moral nature, +and set his mind to work against cruelty, injustice, and +oppression in general. + +As his sympathy went forth to others, it attracted others to him. +Especially those whom he called the "plain people" felt +themselves drawn to him by the instinctive feeling that he +understood, esteemed, and appreciated them. He had grown up +among the poor, the lowly, the ignorant. He never ceased to +remember the good souls he had met among them, and the many +kindnesses they had done him. Although in his mental development +he had risen far above them, he never looked down upon them. How +they felt and how they reasoned he knew, for so he had once felt +and reasoned himself. How they could be moved he knew, for so he +had once been moved himself and practised moving others. His +mind was much larger than theirs, but it thoroughly comprehended +theirs; and while he thought much farther than they, their +thoughts were ever present to him. Nor had the visible distance +between them grown as wide as his rise in the world would seem to +have warranted. Much of his backwoods speech and manners still +clung to him. Although he had become "Mr. Lincoln" to his later +acquaintances, he was still "Abe" to the "Nats" and "Billys" and +"Daves" of his youth; and their familiarity neither appeared +unnatural to them, nor was it in the least awkward to him. He +still told and enjoyed stories similar to those he had told and +enjoyed in the Indiana settlement and at New Salem. His wants +remained as modest as they had ever been; his domestic habits had +by no means completely accommodated themselves to those of his +more highborn wife; and though the "Kentucky jeans" apparel had +long been dropped, his clothes of better material and better make +would sit ill sorted on his gigantic limbs. His cotton umbrella, +without a handle, and tied together with a coarse string to keep +it from flapping, which he carried on his circuit rides, is said +to be remembered still by some of his surviving neighbors. This +rusticity of habit was utterly free from that affected contempt +of refinement and comfort which self-made men sometimes carry +into their more affluent circumstances. To Abraham Lincoln it +was entirely natural, and all those who came into contact with +him knew it to be so. In his ways of thinking and feeling he had +become a gentleman in the highest sense, but the refining process +had polished but little the outward form. The plain people, +therefore, still considered "honest Abe Lincoln" one of +themselves; and when they felt, which they no doubt frequently +did, that his thoughts and aspirations moved in a sphere above +their own, they were all the more proud of him, without any +diminution of fellow-feeling. It was this relation of mutual +sympathy and understanding between Lincoln and the plain people +that gave him his peculiar power as a public man, and singularly +fitted him, as we shall see, for that leadership which was +preeminently required in the great crisis then coming on,--the +leadership which indeed thinks and moves ahead of the masses, but +always remains within sight and sympathetic touch of them. + +He entered upon the campaign of 1858 better equipped than he had +ever been before. He not only instinctively felt, but he had +convinced himself by arduous study, that in this struggle against +the spread of slavery he had right, justice, philosophy, the +enlightened opinion of mankind, history, the Constitution, and +good policy on his side. It was observed that after he began to +discuss the slavery question his speeches were pitched in a much +loftier key than his former oratorical efforts. While he +remained fond of telling funny stories in private conversation, +they disappeared more and more from his public discourse. He +would still now and then point his argument with expressions of +inimitable quaintness, and flash out rays of kindly humor and +witty irony; but his general tone was serious, and rose sometimes +to genuine solemnity. His masterly skill in dialectical thrust +and parry, his wealth of knowledge, his power of reasoning and +elevation of sentiment, disclosed in language of rare precision, +strength, and beauty, not seldom astonished his old friends. + +Neither of the two champions could have found a more formidable +antagonist than each now met in the other. Douglas was by far +the most conspicuous member of his party. His admirers had dubbed +him "the Little Giant," contrasting in that nickname the +greatness of his mind with the smallness of his body. But though +of low stature, his broad-shouldered figure appeared uncommonly +sturdy, and there was something lion-like in the squareness of +his brow and jaw, and in the defiant shake of his long hair. His +loud and persistent advocacy of territorial expansion, in the +name of patriotism and "manifest destiny," had given him an +enthusiastic following among the young and ardent. Great natural +parts, a highly combative temperament, and long training had made +him a debater unsurpassed in a Senate filled with able men. He +could be as forceful in his appeals to patriotic feelings as he +was fierce in denunciation and thoroughly skilled in all the +baser tricks of parliamentary pugilism. While genial and +rollicking in his social intercourse--the idol of the "boys" he +felt himself one of the most renowned statesmen of his time, and +would frequently meet his opponents with an overbearing +haughtiness, as persons more to be pitied than to be feared. In +his speech opening the campaign of 1858, he spoke of Lincoln, +whom the Republicans had dared to advance as their candidate for +"his" place in the Senate, with an air of patronizing if not +contemptuous condescension, as "a kind, amiable, and intelligent +gentleman and a good citizen." The Little Giant would have been +pleased to pass off his antagonist as a tall dwarf. He knew +Lincoln too well, however, to indulge himself seriously in such a +delusion. But the political situation was at that moment in a +curious tangle, and Douglas could expect to derive from the +confusion great advantage over his opponent. + +By the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, opening the Territories +to the ingress of slavery, Douglas had pleased the South, but +greatly alarmed the North. He had sought to conciliate Northern +sentiment by appending to his Kansas-Nebraska Bill the +declaration that its intent was "not to legislate slavery into +any State or Territory, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave +the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their +institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution +of the United States." This he called "the great principle of +popular sovereignty." When asked whether, under this act, the +people of a Territory, before its admission as a State, would +have the right to exclude slavery, he answered, "That is a +question for the courts to decide." Then came the famous "Dred +Scott decision," in which the Supreme Court held substantially +that the right to hold slaves as property existed in the +Territories by virtue of the Federal Constitution, and that this +right could not be denied by any act of a territorial government. +This, of course, denied the right of the people of any Territory +to exclude slavery while they were in a territorial condition, +and it alarmed the Northern people still more. Douglas +recognized the binding force of the decision of the Supreme +Court, at the same time maintaining, most illogically, that his +great principle of popular sovereignty remained in force +nevertheless. Meanwhile, the proslavery people of western +Missouri, the so-called "border ruffians," had invaded Kansas, +set up a constitutional convention, made a constitution of an +extreme pro-slavery type, the "Lecompton Constitution," refused +to submit it fairly to a vote of the people of Kansas, and then +referred it to Congress for acceptance,--seeking thus to +accomplish the admission of Kansas as a slave State. Had Douglas +supported such a scheme, he would have lost all foothold in the +North. In the name of popular sovereignty he loudly declared his +opposition to the acceptance of any constitution not sanctioned +by a formal popular vote. He "did not care," he said, "whether +slavery be voted up or down," but there must be a fair vote of +the people. Thus he drew upon himself the hostility of the +Buchanan administration, which was controlled by the proslavery +interest, but he saved his Northern following. More than this, +not only did his Democratic admirers now call him "the true +champion of freedom," but even some Republicans of large +influence, prominent among them Horace Greeley, sympathizing with +Douglas in his fight against the Lecompton Constitution, and +hoping to detach him permanently from the proslavery interest and +to force a lasting breach in the Democratic party, seriously +advised the Republicans of Illinois to give up their opposition +to Douglas, and to help re-elect him to the Senate. Lincoln was +not of that opinion. He believed that great popular movements +can succeed only when guided by their faithful friends, and that +the antislavery cause could not safely be entrusted to the +keeping of one who "did not care whether slavery be voted up or +down." This opinion prevailed in Illinois; but the influences +within the Republican party over which it prevailed yielded only +a reluctant acquiescence, if they acquiesced at all, after having +materially strengthened Douglas's position. Such was the +situation of things when the campaign of 1858 between Lincoln and +Douglas began. + +Lincoln opened the campaign on his side at the convention which +nominated him as the Republican candidate for the senatorship, +with a memorable saying which sounded like a shout from the +watchtower of history: "A house divided against itself cannot +stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half +slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. +I do not expect the house to fall, but I expect it will cease to +be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. +Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of +it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief +that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates +will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all +the States,--old as well as new, North as well as South." Then +he proceeded to point out that the Nebraska doctrine combined +with the Dred Scott decision worked in the direction of making +the nation "all slave." Here was the "irrepressible conflict" +spoken of by Seward a short time later, in a speech made famous +mainly by that phrase. If there was any new discovery in it, the +right of priority was Lincoln's. This utterance proved not only +his statesmanlike conception of the issue, but also, in his +situation as a candidate, the firmness of his moral courage. The +friends to whom he had read the draught of this speech before he +delivered it warned him anxiously that its delivery might be +fatal to his success in the election. This was shrewd advice, in +the ordinary sense. While a slaveholder could threaten disunion +with impunity, the mere suggestion that the existence of slavery +was incompatible with freedom in the Union would hazard the +political chances of any public man in the North. But Lincoln +was inflexible. "It is true," said he, "and I will deliver it as +written.... I would rather be defeated with these expressions in +my speech held up and discussed before the people than be +victorious without them." The statesman was right in his far- +seeing judgment and his conscientious statement of the truth, but +the practical politicians were also right in their prediction of +the immediate effect. Douglas instantly seized upon the +declaration that a house divided against itself cannot stand as +the main objective point of his attack, interpreting it as an +incitement to a "relentless sectional war," and there is no doubt +that the persistent reiteration of this charge served to frighten +not a few timid souls. + +Lincoln constantly endeavored to bring the moral and +philosophical side of the subject to the foreground. "Slavery is +wrong" was the keynote of all his speeches. To Douglas's +glittering sophism that the right of the people of a Territory to +have slavery or not, as they might desire, was in accordance with +the principle of true popular sovereignty, he made the pointed +answer: "Then true popular sovereignty, according to Senator +Douglas, means that, when one man makes another man his slave, no +third man shall be allowed to object." To Douglas's argument +that the principle which demanded that the people of a Territory +should be permitted to choose whether they would have slavery or +not "originated when God made man, and placed good and evil +before him, allowing him to choose upon his own responsibility," +Lincoln solemnly replied: "No; God--did not place good and evil +before man, telling him to make his choice. On the contrary, God +did tell him there was one tree of the fruit of which he should +not eat, upon pain of death." He did not, however, place himself +on the most advanced ground taken by the radical anti-slavery +men. He admitted that, under the Constitution, "the Southern +people were entitled to a Congressional fugitive slave law," +although he did not approve the fugitive slave law then existing. +He declared also that, if slavery were kept out of the +Territories during their territorial existence, as it should be, +and if then the people of any Territory, having a fair chance and +a clear field, should do such an extraordinary thing as to adopt +a slave constitution, uninfluenced by the actual presence of the +institution among them, he saw no alternative but to admit such a +Territory into the Union. He declared further that, while he +should be exceedingly glad to see slavery abolished in the +District of Columbia, he would, as a member of Congress, with his +present views, not endeavor to bring on that abolition except on +condition that emancipation be gradual, that it be approved by +the decision of a majority of voters in the District, and that +compensation be made to unwilling owners. On every available +occasion, he pronounced himself in favor of the deportation and +colonization of the blacks, of course with their consent. He +repeatedly disavowed any wish on his part to have social and +political equality established between whites and blacks. On +this point he summed up his views in a reply to Douglas's +assertion that the Declaration of Independence, in speaking of +all men as being created equal, did not include the negroes, +saying: "I do not understand the Declaration of Independence to +mean that all men were created equal in all respects. They are +not equal in color. But I believe that it does mean to declare +that all men are equal in some respects; they are equal in their +right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." + +With regard to some of these subjects Lincoln modified his +position at a later period, and it has been suggested that he +would have professed more advanced principles in his debates with +Douglas, had he not feared thereby to lose votes. This view can +hardly be sustained. Lincoln had the courage of his opinions, +but he was not a radical. The man who risked his election by +delivering, against the urgent protest of his friends, the speech +about "the house divided against itself" would not have shrunk +from the expression of more extreme views, had he really +entertained them. It is only fair to assume that he said what at +the time he really thought, and that if, subsequently, his +opinions changed, it was owing to new conceptions of good policy +and of duty brought forth by an entirely new set of circumstances +and exigencies. It is characteristic that he continued to adhere +to the impracticable colonization plan even after the +Emancipation Proclamation had already been issued. + +But in this contest Lincoln proved himself not only a debater, +but also a political strategist of the first order. The "kind, +amiable, and intelligent gentleman," as Douglas had been pleased +to call him, was by no means as harmless as a dove. He possessed +an uncommon share of that worldly shrewdness which not seldom +goes with genuine simplicity of character; and the political +experience gathered in the Legislature and in Congress, and in +many election campaigns, added to his keen intuitions, had made +him as far-sighted a judge of the probable effects of a public +man's sayings or doings upon the popular mind, and as accurate a +calculator in estimating political chances and forecasting +results, as could be found among the party managers in Illinois. +And now he perceived keenly the ugly dilemma in which Douglas +found himself, between the Dred Scott decision, which declared +the right to hold slaves to exist in the Territories by virtue of +the Federal Constitution, and his "great principle of popular +sovereignty," according to which the people of a Territory, if +they saw fit, were to have the right to exclude slavery +therefrom. Douglas was twisting and squirming to the best of his +ability to avoid the admission that the two were incompatible. +The question then presented itself if it would be good policy for +Lincoln to force Douglas to a clear expression of his opinion as +to whether, the Dred Scott decision notwithstanding, "the people +of a Territory could in any lawful way exclude slavery from its +limits prior to the formation of a State constitution." Lincoln +foresaw and predicted what Douglas would answer: that slavery +could not exist in a Territory unless the people desired it and +gave it protection by territorial legislation. In an improvised +caucus the policy of pressing the interrogatory on Douglas was +discussed. Lincoln's friends unanimously advised against it, +because the answer foreseen would sufficiently commend Douglas to +the people of Illinois to insure his re-election to the Senate. +But Lincoln persisted. "I am after larger game," said he. "If +Douglas so answers, he can never be President, and the battle of +1860 is worth a hundred of this." The interrogatory was pressed +upon Douglas, and Douglas did answer that, no matter what the +decision of the Supreme Court might be on the abstract question, +the people of a Territory had the lawful means to introduce or +exclude slavery by territorial legislation friendly or unfriendly +to the institution. Lincoln found it easy to show the absurdity +of the proposition that, if slavery were admitted to exist of +right in the Territories by virtue of the supreme law, the +Federal Constitution, it could be kept out or expelled by an +inferior law, one made by a territorial Legislature. Again the +judgment of the politicians, having only the nearest object in +view, proved correct: Douglas was reelected to the Senate. But +Lincoln's judgment proved correct also: Douglas, by resorting to +the expedient of his "unfriendly legislation doctrine," forfeited +his last chance of becoming President of the United States. He +might have hoped to win, by sufficient atonement, his pardon from +the South for his opposition to the Lecompton Constitution; but +that he taught the people of the Territories a trick by which +they could defeat what the proslavery men considered a +constitutional right, and that he called that trick lawful, this +the slave power would never forgive. The breach between the +Southern and the Northern Democracy was thenceforth irremediable +and fatal. + +The Presidential election of 1860 approached. The struggle in +Kansas, and the debates in Congress which accompanied it, and +which not unfrequently provoked violent outbursts, continually +stirred the popular excitement. Within the Democratic party +raged the war of factions. The national Democratic convention +met at Charleston on the 23d of April, 1860. After a struggle of +ten days between the adherents and the opponents of Douglas, +during which the delegates from the cotton States had withdrawn, +the convention adjourned without having nominated any candidates, +to meet again in Baltimore on the 18th of June. There was no +prospect, however, of reconciling the hostile elements. It +appeared very probable that the Baltimore convention would +nominate Douglas, while the seceding Southern Democrats would set +up a candidate of their own, representing extreme proslavery +principles. + +Meanwhile, the national Republican convention assembled at +Chicago on the 16th of May, full of enthusiasm and hope. The +situation was easily understood. The Democrats would have the +South. In order to succeed in the election, the Republicans had +to win, in addition to the States carried by Fremont in 1856, +those that were classed as "doubtful,"--New Jersey, Pennsylvania, +and Indiana, or Illinois in the place of either New Jersey or +Indiana. The most eminent Republican statesmen and leaders of +the time thought of for the Presidency were Seward and Chase, +both regarded as belonging to the more advanced order of +antislavery men. Of the two, Seward had the largest following, +mainly from New York, New England, and the Northwest. Cautious +politicians doubted seriously whether Seward, to whom some +phrases in his speeches had undeservedly given the reputation of +a reckless radical, would be able to command the whole Republican +vote in the doubtful States. Besides, during his long public +career he had made enemies. It was evident that those who +thought Seward's nomination too hazardous an experiment would +consider Chase unavailable for the same reason. They would then +look round for an "available" man; and among the "available" men +Abraham Lincoln was easily discovered to stand foremost. His +great debate with Douglas had given him a national reputation. +The people of the East being eager to see the hero of so dramatic +a contest, he had been induced to visit several Eastern cities, +and had astonished and delighted large and distinguished +audiences with speeches of singular power and originality. An +address delivered by him in the Cooper Institute in New York, +before an audience containing a large number of important +persons, was then, and has ever since been, especially praised as +one of the most logical and convincing political speeches ever +made in this country. The people of the West had grown proud of +him as a distinctively Western great man, and his popularity at +home had some peculiar features which could be expected to +exercise a potent charm. Nor was Lincoln's name as that of an +available candidate left to the chance of accidental discovery. +It is indeed not probable that he thought of himself as a +Presidential possibility, during his contest with Douglas for the +senatorship. As late as April, 1859, he had written to a friend +who had approached him on the subject that he did not think +himself fit for the Presidency. The Vice-Presidency was then the +limit of his ambition. But some of his friends in Illinois took +the matter seriously in hand, and Lincoln, after some hesitation, +then formally authorized "the use of his name." The matter was +managed with such energy and excellent judgment that, in the +convention, he had not only the whole vote of Illinois to start +with, but won votes on all sides without offending any rival. A +large majority of the opponents of Seward went over to Abraham +Lincoln, and gave him the nomination on the third ballot. As had +been foreseen, Douglas was nominated by one wing of the +Democratic party at Baltimore, while the extreme proslavery wing +put Breckinridge into the field as its candidate. After a +campaign conducted with the energy of genuine enthusiasm on the +antislavery side the united Republicans defeated the divided +Democrats, and Lincoln was elected President by a majority of +fifty-seven votes in the electoral colleges. + +The result of the election had hardly been declared when the +disunion movement in the South, long threatened and carefully +planned and prepared, broke out in the shape of open revolt, and +nearly a month before Lincoln could be inaugurated as President +of the United States seven Southern States had adopted ordinances +of secession, formed an independent confederacy, framed a +constitution for it, and elected Jefferson Davis its president, +expecting the other slaveholding States soon to join them. On +the 11th of February, 1861, Lincoln left Springfield for +Washington; having, with characteristic simplicity, asked his law +partner not to change the sign of the firm "Lincoln and Herndon" +during the four years unavoidable absence of the senior partner, +and having taken an affectionate and touching leave of his +neighbors. + +The situation which confronted the new President was appalling: +the larger part of the South in open rebellion, the rest of the +slaveholding States wavering preparing to follow; the revolt +guided by determined, daring, and skillful leaders; the Southern +people, apparently full of enthusiasm and military spirit, +rushing to arms, some of the forts and arsenals already in their +possession; the government of the Union, before the accession of +the new President, in the hands of men some of whom actively +sympathized with the revolt, while others were hampered by their +traditional doctrines in dealing with it, and really gave it aid +and comfort by their irresolute attitude; all the departments +full of "Southern sympathizers" and honeycombed with disloyalty; +the treasury empty, and the public credit at the lowest ebb; the +arsenals ill supplied with arms, if not emptied by treacherous +practices; the regular army of insignificant strength, dispersed +over an immense surface, and deprived of some of its best +officers by defection; the navy small and antiquated. But that +was not all. The threat of disunion had so often been resorted +to by the slave power in years gone by that most Northern people +had ceased to believe in its seriousness. But, when disunion +actually appeared as a stern reality, something like a chill +swept through the whole Northern country. A cry for union and +peace at any price rose on all sides. Democratic partisanship +reiterated this cry with vociferous vehemence, and even many +Republicans grew afraid of the victory they had just achieved at +the ballot-box, and spoke of compromise. The country fairly +resounded with the noise of "anticoercion meetings." Expressions +of firm resolution from determined antislavery men were indeed +not wanting, but they were for a while almost drowned by a +bewildering confusion of discordant voices. Even this was not +all. Potent influences in Europe, with an ill-concealed desire +for the permanent disruption of the American Union, eagerly +espoused the cause of the Southern seceders, and the two +principal maritime powers of the Old World seemed only to be +waiting for a favorable opportunity to lend them a helping hand. + +This was the state of things to be mastered by "honest Abe +Lincoln" when he took his seat in the Presidential chair,-- +"honest Abe Lincoln," who was so good-natured that he could not +say "no"; the greatest achievement in whose life had been a +debate on the slavery question; who had never been in any +position of power; who was without the slightest experience of +high executive duties, and who had only a speaking acquaintance +with the men upon whose counsel and cooperation he was to depend. +Nor was his accession to power under such circumstances greeted +with general confidence even by the members of his party. While +he had indeed won much popularity, many Republicans, especially +among those who had advocated Seward's nomination for the +Presidency, saw the simple "Illinois lawyer" take the reins of +government with a feeling little short of dismay. The orators +and journals of the opposition were ridiculing and lampooning him +without measure. Many people actually wondered how such a man +could dare to undertake a task which, as he himself had said to +his neighbors in his parting speech, was "more difficult than +that of Washington himself had been." + +But Lincoln brought to that task, aside from other uncommon +qualities, the first requisite,--an intuitive comprehension of +its nature. While he did not indulge in the delusion that the +Union could be maintained or restored without a conflict of arms, +he could indeed not foresee all the problems he would have to +solve. He instinctively understood, however, by what means that +conflict would have to be conducted by the government of a +democracy. He knew that the impending war, whether great or +small, would not be like a foreign war, exciting a united +national enthusiasm, but a civil war, likely to fan to uncommon +heat the animosities of party even in the localities controlled +by the government; that this war would have to be carried on not +by means of a ready-made machinery, ruled by an undisputed, +absolute will, but by means to be furnished by the voluntary +action of the people:--armies to be formed by voluntary +enlistments; large sums of money to be raised by the people, +through representatives, voluntarily taxing themselves; trust of +extraordinary power to be voluntarily granted; and war measures, +not seldom restricting the rights and liberties to which the +citizen was accustomed, to be voluntarily accepted and submitted +to by the people, or at least a large majority of them; and that +this would have to be kept up not merely during a short period of +enthusiastic excitement; but possibly through weary years of +alternating success and disaster, hope and despondency. He knew +that in order to steer this government by public opinion +successfully through all the confusion created by the prejudices +and doubts and differences of sentiment distracting the popular +mind, and so to propitiate, inspire, mould, organize, unite, and +guide the popular will that it might give forth all the means +required for the performance of his great task, he would have to +take into account all the influences strongly affecting the +current of popular thought and feeling, and to direct while +appearing to obey. + +This was the kind of leadership he intuitively conceived to be +needed when a free people were to be led forward en masse to +overcome a great common danger under circumstances of appalling +difficulty, the leadership which does not dash ahead with +brilliant daring, no matter who follows, but which is intent upon +rallying all the available forces, gathering in the stragglers, +closing up the column, so that the front may advance well +supported. For this leadership Abraham Lincoln was admirably +fitted, better than any other American statesman of his day; for +he understood the plain people, with all their loves and hates, +their prejudices and their noble impulses, their weaknesses and +their strength, as he understood himself, and his sympathetic +nature was apt to draw their sympathy to him. + +His inaugural address foreshadowed his official course in +characteristic manner. Although yielding nothing in point of +principle, it was by no means a flaming antislavery manifesto, +such as would have pleased the more ardent Republicans. It was +rather the entreaty of a sorrowing father speaking to his wayward +children. In the kindliest language he pointed out to the +secessionists how ill advised their attempt at disunion was, and +why, for their own sakes, they should desist. Almost +plaintively, he told them that, while it was not their duty to +destroy the Union, it was his sworn duty to preserve it; that the +least he could do, under the obligations of his oath, was to +possess and hold the property of the United States; that he hoped +to do this peaceably; that he abhorred war for any purpose, and +that they would have none unless they themselves were the +aggressors. It was a masterpiece of persuasiveness, and while +Lincoln had accepted many valuable amendments suggested by +Seward, it was essentially his own. Probably Lincoln himself did +not expect his inaugural address to have any effect upon the +secessionists, for he must have known them to be resolved upon +disunion at any cost. But it was an appeal to the wavering minds +in the North, and upon them it made a profound impression. Every +candid man, however timid and halting, had to admit that the +President was bound by his oath to do his duty; that under that +oath he could do no less than he said he would do; that if the +secessionists resisted such an appeal as the President had made, +they were bent upon mischief, and that the government must be +supported against them. The partisan sympathy with the Southern +insurrection which still existed in the North did indeed not +disappear, but it diminished perceptibly under the influence of +such reasoning. Those who still resisted it did so at the risk +of appearing unpatriotic. + +It must not be supposed, however, that Lincoln at once succeeded +in pleasing everybody, even among his friends,--even among those +nearest to him. In selecting his cabinet, which he did +substantially before he left Springfield for Washington, he +thought it wise to call to his assistance the strong men of his +party, especially those who had given evidence of the support +they commanded as his competitors in the Chicago convention. In +them he found at the same time representatives of the different +shades of opinion within the party, and of the different +elements--former Whigs and former Democrats--from which the party +had recruited itself. This was sound policy under the +circumstances. It might indeed have been foreseen that among the +members of a cabinet so composed, troublesome disagreements and +rivalries would break out. But it was better for the President +to have these strong and ambitious men near him as his co- +operators than to have them as his critics in Congress, where +their differences might have been composed in a common opposition +to him. As members of his cabinet he could hope to control them, +and to keep them busily employed in the service of a common +purpose, if he had the strength to do so. Whether he did possess +this strength was soon tested by a singularly rude trial. + +There can be no doubt that the foremost members of his cabinet, +Seward and Chase, the most eminent Republican statesmen, had felt +themselves wronged by their party when in its national convention +it preferred to them for the Presidency a man whom, not +unnaturally, they thought greatly their inferior in ability and +experience as well as in service. The soreness of that +disappointment was intensified when they saw this Western man in +the White House, with so much of rustic manner and speech as +still clung to him, meeting his fellow-citizens, high and low, on +a footing of equality, with the simplicity of his good nature +unburdened by any conventional dignity of deportment, and dealing +with the great business of state in an easy-going, unmethodical, +and apparently somewhat irreverent way. They did not understand +such a man. Especially Seward, who, as Secretary of State, +considered himself next to the Chief Executive, and who quickly +accustomed himself to giving orders and making arrangements upon +his own motion, thought it necessary that he should rescue the +direction of public affairs from hands so unskilled, and take +full charge of them himself. At the end of the first month of +the administration he submitted a "memorandum" to President +Lincoln, which has been first brought to light by Nicolay and +Hay, and is one of their most valuable contributions to the +history of those days. In that paper Seward actually told the +President that at the end of a month's administration the +government was still without a policy, either domestic or +foreign; that the slavery question should be eliminated from the +struggle about the Union; that the matter of the maintenance of +the forts and other possessions in the South should be decided +with that view; that explanations should be demanded +categorically from the governments of Spain and France, which +were then preparing, one for the annexation of San Domingo, and +both for the invasion of Mexico; that if no satisfactory +explanations were received war should be declared against Spain +and France by the United States; that explanations should also be +sought from Russia and Great Britain, and a vigorous continental +spirit of independence against European intervention be aroused +all over the American continent; that this policy should be +incessantly pursued and directed by somebody; that either the +President should devote himself entirely to it, or devolve the +direction on some member of his cabinet, whereupon all debate on +this policy must end. + +This could be understood only as a formal demand that the +President should acknowledge his own incompetency to perform his +duties, content himself with the amusement of distributing post- +offices, and resign his power as to all important affairs into +the hands of his Secretary of State. It seems to-day +incomprehensible how a statesman of Seward's calibre could at +that period conceive a plan of policy in which the slavery +question had no place; a policy which rested upon the utterly +delusive assumption that the secessionists, who had already +formed their Southern Confederacy and were with stern resolution +preparing to fight for its independence, could be hoodwinked back +into the Union by some sentimental demonstration against European +interference; a policy which, at that critical moment, would have +involved the Union in a foreign war, thus inviting foreign +intervention in favor of the Southern Confederacy, and increasing +tenfold its chances in the struggle for independence. But it is +equally incomprehensible how Seward could fail to see that this +demand of an unconditional surrender was a mortal insult to the +head of the government, and that by putting his proposition on +paper he delivered himself into the hands of the very man he had +insulted; for, had Lincoln, as most Presidents would have done, +instantly dismissed Seward, and published the true reason for +that dismissal, it would inevitably have been the end of Seward's +career. But Lincoln did what not many of the noblest and +greatest men in history would have been noble and great enough to +do. He considered that Seward was still capable of rendering +great service to his country in the place in which he was, if +rightly controlled. He ignored the insult, but firmly +established his superiority. In his reply, which he forthwith +despatched, he told Seward that the administration had a domestic +policy as laid down in the inaugural address with Seward's +approval; that it had a foreign policy as traced in Seward's +despatches with the President's approval; that if any policy was +to be maintained or changed, he, the President, was to direct +that on his responsibility; and that in performing that duty the +President had a right to the advice of his secretaries. Seward's +fantastic schemes of foreign war and continental policies Lincoln +brushed aside by passing them over in silence. Nothing more was +said. Seward must have felt that he was at the mercy of a +superior man; that his offensive proposition had been generously +pardoned as a temporary aberration of a great mind, and that he +could atone for it only by devoted personal loyalty. This he +did. He was thoroughly subdued, and thenceforth submitted to +Lincoln his despatches for revision and amendment without a +murmur. The war with European nations was no longer thought of; +the slavery question found in due time its proper place in the +struggle for the Union; and when, at a later period, the +dismissal of Seward was demanded by dissatisfied senators, who +attributed to him the shortcomings of the administration, Lincoln +stood stoutly by his faithful Secretary of State. + +Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, a man of superb presence, +of eminent ability and ardent patriotism, of great natural +dignity and a certain outward coldness of manner, which made him +appear more difficult of approach than he really was, did not +permit his disappointment to burst out in such extravagant +demonstrations. But Lincoln's ways were so essentially different +from his that they never became quite intelligible, and certainly +not congenial to him. It might, perhaps, have been better had +there been, at the beginning of the administration, some decided +clash between Lincoln and Chase, as there was between Lincoln and +Seward, to bring on a full mutual explanation, and to make Chase +appreciate the real seriousness of Lincoln's nature. But, as it +was, their relations always remained somewhat formal, and Chase +never felt quite at ease under a chief whom he could not +understand, and whose character and powers he never learned to +esteem at their true value. At the same time, he devoted himself +zealously to the duties of his department, and did the country +arduous service under circumstances of extreme difficulty. +Nobody recognized this more heartily than Lincoln himself, and +they managed to work together until near the end of Lincoln's +first Presidential term, when Chase, after some disagreements +concerning appointments to office, resigned from the treasury; +and, after Taney's death, the President made him Chief Justice. + +The rest of the cabinet consisted of men of less eminence, who +subordinated themselves more easily. In January, 1862, Lincoln +found it necessary to bow Cameron out of the war office, and to +put in his place Edwin M. Stanton, a man of intensely practical +mind, vehement impulses, fierce positiveness, ruthless energy, +immense working power, lofty patriotism, and severest devotion to +duty. He accepted the war office not as a partisan, for he had +never been a Republican, but only to do all he could in "helping +to save the country." The manner in which Lincoln succeeded in +taming this lion to his will, by frankly recognizing his great +qualities, by giving him the most generous confidence, by aiding +him in his work to the full of his power, by kindly concession or +affectionate persuasiveness in cases of differing opinions, or, +when it was necessary, by firm assertions of superior authority, +bears the highest testimony to his skill in the management of +men. Stanton, who had entered the service with rather a mean +opinion of Lincoln's character and capacity, became one of his +warmest, most devoted, and most admiring friends, and with none +of his secretaries was Lincoln's intercourse more intimate. To +take advice with candid readiness, and to weigh it without any +pride of his own opinion, was one of Lincoln's preeminent +virtues; but he had not long presided over his cabinet council +when his was felt by all its members to be the ruling mind. + +The cautious policy foreshadowed in his inaugural address, and +pursued during the first period of the civil war, was far from +satisfying all his party friends. The ardent spirits among the +Union men thought that the whole North should at once be called +to arms, to crush the rebellion by one powerful blow. The ardent +spirits among the antislavery men insisted that, slavery having +brought forth the rebellion, this powerful blow should at once be +aimed at slavery. Both complained that the administration was +spiritless, undecided, and lamentably slow in its proceedings. +Lincoln reasoned otherwise. The ways of thinking and feeling of +the masses, of the plain people, were constantly present to his +mind. The masses, the plain people, had to furnish the men for +the fighting, if fighting was to be done. He believed that the +plain people would be ready to fight when it clearly appeared +necessary, and that they would feel that necessity when they felt +themselves attacked. He therefore waited until the enemies of +the Union struck the first blow. As soon as, on the 12th of +April, 1861, the first gun was fired in Charleston harbor on the +Union flag upon Fort Sumter, the call was sounded, and the +Northern people rushed to arms. + +Lincoln knew that the plain people were now indeed ready to fight +in defence of the Union, but not yet ready to fight for the +destruction of slavery. He declared openly that he had a right +to summon the people to fight for the Union, but not to summon +them to fight for the abolition of slavery as a primary object; +and this declaration gave him numberless soldiers for the Union +who at that period would have hesitated to do battle against the +institution of slavery. For a time he succeeded in rendering +harmless the cry of the partisan opposition that the Republican +administration were perverting the war for the Union into an +"abolition war." But when he went so far as to countermand the +acts of some generals in the field, looking to the emancipation +of the slaves in the districts covered by their commands, loud +complaints arose from earnest antislavery men, who accused the +President of turning his back upon the antislavery cause. Many +of these antislavery men will now, after a calm retrospect, be +willing to admit that it would have been a hazardous policy to +endanger, by precipitating a demonstrative fight against slavery, +the success of the struggle for the Union. + +Lincoln's views and feelings concerning slavery had not changed. +Those who conversed with him intimately upon the subject at that +period know that he did not expect slavery long to survive the +triumph of the Union, even if it were not immediately destroyed +by the war. In this he was right. Had the Union armies achieved +a decisive victory in an early period of the conflict, and had +the seceded States been received back with slavery, the "slave +power" would then have been a defeated power, defeated in an +attempt to carry out its most effective threat. It would have +lost its prestige. Its menaces would have been hollow sound, and +ceased to make any one afraid. It could no longer have hoped to +expand, to maintain an equilibrium in any branch of Congress, and +to control the government. The victorious free States would have +largely overbalanced it. It would no longer have been able to +withstand the onset of a hostile age. It could no longer have +ruled,--and slavery had to rule in order to live. It would have +lingered for a while, but it would surely have been "in the +course of ultimate extinction." A prolonged war precipitated the +destruction of slavery; a short war might only have prolonged its +death struggle. Lincoln saw this clearly; but he saw also that, +in a protracted death struggle, it might still have kept disloyal +sentiments alive, bred distracting commotions, and caused great +mischief to the country. He therefore hoped that slavery would +not survive the war. + +But the question how he could rightfully employ his power to +bring on its speedy destruction was to him not a question of mere +sentiment. He himself set forth his reasoning upon it, at a +later period, in one of his inimitable letters. "I am naturally +antislavery," said he. "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is +wrong. I cannot remember the time when I did not so think and +feel. And yet I have never understood that the Presidency +conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act upon that judgment +and feeling. It was in the oath I took that I would, to the best +of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of +the United States. I could not take the office without taking +the oath. Nor was it my view that I might take an oath to get +power, and break the oath in using that power. I understood, +too, that, in ordinary civil administration, this oath even +forbade me practically to indulge my private abstract judgment on +the moral question of slavery. I did understand, however, also, +that my oath imposed upon me the duty of preserving, to the best +of my ability, by every indispensable means, that government, +that nation, of which the Constitution was the organic law. I +could not feel that, to the best of my ability, I had even tied +to preserve the Constitution--if, to save slavery, or any minor +matter, I should permit the wreck of government, country, and +Constitution all together." In other words, if the salvation of +the government, the Constitution, and the Union demanded the +destruction of slavery, he felt it to be not only his right, but +his sworn duty to destroy it. Its destruction became a necessity +of the war for the Union. + +As the war dragged on and disaster followed disaster, the sense +of that necessity steadily grew upon him. Early in 1862, as some +of his friends well remember, he saw, what Seward seemed not to +see, that to give the war for the Union an antislavery character +was the surest means to prevent the recognition of the Southern +Confederacy as an independent nation by European powers; that, +slavery being abhorred by the moral sense of civilized mankind, +no European government would dare to offer so gross an insult to +the public opinion of its people as openly to favor the creation +of a state founded upon slavery to the prejudice of an existing +nation fighting against slavery. He saw also that slavery +untouched was to the rebellion an element of power, and that in +order to overcome that power it was necessary to turn it into an +element of weakness. Still, he felt no assurance that the plain +people were prepared for so radical a measure as the emancipation +of the slaves by act of the government, and he anxiously +considered that, if they were not, this great step might, by +exciting dissension at the North, injure the cause of the Union +in one quarter more than it would help it in another. He +heartily welcomed an effort made in New York to mould and +stimulate public sentiment on the slavery question by public +meetings boldly pronouncing for emancipation. At the same time +he himself cautiously advanced with a recommendation, expressed +in a special message to Congress, that the United States should +co-operate with any State which might adopt the gradual +abolishment of slavery, giving such State pecuniary aid to +compensate the former owners of emancipated slaves. The +discussion was started, and spread rapidly. Congress adopted the +resolution recommended, and soon went a step farther in passing a +bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. The plain +people began to look at emancipation on a larger scale as a thing +to be considered seriously by patriotic citizens; and soon +Lincoln thought that the time was ripe, and that the edict of +freedom could be ventured upon without danger of serious +confusion in the Union ranks. + +The failure of McClellan's movement upon Richmond increased +immensely the prestige of the enemy. The need of some great act +to stimulate the vitality of the Union cause seemed to grow daily +more pressing. On July 21, 1862, Lincoln surprised his cabinet +with the draught of a proclamation declaring free the slaves in +all the States that should be still in rebellion against the +United States on the 1st of January,1863. As to the matter +itself he announced that he had fully made up his mind; he +invited advice only concerning the form and the time of +publication. Seward suggested that the proclamation, if then +brought out, amidst disaster and distress, would sound like the +last shriek of a perishing cause. Lincoln accepted the +suggestion, and the proclamation was postponed. Another defeat +followed, the second at Bull Run. But when, after that battle, +the Confederate army, under Lee, crossed the Potomac and invaded +Maryland, Lincoln vowed in his heart that, if the Union army were +now blessed with success, the decree of freedom should surely be +issued. The victory of Antietam was won on September 17, and the +preliminary Emancipation Proclamation came forth on the a 22d. +It was Lincoln's own resolution and act; but practically it bound +the nation, and permitted no step backward. In spite of its +limitations, it was the actual abolition of slavery. Thus he +wrote his name upon the books of history with the title dearest +to his heart, the liberator of the slave. + +It is true, the great proclamation, which stamped the war as one +for "union and freedom," did not at once mark the turning of the +tide on the field of military operations. There were more +disasters, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. But with +Gettysburg and Vicksburg the whole aspect of the war changed. +Step by step, now more slowly, then more rapidly, but with +increasing steadiness, the flag of the Union advanced from field +to field toward the final consummation. The decree of +emancipation was naturally followed by the enlistment of +emancipated negroes in the Union armies. This measure had a +anther reaching effect than merely giving the Union armies an +increased supply of men. The laboring force of the rebellion was +hopelessly disorganized. The war became like a problem of +arithmetic. As the Union armies pushed forward, the area from +which the Southern Confederacy could draw recruits and supplies +constantly grew smaller, while the area from which the Union +recruited its strength constantly grew larger; and everywhere, +even within the Southern lines, the Union had its allies. The +fate of the rebellion was then virtually decided; but it still +required much bloody work to convince the brave warriors who +fought for it that they were really beaten. + +Neither did the Emancipation Proclamation forthwith command +universal assent among the people who were loyal to the Union. +There were even signs of a reaction against the administration in +the fall elections of 1862, seemingly justifying the opinion, +entertained by many, that the President had really anticipated +the development of popular feeling. The cry that the war for the +Union had been turned into an "abolition war" was raised again by +the opposition, and more loudly than ever. But the good sense +and patriotic instincts of the plain people gradually marshalled +themselves on Lincoln's side, and he lost no opportunity to help +on this process by personal argument and admonition. There never +has been a President in such constant and active contact with the +public opinion of the country, as there never has been a +President who, while at the head of the government, remained so +near to the people. Beyond the circle of those who had long +known him the feeling steadily grew that the man in the White +House was "honest Abe Lincoln" still, and that every citizen +might approach him with complaint, expostulation, or advice, +without danger of meeting a rebuff from power-proud authority, or +humiliating condescension; and this privilege was used by so many +and with such unsparing freedom that only superhuman patience +could have endured it all. There are men now living who would +to-day read with amazement, if not regret, what they ventured to +say or write to him. But Lincoln repelled no one whom he +believed to speak to him in good faith and with patriotic +purpose. No good advice would go unheeded. No candid criticism +would offend him. No honest opposition, while it might pain him, +would produce a lasting alienation of feeling between him and the +opponent. It may truly be said that few men in power have ever +been exposed to more daring attempts to direct their course, to +severer censure of their acts, and to more cruel +misrepresentation of their motives: And all this he met with that +good-natured humor peculiarly his own, and with untiring effort +to see the right and to impress it upon those who differed from +him. The conversations he had and the correspondence he carried +on upon matters of public interest, not only with men in official +position, but with private citizens, were almost unceasing, and +in a large number of public letters, written ostensibly to +meetings, or committees, or persons of importance, he addressed +himself directly to the popular mind. Most of these letters +stand among the finest monuments of our political literature. +Thus he presented the singular spectacle of a President who, in +the midst of a great civil war, with unprecedented duties +weighing upon him, was constantly in person debating the great +features of his policy with the people. + +While in this manner he exercised an ever-increasing influence +upon the popular understanding, his sympathetic nature endeared +him more and more to the popular heart. In vain did journals and +speakers of the opposition represent him as a lightminded +trifler, who amused himself with frivolous story-telling and +coarse jokes, while the blood of the people was flowing in +streams. The people knew that the man at the head of affairs, on +whose haggard face the twinkle of humor so frequently changed +into an expression of profoundest sadness, was more than any +other deeply distressed by the suffering he witnessed; that he +felt the pain of every wound that was inflicted on the +battlefield, and the anguish of every woman or child who had lost +husband or father; that whenever he could he was eager to +alleviate sorrow, and that his mercy was never implored in vain. +They looked to him as one who was with them and of them in all +their hopes and fears, their joys and sorrows, who laughed with +them and wept with them; and as his heart was theirs; so their +hearts turned to him. His popularity was far different from that +of Washington, who was revered with awe, or that of Jackson, the +unconquerable hero, for whom party enthusiasm never grew weary of +shouting. To Abraham Lincoln the people became bound by a +genuine sentimental attachment. It was not a matter of respect, +or confidence, or party pride, for this feeling spread far beyond +the boundary lines of his party; it was an affair of the heart, +independent of mere reasoning. When the soldiers in the field or +their folks at home spoke of "Father Abraham," there was no cant +in it. They felt that their President was really caring for them +as a father would, and that they could go to him, every one of +them, as they would go to a father, and talk to him of what +troubled them, sure to find a willing ear and tender sympathy. +Thus, their President, and his cause, and his endeavors, and his +success gradually became to them almost matters of family +concern. And this popularity carried him triumphantly through +the Presidential election of 1864, in spite of an opposition +within his own party which at first seemed very formidable. + +Many of the radical antislavery men were never quite satisfied +with Lincoln's ways of meeting the problems of the time. They +were very earnest and mostly very able men, who had positive +ideas as to "how this rebellion should be put down." They would +not recognize the necessity of measuring the steps of the +government according to the progress of opinion among the plain +people. They criticised Lincoln's cautious management as +irresolute, halting, lacking in definite purpose and in energy; +he should not have delayed emancipation so long; he should not +have confided important commands to men of doubtful views as to +slavery; he should have authorized military commanders to set the +slaves free as they went on; he dealt too leniently with +unsuccessful generals; he should have put down all factious +opposition with a strong hand instead of trying to pacify it; he +should have given the people accomplished facts instead of +arguing with them, and so on. It is true, these criticisms were +not always entirely unfounded. Lincoln's policy had, with the +virtues of democratic government, some of its weaknesses, which +in the presence of pressing exigencies were apt to deprive +governmental action of the necessary vigor; and his kindness of +heart, his disposition always to respect the feelings of others, +frequently made him recoil from anything like severity, even when +severity was urgently called for. But many of his radical +critics have since then revised their judgment sufficiently to +admit that Lincoln's policy was, on the whole, the wisest and +safest; that a policy of heroic methods, while it has sometimes +accomplished great results, could in a democracy like ours be +maintained only by constant success; that it would have quickly +broken down under the weight of disaster; that it might have been +successful from the start, had the Union, at the beginning of the +conflict, had its Grants and Shermans and Sheridans, its +Farraguts and Porters, fully matured at the head of its forces; +but that, as the great commanders had to be evolved slowly from +the developments of the war, constant success could not be +counted upon, and it was best to follow a policy which was in +friendly contact with the popular force, and therefore more fit +to stand trial of misfortune on the battlefield. But at that +period they thought differently, and their dissatisfaction with +Lincoln's doings was greatly increased by the steps he took +toward the reconstruction of rebel States then partially in +possession of the Union forces. + +In December, 1863, Lincoln issued an amnesty proclamation, +offering pardon to all implicated in the rebellion, with certain +specified exceptions, on condition of their taking and +maintaining an oath to support the Constitution and obey the laws +of the United States and the proclamations of the President with +regard to slaves; and also promising that when, in any of the +rebel States, a number of citizens equal to one tenth of the +voters in 1860 should re-establish a state government in +conformity with the oath above mentioned, such should be +recognized by the Executive as the true government of the State. +The proclamation seemed at first to be received with general +favor. But soon another scheme of reconstruction, much more +stringent in its provisions, was put forward in the House of +Representatives by Henry Winter Davis. Benjamin Wade championed +it in the Senate. It passed in the closing moments of the +session in July, 1864, and Lincoln, instead of making it a law by +his signature, embodied the text of it in a proclamation as a +plan of reconstruction worthy of being earnestly considered. The +differences of opinion concerning this subject had only +intensified the feeling against Lincoln which had long been +nursed among the radicals, and some of them openly declared their +purpose of resisting his re-election to the Presidency. Similar +sentiments were manifested by the advanced antislavery men of +Missouri, who, in their hot faction-fight with the +"conservatives" of that State, had not received from Lincoln the +active support they demanded. Still another class of Union men, +mainly in the East, gravely shook their heads when considering +the question whether Lincoln should be re-elected. They were +those who cherished in their minds an ideal of statesmanship and +of personal bearing in high office with which, in their opinion, +Lincoln's individuality was much out of accord. They were +shocked when they heard him cap an argument upon grave affairs of +state with a story about "a man out in Sangamon County,"--a +story, to be sure, strikingly clinching his point, but sadly +lacking in dignity. They could not understand the man who was +capable, in opening a cabinet meeting, of reading to his +secretaries a funny chapter from a recent book of Artemus Ward, +with which in an unoccupied moment he had relieved his care- +burdened mind, and who then solemnly informed the executive +council that he had vowed in his heart to issue a proclamation +emancipating the slaves as soon as God blessed the Union arms +with another victory. They were alarmed at the weakness of a +President who would indeed resist the urgent remonstrances of +statesmen against his policy, but could not resist the prayer of +an old woman for the pardon of a soldier who was sentenced to be +shot for desertion. Such men, mostly sincere and ardent +patriots, not only wished, but earnestly set to work, to prevent +Lincoln's renomination. Not a few of them actually believed, in +1863, that, if the national convention of the Union party were +held then, Lincoln would not be supported by the delegation of a +single State. But when the convention met at Baltimore, in June, +1864, the voice of the people was heard. On the first ballot +Lincoln received the votes of the delegations from all the States +except Missouri; and even the Missourians turned over their votes +to him before the result of the ballot was declared. + +But even after his renomination the opposition to Lincoln within +the ranks of the Union party did not subside. A convention, +called by the dissatisfied radicals in Missouri, and favored by +men of a similar way of thinking in other States, had been held +already in May, and had nominated as its candidate for the +Presidency General Fremont. He, indeed, did not attract a strong +following, but opposition movements from different quarters +appeared more formidable. Henry Winter Davis and Benjamin Wade +assailed Lincoln in a flaming manifesto. Other Union men, of +undoubted patriotism and high standing, persuaded themselves, and +sought to persuade the people, that Lincoln's renomination was +ill advised and dangerous to the Union cause. As the Democrats +had put off their convention until the 29th of August, the Union +party had, during the larger part of the summer, no opposing +candidate and platform to attack, and the political campaign +languished. Neither were the tidings from the theatre of war of +a cheering character. The terrible losses suffered by Grant's +army in the battles of the Wilderness spread general gloom. +Sherman seemed for a while to be in a precarious position before +Atlanta. The opposition to Lincoln within the Union party grew +louder in its complaints and discouraging predictions. Earnest +demands were heard that his candidacy should be withdrawn. +Lincoln himself, not knowing how strongly the masses were +attached to him, was haunted by dark forebodings of defeat. Then +the scene suddenly changed as if by magic. + +The Democrats, in their national convention, declared the war a +failure, demanded, substantially, peace at any price, and +nominated on such a platform General McClellan as their +candidate. Their convention had hardly adjourned when the +capture of Atlanta gave a new aspect to the military situation. +It was like a sun-ray bursting through a dark cloud. The rank +and file of the Union party rose with rapidly growing enthusiasm. +The song "We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand +strong," resounded all over the land. Long before the decisive +day arrived, the result was beyond doubt, and Lincoln was re- +elected President by overwhelming majorities. The election over +even his severest critics found themselves forced to admit that +Lincoln was the only possible candidate for the Union party in +1864, and that neither political combinations nor campaign +speeches, nor even victories in the field, were needed to insure +his success. The plain people had all the while been satisfied +with Abraham Lincoln: they confided in him; they loved him; they +felt themselves near to him; they saw personified in him the +cause of Union and freedom; and they went to the ballot-box for +him in their strength. + +The hour of triumph called out the characteristic impulses of his +nature. The opposition within the Union party had stung him to +the quick. Now he had his opponents before him, baffled and +humiliated. Not a moment did he lose to stretch out the hand of +friendship to all. "Now that the election is over," he said, in +response to a serenade, "may not all, having a common interest, +reunite in a common effort to save our common country? For my own +part, I have striven, and will strive, to place no obstacle in +the way. So long as I have been here I have not willingly +planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am deeply sensible +to the high compliment of a re-election, it adds nothing to my +satisfaction that any other man may be pained or disappointed by +the result. May I ask those who were with me to join with me in +the same spirit toward those who were against me?" This was +Abraham Lincoln's character as tested in the furnace of +prosperity. + +The war was virtually decided, but not yet ended. Sherman was +irresistibly carrying the Union flag through the South. Grant +had his iron hand upon the ramparts of Richmond. The days of the +Confederacy were evidently numbered. Only the last blow remained +to be struck. Then Lincoln's second inauguration came, and with +it his second inaugural address. Lincoln's famous "Gettysburg +speech "has been much and justly admired. But far greater, as +well as far more characteristic, was that inaugural in which he +poured out the whole devotion and tenderness of his great soul. +It had all the solemnity of a father's last admonition and +blessing to his children before he lay down to die. These were +its closing words: "Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that +this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God +wills that it continue until all the wealth piled up by the +bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be +sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be +paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand +years ago, so still it must be said, `The judgments of the Lord +are true and righteous altogether.' With malice toward none, +with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us +to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in; to +bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne +the battle, and for his widow and his orphan; to do all which may +achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and +with all nations." + +This was like a sacred poem. No American President had ever +spoken words like these to the American people. America never +had a President who found such words in the depth of his heart. + +Now followed the closing scenes of the war. The Southern armies +fought bravely to the last, but all in vain. Richmond fell. +Lincoln himself entered the city on foot, accompanied only by a +few officers and a squad of sailors who had rowed him ashore from +the flotilla in the James River, a negro picked up on the way +serving as a guide. Never had the world seen a more modest +conqueror and a more characteristic triumphal procession, no army +with banners and drums, only a throng of those who had been +slaves, hastily run together, escorting the victorious chief into +the capital of the vanquished foe. We are told that they pressed +around him, kissed his hands and his garments, and shouted and +danced for joy, while tears ran down the President's care- +furrowed cheeks. + +A few days more brought the surrender of Lee's army, and peace +was assured. The people of the North were wild with joy. +Everywhere festive guns were booming, bells pealing, the churches +ringing with thanksgivings, and jubilant multitudes thronging the +thoroughfares, when suddenly the news flashed over the land that +Abraham Lincoln had been murdered. The people were stunned by +the blow. Then a wail of sorrow went up such as America had +never heard before. Thousands of Northern households grieved as +if they had lost their dearest member. Many a Southern man cried +out in his heart that his people had been robbed of their best +friend in their humiliation and distress, when Abraham Lincoln +was struck down. It was as if the tender affection which his +countrymen bore him had inspired all nations with a common +sentiment. All civilized mankind stood mourning around the +coffin of the dead President. Many of those, here and abroad, +who not long before had ridiculed and reviled him were among the +first to hasten on with their flowers of eulogy, and in that +universal chorus of lamentation and praise there was not a voice +that did not tremble with genuine emotion. Never since +Washington's death had there been such unanimity of judgment as +to a man's virtues and greatness; and even Washington's death, +although his name was held in greater reverence, did not touch so +sympathetic a chord in the people's hearts. + +Nor can it be said that this was owing to the tragic character of +Lincoln's end. It is true, the death of this gentlest and most +merciful of rulers by the hand of a mad fanatic was well apt to +exalt him beyond his merits in the estimation of those who loved +him, and to make his renown the object of peculiarly tender +solicitude. But it is also true that the verdict pronounced upon +him in those days has been affected little by time, and that +historical inquiry has served rather to increase than to lessen +the appreciation of his virtues, his abilities, his services. +Giving the fullest measure of credit to his great ministers,--to +Seward for his conduct of foreign affairs, to Chase for the +management of the finances under terrible difficulties, to +Stanton for the performance of his tremendous task as war +secretary,--and readily acknowledging that without the skill and +fortitude of the great commanders, and the heroism of the +soldiers and sailors under them, success could not have been +achieved, the historian still finds that Lincoln's judgment and +will were by no means governed by those around him; that the most +important steps were owing to his initiative; that his was the +deciding and directing mind; and that it was pre-eminently he +whose sagacity and whose character enlisted for the +administration in its struggles the countenance, the sympathy, +and the support of the people. It is found, even, that his +judgment on military matters was astonishingly acute, and that +the advice and instructions he gave to the generals commanding in +the field would not seldom have done honor to the ablest of them. +History, therefore, without overlooking, or palliating, or +excusing any of his shortcomings or mistakes, continues to place +him foremost among the saviours of the Union and the liberators +of the slave. More than that, it awards to him the merit of +having accomplished what but few political philosophers would +have recognized as possible,--of leading the republic through +four years of furious civil conflict without any serious +detriment to its free institutions. + +He was, indeed, while President, violently denounced by the +opposition as a tyrant and a usurper, for having gone beyond his +constitutional powers in authorizing or permitting the temporary +suppression of newspapers, and in wantonly suspending the writ of +habeas corpus and resorting to arbitrary arrests. Nobody should +be blamed who, when such things are done, in good faith and from +patriotic motives protests against them. In a republic, +arbitrary stretches of power, even when demanded by necessity, +should never be permitted to pass without a protest on the one +hand, and without an apology on the other. It is well they did +not so pass during our civil war. That arbitrary measures were +resorted to is true. That they were resorted to most sparingly, +and only when the government thought them absolutely required by +the safety of the republic, will now hardly be denied. But +certain it is that the history of the world does not furnish a +single example of a government passing through so tremendous a +crisis as our civil war was with so small a record of arbitrary +acts, and so little interference with the ordinary course of law +outside the field of military operations. No American President +ever wielded such power as that which was thrust into Lincoln's +hands. It is to be hoped that no American President ever will +have to be entrusted with such power again. But no man was ever +entrusted with it to whom its seductions were less dangerous than +they proved to be to Abraham Lincoln. With scrupulous care he +endeavored, even under the most trying circumstances, to remain +strictly within the constitutional limitations of his authority; +and whenever the boundary became indistinct, or when the dangers +of the situation forced him to cross it, he was equally careful +to mark his acts as exceptional measures, justifiable only by the +imperative necessities of the civil war, so that they might not +pass into history as precedents for similar acts in time of +peace. It is an unquestionable fact that during the +reconstruction period which followed the war, more things were +done capable of serving as dangerous precedents than during the +war itself. Thus it may truly be said of him not only that under +his guidance the republic was saved from disruption and the +country was purified of the blot of slavery, but that, during the +stormiest and most perilous crisis in our history, he so +conducted the government and so wielded his almost dictatorial +power as to leave essentially intact our free institutions in all +things that concern the rights and liberties of the citizens. He +understood well the nature of the problem. In his first message +to Congress he defined it in admirably pointed language: "Must a +government be of necessity too strong for the liberties of its +own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence? Is there +in all republics this inherent weakness?" This question he +answered in the name of the great American republic, as no man +could have answered it better, with a triumphant "No...." + +It has been said that Abraham Lincoln died at the right moment +for his fame. However that may be, he had, at the time of his +death, certainly not exhausted his usefulness to his country. He +was probably the only man who could have guided the nation +through the perplexities of the reconstruction period in such a +manner as to prevent in the work of peace the revival of the +passions of the war. He would indeed not have escaped serious +controversy as to details of policy; but he could have weathered +it far better than any other statesman of his time, for his +prestige with the active politicians had been immensely +strengthened by his triumphant re-election; and, what is more +important, he would have been supported by the confidence of the +victorious Northern people that he would do all to secure the +safety of the Union and the rights of the emancipated negro, and +at the same time by the confidence of the defeated Southern +people that nothing would be done by him from motives of +vindictiveness, or of unreasoning fanaticism, or of a selfish +party spirit. "With malice toward none, with charity for all," +the foremost of the victors would have personified in himself the +genius of reconciliation. + +He might have rendered the country a great service in another +direction. A few days after the fall of Richmond, he pointed out +to a friend the crowd of office-seekers besieging his door. +"Look at that," said he. "Now we have conquered the rebellion, +but here you see something that may become more dangerous to this +republic than the rebellion itself." It is true, Lincoln as +President did not profess what we now call civil service reform +principles. He used the patronage of the government in many +cases avowedly to reward party work, in many others to form +combinations and to produce political effects advantageous to the +Union cause, and in still others simply to put the right man into +the right place. But in his endeavors to strengthen the Union +cause, and in his search for able and useful men for public +duties, he frequently went beyond the limits of his party, and +gradually accustomed himself to the thought that, while party +service had its value, considerations of the public interest +were, as to appointments to office, of far greater consequence. +Moreover, there had been such a mingling of different political +elements in support of the Union during the civil war that +Lincoln, standing at the head of that temporarily united motley +mass, hardly felt himself, in the narrow sense of the term, a +party man. And as he became strongly impressed with the dangers +brought upon the republic by the use of public offices as party +spoils, it is by no means improbable that, had he survived the +all-absorbing crisis and found time to turn to other objects, one +of the most important reforms of later days would have been +pioneered by his powerful authority. This was not to be. But +the measure of his achievements was full enough for immortality. + +To the younger generation Abraham Lincoln has already become a +half-mythical figure, which, in the haze of historic distance, +grows to more and more heroic proportions, but also loses in +distinctness of outline and feature. This is indeed the common +lot of popular heroes; but the Lincoln legend will be more than +ordinarily apt to become fanciful, as his individuality, +assembling seemingly incongruous qualities and forces in a +character at the same time grand and most lovable, was so unique, +and his career so abounding in startling contrasts. As the state +of society in which Abraham Lincoln grew up passes away, the +world will read with increasing wonder of the man who, not only +of the humblest origin, but remaining the simplest and most +unpretending of citizens, was raised to a position of power +unprecedented in our history; who was the gentlest and most +peace-loving of mortals, unable to see any creature suffer +without a pang in his own breast, and suddenly found himself +called to conduct the greatest and bloodiest of our wars; who +wielded the power of government when stern resolution and +relentless force were the order of the day and then won and ruled +the popular mind and heart by the tender sympathies of his +nature; who was a cautious conservative by temperament and mental +habit, and led the most sudden and sweeping social revolution of +our time; who, preserving his homely speech and rustic manner +even in the most conspicuous position of that period, drew upon +himself the scoffs of polite society, and then thrilled the soul +of mankind with utterances of wonderful beauty and grandeur; who, +in his heart the best friend of the defeated South, was murdered +because a crazy fanatic took him for its most cruel enemy; who, +while in power, was beyond measure lampooned and maligned by +sectional passion and an excited party spirit, and around whose +bier friend and foe gathered to praise him which they have since +never ceased to do--as one of the greatest of Americans and the +best of men. + + + + + + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN + +BY JOSEPH H. CHOATE + + +[This Address was delivered before the Edinburgh Philosophical +Institution, November 13, 1900. It is included in this set with +the courteous permission of the author and of Messrs. Thomas Y. +Crowell & Company.] + + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + +When you asked me to deliver the Inaugural Address on this +occasion, I recognized that I owed this compliment to the fact +that I was the official representative of America, and in +selecting a subject I ventured to think that I might interest you +for an hour in a brief study in popular government, as +illustrated by the life of the most American of all Americans. I +therefore offer no apology for asking your attention to Abraham +Lincoln--to his unique character and the part he bore in two +important achievements of modern history: the preservation of the +integrity of the American Union and the emancipation of the +colored race. + +During his brief term of power he was probably the object of more +abuse, vilification, and ridicule than any other man in the +world; but when he fell by the hand of an assassin, at the very +moment of his stupendous victory, all the nations of the earth +vied with one another in paying homage to his character, and the +thirty-five years that have since elapsed have established his +place in history as one of the great benefactors not of his own +country alone, but of the human race. + +One of many noble utterances upon the occasion of his death was +that in which 'Punch' made its magnanimous recantation of the +spirit with which it had pursued him: + + + "Beside this corpse that bears for winding sheet + The stars and stripes he lived to rear anew, + Between the mourners at his head and feet, + Say, scurrile jester, is there room for you? + + ................... + + "Yes, he had lived to shame me from my sneer, + To lame my pencil, and confute my pen + To make me own this hind--of princes peer, + This rail-splitter--a true born king of men." + + +Fiction can furnish no match for the romance of his life, and +biography will be searched in vain for such startling +vicissitudes of fortune, so great power and glory won out of such +humble beginnings and adverse circumstances. + +Doubtless you are all familiar with the salient points of his +extraordinary career. In the zenith of his fame he was the wise, +patient, courageous, successful ruler of men; exercising more +power than any monarch of his time, not for himself, but for the +good of the people who had placed it in his hands; commander-in- +chief of a vast military power, which waged with ultimate success +the greatest war of the century; the triumphant champion of +popular government, the deliverer of four millions of his fellow- +men from bondage; honored by mankind as Statesman, President, and +Liberator. + +Let us glance now at the first half of the brief life of which +this was the glorious and happy consummation. Nothing could be +more squalid and miserable than the home in which Abraham Lincoln +was born--a one-roomed cabin without floor or window in what was +then the wilderness of Kentucky, in the heart of that frontier +life which swiftly moved westward from the Alleghanies to the +Mississippi, always in advance of schools and churches, of books +and money, of railroads and newspapers, of all things which are +generally regarded as the comforts and even necessaries of life. +His father, ignorant, needy, and thriftless, content if he could +keep soul and body together for himself and his family, was ever +seeking, without success, to better his unhappy condition by +moving on from one such scene of dreary desolation to another. +The rude society which surrounded them was not much better. The +struggle for existence was hard, and absorbed all their energies. +They were fighting the forest, the wild beast, and the retreating +savage. From the time when he could barely handle tools until he +attained his majority, Lincoln's life was that of a simple farm +laborer, poorly clad, housed, and fed, at work either on his +father's wretched farm or hired out to neighboring farmers. But +in spite, or perhaps by means, of this rude environment, he grew +to be a stalwart giant, reaching six feet four at nineteen, and +fabulous stories are told of his feats of strength. With the +growth of this mighty frame began that strange education which in +his ripening years was to qualify him for the great destiny that +awaited him, and the development of those mental faculties and +moral endowments which, by the time he reached middle life, were +to make him the sagacious, patient, and triumphant leader of a +great nation in the crisis of its fate. His whole schooling, +obtained during such odd times as could be spared from grinding +labor, did not amount in all to as much as one year, and the +quality of the teaching was of the lowest possible grade, +including only the elements of reading, writing, and ciphering. +But out of these simple elements, when rightly used by the right +man, education is achieved, and Lincoln knew how to use them. As +so often happens, he seemed to take warning from his father's +unfortunate example. Untiring industry, an insatiable thirst for +knowledge, and an ever-growing desire to rise above his +surroundings, were early manifestations of his character. + +Books were almost unknown in that community, but the Bible was in +every house, and somehow or other Pilgrim's Progress, AEsop's +Fables, a History of the United States, and a Life of Washington +fell into his hands. He trudged on foot many miles through the +wilderness to borrow an English Grammar, and is said to have +devoured greedily the contents of the Statutes of Indiana that +fell in his way. These few volumes he read and reread--and his +power of assimilation was great. To be shut in with a few books +and to master them thoroughly sometimes does more for the +development of character than freedom to range at large, in a +cursory and indiscriminate way, through wide domains of +literature. This youth's mind, at any rate, was thoroughly +saturated with Biblical knowledge and Biblical language, which, +in after life, he used with great readiness and effect. But it +was the constant use of the little knowledge which he had that +developed and exercised his mental powers. After the hard day's +work was done, while others slept, he toiled on, always reading +or writing. From an early age he did his own thinking and made +up his own mind--invaluable traits in the future President. +Paper was such a scarce commodity that, by the evening firelight, +he would write and cipher on the back of a wooden shovel, and +then shave it off to make room for more. By and by, as he +approached manhood, he began speaking in the rude gatherings of +the neighborhood, and so laid the foundation of that art of +persuading his fellow-men which was one rich result of his +education, and one great secret of his subsequent success. + +Accustomed as we are in these days of steam and telegraphs to +have every intelligent boy survey the whole world each morning +before breakfast, and inform himself as to what is going on in +every nation, it is hardly possible to conceive how benighted and +isolated was the condition of the community at Pigeon Creek in +Indiana, of which the family of Lincoln's father formed a part, +or how eagerly an ambitious and high-spirited boy, such as he, +must have yearned to escape. The first glimpse that he ever got +of any world beyond the narrow confines of his home was in 1828, +at the age of nineteen, when a neighbor employed him to accompany +his son down the river to New Orleans to dispose of a flatboat of +produce--a commission which he discharged with great success. + +Shortly after his return from this his first excursion into the +outer world, his father, tired of failure in Indiana, packed his +family and all his worldly goods into a single wagon drawn by two +yoke of oxen, and after a fourteen days' tramp through the +wilderness, pitched his camp once more, in Illinois. Here +Abraham, having come of age and being now his own master, +rendered the last service of his minority by ploughing the +fifteen-acre lot and splitting from the tall walnut trees of the +primeval forest enough rails to surround the little clearing with +a fence. Such was the meagre outfit of this coming leader of +men, at the age when the future British Prime Minister or +statesman emerges from the university as a double first or senior +wrangler, with every advantage that high training and broad +culture and association with the wisest and the best of men and +women can give, and enters upon some form of public service on +the road to usefulness and honor, the University course being +only the first stage of the public training. So Lincoln, at +twenty-one, had just begun his preparation for the public life to +which he soon began to aspire. For some years yet he must +continue to earn his daily bread by the sweat of his brow, having +absolutely no means, no home, no friend to consult. More farm +work as a hired hand, a clerkship in a village store, the running +of a mill, another trip to New Orleans on a flatboat of his own +contriving, a pilot's berth on the river--these were the means by +which he subsisted until, in the summer of 1832, when he was +twenty-three years of age, an event occurred which gave him +public recognition. + +The Black Hawk war broke out, and, the Governor of Illinois +calling for volunteers to repel the band of savages whose leader +bore that name, Lincoln enlisted and was elected captain by his +comrades, among whom he had already established his supremacy by +signal feats of strength and more than one successful single +combat. During the brief hostilities he was engaged in no battle +and won no military glory, but his local leadership was +established. The same year he offered himself as a candidate for +the Legislature of Illinois, but failed at the polls. Yet his +vast popularity with those who knew him was manifest. The +district consisted of several counties, but the unanimous vote of +the people of his own county was for Lincoln. Another +unsuccessful attempt at store-keeping was followed by better luck +at surveying, until his horse and instruments were levied upon +under execution for the debts of his business adventure. + +I have been thus detailed in sketching his early years because +upon these strange foundations the structure of his great fame +and service was built. In the place of a school and university +training fortune substituted these trials, hardships, and +struggles as a preparation for the great work which he had to do. +It turned out to be exactly what the emergency required. Ten +years instead at the public school and the university certainly +never could have fitted this man for the unique work which was to +be thrown upon him. Some other Moses would have had to lead us +to our Jordan, to the sight of our promised land of liberty. + +At the age of twenty-five he became a member of the Legislature +of Illinois, and so continued for eight years, and, in the +meantime, qualified himself by reading such law books as he could +borrow at random--for he was too poor to buy any to be called to +the Bar. For his second quarter of a century--during which a +single term in Congress introduced him into the arena of national +questions--he gave himself up to law and politics. In spite of +his soaring ambition, his two years in Congress gave him no +premonition of the great destiny that awaited him,--and at its +close, in 1849, we find him an unsuccessful applicant to the +President for appointment as Commissioner of the General Land +Office--a purely administrative bureau; a fortunate escape for +himself and for his country. Year by year his knowledge and +power, his experience and reputation extended, and his mental +faculties seemed to grow by what they fed on. His power of +persuasion, which had always been marked, was developed to an +extraordinary degree, now that he became engaged in congenial +questions and subjects. Little by little he rose to prominence +at the Bar, and became the most effective public speaker in the +West. Not that he possessed any of the graces of the orator; but +his logic was invincible, and his clearness and force of +statement impressed upon his hearers the convictions of his +honest mind, while his broad sympathies and sparkling and genial +humor made him a universal favorite as far and as fast as his +acquaintance extended. + +These twenty years that elapsed from the time of his +establishment as a lawyer and legislator in Springfield, the new +capital of Illinois, furnished a fitting theatre for the +development and display of his great faculties, and, with his new +and enlarged opportunities, he obviously grew in mental stature +in this second period of his career, as if to compensate for the +absolute lack of advantages under which he had suffered in youth. +As his powers enlarged, his reputation extended, for he was +always before the people, felt a warm sympathy with all that +concerned them, took a zealous part in the discussion of every +public question, and made his personal influence ever more widely +and deeply felt. + +My, brethren of the legal profession will naturally ask me, how +could this rough backwoodsman, whose youth had been spent in the +forest or on the farm and the flatboat, without culture or +training, education or study, by the random reading, on the wing, +of a few miscellaneous law books, become a learned and +accomplished lawyer? Well, he never did. He never would have +earned his salt as a 'Writer' for the 'Signet', nor have won a +place as advocate in the Court of Session, where the technique of +the profession has reached its highest perfection, and centuries +of learning and precedent are involved in the equipment of a +lawyer. Dr. Holmes, when asked by an anxious young mother, "When +should the education of a child begin?" replied, "Madam, at least +two centuries before it is born!" and so I am sure it is with the +Scots lawyer. + +But not so in Illinois in 1840. Between 1830 and 1880 its +population increased twenty-fold, and when Lincoln began +practising law in Springfield in 1837, life in Illinois was very +crude and simple, and so were the courts and the administration +of justice. Books and libraries were scarce. But the people +loved justice, upheld the law, and followed the courts, and soon +found their favorites among the advocates. The fundamental +principles of the common law, as set forth by Blackstone and +Chitty, were not so difficult to acquire; and brains, common +sense, force of character, tenacity of purpose, ready wit and +power of speech did the rest, and supplied all the deficiencies +of learning. + +The lawsuits of those days were extremely simple, and the +principles of natural justice were mainly relied on to dispose of +them at the Bar and on the Bench, without resort to technical +learning. Railroads, corporations absorbing the chief business +of the community, combined and inherited wealth, with all the +subtle and intricate questions they breed, had not yet come in-- +and so the professional agents and the equipment which they +require were not needed. But there were many highly educated and +powerful men at the Bar of Illinois, even in those early days, +whom the spirit of enterprise had carried there in search of fame +and fortune. It was by constant contact and conflict with these +that Lincoln acquired professional strength and skill. Every +community and every age creates its own Bar, entirely adequate +for its present uses and necessities. So in Illinois, as the +population and wealth of the State kept on doubling and +quadrupling, its Bar presented a growing abundance of learning +and science and technical skill. The early practitioners grew +with its growth and mastered the requisite knowledge. Chicago +soon grew to be one of the largest and richest and certainly the +most intensely active city on the continent, and if any of my +professional friends here had gone there in Lincoln's later +years, to try or argue a cause, or transact other business, with +any idea that Edinburgh or London had a monopoly of legal +learning, science, or subtlety, they would certainly have found +their mistake. + +In those early days in the West, every lawyer, especially every +court lawyer, was necessarily a politician, constantly engaged in +the public discussion of the many questions evolved from the +rapid development of town, county, State, and Federal affairs. +Then and there, in this regard, public discussion supplied the +place which the universal activity of the press has since +monopolized, and the public speaker who, by clearness, force, +earnestness, and wit; could make himself felt on the questions of +the day would rapidly come to the front. In the absence of that +immense variety of popular entertainments which now feed the +public taste and appetite, the people found their chief amusement +in frequenting the courts and public and political assemblies. +In either place, he who impressed, entertained, and amused them +most was the hero of the hour. They did not discriminate very +carefully between the eloquence of the forum and the eloquence of +the hustings. Human nature ruled in both alike, and he who was +the most effective speaker in a political harangue was often +retained as most likely to win in a cause to be tried or argued. +And I have no doubt in this way many retainers came to Lincoln. +Fees, money in any form, had no charms for him--in his eager +pursuit of fame he could not afford to make money. He was +ambitious to distinguish himself by some great service to +mankind, and this ambition for fame and real public service left +no room for avarice in his composition. However much he earned, +he seems to have ended every year hardly richer than he began it, +and yet, as the years passed, fees came to him freely. One of +L 1,000 is recorded--a very large professional fee at that time, +even in any part of America, the paradise of lawyers. I lay +great stress on Lincoln's career as a lawyer--much more than his +biographers do because in America a state of things exists wholly +different from that which prevails in Great Britain. The +profession of the law always has been and is to this day the +principal avenue to public life; and I am sure that his training +and experience in the courts had much to do with the development +of those forces of intellect and character which he soon +displayed on a broader arena. + +It was in political controversy, of course, that he acquired his +wide reputation, and made his deep and lasting impression upon +the people of what had now become the powerful State of Illinois, +and upon the people of the Great West, to whom the political +power and control of the United States were already surely and +swiftly passing from the older Eastern States. It was this +reputation and this impression, and the familiar knowledge of his +character which had come to them from his local leadership, that +happily inspired the people of the West to present him as their +candidate, and to press him upon the Republican convention of +1860 as the fit and necessary leader in the struggle for life +which was before the nation. + +That struggle, as you all know, arose out of the terrible +question of slavery--and I must trust to your general knowledge +of the history of that question to make intelligible the attitude +and leadership of Lincoln as the champion of the hosts of freedom +in the final contest. Negro slavery had been firmly established +in the Southern States from an early period of their history. In +1619, the year before the Mayflower landed our Pilgrim Fathers +upon Plymouth Rock, a Dutch ship had discharged a cargo of +African slaves at Jamestown in Virginia: All through the colonial +period their importation had continued. A few had found their +way into the Northern States, but none of them in sufficient +numbers to constitute danger or to afford a basis for political +power. At the time of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, +there is no doubt that the principal members of the convention +not only condemned slavery as a moral, social, and political +evil, but believed that by the suppression of the slave trade it +was in the course of gradual extinction in the South, as it +certainly was in the North. Washington, in his will, provided +for the emancipation of his own slaves, and said to Jefferson +that it "was among his first wishes to see some plan adopted by +which slavery in his country might be abolished." Jefferson +said, referring to the institution: "I tremble for my country +when I think that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep +forever,"--and Franklin, Adams, Hamilton, and Patrick Henry were +all utterly opposed to it. But it was made the subject of a +fatal compromise in the Federal Constitution, whereby its +existence was recognized in the States as a basis of +representation, the prohibition of the importation of slaves was +postponed for twenty years, and the return of fugitive slaves +provided for. But no imminent danger was apprehended from it +till, by the invention of the cotton gin in 1792, cotton culture +by negro labor became at once and forever the leading industry of +the South, and gave a new impetus to the importation of slaves, +so that in 1808, when the constitutional prohibition took effect, +their numbers had vastly increased. From that time forward +slavery became the basis of a great political power, and the +Southern States, under all circumstances and at every +opportunity, carried on a brave and unrelenting struggle for its +maintenance and extension. + +The conscience of the North was slow to rise against it, though +bitter controversies from time to time took place. The Southern +leaders threatened disunion if their demands were not complied +with. To save the Union, compromise after compromise was made, +but each one in the end was broken. The Missouri Compromise, +made in 1820 upon the occasion of the admission of Missouri into +the Union as a slave State, whereby, in consideration of such +admission, slavery was forever excluded from the Northwest +Territory, was ruthlessly repealed in 1854, by a Congress elected +in the interests of the slave power, the intent being to force +slavery into that vast territory which had so long been dedicated +to freedom. This challenge at last aroused the slumbering +conscience and passion of the North, and led to the formation of +the Republican party for the avowed purpose of preventing, by +constitutional methods, the further extension of slavery. + +In its first campaign, in 1856, though it failed to elect its +candidates; it received a surprising vote and carried many of the +States. No one could any longer doubt that the North had made up +its mind that no threats of disunion should deter it from +pressing its cherished purpose and performing its long neglected +duty. From the outset, Lincoln was one of the most active and +effective leaders and speakers of the new party, and the great +debates between Lincoln and Douglas in 1858, as the respective +champions of the restriction and extension of slavery, attracted +the attention of the whole country. Lincoln's powerful arguments +carried conviction everywhere. His moral nature was thoroughly +aroused his conscience was stirred to the quick. Unless slavery +was wrong, nothing was wrong. Was each man, of whatever color, +entitled to the fruits of his own labor, or could one man live in +idle luxury by the sweat of another's brow, whose skin was +darker? He was an implicit believer in that principle of the +Declaration of Independence that all men are vested with certain +inalienable rights the equal rights to life, liberty, and the +pursuit of happiness. On this doctrine he staked his case and +carried it. We have time only for one or two sentences in which +he struck the keynote of the contest + +"The real issue in this country is the eternal struggle between +these two principles--right and wrong--throughout the world. +They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the +beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one +is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right +of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops +itself. It is the same spirit that says, 'You work and toil and +earn bread and I'll eat it.'" + +He foresaw with unerring vision that the conflict was inevitable +and irrepressible--that one or the other, the right or the wrong, +freedom or slavery, must ultimately prevail and wholly prevail, +throughout the country; and this was the principle that carried +the war, once begun, to a finish. + +One sentence of his is immortal: + +"Under the operation of the policy of compromise, the slavery +agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. +In my opinion it will not cease until a crisis shall have been +reached and passed. 'A house divided against itself cannot +stand.' I believe this government cannot endure permanently half +slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. +I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease +to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other; +either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of +it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief +that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates +will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the +States, old as well as new, North as well as South." + +During the entire decade from 1850 to 1860 the agitation of the +slavery question was at the boiling point, and events which have +become historical continually indicated the near approach of the +overwhelming storm. No sooner had the Compromise Acts of 1850 +resulted in a temporary peace, which everybody said must be final +and perpetual, than new outbreaks came. The forcible carrying +away of fugitive slaves by Federal troops from Boston agitated +that ancient stronghold of freedom to its foundations. The +publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin, which truly exposed the +frightful possibilities of the slave system; the reckless +attempts by force and fraud to establish it in Kansas against the +will of the vast majority of the settlers; the beating of Summer +in the Senate Chamber for words spoken in debate; the Dred Scott +decision in the Supreme Court, which made the nation realize that +the slave power had at last reached the fountain of Federal +justice; and finally the execution of John Brown, for his wild +raid into Virginia, to invite the slaves to rally to the standard +of freedom which he unfurled:--all these events tend to +illustrate and confirm Lincoln's contention that the nation could +not permanently continue half slave and half free, but must +become all one thing or all the other. When John Brown lay under +sentence of death he declared that now he was sure that slavery +must be wiped out in blood; but neither he nor his executioners +dreamt that within four years a million soldiers would be +marching across the country for its final extirpation, to the +music of the war-song of the great conflict: + + "John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, + But his soul is marching on." + +And now, at the age of fifty-one, this child of the wilderness, +this farm laborer, rail-sputter, flatboatman, this surveyor, +lawyer, orator, statesman, and patriot, found himself elected by +the great party which was pledged to prevent at all hazards the +further extension of slavery, as the chief magistrate of the +Republic, bound to carry out that purpose, to be the leader and +ruler of the nation in its most trying hour. + +Those who believe that there is a living Providence that +overrules and conducts the affairs of nations, find in the +elevation of this plain man to this extraordinary fortune and to +this great duty, which he so fitly discharged, a signal +vindication of their faith. Perhaps to this philosophical +institution the judgment of our philosopher Emerson will commend +itself as a just estimate of Lincoln's historical place + +"His occupying the chair of state was a triumph of the good sense +of mankind and of the public conscience. He grew according to +the need; his mind mastered the problem of the day: and as the +problem grew, so did his comprehension of it. In the war there +was no place for holiday magistrate, nor fair-weather sailor. +The new pilot was hurried to the helm in a tornado. In four +years--four years of battle days--his endurance, his fertility of +resource, his magnanimity, were sorely tried, and never found +wanting. There, by his courage, his justice, his even temper, +his fertile counsel, his humanity, he stood a heroic figure in +the centre of a heroic epoch. He is the true history of the +American people in his time, the true representative of this +continent--father of his country, the pulse of twenty millions +throbbing in his heart, the thought of their mind--articulated in +his tongue." + +He was born great, as distinguished from those who achieve +greatness or have it thrust upon them, and his inherent capacity, +mental, moral, and physical, having been recognized by the +educated intelligence of a free people, they happily chose him +for their ruler in a day of deadly peril. + +It is now forty years since I first saw and heard Abraham +Lincoln, but the impression which he left on my mind is +ineffaceable. After his great successes in the West he came to +New York to make a political address. He appeared in every sense +of the word like one of the plain people among whom he loved to +be counted. At first sight there was nothing impressive or +imposing about him--except that his great stature singled him out +from the crowd: his clothes hung awkwardly on his giant frame; +his face was of a dark pallor, without the slightest tinge of +color; his seamed and rugged features bore the furrows of +hardship and struggle; his deep-set eyes looked sad and anxious; +his countenance in repose gave little evidence of that brain +power which had raised him from the lowest to the highest station +among his countrymen; as he talked to me before the meeting, he +seemed ill at ease, with that sort of apprehension which a young +man might feel before presenting himself to a new and strange +audience, whose critical disposition he dreaded. It was a great +audience, including all the noted men--all the learned and +cultured of his party in New York editors, clergymen, statesmen, +lawyers, merchants, critics. They were all very curious to hear +him. His fame as a powerful speaker had preceded him, and +exaggerated rumor of his wit--the worst forerunner of an orator-- +had reached the East. When Mr. Bryant presented him, on the high +platform of the Cooper Institute, a vast sea of eager upturned +faces greeted him, full of intense curiosity to see what this +rude child of the people was like. He was equal to the occasion. +When he spoke he was transformed; his eye kindled, his voice +rang, his face shone and seemed to light up the whole assembly. +For an hour and a half he held his audience in the hollow of his +hand. His style of speech and manner of delivery were severely +simple. What Lowell called "the grand simplicities of the +Bible," with which he was so familiar, were reflected in his +discourse. With no attempt at ornament or rhetoric, without +parade or pretence, he spoke straight to the point. If any came +expecting the turgid eloquence or the ribaldry of the frontier, +they must have been startled at the earnest and sincere purity of +his utterances. It was marvellous to see how this untutored man, +by mere self-discipline and the chastening of his own spirit, had +outgrown all meretricious arts, and found his own way to the +grandeur and strength of absolute simplicity. + +He spoke upon the theme which he had mastered so thoroughly. He +demonstrated by copious historical proofs and masterly logic that +the fathers who created the Constitution in order to form a more +perfect union, to establish justice, and to secure the blessings +of liberty to themselves and their posterity, intended to empower +the Federal Government to exclude slavery from the Territories. +In the kindliest spirit he protested against the avowed threat of +the Southern States to destroy the Union if, in order to secure +freedom in those vast regions out of which future States were to +be carved, a Republican President were elected. He closed with +an appeal to his audience, spoken with all the fire of his +aroused and kindling conscience, with a full outpouring of his +love of justice and liberty, to maintain their political purpose +on that lofty and unassailable issue of right and wrong which +alone could justify it, and not to be intimidated from their high +resolve and sacred duty by any threats of destruction to the +government or of ruin to themselves. He concluded with this +telling sentence, which drove the whole argument home to all our +hearts: "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that +faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it." +That night the great hall, and the next day the whole city, rang +with delighted applause and congratulations, and he who had come +as a stranger departed with the laurels of great triumph. + +Alas! in five years from that exulting night I saw him again, for +the last time, in the same city, borne in his coffin through its +draped streets. With tears and lamentations a heart-broken +people accompanied him from Washington, the scene of his +martyrdom, to his last resting-place in the young city of the +West where he had worked his way to fame. + +Never was a new ruler in a more desperate plight than Lincoln +when he entered office on the fourth of March, 1861, four months +after his election, and took his oath to support the Constitution +and the Union. The intervening time had been busily employed by +the Southern States in carrying out their threat of disunion in +the event of his election. As soon as the fact was ascertained, +seven of them had seceded and had seized upon the forts, +arsenals, navy yards, and other public property of the United +States within their boundaries, and were making every preparation +for war. In the meantime the retiring President, who had been +elected by the slave power, and who thought the seceding States +could not lawfully be coerced, had done absolutely nothing. +Lincoln found himself, by the Constitution, Commander-in-Chief of +the Army and Navy of the United States, but with only a remnant +of either at hand. Each was to be created on a great scale out +of the unknown resources of a nation untried in war. + +In his mild and conciliatory inaugural address, while appealing +to the seceding States to return to their allegiance, he avowed +his purpose to keep the solemn oath he had taken that day, to see +that the laws of the Union were faithfully executed, and to use +the troops to recover the forts, navy yards, and other property +belonging to the government. It is probable, however, that +neither side actually realized that war was inevitable, and that +the other was determined to fight, until the assault on Fort +Sumter presented the South as the first aggressor and roused the +North to use every possible resource to maintain the government +and the imperilled Union, and to vindicate the supremacy of the +flag over every inch of the territory of the United States. The +fact that Lincoln's first proclamation called for only 75,000 +troops, to serve for three months, shows how inadequate was even +his idea of what the future had in store. But from that moment +Lincoln and his loyal supporters never faltered in their purpose. +They knew they could win, that it was their duty to win, and that +for America the whole hope of the future depended upon their +winning; for now by the acts of the seceding States the issue of +the election to secure or prevent the extension of slavery--stood +transformed into a struggle to preserve or to destroy the Union. + +We cannot follow this contest. You know its gigantic +proportions; that it lasted four years instead of three months; +that in its progress, instead of 75,000 men, more than 2,000,000 +were enrolled on the side of the government alone; that the +aggregate cost and loss to the nation approximated to +1,000,000,000 pounds sterling, and that not less than 300,000 +brave and precious lives were sacrificed on each side. History +has recorded how Lincoln bore himself during these four frightful +years; that he was the real President, the responsible and actual +head of the government, through it all; that he listened to all +advice, heard all parties, and then, always realizing his +responsibility to God and the nation, decided every great +executive question for himself. His absolute honesty had become +proverbial long before he was President. "Honest Abe Lincoln" +was the name by which he had been known for years. His every act +attested it. + +In all the grandeur of the vast power that he wielded, he never +ceased to be one of the plain people, as he always called them, +never lost or impaired his perfect sympathy with them, was always +in perfect touch with them and open to their appeals; and here +lay the very secret of his personality and of his power, for the +people in turn gave him their absolute confidence. His courage, +his fortitude, his patience, his hopefulness, were sorely tried +but never exhausted. + +He was true as steel to his generals, but had frequent occasion +to change them, as he found them inadequate. This serious and +painful duty rested wholly upon him, and was perhaps his most +important function as Commander-in-Chief; but when, at last, he +recognized in General Grant the master of the situation, the man +who could and would bring the war to a triumphant end, he gave it +all over to him and upheld him with all his might. Amid all the +pressure and distress that the burdens of office brought upon +him, his unfailing sense of humor saved him; probably it made it +possible for him to live under the burden. He had always been +the great story-teller of the West, and he used and cultivated +this faculty to relieve the weight of the load he bore. + +It enabled him to keep the wonderful record of never having lost +his temper, no matter what agony he had to bear. A whole night +might be spent in recounting the stories of his wit, humor, and +harmless sarcasm. But I will recall only two of his sayings, +both about General Grant, who always found plenty of enemies and +critics to urge the President to oust him from his command. One, +I am sure, will interest all Scotchmen. They repeated with +malicious intent the gossip that Grant drank. "What does he +drink?" asked Lincoln. "Whiskey," was, of course, the answer; +doubtless you can guess the brand. "Well," said the President, +"just find out what particular kind he uses and I'll send a +barrel to each of my other generals." The other must be as +pleasing to the British as to the American ear. When pressed +again on other grounds to get rid of Grant, he declared, "I can't +spare that man, he fights!" + +He was tender-hearted to a fault, and never could resist the +appeals of wives and mothers of soldiers who had got into trouble +and were under sentence of death for their offences. His +Secretary of War and other officials complained that they never +could get deserters shot. As surely as the women of the +culprit's family could get at him he always gave way. Certainly +you will all appreciate his exquisite sympathy with the suffering +relatives of those who had fallen in battle. His heart bled with +theirs. Never was there a more gentle and tender utterance than +his letter to a mother who had given all her sons to her country, +written at a time when the angel of death had visited almost +every household in the land, and was already hovering over him. + +"I have been shown," he says, "in the files of the War Department +a statement that you are the mother of five sons who have died +gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless +must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you +from your grief for a loss so overwhelming but I cannot refrain +from tendering to you the consolation which may be found in the +thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our +Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and +leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and the lost, +and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a +sacrifice upon the altar of freedom." + +Hardly could your illustrious sovereign, from the depths of her +queenly and womanly heart, have spoken words more touching and +tender to soothe the stricken mothers of her own soldiers. + +The Emancipation Proclamation, with which Mr. Lincoln delighted +the country and the world on the first of January, 1863, will +doubtless secure for him a foremost place in history among the +philanthropists and benefactors of the race, as it rescued, from +hopeless and degrading slavery, so many millions of his fellow- +beings described in the law and existing in fact as "chattels- +personal, in the hands of their owners and possessors, to all +intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever." Rarely does +the happy fortune come to one man to render such a service to his +kind--to proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the +inhabitants thereof. + +Ideas rule the world, and never was there a more signal instance +of this triumph of an idea than here. William Lloyd Garrison, +who thirty years before had begun his crusade for the abolition +of slavery, and had lived to see this glorious and unexpected +consummation of the hopeless cause to which he had devoted his +life, well described the proclamation as a "great historic event, +sublime in its magnitude, momentous and beneficent in its far- +reaching consequences, and eminently just and right alike to the +oppressor and the oppressed." + +Lincoln had always been heart and soul opposed to slavery. +Tradition says that on the trip on the flatboat to New Orleans he +formed his first and last opinion of slavery at the sight of +negroes chained and scourged, and that then and there the iron +entered into his soul. No boy could grow to manhood in those +days as a poor white in Kentucky and Indiana, in close contact +with slavery or in its neighborhood, without a growing +consciousness of its blighting effects on free labor, as well as +of its frightful injustice and cruelty. In the Legislature of +Illinois, where the public sentiment was all for upholding the +institution and violently against every movement for its +abolition or restriction, upon the passage of resolutions to that +effect he had the courage with one companion to put on record his +protest, "believing that the institution of slavery is founded +both in injustice and bad policy." No great demonstration of +courage, you will say; but that was at a time when Garrison, for +his abolition utterances, had been dragged by an angry mob +through the streets of Boston with a rope around his body, and in +the very year that Lovejoy in the same State of Illinois was +slain by rioters while defending his press, from which he had +printed antislavery appeals. + +In Congress he brought in a bill for gradual abolition in the +District of Columbia, with compensation to the owners, for until +they raised treasonable hands against the life of the nation he +always maintained that the property of the slaveholders, into +which they had come by two centuries of descent, without fault on +their part, ought not to be taken away from them without just +compensation. He used to say that, one way or another, he had +voted forty-two times for the Wilmot Proviso, which Mr. Wilmot of +Pennsylvania moved as an addition to every bill which affected +United States territory, "that neither slavery nor involuntary +servitude shall ever exist in any part of the said territory," +and it is evident that his condemnation of the system, on moral +grounds as a crime against the human race, and on political +grounds as a cancer that was sapping the vitals of the nation, +and must master its whole being or be itself extirpated, grew +steadily upon him until it culminated in his great speeches in +the Illinois debate. + +By the mere election of Lincoln to the Presidency, the further +extension of slavery into the Territories was rendered forever +impossible--Vox populi, vox Dei. Revolutions never go backward, +and when founded on a great moral sentiment stirring the heart of +an indignant people their edicts are irresistible and final. Had +the slave power acquiesced in that election, had the Southern +States remained under the Constitution and within the Union, and +relied upon their constitutional and legal rights, their favorite +institution, immoral as it was, blighting and fatal as it was, +might have endured for another century. The great party that had +elected him, unalterably determined against its extension, was +nevertheless pledged not to interfere with its continuance in the +States where it already existed. Of course, when new regions +were forever closed against it, from its very nature it must have +begun to shrink and to dwindle; and probably gradual and +compensated emancipation, which appealed very strongly to the new +President's sense of justice and expediency, would, in the +progress of time, by a reversion to the ideas of the founders of +the Republic, have found a safe outlet for both masters and +slaves. But whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad, +and when seven States, afterwards increased to eleven, openly +seceded from the Union, when they declared and began the war upon +the nation, and challenged its mighty power to the desperate and +protracted struggle for its life, and for the maintenance of its +authority as a nation over its territory, they gave to Lincoln +and to freedom the sublime opportunity of history. + +In his first inaugural address, when as yet not a drop of +precious blood had been shed, while he held out to them the olive +branch in one hand, in the other he presented the guarantees of +the Constitution, and after reciting the emphatic resolution of +the convention that nominated him, that the maintenance inviolate +of the "rights of the States, and especially the right of each +State to order and control its own domestic institutions +according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that +balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our +political fabric depend," he reiterated this sentiment, and +declared, with no mental reservation, "that all the protection +which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be +given, will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully +demanded for whatever cause as cheerfully to one section as to +another." + +When, however, these magnanimous overtures for peace and reunion +were rejected; when the seceding States defied the Constitution +and every clause and principle of it; when they persisted in +staying out of the Union from which they had seceded, and +proceeded to carve out of its territory a new and hostile empire +based on slavery; when they flew at the throat of the nation and +plunged it into the bloodiest war of the nineteenth century the +tables were turned, and the belief gradually came to the mind of +the President that if the Rebellion was not soon subdued by force +of arms, if the war must be fought out to the bitter end, then to +reach that end the salvation of the nation itself might require +the destruction of slavery wherever it existed; that if the war +was to continue on one side for Disunion, for no other purpose +than to preserve slavery, it must continue on the other side for +the Union, to destroy slavery. + +As he said, "Events control me; I cannot control events," and as +the dreadful war progressed and became more deadly and dangerous, +the unalterable conviction was forced upon him that, in order +that the frightful sacrifice of life and treasure on both sides +might not be all in vain, it had become his duty as Commander-in- +Chief of the Army, as a necessary war measure, to strike a blow +at the Rebellion which, all others failing, would inevitably lead +to its annihilation, by annihilating the very thing for which it +was contending. His own words are the best: + +"I understood that my oath to preserve the Constitution to the +best of my ability imposed upon me the duty of preserving by +every indispensable means that government--that nation--of which +that Constitution was the organic law. Was it possible to lose +the nation and yet preserve the Constitution? By general law, +life and limb must be protected, yet often a limb must be +amputated to save a life; but a life is never wisely given to +save a limb. I felt that measures otherwise unconstitutional +might become lawful by becoming indispensable to the preservation +of the Constitution through the preservation of the nation. +Right or wrong, I assumed this ground and now avow it. I could +not feel that to the best of my ability I had ever tried to +preserve the Constitution if to save slavery or any minor matter +I should permit the wreck of government, country, and +Constitution all together." + +And so, at last, when in his judgment the indispensable necessity +had come, he struck the fatal blow, and signed the proclamation +which has made his name immortal. By it, the President, as +Commander-in-Chief in time of actual armed rebellion, and as a +fit and necessary war measure for suppressing the rebellion, +proclaimed all persons held as slaves in the States and parts of +States then in rebellion to be thenceforward free, and declared +that the executive, with the army and navy, would recognize and +maintain their freedom. + +In the other great steps of the government, which led to the +triumphant prosecution of the war, he necessarily shared the +responsibility and the credit with the great statesmen who stayed +up his hands in his cabinet, with Seward, Chase and Stanton, and +the rest,--and with his generals and admirals, his soldiers and +sailors, but this great act was absolutely his own. The +conception and execution were exclusively his. He laid it before +his cabinet as a measure on which his mind was made up and could +not be changed, asking them only for suggestions as to details. +He chose the time and the circumstances under which the +Emancipation should be proclaimed and when it should take effect. + +It came not an hour too soon; but public opinion in the North +would not have sustained it earlier. In the first eighteen +months of the war its ravages had extended from the Atlantic to +beyond the Mississippi. Many victories in the West had been +balanced and paralyzed by inaction and disasters in Virginia, +only partially redeemed by the bloody and indecisive battle of +Antietam; a reaction had set in from the general enthusiasm which +had swept the Northern States after the assault upon Sumter. It +could not truly be said that they had lost heart, but faction was +raising its head. Heard through the land like the blast of a +bugle, the proclamation rallied the patriotism of the country to +fresh sacrifices and renewed ardor. It was a step that could not +be revoked. It relieved the conscience of the nation from an +incubus that had oppressed it from its birth. The United States +were rescued from the false predicament in which they had been +from the beginning, and the great popular heart leaped with new +enthusiasm for "Liberty and Union, henceforth and forever, one +and inseparable." It brought not only moral but material support +to the cause of the government, for within two years 120,000 +colored troops were enlisted in the military service and +following the national flag, supported by all the loyalty of the +North, and led by its choicest spirits. One mother said, when +her son was offered the command of the first colored regiment, +"If he accepts it I shall be as proud as if I had heard that he +was shot." He was shot heading a gallant charge of his +regiment.... The Confederates replied to a request of his +friends for his body that they had "buried him under a layer of +his niggers....;" but that mother has lived to enjoy thirty-six +years of his glory, and Boston has erected its noblest monument +to his memory. + +The effect of the proclamation upon the actual progress of the +war was not immediate, but wherever the Federal armies advanced +they carried freedom with them, and when the summer came round +the new spirit and force which had animated the heart of the +government and people were manifest. In the first week of July +the decisive battle of Gettysburg turned the tide of war, and the +fall of Vicksburg made the great river free from its source to +the Gulf. + +On foreign nations the influence of the proclamation and of these +new victories was of great importance. In those days, when there +was no cable, it was not easy for foreign observers to appreciate +what was really going on; they could not see clearly the true +state of affairs, as in the last year of the nineteenth century +we have been able, by our new electric vision, to watch every +event at the antipodes and observe its effect. The Rebel +emissaries, sent over to solicit intervention, spared no pains to +impress upon the minds of public and private men and upon the +press their own views of the character of the contest. The +prospects of the Confederacy were always better abroad than at +home. The stock markets of the world gambled upon its chances, +and its bonds at one time were high in favor. + +Such ideas as these were seriously held: that the North was +fighting for empire and the South for independence; that the +Southern States, instead of being the grossest oligarchies, +essentially despotisms, founded on the right of one man to +appropriate the fruit of other men's toil and to exclude them +from equal rights, were real republics, feebler to be sure than +their Northern rivals, but representing the same idea of freedom, +and that the mighty strength of the nation was being put forth to +crush them; that Jefferson Davis and the Southern leaders had +created a nation; that the republican experiment had failed and +the Union had ceased to exist. But the crowning argument to +foreign minds was that it was an utter impossibility for the +government to win in the contest; that the success of the +Southern States, so far as separation was concerned, was as +certain as any event yet future and contingent could be; that the +subjugation of the South by the North, even if it could be +accomplished, would prove a calamity to the United States and the +world, and especially calamitous to the negro race; and that such +a victory would necessarily leave the people of the South for +many generations cherishing deadly hostility against the +government and the North, and plotting always to recover their +independence. + +When Lincoln issued his proclamation he knew that all these ideas +were founded in error; that the national resources were +inexhaustible; that the government could and would win, and that +if slavery were once finally disposed of, the only cause of +difference being out of the way, the North and South would come +together again, and by and by be as good friends as ever. In +many quarters abroad the proclamation was welcomed with +enthusiasm by the friends of America; but I think the +demonstrations in its favor that brought more gladness to +Lincoln's heart than any other were the meetings held in the +manufacturing centres, by the very operatives upon whom the war +bore the hardest, expressing the most enthusiastic sympathy with +the proclamation, while they bore with heroic fortitude the +grievous privations which the war entailed upon them. Mr. +Lincoln's expectation when he announced to the world that all +slaves in all States then in rebellion were set free must have +been that the avowed position of his government, that the +continuance of the war now meant the annihilation of slavery, +would make intervention impossible for any foreign nation whose +people were lovers of liberty--and so the result proved. + +The growth and development of Lincoln's mental power and moral +force, of his intense and magnetic personality, after the vast +responsibilities of government were thrown upon him at the age of +fifty-two, furnish a rare and striking illustration of the +marvellous capacity and adaptability of the human intellect--of +the sound mind in the sound body. He came to the discharge of +the great duties of the Presidency with absolutely no experience +in the administration of government, or of the vastly varied and +complicated questions of foreign and domestic policy which +immediately arose, and continued to press upon him during the +rest of his life; but he mastered each as it came, apparently +with the facility of a trained and experienced ruler. As +Clarendon said of Cromwell, "His parts seemed to be raised by the +demands of great station." His life through it all was one of +intense labor, anxiety, and distress, without one hour of +peaceful repose from first to last. But he rose to every +occasion. He led public opinion, but did not march so far in +advance of it as to fail of its effective support in every great +emergency. He knew the heart and thought of the people, as no +man not in constant and absolute sympathy with them could have +known it, and so holding their confidence, he triumphed through +and with them. Not only was there this steady growth of +intellect, but the infinite delicacy of his nature and its +capacity for refinement developed also, as exhibited in the +purity and perfection of his language and style of speech. The +rough backwoodsman, who had never seen the inside of a +university, became in the end, by self-training and the exercise +of his own powers of mind, heart, and soul, a master of style, +and some of his utterances will rank with the best, the most +perfectly adapted to the occasion which produced them. + +Have you time to listen to his two-minutes speech at Gettysburg, +at the dedication of the Soldiers' Cemetery? His whole soul was +in it: + +"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this +continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the +proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged +in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation +so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a +great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a +portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here +gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether +fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense +we cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we cannot hallow this +ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have +consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The +world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here but +it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the +living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which +they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is +rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining +before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion +to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of +devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not +have died in vain--that this nation under God shall have a new +birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the +people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth." + +He lived to see his work indorsed by an overwhelming majority of +his countrymen. In his second inaugural address, pronounced just +forty days before his death, there is a single passage which well +displays his indomitable will and at the same time his deep +religious feeling, his sublime charity to the enemies of his +country, and his broad and catholic humanity: + +"If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those +offences which in the Providence of God must needs come, but +which, having continued through the appointed time, He now wills +to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this +terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, +shall we discern therein any departure from those divine +attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to +Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty +scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it +continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsmen's two hundred +and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every +drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid with another +drawn by the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so +still it must be said, 'the judgments of the Lord are true and +righteous altogether.' + +"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in +the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to +finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds; to care +for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his +orphan to do all which may achieve, and cherish a just and +lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." + +His prayer was answered. The forty days of life that remained to +him were crowned with great historic events. He lived to see his +Proclamation of Emancipation embodied in an amendment of the +Constitution, adopted by Congress, and submitted to the States +for ratification. The mighty scourge of war did speedily pass +away, for it was given him to witness the surrender of the Rebel +army and the fall of their capital, and the starry flag that he +loved waving in triumph over the national soil. When he died by +the madman's hand in the supreme hour of victory, the vanquished +lost their best friend, and the human race one of its noblest +examples; and all the friends of freedom and justice, in whose +cause he lived and died, joined hands as mourners at his grave. + + + + + + +THE WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN + +1832-1843 + + + + +1832 + + +ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF SANGAMON COUNTY. + +March 9, 1832. + +FELLOW CITIZENS:--Having become a candidate for the honorable +office of one of your Representatives in the next General +Assembly of this State, in according with an established custom +and the principles of true Republicanism it becomes my duty to +make known to you, the people whom I propose to represent, my +sentiments with regard to local affairs. + +Time and experience have verified to a demonstration the public +utility of internal improvements. That the poorest and most +thinly populated countries would be greatly benefited by the +opening of good roads, and in the clearing of navigable streams +within their limits, is what no person will deny. Yet it is +folly to undertake works of this or any other without first +knowing that we are able to finish them--as half-finished work +generally proves to be labor lost. There cannot justly be any +objection to having railroads and canals, any more than to other +good things, provided they cost nothing. The only objection is +to paying for them; and the objection arises from the want of +ability to pay. + +With respect to the County of Sangamon, some.... + +Yet, however desirable an object the construction of a railroad +through our country may be, however high our imaginations may be +heated at thoughts of it,--there is always a heart-appalling +shock accompanying the amount of its cost, which forces us to +shrink from our pleasing anticipations. The probable cost of +this contemplated railroad is estimated at $290,000; the bare +statement of which, in my opinion, is sufficient to justify the +belief that the improvement of the Sangamon River is an object +much better suited to our infant resources....... + +What the cost of this work would be, I am unable to say. It is +probable, however, that it would not be greater than is common to +streams of the same length. Finally, I believe the improvement +of the Sangamon River to be vastly important and highly desirable +to the people of the county; and, if elected, any measure in the +Legislature having this for its object, which may appear +judicious, will meet my approbation and receive my support. + +It appears that the practice of loaning money at exorbitant rates +of interest has already been opened as a field for discussion; so +I suppose I may enter upon it without claiming the honor or +risking the danger which may await its first explorer. It seems +as though we are never to have an end to this baneful and +corroding system, acting almost as prejudicially to the general +interests of the community as a direct tax of several thousand +dollars annually laid on each county for the benefit of a few +individuals only, unless there be a law made fixing the limits of +usury. A law for this purpose, I am of opinion, may be made +without materially injuring any class of people. In cases of +extreme necessity, there could always be means found to cheat the +law; while in all other cases it would have its intended effect. +I would favor the passage of a law on this subject which might +not be very easily evaded. Let it be such that the labor and +difficulty of evading it could only be justified in cases of +greatest necessity. + +Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan +or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the +most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in. +That every man may receive at least a moderate education, and +thereby be enabled to read the histories of his own and other +countries, by which he may duly appreciate the value of our free +institutions, appears to be an object +of vital importance, even on this account alone, to say nothing +of the advantages and satisfaction to be derived from all being +able to read the Scriptures, and other works both of a religious +and moral nature, for themselves. + +For my part, I desire to see the time when education--and by its +means, morality, sobriety, enterprise, and industry--shall become +much more general than at present, and should be gratified to +have it in my power to contribute something to the advancement of +any measure which might have a tendency to accelerate that happy +period. + +With regard to existing laws, some alterations are thought to be +necessary. Many respectable men have suggested that our estray +laws, the law respecting the issuing of executions, the road law, +and some others, are deficient in their present form, and require +alterations. But, considering the great probability that the +framers of those laws were wiser than myself, I should prefer not +meddling with them, unless they were first attacked by others; in +which case I should feel it both a privilege and a duty to take +that stand which, in my view, might tend most to the advancement +of justice. + +But, fellow-citizens, I shall conclude. Considering the great +degree of modesty which should always attend youth, it is +probable I have already been more presuming than becomes me. +However, upon the subjects of which I have treated, I have spoken +as I have thought. I may be wrong in regard to any or all of +them; but, holding it a sound maxim that it is better only +sometimes to be right than at all times to be wrong, so soon as I +discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to +renounce them. + +Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be +true or not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as +that of being truly esteemed of my fellow-men, by rendering +myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in +gratifying this ambition is yet to be developed. I am young, and +unknown to many of you. I was born, and have ever remained, in +the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy or popular +relations or friends to recommend me. My case is thrown +exclusively upon the independent voters of the county; and, if +elected, they will have conferred a favor upon me for which I +shall be unremitting in my labors to compensate. But, if the +good people in their wisdom shall see fit to keep me in the +background, I have been too familiar with disappointments to be +very much chagrined. + +Your friend and fellow-citizen, +A. LINCOLN. + +New Salem, March 9, 1832. + + + + +1833 + + +TO E. C. BLANKENSHIP. + +NEW SALEM, +Aug. 10, 1833 + +E. C. BLANKENSHIP. + +Dear Sir:--In regard to the time David Rankin served the enclosed +discharge shows correctly--as well as I can recollect--having no +writing to refer. The transfer of Rankin from my company +occurred as follows: Rankin having lost his horse at Dixon's +ferry and having acquaintance in one of the foot companies who +were going down the river was desirous to go with them, and one +Galishen being an acquaintance of mine and belonging to the +company in which Rankin wished to go wished to leave it and join +mine, this being the case it was agreed that they should exchange +places and answer to each other's names--as it was expected we +all would be discharged in very few days. As to a blanket--I +have no knowledge of Rankin ever getting any. The above embraces +all the facts now in my recollection which are pertinent to the +case. + +I shall take pleasure in giving any further information in my +power should you call on me. + +Your friend, +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR POSTAGE RECEIPT + +TO Mr. SPEARS. + +Mr. SPEARS: + +At your request I send you a receipt for the postage on your +paper. I am somewhat surprised at your request. I will, +however, comply with it. The law requires newspaper postage to +be paid in advance, and now that I have waited a full year you +choose to wound my feelings by insinuating that unless you get a +receipt I will probably make you pay it again. + +Respectfully, +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +1836 + + +ANNOUNCEMENT OF POLITICAL VIEWS. + +New Salem, June 13, 1836. + +TO THE EDITOR OF THE "JOURNAL"--In your paper of last Saturday I +see a communication, over the signature of "Many Voters," in +which the candidates who are announced in the Journal are called +upon to "show their hands." Agreed. Here's mine. + +I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist +in bearing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting all +whites to the right of suffrage who pay taxes or bear arms (by no +means excluding females). + +If elected, I shall consider the whole people of Sangamon my +constituents, as well those that oppose as those that support me. + +While acting as their representative, I shall be governed by +their will on all subjects upon which I have the means of knowing +what their will is; and upon all others I shall do what my own +judgment teaches me will best advance their interests. Whether +elected or not, I go for distributing the proceeds of the sales +of the public lands to the several States, to enable our State, +in common with others, to dig canals and construct railroads +without borrowing money and paying the interest on it. If alive +on the first Monday in November, I shall vote for Hugh L. White +for President. + +Very respectfully, +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +RESPONSE TO POLITICAL SMEAR + +TO ROBERT ALLEN + +New Salem, +June 21, 1836 + +DEAR COLONEL:--I am told that during my absence last week you +passed through this place, and stated publicly that you were in +possession of a fact or facts which, if known to the public, +would entirely destroy the prospects of N. W. Edwards and +myself at the ensuing election; but that, through favor to us, +you should forbear to divulge them. No one has needed favors +more than I, and, generally, few have been less unwilling to +accept them; but in this case favor to me would be injustice to +the public, and therefore I must beg your pardon for declining +it. That I once had the confidence of the people of Sangamon, is +sufficiently evident; and if I have since done anything, either +by design or misadventure, which if known would subject me to a +forfeiture of that confidence, he that knows of that thing, and +conceals it, is a traitor to his country's interest. + +I find myself wholly unable to form any conjecture of what fact +or facts, real or supposed, you spoke; but my opinion of your +veracity will not permit me for a moment to doubt that you at +least believed what you said. I am flattered with the personal +regard you manifested for me; but I do hope that, on more mature +reflection, you will view the public interest as a paramount +consideration, and therefore determine to let the worst come. I +here assure you that the candid statement of facts on your part, +however low it may sink me, shall never break the tie of personal +friendship between us. I wish an answer to this, and you are at +liberty to publish both, if you choose. + +Very respectfully, +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +TO MISS MARY OWENS. + +VANDALIA, +December 13, 1836. + +MARY:--I have been sick ever since my arrival, or I should have +written sooner. It is but little difference, however, as I have +very little even yet to write. And more, the longer I can avoid +the mortification of looking in the post-office for your letter +and not finding it, the better. You see I am mad about that old +letter yet. I don't like very well to risk you again. I'll try +you once more, anyhow. + +The new State House is not yet finished, and consequently the +Legislature is doing little or nothing. The governor delivered +an inflammatory political message, and it is expected there will +be some sparring between the parties about it as soon as the two +Houses get to business. Taylor delivered up his petition for the +new county to one of our members this morning. I am told he +despairs of its success, on account of all the members from +Morgan County opposing it. There are names enough on the +petition, I think, to justify the members from our county in +going for it; but if the members from Morgan oppose it, which +they say they will, the chance will be bad. + +Our chance to take the seat of government to Springfield is +better than I expected. An internal-improvement convention was +held there since we met, which recommended a loan of several +millions of dollars, on the faith of the State, to construct +railroads. Some of the Legislature are for it, and some against +it; which has the majority I cannot tell. There is great strife +and struggling for the office of the United States Senator here +at this time. It is probable we shall ease their pains in a few +days. The opposition men have no candidate of their own, and +consequently they will smile as complacently at the angry snarl +of the contending Van Buren candidates and their respective +friends as the Christian does at Satan's rage. You recollect +that I mentioned at the outset of this letter that I had been +unwell. That is the fact, though I believe I am about well now; +but that, with other things I cannot account for, have conspired, +and have gotten my spirits so low that I feel that I would rather +be any place in the world than here. I really cannot endure the +thought of staying here ten weeks. Write back as soon as you get +this, and, if possible, say something that will please me, for +really I have not been pleased since I left you. This letter is +so dry and stupid that I am ashamed to send it, but with my +present feelings I cannot do any better. + +Give my best respects to Mr. and Mrs. Able and family. + +Your friend, +LINCOLN + + + + +1837 + + +SPEECH IN ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. + +January [?], 1837 + +Mr. CHAIRMAN:--Lest I should fall into the too common error of +being mistaken in regard to which side I design to be upon, I +shall make it my first care to remove all doubt on that point, by +declaring that I am opposed to the resolution under +consideration, in toto. Before I proceed to the body of the +subject, I will further remark, that it is not without a +considerable degree of apprehension that I venture to cross the +track of the gentleman from Coles [Mr. Linder]. Indeed, I do not +believe I could muster a sufficiency of courage to come in +contact with that gentleman, were it not for the fact that he, +some days since, most graciously condescended to assure us that +he would never be found wasting ammunition on small game. On the +same fortunate occasion, he further gave us to understand, that +he regarded himself as being decidedly the superior of our common +friend from Randolph [Mr. Shields]; and feeling, as I really do, +that I, to say the most of myself, am nothing more than the peer +of our friend from Randolph, I shall regard the gentleman from +Coles as decidedly my superior also, and consequently, in the +course of what I shall have to say, whenever I shall have +occasion to allude to that gentleman, I shall endeavor to adopt +that kind of court language which I understand to be due to +decided superiority. In one faculty, at least, there can be no +dispute of the gentleman's superiority over me and most other +men, and that is, the faculty of entangling a subject, so that +neither himself, or any other man, can find head or tail to it. +Here he has introduced a resolution embracing ninety-nine printed +lines across common writing paper, and yet more than one half of +his opening speech has been made upon subjects about which there +is not one word said in his resolution. + +Though his resolution embraces nothing in regard to the +constitutionality of the Bank, much of what he has said has been +with a view to make the impression that it was unconstitutional +in its inception. Now, although I am satisfied that an ample +field may be found within the pale of the resolution, at least +for small game, yet, as the gentleman has traveled out of it, I +feel that I may, with all due humility, venture to follow him. +The gentleman has discovered that some gentleman at Washington +city has been upon the very eve of deciding our Bank +unconstitutional, and that he would probably have completed his +very authentic decision, had not some one of the Bank officers +placed his hand upon his mouth, and begged him to withhold it. +The fact that the individuals composing our Supreme Court have, +in an official capacity, decided in favor of the +constitutionality of the Bank, would, in my mind, seem a +sufficient answer to this. It is a fact known to all, that the +members of the Supreme Court, together with the Governor, form a +Council of Revision, and that this Council approved this Bank +charter. I ask, then, if the extra-judicial decision not quite +but almost made by the gentleman at Washington, before whom, by +the way, the question of the constitutionality of our Bank never +has, nor never can come--is to be taken as paramount to a +decision officially made by that tribunal, by which, and which +alone, the constitutionality of the Bank can ever be settled? +But, aside from this view of the subject, I would ask, if the +committee which this resolution proposes to appoint are to +examine into the Constitutionality of the Bank? Are they to be +clothed with power to send for persons and papers, for this +object? And after they have found the bank to be +unconstitutional, and decided it so, how are they to enforce +their decision? What will their decision amount to? They cannot +compel the Bank to cease operations, or to change the course of +its operations. What good, then, can their labors result in? +Certainly none. + +The gentleman asks, if we, without an examination, shall, by +giving the State deposits to the Bank, and by taking the stock +reserved for the State, legalize its former misconduct. Now I do +not pretend to possess sufficient legal knowledge to decide +whether a legislative enactment proposing to, and accepting from, +the Bank, certain terms, would have the effect to legalize or +wipe out its former errors, or not; but I can assure the +gentleman, if such should be the effect, he has already got +behind the settlement of accounts; for it is well known to all, +that the Legislature, at its last session, passed a supplemental +Bank charter, which the Bank has since accepted, and which, +according to his doctrine, has legalized all the alleged +violations of its original charter in the distribution of its +stock. + +I now proceed to the resolution. By examination it will be found +that the first thirty-three lines, being precisely one third of +the whole, relate exclusively to the distribution of the stock by +the commissioners appointed by the State. Now, Sir, it is clear +that no question can arise on this portion of the resolution, +except a question between capitalists in regard to the ownership +of stock. Some gentlemen have their stock in their hands, while +others, who have more money than they know what to do with, want +it; and this, and this alone, is the question, to settle which we +are called on to squander thousands of the people's money. What +interest, let me ask, have the people in the settlement of this +question? What difference is it to them whether the stock is +owned by Judge Smith or Sam Wiggins? If any gentleman be entitled +to stock in the Bank, which he is kept out of possession of by +others, let him assert his right in the Supreme Court, and let +him or his antagonist, whichever may be found in the wrong, pay +the costs of suit. It is an old maxim, and a very sound one, +that he that dances should always pay the fiddler. Now, Sir, in +the present case, if any gentlemen, whose money is a burden to +them, choose to lead off a dance, I am decidedly opposed to the +people's money being used to pay the fiddler. No one can doubt +that the examination proposed by this resolution must cost the +State some ten or twelve thousand dollars; and all this to settle +a question in which the people have no interest, and about which +they care nothing. These capitalists generally act harmoniously +and in concert, to fleece the people, and now that they have got +into a quarrel with themselves we are called upon to appropriate +the people's money to settle the quarrel. + +I leave this part of the resolution and proceed to the remainder. +It will be found that no charge in the remaining part of the +resolution, if true, amounts to the violation of the Bank +charter, except one, which I will notice in due time. It might +seem quite sufficient to say no more upon any of these charges or +insinuations than enough to show they are not violations of the +charter; yet, as they are ingeniously framed and handled, with a +view to deceive and mislead, I will notice in their order all the +most prominent of them. The first of these is in relation to a +connection between our Bank and several banking institutions in +other States. Admitting this connection to exist, I should like +to see the gentleman from Coles, or any other gentleman, +undertake to show that there is any harm in it. What can there +be in such a connection, that the people of Illinois are willing +to pay their money to get a peep into? By a reference to the +tenth section of the Bank charter, any gentleman can see that the +framers of the act contemplated the holding of stock in the +institutions of other corporations. Why, then, is it, when +neither law nor justice forbids it, that we are asked to spend +our time and money in inquiring into its truth? + +The next charge, in the order of time, is, that some officer, +director, clerk or servant of the Bank, has been required to take +an oath of secrecy in relation to the affairs of said Bank. Now, +I do not know whether this be true or false--neither do I believe +any honest man cares. I know that the seventh section of the +charter expressly guarantees to the Bank the right of making, +under certain restrictions, such by-laws as it may think fit; and +I further know that the requiring an oath of secrecy would not +transcend those restrictions. What, then, if the Bank has chosen +to exercise this right? Whom can it injure? Does not every +merchant have his secret mark? and who is ever silly enough to +complain of it? I presume if the Bank does require any such oath +of secrecy, it is done through a motive of delicacy to those +individuals who deal with it. Why, Sir, not many days since, one +gentleman upon this floor, who, by the way, I have no doubt is +now ready to join this hue and cry against the Bank, indulged in +a philippic against one of the Bank officials, because, as he +said, he had divulged a secret. + +Immediately following this last charge, there are several +insinuations in the resolution, which are too silly to require +any sort of notice, were it not for the fact that they conclude +by saying, "to the great injury of the people at large." In +answer to this I would say that it is strange enough, that the +people are suffering these "great injuries," and yet are not +sensible of it! Singular indeed that the people should be +writhing under oppression and injury, and yet not one among them +to be found to raise the voice of complaint. If the Bank be +inflicting injury upon the people, why is it that not a single +petition is presented to this body on the subject? If the Bank +really be a grievance, why is it that no one of the real people +is found to ask redress of it? The truth is, no such oppression +exists. If it did, our people would groan with memorials and +petitions, and we would not be permitted to rest day or night, +till we had put it down. The people know their rights, and they +are never slow to assert and maintain them, when they are +invaded. Let them call for an investigation, and I shall ever +stand ready to respond to the call. But they have made no such +call. I make the assertion boldly, and without fear of +contradiction, that no man, who does not hold an office, or does +not aspire to one, has ever found any fault of the Bank. It has +doubled the prices of the products of their farms, and filled +their pockets with a sound circulating medium, and they are all +well pleased with its operations. No, Sir, it is the politician +who is the first to sound the alarm (which, by the way, is a +false one.) It is he, who, by these unholy means, is endeavoring +to blow up a storm that he may ride upon and direct. It is he, +and he alone, that here proposes to spend thousands of the +people's public treasure, for no other advantage to them than to +make valueless in their pockets the reward of their industry. +Mr. Chairman, this work is exclusively the work of politicians; a +set of men who have interests aside from the interests of the +people, and who, to say the most of them, are, taken as a mass, +at least one long step removed from honest men. I say this with +the greater freedom, because, being a politician myself, none can +regard it as personal. + +Again, it is charged, or rather insinuated, that officers of the +Bank have loaned money at usurious rates of interest. Suppose +this to be true, are we to send a committee of this House to +inquire into it? Suppose the committee should find it true, can +they redress the injured individuals? Assuredly not. If any +individual had been injured in this way, is there not an ample +remedy to be found in the laws of the land? Does the gentleman +from Coles know that there is a statute standing in full force +making it highly penal for an individual to loan money at a +higher rate of interest than twelve per cent? If he does not he +is too ignorant to be placed at the head of the committee which +his resolution purposes and if he does, his neglect to mention it +shows him to be too uncandid to merit the respect or confidence +of any one. + +But besides all this, if the Bank were struck from existence, +could not the owners of the capital still loan it usuriously, as +well as now? whatever the Bank, or its officers, may have done, I +know that usurious transactions were much more frequent and +enormous before the commencement of its operations than they have +ever been since. + +The next insinuation is, that the Bank has refused specie +payments. This, if true is a violation of the charter. But +there is not the least probability of its truth; because, if such +had been the fact, the individual to whom payment was refused +would have had an interest in making it public, by suing for the +damages to which the charter entitles him. Yet no such thing has +been done; and the strong presumption is, that the insinuation is +false and groundless. + +From this to the end of the resolution, there is nothing that +merits attention--I therefore drop the particular examination of +it. + +By a general view of the resolution, it will be seen that a +principal object of the committee is to examine into, and ferret +out, a mass of corruption supposed to have been committed by the +commissioners who apportioned the stock of the Bank. I believe +it is universally understood and acknowledged that all men will +ever act correctly unless they have a motive to do otherwise. If +this be true, we can only suppose that the commissioners acted +corruptly by also supposing that they were bribed to do so. +Taking this view of the subject, I would ask if the Bank is +likely to find it more difficult to bribe the committee of seven, +which, we are about to appoint, than it may have found it to +bribe the commissioners? + +(Here Mr. Linder called to order. The Chair decided that Mr. +Lincoln was not out of order. Mr. Linder appealed to the House, +but, before the question was put, withdrew his appeal, saying he +preferred to let the gentleman go on; he thought he would break +his own neck. Mr. Lincoln proceeded:) + +Another gracious condescension! I acknowledge it with gratitude. +I know I was not out of order; and I know every sensible man in +the House knows it. I was not saying that the gentleman from +Coles could be bribed, nor, on the other hand, will I say he +could not. In that particular I leave him where I found him. I +was only endeavoring to show that there was at least as great a +probability of any seven members that could be selected from this +House being bribed to act corruptly, as there was that the +twenty-four commissioners had been so bribed. By a reference to +the ninth section of the Bank charter, it will be seen that those +commissioners were John Tilson, Robert K. McLaughlin, Daniel +Warm, A.G. S. Wight, John C. Riley, W. H. Davidson, Edward +M. Wilson, Edward L. Pierson, Robert R. Green, Ezra Baker, +Aquilla Wren, John Taylor, Samuel C. Christy, Edmund Roberts, +Benjamin Godfrey, Thomas Mather, A. M. Jenkins, W. Linn, W. +S. Gilman, Charles Prentice, Richard I. Hamilton, A.H. +Buckner, W. F. Thornton, and Edmund D. Taylor. + +These are twenty-four of the most respectable men in the State. +Probably no twenty-four men could be selected in the State with +whom the people are better acquainted, or in whose honor and +integrity they would more readily place confidence. And I now +repeat, that there is less probability that those men have been +bribed and corrupted, than that any seven men, or rather any six +men, that could be selected from the members of this House, might +be so bribed and corrupted, even though they were headed and led +on by "decided superiority" himself. + +In all seriousness, I ask every reasonable man, if an issue be +joined by these twenty-four commissioners, on the one part, and +any other seven men, on the other part, and the whole depend upon +the honor and integrity of the contending parties, to which party +would the greatest degree of credit be due? Again: Another +consideration is, that we have no right to make the examination. +What I shall say upon this head I design exclusively for the law- +loving and law-abiding part of the House. To those who claim +omnipotence for the Legislature, and who in the plenitude of +their assumed powers are disposed to disregard the Constitution, +law, good faith, moral right, and everything else, I have not a +word to say. But to the law-abiding part I say, examine the Bank +charter, go examine the Constitution, go examine the acts that +the General Assembly of this State has passed, and you will find +just as much authority given in each and every of them to compel +the Bank to bring its coffers to this hall and to pour their +contents upon this floor, as to compel it to submit to this +examination which this resolution proposes. Why, Sir, the +gentleman from Coles, the mover of this resolution, very lately +denied on this floor that the Legislature had any right to repeal +or otherwise meddle with its own acts, when those acts were made +in the nature of contracts, and had been accepted and acted on by +other parties. Now I ask if this resolution does not propose, +for this House alone, to do what he, but the other day, denied +the right of the whole Legislature to do? He must either abandon +the position he then took, or he must now vote against his own +resolution. It is no difference to me, and I presume but little +to any one else, which he does. + +I am by no means the special advocate of the Bank. I have long +thought that it would be well for it to report its condition to +the General Assembly, and that cases might occur, when it might +be proper to make an examination of its affairs by a committee. +Accordingly, during the last session, while a bill supplemental +to the Bank charter was pending before the House, I offered an +amendment to the same, in these words: "The said corporation +shall, at the next session of the General Assembly, and at each +subsequent General Session, during the existence of its charter, +report to the same the amount of debts due from said corporation; +the amount of debts due to the same; the amount of specie in its +vaults, and an account of all lands then owned by the same, and +the amount for which such lands have been taken; and moreover, if +said corporation shall at any time neglect or refuse to submit +its books, papers, and all and everything necessary for a full +and fair examination of its affairs, to any person or persons +appointed by the General Assembly, for the purpose of making such +examination, the said corporation shall forfeit its charter." + +This amendment was negatived by a vote of 34 to 15. Eleven of +the 34 who voted against it are now members of this House; and +though it would be out of order to call their names, I hope they +will all recollect themselves, and not vote for this examination +to be made without authority, inasmuch as they refused to receive +the authority when it was in their power to do so. + +I have said that cases might occur, when an examination might be +proper; but I do not believe any such case has now occurred; and +if it has, I should still be opposed to making an examination +without legal authority. I am opposed to encouraging that +lawless and mobocratic spirit, whether in relation to the Bank or +anything else, which is already abroad in the land and is +spreading with rapid and fearful impetuosity, to the ultimate +overthrow of every institution, of every moral principle, in +which persons and property have hitherto found security. + +But supposing we had the authority, I would ask what good can +result from the examination? Can we declare the Bank +unconstitutional, and compel it to desist from the abuses of its +power, provided we find such abuses to exist? Can we repair the +injuries which it may have done to individuals? Most certainly we +can do none of these things. Why then +shall we spend the public money in such employment? Oh, say the +examiners, we can injure the credit of the Bank, if nothing else, +Please tell me, gentlemen, who will suffer most by that? You +cannot injure, to any extent, the stockholders. They are men of +wealth--of large capital; and consequently, beyond the power of +malice. But by injuring the credit of the Bank, you will +depreciate the value of its paper in the hands of the honest and +unsuspecting farmer and mechanic, and that is all you can do. +But suppose you could effect your whole purpose; suppose you +could wipe the Bank from existence, which is the grand ultimatum +of the project, what would be the consequence? why, Sir, we +should spend several thousand dollars of the public treasure in +the operation, annihilate the currency of the State, render +valueless in the hands of our people that reward of their former +labors, and finally be once more under the comfortable obligation +of paying the Wiggins loan, principal and interest. + + + + +OPPOSITION TO MOB-RULE + +ADDRESS BEFORE THE YOUNG MEN' S LYCEUM OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS. + +January 27, 1837. + +As a subject for the remarks of the evening, "The Perpetuation of +our Political Institutions "is selected. + +In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the +American people, find our account running under date of the +nineteenth century of the Christian era. We find ourselves in +the peaceful possession of the fairest portion of the earth as +regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of +climate. We find ourselves under the government of a system of +political institutions conducing more essentially to the ends of +civil and religious liberty than any of which the history of +former times tells us. We, when mounting the stage of existence, +found ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental +blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of +them; they are a legacy bequeathed us by a once hardy, brave, and +patriotic, but now lamented and departed, race of ancestors. +Theirs was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess +themselves, and through themselves us, of this goodly land, and +to uprear upon its hills and its valleys a political edifice of +liberty and equal rights; it is ours only to transmit these--the +former unprofaned by the foot of an invader, the latter undecayed +by the lapse of time and untorn by usurpation--to the latest +generation that fate shall permit the world to know. This task +gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to +posterity, and love for our species in general, all imperatively +require us faithfully to perform. + +How then shall we perform it? At what point shall we expect the +approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? +Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the +ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, +Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth +(our own excepted) in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for +a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or +make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. + +At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I +answer: If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it +cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must +ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we +must live through all time, or die by suicide. + +I hope I am over-wary; but if I am not, there is even now +something of ill omen amongst us. I mean the increasing +disregard for law which pervades the country--the growing +disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions in lieu +of the sober judgment of courts, and the worse than savage mobs +for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is +awfully fearful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, +though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation +of truth and an insult to our intelligence to deny. Accounts of +outrages committed by mobs form the everyday news of the times. +They have pervaded the country from New England to Louisiana; +they are neither peculiar to the eternal snows of the former nor +the burning suns of the latter; they are not the creature of +climate, neither are they confined to the slave holding or the +non-slave holding States. Alike they spring up among the +pleasure-hunting masters of Southern slaves, and the order-loving +citizens of the land of steady habits. Whatever then their cause +may be, it is common to the whole country. + +It would be tedious as well as useless to recount the horrors of +all of them. Those happening in the State of Mississippi and at +St. Louis are perhaps the most dangerous in example and +revolting to humanity. In the Mississippi case they first +commenced by hanging the regular gamblers--a set of men certainly +not following for a livelihood a very useful or very honest +occupation, but one which, so far from being forbidden by the +laws, was actually licensed by an act of the Legislature passed +but a single year before. Next, negroes suspected of conspiring +to raise an insurrection were caught up and hanged in all parts +of the State; then, white men supposed to be leagued with the +negroes; and finally, strangers from neighboring States, going +thither on business, were in many instances subjected to the same +fate. Thus went on this process of hanging, from gamblers to +negroes, from negroes to white citizens, and from these to +strangers, till dead men were seen literally dangling from the +boughs of trees upon every roadside, and in numbers almost +sufficient to rival the native Spanish moss of the country as a +drapery of the forest. + +Turn then to that horror-striking scene at St. Louis. A single +victim only was sacrificed there. This story is very short, and +is perhaps the most highly tragic of anything of its length that +has ever been witnessed in real life. A mulatto man by the name +of McIntosh was seized in the street, dragged to the suburbs of +the city, chained to a tree, and actually burned to death; and +all within a single hour from the time he had been a freeman +attending to his own business and at peace with the world. + +Such are the effects of mob law, and such are the scenes becoming +more and more frequent in this land so lately famed for love of +law and order, and the stories of which have even now grown too +familiar to attract anything more than an idle remark. + +But you are perhaps ready to ask, "What has this to do with the +perpetuation of our political institutions?" I answer, It has +much to do with it. Its direct consequences are, comparatively +speaking, but a small evil, and much of its danger consists in +the proneness of our minds to regard its direct as its only +consequences. Abstractly considered, the hanging of the gamblers +at Vicksburg was of but little consequence. They constitute a +portion of population that is worse than useless in any +community; and their death, if no pernicious example be set by +it, is never matter of reasonable regret with any one. If they +were annually swept from the stage of existence by the plague or +smallpox, honest men would perhaps be much profited by the +operation. Similar too is the correct reasoning in regard to the +burning of the negro at St. Louis. He had forfeited his life by +the perpetration of an outrageous murder upon one of the most +worthy and respectable citizens of the city, and had he not died +as he did, he must have died by the sentence of the law in a very +short time afterwards. As to him alone, it was as well the way +it was as it could otherwise have been. But the example in +either case was fearful. When men take it in their heads to-day +to hang gamblers or burn murderers, they should recollect that in +the confusion usually attending such transactions they will be as +likely to hang or burn some one who is neither a gambler nor a +murderer as one who is, and that, acting upon the example they +set, the mob of to-morrow may, and probably will, hang or burn +some of them by the very same mistake. And not only so: the +innocent, those who have ever set their faces against violations +of law in every shape, alike with the guilty fall victims to the +ravages of mob law; and thus it goes on, step by step, till all +the walls erected for the defense of the persons and property of +individuals are trodden down and disregarded. But all this, +even, is not the full extent of the evil. By such examples, by +instances of the perpetrators of such acts going unpunished, the +lawless in spirit are encouraged to become lawless in practice; +and having been used to no restraint but dread of punishment, +they thus become absolutely unrestrained. Having ever regarded +government as their deadliest bane, they make a jubilee of the +suspension of its operations, and pray for nothing so much as its +total annihilation. While, on the other hand, good men, men who +love tranquillity, who desire to abide by the laws and enjoy +their benefits, who would gladly spill their blood in the defense +of their country, seeing their property destroyed, their families +insulted, and their lives endangered, their persons injured, and +seeing nothing in prospect that forebodes a change for the +better, become tired of and disgusted with a government that +offers them no protection, and are not much averse to a change in +which they imagine they have nothing to lose. Thus, then, by the +operation of this mobocratic spirit which all must admit is now +abroad in the land, the strongest bulwark of any government, and +particularly of those constituted like ours, may effectually be +broken down and destroyed--I mean the attachment of the people. +Whenever this effect shall be produced among us; whenever the +vicious portion of population shall be permitted to gather in +bands of hundreds and thousands, and burn churches, ravage and +rob provision-stores, throw printing presses into rivers, shoot +editors, and hang and burn obnoxious persons at pleasure and with +impunity, depend on it, this government cannot last. By such +things the feelings of the best citizens will become more or less +alienated from it, and thus it will be left without friends, or +with too few, and those few too weak to make their friendship +effectual. At such a time, and under such circumstances, men of +sufficient talent and ambition will not be wanting to seize the +opportunity, strike the blow, and overturn that fair fabric which +for the last half century has been the fondest hope of the lovers +of freedom throughout the world. + +I know the American people are much attached to their government; +I know they would suffer much for its sake; I know they would +endure evils long and patiently before they would ever think of +exchanging it for another,--yet, notwithstanding all this, if the +laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their rights to +be secure in their persons and property are held by no better +tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their +affections from the government is the natural consequence; and to +that, sooner or later, it must come. + +Here, then, is one point at which danger may be expected. + +The question recurs, How shall we fortify against it? The answer +is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every +well-wisher to his posterity swear by the blood of the Revolution +never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country, +and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots +of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of +Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and laws let +every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred +honor. Let every man remember that to violate the law is to +trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of +his own and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws +be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that +prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, +and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling books, +and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed +in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in +short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and +let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and +the gay of all sexes and tongues and colors and conditions, +sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars. + +While ever a state of feeling such as this shall universally or +even very generally prevail throughout the nation, vain will be +every effort, and fruitless every attempt, to subvert our +national freedom. + +When, I so pressingly urge a strict observance of all the laws, +let me not be understood as saying there are no bad laws, or that +grievances may not arise for the redress of which no legal +provisions have been made. I mean to say no such thing. But I +do mean to say that although bad laws, if they exist, should be +repealed as soon as possible, still, while they continue in +force, for the sake of example they should be religiously +observed. So also in unprovided cases. If such arise, let +proper legal provisions be made for them with the least possible +delay, but till then let them, if not too intolerable, be borne +with. + +There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law. +In any case that may arise, as, for instance, the promulgation of +abolitionism, one of two positions is necessarily true--that is, +the thing is right within itself, and therefore deserves the +protection of all law and all good citizens, or it is wrong, and +therefore proper to be prohibited by legal enactments; and in +neither case is the interposition of mob law either necessary, +justifiable, or excusable. + +But it may be asked, Why suppose danger to our political +institutions? Have we not preserved them for more than fifty +years? And why may we not for fifty times as long? + +We hope there is no sufficient reason. We hope all danger may be +overcome; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise would +itself be extremely dangerous. There are now, and will hereafter +be, many causes, dangerous in their tendency, which have not +existed heretofore, and which are not too insignificant to merit +attention. That our government should have been maintained in +its original form, from its establishment until now, is not much +to be wondered at. It had many props to support it through that +period, which now are decayed and crumbled away. Through that +period it was felt by all to be an undecided experiment; now it +is understood to be a successful one. Then, all that sought +celebrity and fame and distinction expected to find them in the +success of that experiment. Their all was staked upon it; their +destiny was inseparably linked with it. Their ambition aspired +to display before an admiring world a practical demonstration of +the truth of a proposition which had hitherto been considered at +best no better than problematical--namely, the capability of a +people to govern themselves. If they succeeded they were to be +immortalized; their names were to be transferred to counties, and +cities, and rivers, and mountains; and to be revered and sung, +toasted through all time. If they failed, they were to be called +knaves and fools, and fanatics for a fleeting hour; then to sink +and be forgotten. They succeeded. The experiment is successful, +and thousands have won their deathless names in making it so. +But the game is caught; and I believe it is true that with the +catching end the pleasures of the chase. This field of glory is +harvested, and the crop is already appropriated. But new reapers +will arise, and they too will seek a field. It is to deny what +the history of the world tells us is true, to suppose that men of +ambition and talents will not continue to spring up amongst us. +And when they do, they will as naturally seek the gratification +of their ruling passion as others have done before them. The +question then is, Can that gratification be found in supporting +and in maintaining an edifice that has been erected by others? +Most certainly it cannot. Many great and good men, sufficiently +qualified for any task they should undertake, may ever be found +whose ambition would aspire to nothing beyond a seat in Congress, +a Gubernatorial or a Presidential chair; but such belong not to +the family of the lion, or the tribe of the eagle. What! think +you these places would satisfy an Alexander, a Caesar, or a +Napoleon? Never! Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It +seeks regions hitherto unexplored. It sees no distinction in +adding story to story upon the monuments of fame erected to the +memory of others. It denies that it is glory enough to serve +under any chief. It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any +predecessor, however illustrious. It thirsts and burns for +distinction; and if possible, it will have it, whether at the +expense of emancipating slaves or enslaving freemen. Is it +unreasonable, then, to expect that some man possessed of the +loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to push it to +its utmost stretch, will at some time spring up among us? And +when such an one does it will require the people to be united +with each other, attached to the government and laws, and +generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his designs. + +Distinction will be his paramount object, and although he would +as willingly, perhaps more so, acquire it by doing good as harm, +yet, that opportunity being past, and nothing left to be done in +the way of building up, he would set boldly to the task of +pulling down. + +Here then is a probable case, highly dangerous, and such an one +as could not have well existed heretofore. + +Another reason which once was, but which, to the same extent, is +now no more, has done much in maintaining our institutions thus +far. I mean the powerful influence which the interesting scenes +of the Revolution had upon the passions of the people as +distinguished from their judgment. By this influence, the +jealousy, envy, and avarice incident to our nature, and so common +to a state of peace, prosperity, and conscious strength, were for +the time in a great measure smothered and rendered inactive, +while the deep-rooted principles of hate, and the powerful motive +of revenge, instead of being turned against each other, were +directed exclusively against the British nation. And thus, from +the force of circumstances, the basest principles of our nature +were either made to lie dormant, or to become the active agents +in the advancement of the noblest of causes--that of establishing +and maintaining civil and religious liberty. + +But this state of feeling must fade, is fading, has faded, with +the circumstances that produced it. + +I do not mean to say that the scenes of the Revolution are now or +ever will be entirely forgotten, but that, like everything else, +they must fade upon the memory of the world, and grow more and +more dim by the lapse of time. In history, we hope, they will be +read of, and recounted, so long as the Bible shall be read; but +even granting that they will, their influence cannot be what it +heretofore has been. Even then they cannot be so universally +known nor so vividly felt as they were by the generation just +gone to rest. At the close of that struggle, nearly every adult +male had been a participator in some of its scenes. The +consequence was that of those scenes, in the form of a husband, a +father, a son, or a brother, a living history was to be found in +every family--a history bearing the indubitable testimonies of +its own authenticity, in the limbs mangled, in the scars of +wounds received, in the midst of the very scenes related--a +history, too, that could be read and understood alike by all, the +wise and the ignorant, the learned and the unlearned. But those +histories are gone. They can be read no more forever. They were +a fortress of strength; but what invading foeman could never do +the silent artillery of time has done--the leveling of its walls. +They are gone. They were a forest of giant oaks; but the all- +restless hurricane has swept over them, and left only here and +there a lonely trunk, despoiled of its verdure, shorn of its +foliage, unshading and unshaded, to murmur in a few more gentle +breezes, and to combat with its mutilated limbs a few more ruder +storms, then to sink and be no more. + +They were pillars of the temple of liberty; and now that they +have crumbled away that temple must fall unless we, their +descendants, supply their places with other pillars, hewn from +the solid quarry of sober reason. Passion has helped us, but can +do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason cold, +calculating, unimpassioned reason--must furnish all the materials +for our future support and defense. Let those materials be +moulded into general intelligence, sound morality, and in +particular, a reverence for the Constitution and laws; and that +we improved to the last, that we remained free to the last, that +we revered his name to the last, that during his long sleep we +permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his resting +place, shall be that which to learn the last trump shall awaken +our Washington. + +Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as the rock of +its basis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater +institution, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." + + + + +PROTEST IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE ON THE +SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. + +March 3, 1837. + +The following protest was presented to the House, which was read +and ordered to be spread in the journals, to wit: + +"Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery having passed +both branches of the General Assembly at its present session, the +undersigned hereby protest against the passage of the same. + +"They believe that the institution of slavery is founded on both +injustice and bad policy, but that the promulgation of abolition +doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils. + +"They believe that the Congress of the United States has no power +under the Constitution to interfere with the institution of +slavery in the different States. + +"They believe that the Congress of the United States has the +power, under the Constitution, to abolish slavery in the District +of Columbia, but that the power ought not to be exercised, unless +at the request of the people of the District. + +"The difference between these opinions and those contained in the +said resolutions is their reason for entering this protest. + +"DAN STONE, +"A. LINCOLN, +"Representatives from the County of Sangamon." + + + + +TO MISS MARY OWENS. + +SPRINGFIELD, May 7, 1837. + +MISS MARY S. OWENS. + +FRIEND MARY:--I have commenced two letters to send you before +this, both of which displeased me before I got half done, and so +I tore them up. The first I thought was not serious enough, and +the second was on the other extreme. I shall send this, turn out +as it may. + +This thing of living in Springfield is rather a dull business, +after all; at least it is so to me. I am quite as lonesome here +as I ever was anywhere in my life. I have been spoken to by but +one woman since I have been here, and should not have been by her +if she could have avoided it. I 've never been to church yet, +and probably shall not be soon. I stay away because I am +conscious I should not know how to behave myself. + +I am often thinking of what we said about your coming to live at +Springfield. I am afraid you would not be satisfied. There is a +great deal of flourishing about in carriages here, which it would +be your doom to see without sharing it. You would have to be +poor, without the means of hiding your poverty. Do you believe +you could bear that patiently? Whatever woman may cast her lot +with mine, should any ever do so, it is my intention to do all in +my power to make her happy and contented; and there is nothing I +can imagine that would make me more unhappy than to fail in the +effort. I know I should be much happier with you than the way I +am, provided I saw no signs of discontent in you. What you have +said to me may have been in the way of jest, or I may have +misunderstood you. If so, then let it be forgotten; if +otherwise, I much wish you would think seriously before you +decide. What I have said I will most positively abide by, +provided you wish it. My opinion is that you had better not do +it. You have not been accustomed to hardship, and it may be more +severe than you now imagine. I know you are capable of thinking +correctly on any subject, and if you deliberate maturely upon +this subject before you decide, then I am willing to abide your +decision. + +You must write me a good long letter after you get this. You +have nothing else to do, and though it might not seem interesting +to you after you had written it, it would be a good deal of +company to me in this "busy wilderness." Tell your sister I don't +want to hear any more about selling out and moving. That gives +me the "hypo" whenever I think of it. Yours, etc., + +LINCOLN + + + + +TO JOHN BENNETT. + +SPRINGFIELD, ILL., Aug. 5, 1837. + +JOHN BENNETT, ESQ. + +DEAR SIR:-Mr. Edwards tells me you wish to know whether the act +to which your own incorporation provision was attached passed +into a law. It did. You can organize under the general +incorporation law as soon as you choose. + +I also tacked a provision onto a fellow's bill to authorize the +relocation of the road from Salem down to your town, but I am not +certain whether or not the bill passed, neither do I suppose I +can ascertain before the law will be published, if it is a law. +Bowling Greene, Bennette Abe? and yourself are appointed to make +the change. No news. No excitement except a little about the +election of Monday next. + +I suppose, of course, our friend Dr. Heney stands no chance in +your diggings. + +Your friend and humble servant, + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +TO MARY OWENS. + +SPRINGFIELD, +Aug. 16, 1837 + +FRIEND MARY: +You will no doubt think it rather strange that I should write you +a letter on the same day on which we parted, and I can only +account for it by supposing that seeing you lately makes me think +of you more than usual; while at our late meeting we had but few +expressions of thoughts. You must know that I cannot see you, or +think of you, with entire indifference; and yet it may be that +you are mistaken in regard to what my real feelings toward you +are. + +If I knew you were not, I should not have troubled you with this +letter. Perhaps any other man would know enough without +information; but I consider it my peculiar right to plead +ignorance, and your bounden duty to allow the plea. + +I want in all cases to do right; and most particularly so in all +cases with women. + +I want, at this particular time, more than any thing else to do +right with you; and if I knew it would be doing right, as I +rather suspect it would, to let you alone I would do it. And, +for the purpose of making the matter as plain as possible, I now +say that you can drop the subject, dismiss your thoughts (if you +ever had any) from me for ever and leave this letter unanswered +without calling forth one accusing murmur from me. And I will +even go further and say that, if it will add anything to your +comfort or peace of mind to do so, it is my sincere wish that you +should. Do not understand by this that I wish to cut your +acquaintance. I mean no such thing. What I do wish is that our +further acquaintance shall depend upon yourself. If such further +acquaintance would contribute nothing to your happiness, I am +sure it would not to mine. If you feel yourself in any degree +bound to me, I am now willing to release you, provided you wish +it; while on the other hand I am willing and even anxious to bind +you faster if I can be convinced that it will, in any +considerable degree, add to your happiness. This, indeed, is the +whole question with me. Nothing would make me more miserable +than to believe you miserable, nothing more happy than to know +you were so. + +In what I have now said, I think I cannot be misunderstood; and +to make myself understood is the only object of this letter. + +If it suits you best not to answer this, farewell. A long life +and a merry one attend you. But, if you conclude to write back, +speak as plainly as I do. There can neither be harm nor danger +in saying to me anything you think, just in the manner you think +it. My respects to your sister. + +Your friend, + +LINCOLN + + + + +LEGAL SUIT OF WIDOW v.s. Gen. ADAMS + +TO THE PEOPLE. + +"SANGAMON JOURNAL," SPRINGFIELD, ILL., +Aug. 19, 1837. + +In accordance with our determination, as expressed last week, we +present to the reader the articles which were published in hand- +bill form, in reference to the case of the heirs of Joseph +Anderson vs. James Adams. These articles can now be read +uninfluenced by personal or party feeling, and with the sole +motive of learning the truth. When that is done, the reader can +pass his own judgment on the matters at issue. + +We only regret in this case, that the publications were not made +some weeks before the election. Such a course might have +prevented the expressions of regret, which have often been heard +since, from different individuals, on account of the disposition +they made of their votes. + + + +To the Public: + +It is well known to most of you, that there is existing at this +time considerable excitement in regard to Gen. Adams's titles to +certain tracts of land, and the manner in which he acquired them. +As I understand, the Gen. charges that the whole has been gotten +up by a knot of lawyers to injure his election; and as I am one +of the knot to which he refers, and as I happen to be in +possession of facts connected with the matter, I will, in as +brief a manner as possible, make a statement of them, together +with the means by which I arrived at the knowledge of them. + +Sometime in May or June last, a widow woman, by the name of +Anderson, and her son, who resides in Fulton county, came to +Springfield, for the purpose as they said of selling a ten acre +lot of ground lying near town, which they claimed as the property +of the deceased husband and father. + +When they reached town they found the land was claimed by Gen. +Adams. John T. Stuart and myself were employed to look into the +matter, and if it was thought we could do so with any prospect of +success, to commence a suit for the land. I went immediately to +the recorder's office to examine Adams's title, and found that +the land had been entered by one Dixon, deeded by Dixon to +Thomas, by Thomas to one Miller, and by Miller to Gen. Adams. +The oldest of these three deeds was about ten or eleven years +old, and the latest more than five, all recorded at the same +time, and that within less than one year. This I thought a +suspicious circumstance, and I was thereby induced to examine the +deeds very closely, with a view to the discovery of some defect +by which to overturn the title, being almost convinced then it +was founded in fraud. I discovered that in the deed from Thomas +to Miller, although Miller's name stood in a sort of marginal +note on the record book, it was nowhere in the deed itself. I +told the fact to Talbott, the recorder, and proposed to him that +he should go to Gen. Adams's and get the original deed, and +compare it with the record, and thereby ascertain whether the +defect was in the original or there was merely an error in the +recording. As Talbott afterwards told me, he went to the +General's, but not finding him at home, got the deed from his +son, which, when compared with the record, proved what we had +discovered was merely an error of the recorder. After Mr. +Talbott corrected the record, be brought the original to our +office, as I then thought and think yet, to show us that it was +right. When he came into the room he handed the deed to me, +remarking that the fault was all his own. On opening it, another +paper fell out of it, which on examination proved to be an +assignment of a judgment in the Circuit Court of Sangamon County +from Joseph Anderson, the late husband of the widow above named, +to James Adams, the judgment being in favor of said Anderson +against one Joseph Miller. Knowing that this judgment had some +connection with the land affair, I immediately took a copy of it, +which is word for word, letter for letter and cross for cross as +follows: + +Joseph Anderson, +vs. +Joseph Miller. + +Judgment in Sangamon Circuit Court against Joseph Miller obtained +on a note originally 25 dolls and interest thereon accrued. +I assign all my right, title and interest to James Adams which is +in consideration of a debt I owe said Adams. + +his +JOSEPH x ANDERSON. +mark. + + +As the copy shows, it bore date May 10, 1827; although the +judgment assigned by it was not obtained until the October +afterwards, as may be seen by any one on the records of the +Circuit Court. Two other strange circumstances attended it which +cannot be represented by a copy. One of them was, that the date +"1827" had first been made "1837" and, without the figure "3," +being fully obliterated, the figure "2" had afterwards been made +on top of it; the other was that, although the date was ten years +old, the writing on it, from the freshness of its appearance, was +thought by many, and I believe by all who saw it, not to be more +than a week old. The paper on which it was written had a very +old appearance; and there were some old figures on the back of it +which made the freshness of the writing on the face of it much +more striking than I suppose it otherwise might have been. The +reader's curiosity is no doubt excited to know what connection +this assignment had with the land in question. The story is +this: Dixon sold and deeded the land to Thomas; Thomas sold it to +Anderson; but before he gave a deed, Anderson sold it to Miller, +and took Miller's note for the purchase money. When this note +became due, Anderson sued Miller on it, and Miller procured an +injunction from the Court of Chancery to stay the collection of +the money until he should get a deed for the land. Gen. Adams +was employed as an attorney by Anderson in this chancery suit, +and at the October term, 1827, the injunction was dissolved, and +a judgment given in favor of Anderson against Miller; and it was +provided that Thomas was to execute a deed for the land in favor +of Miller and deliver it to Gen. Adams, to be held up by him till +Miller paid the judgment, and then to deliver it to him. Miller +left the county without paying the judgment. Anderson moved to +Fulton county, where he has since died When the widow came to +Springfield last May or June, as before mentioned, and found the +land deeded to Gen. Adams by Miller, she was naturally led to +inquire why the money due upon the judgment had not been sent to +them, inasmuch as he, Gen. Adams, had no authority to deliver +Thomas's deed to Miller until the money was paid. Then it was +the General told her, or perhaps her son, who came with her, that +Anderson, in his lifetime, had assigned the judgment to him, Gen. +Adams. I am now told that the General is exhibiting an +assignment of the same judgment bearing date "1828" and in other +respects differing from the one described; and that he is +asserting that no such assignment as the one copied by me ever +existed; or if there did, it was forged between Talbott and the +lawyers, and slipped into his papers for the purpose of injuring +him. Now, I can only say that I know precisely such a one did +exist, and that Ben. Talbott, Wm. Butler, C.R. Matheny, John +T. Stuart, Judge Logan, Robert Irwin, P. C. Canedy and S. M. +Tinsley, all saw and examined it, and that at least one half of +them will swear that IT WAS IN GENERAL ADAMS'S HANDWRITING !! And +further, I know that Talbott will swear that he got it out of the +General's possession, and returned it into his possession again. +The assignment which the General is now exhibiting purports to +have been by Anderson in writing. The one I copied was signed +with a cross. + +I am told that Gen. Neale says that he will swear that he heard +Gen. Adams tell young Anderson that the assignment made by his +father was signed with a cross. + +The above are 'facts,' as stated. I leave them without comment. +I have given the names of persons who have knowledge of these +facts, in order that any one who chooses may call on them and +ascertain how far they will corroborate my statements. I have +only made these statements because I am known by many to be one +of the individuals against whom the charge of forging the +assignment and slipping it into the General's papers has been +made, and because our silence might be construed into a +confession of its truth. I shall not subscribe my name; but I +hereby authorize the editor of the Journal to give it up to any +one that may call for it. + + + + +LINCOLN AND TALBOTT IN REPLY TO GEN. ADAMS. + +"SANGAMON JOURNAL," SPRINGFIELD, ILL., Oct. 28, 1837. + +In the Republican of this morning a publication of Gen. Adams's +appears, in which my name is used quite unreservedly. For this I +thank the General. I thank him because it gives me an +opportunity, without appearing obtrusive, of explaining a part of +a former publication of mine, which appears to me to have been +misunderstood by many. + +In the former publication alluded to, I stated, in substance, +that Mr. Talbott got a deed from a son of Gen. Adams's for the +purpose of correcting a mistake that had occurred on the record +of the said deed in the recorder's office; that he corrected the +record, and brought the deed and handed it to me, and that on +opening the deed, another paper, being the assignment of a +judgment, fell out of it. This statement Gen. Adams and the +editor of the Republican have seized upon as a most palpable +evidence of fabrication and falsehood. They set themselves +gravely about proving that the assignment could not have been in +the deed when Talbott got it from young Adams, as he, Talbott, +would have seen it when he opened the deed to correct the record. +Now, the truth is, Talbott did see the assignment when he opened +the deed, or at least he told me he did on the same day; and I +only omitted to say so, in my former publication, because it was +a matter of such palpable and necessary inference. I had stated +that Talbott had corrected the record by the deed; and of course +he must have opened it; and, just as the General and his friends +argue, must have seen the assignment. I omitted to state the +fact of Talbott's seeing the assignment, because its existence +was so necessarily connected with other facts which I did state, +that I thought the greatest dunce could not but understand it. +Did I say Talbott had not seen it? Did I say anything that was +inconsistent with his having seen it before? Most certainly I did +neither; and if I did not, what becomes of the argument? These +logical gentlemen can sustain their argument only by assuming +that I did say negatively everything that I did not say +affirmatively; and upon the same assumption, we may expect to +find the General, if a little harder pressed for argument, saying +that I said Talbott came to our office with his head downward, +not that I actually said so, but because I omitted to say he came +feet downward. + +In his publication to-day, the General produces the affidavit of +Reuben Radford, in which it is said that Talbott told Radford +that he did not find the assignment in the deed, in the recording +of which the error was committed, but that he found it wrapped in +another paper in the recorder's office, upon which statement the +Genl. comments as follows, to wit: +"If it be true as stated by Talbott to Radford, that he found the +assignment wrapped up in another paper at his office, that +contradicts the statement of Lincoln that it fell out of the +deed." + +Is common sense to be abused with such sophistry? Did I say what +Talbott found it in? If Talbott did find it in another paper at +his office, is that any reason why he could not have folded it in +a deed and brought it to my office? Can any one be so far duped +as to be made believe that what may have happened at Talbot's +office at one time is inconsistent with what happened at my +office at another time? + +Now Talbott's statement of the case as he makes it to me is this, +that he got a bunch of deeds from young Adams, and that he knows +he found the assignment in the bunch, but he is not certain which +particular deed it was in, nor is he certain whether it was +folded in the same deed out of which it was taken, or another +one, when it was brought to my office. Is this a mysterious +story? Is there anything suspicious about it? + +"But it is useless to dwell longer on this point. Any man who is +not wilfully blind can see at a flash, that there is no +discrepancy, and Lincoln has shown that they are not only +inconsistent with truth, but each other"--I can only say, that I +have shown that he has done no such thing; and if the reader is +disposed to require any other evidence than the General's +assertion, he will be of my opinion. + +Excepting the General's most flimsy attempt at mystification, in +regard to a discrepance between Talbott and myself, he has not +denied a single statement that I made in my hand-bill. Every +material statement that I made has been sworn to by men who, in +former times, were thought as respectable as General Adams. I +stated that an assignment of a judgment, a copy of which I gave, +had existed--Benj. Talbott, C. R. Matheny, Wm. Butler, and +Judge Logan swore to its existence. I stated that it was said to +be in Gen. Adams's handwriting--the same men swore it was in his +handwriting. I stated that Talbott would swear that he got it +out of Gen. Adams's possession--Talbott came forward and did +swear it. + +Bidding adieu to the former publication, I now propose to examine +the General's last gigantic production. I now propose to point +out some discrepancies in the General's address; and such, too, +as he shall not be able to escape from. Speaking of the famous +assignment, the General says: "This last charge, which was their +last resort, their dying effort to render my character infamous +among my fellow citizens, was manufactured at a certain lawyer's +office in the town, printed at the office of the Sangamon +Journal, and found its way into the world some time between two +days just before the last election." Now turn to Mr. Keys' +affidavit, in which you will find the following, viz.: "I certify +that some time in May or the early part of June, 1837, I saw at +Williams's corner a paper purporting to be an assignment from +Joseph Anderson to James Adams, which assignment was signed by a +mark to Anderson's name," etc. Now mark, if Keys saw the +assignment on the last of May or first of June, Gen. Adams tells +a falsehood when he says it was manufactured just before the +election, which was on the 7th of August; and if it was +manufactured just before the election, Keys tells a falsehood +when he says he saw it on the last of May or first of June. +Either Keys or the General is irretrievably in for it; and in the +General's very condescending language, I say "Let them settle it +between them." + +Now again, let the reader, bearing in mind that General Adams has +unequivocally said, in one part of his address, that the charge +in relation to the assignment was manufactured just before the +election, turn to the affidavit of Peter S. Weber, where the +following will be found viz.: "I, Peter S. Weber, do certify +that from the best of my recollection, on the day or day after +Gen. Adams started for the Illinois Rapids, in May last, that I +was at the house of Gen. Adams, sitting in the kitchen, situated +on the back part of the house, it being in the afternoon, and +that Benjamin Talbott came around the house, back into the +kitchen, and appeared wild and confused, and that he laid a +package of papers on the kitchen table and requested that they +should be handed to Lucian. He made no apology for coming to the +kitchen, nor for not handing them to Lucian himself, but showed +the token of being frightened and confused both in demeanor and +speech and for what cause I could not apprehend." + +Commenting on Weber's affidavit, Gen. Adams asks, "Why this +fright and confusion?" I reply that this is a question for the +General himself. Weber says that it was in May, and if so, it is +most clear that Talbott was not frightened on account of the +assignment, unless the General lies when he says the assignment +charge was manufactured just before the election. Is it not a +strong evidence, that the General is not traveling with the pole- +star of truth in his front, to see him in one part of his address +roundly asserting that the assignment was manufactured just +before the election, and then, forgetting that position, +procuring Weber's most foolish affidavit, to prove that Talbott +had been engaged in manufacturing it two months before? + +In another part of his address, Gen. Adams says: "That I hold an +assignment of said judgment, dated the 20th of May, 1828, and +signed by said Anderson, I have never pretended to deny or +conceal, but stated that fact in one of my circulars previous to +the election, and also in answer to a bill in chancery." Now I +pronounce this statement unqualifiedly false, and shall not rely +on the word or oath of any man to sustain me in what I say; but +will let the whole be decided by reference to the circular and +answer in chancery of which the General speaks. In his circular +he did speak of an assignment; but he did not say it bore date +20th of May, 1828; nor did he say it bore any date. In his +answer in chancery, he did say that he had an assignment; but he +did not say that it bore date the 20th May, 1828; but so far from +it, he said on oath (for he swore to the answer) that as well as +recollected, he obtained it in 1827. If any one doubts, let him +examine the circular and answer for himself. They are both +accessible. + +It will readily be observed that the principal part of Adams's +defense rests upon the argument that if he had been base enough +to forge an assignment he would not have been fool enough to +forge one that would not cover the case. This argument he used +in his circular before the election. The Republican has used it +at least once, since then; and Adams uses it again in his +publication of to-day. Now I pledge myself to show that he is +just such a fool that he and his friends have contended it was +impossible for him to be. Recollect--he says he has a genuine +assignment; and that he got Joseph Klein's affidavit, stating +that he had seen it, and that he believed the signature to have +been executed by the same hand that signed Anderson's name to the +answer in chancery. Luckily Klein took a copy of this genuine +assignment, which I have been permitted to see; and hence I know +it does not cover the case. In the first place it is headed +"Joseph Anderson vs. Joseph Miller," and heads off "Judgment in +Sangamon Circuit Court." Now, mark, there never was a case in +Sangamon Circuit Court entitled Joseph Anderson vs. Joseph +Miller. The case mentioned in my former publication, and the +only one between these parties that ever existed in the Circuit +Court, was entitled Joseph Miller vs. Joseph Anderson, Miller +being the plaintiff. What then becomes of all their sophistry +about Adams not being fool enough to forge an assignment that +would not cover the case? It is certain that the present one does +not cover the case; and if he got it honestly, it is still clear +that he was fool enough to pay for an assignment that does not +cover the case. + +The General asks for the proof of disinterested witnesses. Whom +does he consider disinterested? None can be more so than those +who have already testified against him. No one of them had the +least interest on earth, so far as I can learn, to injure him. +True, he says they had conspired against him; but if the +testimony of an angel from Heaven were introduced against him, he +would make the same charge of conspiracy. And now I put the +question to every reflecting man, Do you believe that Benjamin +Talbott, Chas. R. Matheny, William Butler and Stephen T. +Logan, all sustaining high and spotless characters, and justly +proud of them, would deliberately perjure themselves, without any +motive whatever, except to injure a man's election; and that, +too, a man who had been a candidate, time out of mind, and yet +who had never been elected to any office? + +Adams's assurance, in demanding disinterested testimony, is +surpassing. He brings in the affidavit of his own son, and even +of Peter S. Weber, with whom I am not acquainted, but who, I +suppose, is some black or mulatto boy, from his being kept in the +kitchen, to prove his points; but when such a man as Talbott, a +man who, but two years ago, ran against Gen. Adams for the office +of Recorder and beat him more than four votes to one, is +introduced against him, he asks the community, with all the +consequence of a lord, to reject his testimony. + +I might easily write a volume, pointing out inconsistencies +between the statements in Adams's last address with one another, +and with other known facts; but I am aware the reader must +already be tired with the length of this article. His opening +statements, that he was first accused of being a Tory, and that +he refuted that; that then the Sampson's ghost story was got up, +and he refuted that; that as a last resort, a dying effort, the +assignment charge was got up is all as false as hell, as all this +community must know. Sampson's ghost first made its appearance +in print, and that, too, after Keys swears he saw the assignment, +as any one may see by reference to the files of papers; and Gen. +Adams himself, in reply to the Sampson's ghost story, was the +first man that raised the cry of toryism, and it was only by way +of set-off, and never in seriousness, that it was bandied back at +him. His effort is to make the impression that his enemies first +made the charge of toryism and he drove them from that, then +Sampson's ghost, he drove them from that, then finally the +assignment charge was manufactured just before election. Now, +the only general reply he ever made to the Sampson's ghost and +tory charges he made at one and the same time, and not in +succession as he states; and the date of that reply will show, +that it was made at least a month after the date on which Keys +swears he saw the Anderson assignment. But enough. In +conclusion I will only say that I have a character to defend as +well as Gen. Adams, but I disdain to whine about it as he does. +It is true I have no children nor kitchen boys; and if I had, I +should scorn to lug them in to make affidavits for me. + +A. LINCOLN, September 6, 1837. + + + + +Gen. ADAMS CONTROVERSY--CONTINUED + +TO THE PUBLIC. + +"SANGAMON JOURNAL," Springfield, Ill, Oct.28, 1837. + +Such is the turn which things have taken lately, that when Gen. +Adams writes a book, I am expected to write a commentary on it. +In the Republican of this morning he has presented the world with +a new work of six columns in length; in consequence of which I +must beg the room of one column in the Journal. It is obvious +that a minute reply cannot be made in one column to everything +that can be said in six; and, consequently, I hope that +expectation will be answered if I reply to such parts of the +General's publication as are worth replying to. + +It may not be improper to remind the reader that in his +publication of Sept. 6th General Adams said that the assignment +charge was manufactured just before the election; and that in +reply I proved that statement to be false by Keys, his own +witness. Now, without attempting to explain, he furnishes me +with another witness (Tinsley) by which the same thing is proved, +to wit, that the assignment was not manufactured just before the +election; but that it was some weeks before. Let it be borne in +mind that Adams made this statement--has himself furnished two +witnesses to prove its falsehood, and does not attempt to deny or +explain it. Before going farther, let a pin be stuck here, +labeled "One lie proved and confessed." On the 6th of September +he said he had before stated in the hand-bill that he held an +assignment dated May 20th, 1828, which in reply I pronounced to +be false, and referred to the hand-bill for the truth of what I +said. This week he forgets to make any explanation of this. Let +another pin be stuck here, labelled as before. I mention these +things because, if, when I convict him in one falsehood, he is +permitted to shift his ground and pass it by in silence, there +can be no end to this controversy. + +The first thing that attracts my attention in the General's +present production is the information he is pleased to give to +"those who are made to suffer at his (my) hands." + +Under present circumstances, this cannot apply to me, for I am +not a widow nor an orphan: nor have I a wife or children who +might by possibility become such. Such, however, I have no +doubt, have been, and will again be made to suffer at his hands! +Hands! Yes, they are the mischievous agents. The next thing I +shall notice is his favorite expression, "not of lawyers, doctors +and others," which he is so fond of applying to all who dare +expose his rascality. Now, let it be remembered that when he +first came to this country he attempted to impose himself upon +the community as a lawyer, and actually carried the attempt so +far as to induce a man who was under a charge of murder to +entrust the defence of his life in his hands, and finally took +his money and got him hanged. Is this the man that is to raise a +breeze in his favor by abusing lawyers? If he is not himself a +lawyer, it is for the lack of sense, and not of inclination. If +he is not a lawyer, he is a liar, for he proclaimed himself a +lawyer, and got a man hanged by depending on him. + +Passing over such parts of the article as have neither fact nor +argument in them, I come to the question asked by Adams whether +any person ever saw the assignment in his possession. This is an +insult to common sense. Talbott has sworn once and repeated time +and again, that he got it out of Adams's possession and returned +it into the same possession. Still, as though he was addressing +fools, he has assurance to ask if any person ever saw it in his +possession. + +Next I quote a sentence, "Now my son Lucian swears that when +Talbott called for the deed, that he, Talbott, opened it and +pointed out the error." True. His son Lucian did swear as he +says; and in doing so, he swore what I will prove by his own +affidavit to be a falsehood. Turn to Lucian's affidavit, and you +will there see that Talbott called for the deed by which to +correct an error on the record. Thus it appears that the error +in question was on the record, and not in the deed. How then +could Talbott open the deed and point out the error? Where a +thing is not, it cannot be pointed out. The error was not in the +deed, and of course could not be pointed out there. This does +not merely prove that the error could not be pointed out, as +Lucian swore it was; but it proves, too, that the deed was not +opened in his presence with a special view to the error, for if +it had been, he could not have failed to see that there was no +error in it. It is easy enough to see why Lucian swore this. +His object was to prove that the assignment was not in the deed +when Talbott got it: but it was discovered he could not swear +this safely, without first swearing the deed was opened--and if +he swore it was opened, he must show a motive for opening it, and +the conclusion with him and his father was that the pointing out +the error would appear the most plausible. + +For the purpose of showing that the assignment was not in the +bundle when Talbott got it, is the story introduced into Lucian's +affidavit that the deeds were counted. It is a remarkable fact, +and one that should stand as a warning to all liars and +fabricators, that in this short affidavit of Lucian's he only +attempted to depart from the truth, so far as I have the means of +knowing, in two points, to wit, in the opening the deed and +pointing out the error and the counting of the deeds,--and in +both of these he caught himself. About the counting, he caught +himself thus--after saying the bundle contained five deeds and a +lease, he proceeds, "and I saw no other papers than the said deed +and lease." First he has six papers, and then he saw none but +two; for "my son Lucian's" benefit, let a pin be stuck here. + +Adams again adduces the argument, that he could not have forged +the assignment, for the reason that he could have had no motive +for it. With those that know the facts there is no absence of +motive. Admitting the paper which he has filed in the suit to be +genuine, it is clear that it cannot answer the purpose for which +he designs it. Hence his motive for making one that he supposed +would answer is obvious. His making the date too old is also +easily enough accounted for. The records were not in his hands, +and then, there being some considerable talk upon this particular +subject, he knew he could not examine the records to ascertain +the precise dates without subjecting himself to suspicion; and +hence he concluded to try it by guess, and, as it turned out, +missed it a little. About Miller's deposition I have a word to +say. In the first place, Miller's answer to the first question +shows upon its face that he had been tampered with, and the +answer dictated to him. He was asked if he knew Joel Wright and +James Adams; and above three-fourths of his answer consists of +what he knew about Joseph Anderson, a man about whom nothing had +been asked, nor a word said in the question--a fact that can only +be accounted for upon the supposition that Adams had secretly +told him what he wished him to swear to. + +Another of Miller's answers I will prove both by common sense and +the Court of Record is untrue. To one question he answers, +"Anderson brought a suit against me before James Adams, then an +acting justice of the peace in Sangamon County, before whom he +obtained a judgment. + +"Q.--Did you remove the same by injunction to the Sangamon +Circuit Court? Ans.--I did remove it." + +Now mark--it is said he removed it by injunction. The word +"injunction" in common language imports a command that some +person or thing shall not move or be removed; in law it has the +same meaning. An injunction issuing out of chancery to a justice +of the peace is a command to him to stop all proceedings in a +named case until further orders. It is not an order to remove +but to stop or stay something that is already moving. Besides +this, the records of the Sangamon Circuit Court show that the +judgment of which Miller swore was never removed into said Court +by injunction or otherwise. + +I have now to take notice of a part of Adams's address which in +the order of time should have been noticed before. It is in +these words: "I have now shown, in the opinion of two competent +judges, that the handwriting of the forged assignment differed +from mine, and by one of them that it could not be mistaken for +mine." That is false. Tinsley no doubt is the judge referred +to; and by reference to his certificate it will be seen that he +did not say the handwriting of the assignment could not be +mistaken for Adams's--nor did he use any other expression +substantially, or anything near substantially, the same. But if +Tinsley had said the handwriting could not be mistaken for +Adams's, it would have been equally unfortunate for Adams: for it +then would have contradicted Keys, who says, "I looked at the +writing and judged it the said Adams's or a good imitation." + +Adams speaks with much apparent confidence of his success on +attending lawsuits, and the ultimate maintenance of his title to +the land in question. Without wishing to disturb the pleasure of +his dream, I would say to him that it is not impossible that he +may yet be taught to sing a different song in relation to the +matter. + +At the end of Miller's deposition, Adams asks, "Will Mr. Lincoln +now say that he is almost convinced my title to this ten acre +tract of land is founded in fraud?" I answer, I will not. I will +now change the phraseology so as to make it run--I am quite +convinced, &c. I cannot pass in silence Adams's assertion that +he has proved that the forged assignment was not in the deed when +it came from his house by Talbott, the recorder. In this, +although Talbott has sworn that the assignment was in the bundle +of deeds when it came from his house, Adams has the unaccountable +assurance to say that he has proved the contrary by Talbott. Let +him or his friends attempt to show wherein he proved any such +thing by Talbott. + +In his publication of the 6th of September he hinted to Talbott, +that he might be mistaken. In his present, speaking of Talbott +and me he says "They may have been imposed upon." Can any man of +the least penetration fail to see the object of this? After be +has stormed and raged till he hopes and imagines he has got us a +little scared he wishes to softly whisper in our ears, "If you'll +quit I will." If he could get us to say that some unknown, +undefined being had slipped the assignment into our hands without +our knowledge, not a doubt remains but that be would immediately +discover that we were the purest men on earth. This is the +ground he evidently wishes us to understand he is willing to +compromise upon. But we ask no such charity at his hands. We +are neither mistaken nor imposed upon. We have made the +statements we have because we know them to be true and we choose +to live or die by them. + +Esq. Carter, who is Adams's friend, personal and political, will +recollect, that, on the 5th of this month, he (Adams), with a +great affectation of modesty, declared that he would never +introduce his own child as a witness. Notwithstanding this +affectation of modesty, he has in his present publication +introduced his child as witness; and as if to show with how much +contempt he could treat his own declaration, he has had this same +Esq. Carter to administer the oath to him. And so important a +witness does he consider him, and so entirely does the whole of +his entire present production depend upon the testimony of his +child, that in it he has mentioned "my son," "my son Lucian," +"Lucian, my son," and the like expressions no less than fifteen +different times. Let it be remembered here, that I have shown +the affidavit of "my darling son Lucian" to be false by the +evidence apparent on its own face; and I now ask if that +affidavit be taken away what foundation will the fabric have left +to stand upon? + +General Adams's publications and out-door maneuvering, taken in +connection with the editorial articles of the Republican, are not +more foolish and contradictory than they are ludicrous and +amusing. One week the Republican notifies the public that Gen. +Adams is preparing an instrument that will tear, rend, split, +rive, blow up, confound, overwhelm, annihilate, extinguish, +exterminate, burst asunder, and grind to powder all its +slanderers, and particularly Talbott and Lincoln--all of which is +to be done in due time. + +Then for two or three weeks all is calm--not a word said. Again +the Republican comes forth with a mere passing remark that +"public" opinion has decided in favor of Gen. Adams, and +intimates that he will give himself no more trouble about the +matter. In the meantime Adams himself is prowling about and, as +Burns says of the devil, "For prey, and holes and corners +tryin'," and in one instance goes so far as to take an old +acquaintance of mine several steps from a crowd and, apparently +weighed down with the importance of his business, gravely and +solemnly asks him if "he ever heard Lincoln say he was a deist." + +Anon the Republican comes again. "We invite the attention of the +public to General Adams's communication," &c. "The victory is a +great one, the triumph is overwhelming." I really believe the +editor of the Illinois Republican is fool enough to think General +Adams leads off--"Authors most egregiously mistaken &c. Most +woefully shall their presumption be punished," &c. (Lord have +mercy on us.) "The hour is yet to come, yea, nigh at hand--(how +long first do you reckon ?)--when the Journal and its junto shall +say, I have appeared too early." "Their infamy shall be laid bare +to the public gaze." Suddenly the General appears to relent at +the severity with which he is treating us and he exclaims: "The +condemnation of my enemies is the inevitable result of my own +defense." For your health's sake, dear Gen., do not permit your +tenderness of heart to afflict you so much on our account. For +some reason (perhaps because we are killed so quickly) we shall +never be sensible of our suffering. + +Farewell, General. I will see you again at court if not before-- +when and where we will settle the question whether you or the +widow shall have the land. + +A. LINCOLN. +October 18, 1837. + + + + +1838 + + +TO Mrs. O. H. BROWNING--A FARCE + +SPRINGFIELD, April 1, 1838. + +DEAR MADAM:--Without apologizing for being egotistical, I shall +make the history of so much of my life as has elapsed since I saw +you the subject of this letter. And, by the way, I now discover +that, in order to give a full and intelligible account of the +things I have done and suffered since I saw you, I shall +necessarily have to relate some that happened before. + +It was, then, in the autumn of 1836 that a married lady of my +acquaintance, and who was a great friend of mine, being about to +pay a visit to her father and other relatives residing in +Kentucky, proposed to me that on her return she would bring a +sister of hers with her on condition that I would engage to +become her brother-in-law with all convenient despatch. I, of +course, accepted the proposal, for you know I could not have done +otherwise had I really been averse to it; but privately, between +you and me, I was most confoundedly well pleased with the +project. I had seen the said sister some three years before, +thought her intelligent and agreeable, and saw no good objection +to plodding life through hand in hand with her. Time passed on; +the lady took her journey and in due time returned, sister in +company, sure enough. This astonished me a little, for it +appeared to me that her coming so readily showed that she was a +trifle too willing, but on reflection it occurred to me that she +might have been prevailed on by her married sister to come +without anything concerning me ever having been mentioned to her, +and so I concluded that if no other objection presented itself, I +would consent to waive this. All this occurred to me on hearing +of her arrival in the neighborhood--for, be it remembered, I had +not yet seen her, except about three years previous, as above +mentioned. In a few days we had an interview, and, although I +had seen her before, she did not look as my imagination had +pictured her. I knew she was over-size, but she now appeared a +fair match for Falstaff. I knew she was called an "old maid," +and I felt no doubt of the truth of at least half of the +appellation, but now, when I beheld her, I could not for my life +avoid thinking of my mother; and this, not from withered +features,--for her skin was too full of fat to permit of its +contracting into wrinkles,--but from her want of teeth, weather- +beaten appearance in general, and from a kind of notion that ran +in my head that nothing could have commenced at the size of +infancy and reached her present bulk in less than thirty-five or +forty years; and in short, I was not at all pleased with her. +But what could I do? I had told her sister that I would take her +for better or for worse, and I made a point of honor and +conscience in all things to stick to my word especially if others +had been induced to act on it which in this case I had no doubt +they had, for I was now fairly convinced that no other man on +earth would have her, and hence the conclusion that they were +bent on holding me to my bargain. + +"Well," thought I, "I have said it, and, be the consequences what +they may, it shall not be my fault if I fail to do it." At once I +determined to consider her my wife; and, this done, all my powers +of discovery were put to work in search of perfections in her +which might be fairly set off against her defects. I tried to +imagine her handsome, which, but for her unfortunate corpulency, +was actually true. Exclusive of this no woman that I have ever +seen has a finer face. I also tried to convince myself that the +mind was much more to be valued than the person; and in this she +was not inferior, as I could discover, to any with whom I had +been acquainted. + +Shortly after this, without coming to any positive understanding +with her, I set out for Vandalia, when and where you first saw +me. During my stay there I had letters from her which did not +change my opinion of either her intellect or intention, but on +the contrary confirmed it in both. + +All this while, although I was fixed, "firm as the surge- +repelling rock," in my resolution, I found I was continually +repenting the rashness which had led me to make it. Through +life, I have been in no bondage, either real or imaginary, from +the thraldom of which I so much desired to be free. After my +return home, I saw nothing to change my opinions of her in any +particular. She was the same, and so was I. I now spent my time +in planning how I might get along through life after my +contemplated change of circumstances should have taken place, and +how I might procrastinate the evil day for a time, which I really +dreaded as much, perhaps more, than an Irishman does the halter. + +After all my suffering upon this deeply interesting subject, here +I am, wholly, unexpectedly, completely, out of the "scrape"; and +now I want to know if you can guess how I got out of it----out, +clear, in every sense of the term; no violation of word, honor, +or conscience. I don't believe you can guess, and so I might as +well tell you at once. As the lawyer says, it was done in the +manner following, to wit: After I had delayed the matter as long +as I thought I could in honor do (which, by the way, had brought +me round into the last fall), I concluded I might as well bring +it to a consummation without further delay; and so I mustered my +resolution, and made the proposal to her direct; but, shocking to +relate, she answered, No. At first I supposed she did it through +an affectation of modesty, which I thought but ill became her +under the peculiar circumstances of her case; but on my renewal +of the charge, I found she repelled it with greater firmness than +before. I tried it again and again but with the same success, or +rather with the same want of success. + +I finally was forced to give it up; at which I very unexpectedly +found myself mortified almost beyond endurance. I was mortified, +it seemed to me, in a hundred different ways. My vanity was +deeply wounded by the reflection that I had been too stupid to +discover her intentions, and at the same time never doubting that +I understood them perfectly, and also that she, whom I had taught +myself to believe nobody else would have, had actually rejected +me with all my fancied greatness. And, to cap the whole, I then +for the first time began to suspect that I was really a little in +love with her. But let it all go. I'll try and outlive it. +Others have been made fools of by the girls, but this can never +with truth be said of me. I most emphatically in this instance, +made a fool of myself. I have now come to the conclusion never +again to think of marrying, and for this reason: I can never be +satisfied with any one who would be blockhead enough to have me. + +When you receive this, write me a long yarn about something to +amuse me. Give my respects to Mr. Browning. + +Your sincere friend, +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +1839 + + +REMARKS ON SALE OF PUBLIC LANDS + +IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, January 17, 1839. + +Mr. Lincoln, from Committee on Finance, to which the subject was +referred, made a report on the subject of purchasing of the +United States all the unsold lands lying within the limits of the +State of Illinois, accompanied by resolutions that this State +propose to purchase all unsold lands at twenty-five cents per +acre, and pledging the faith of the State to carry the proposal +into effect if the government accept the same within two years. + +Mr. Lincoln thought the resolutions ought to be seriously +considered. In reply to the gentleman from Adams, he said that +it was not to enrich the State. The price of the lands may be +raised, it was thought by some; by others, that it would be +reduced. The conclusion in his mind was that the representatives +in this Legislature from the country in which the lands lie would +be opposed to raising the price, because it would operate against +the settlement of the lands. He referred to the lands in the +military tract. They had fallen into the hands of large +speculators in consequence of the low price. He was opposed to a +low price of land. He thought it was adverse to the interests of +the poor settler, because speculators buy them up. He was +opposed to a reduction of the price of public lands. + +Mr. Lincoln referred to some official documents emanating from +Indiana, and compared the progressive population of the two +States. Illinois had gained upon that State under the public +land system as it is. His conclusion was that ten years from +this time Illinois would have no more public land unsold than +Indiana now has. He referred also to Ohio. That State had sold +nearly all her public lands. She was but twenty years ahead of +us, and as our lands were equally salable--more so, as he +maintained--we should have no more twenty years from now than she +has at present. + +Mr. Lincoln referred to the canal lands, and supposed that the +policy of the State would be different in regard to them, if the +representatives from that section of country could themselves +choose the policy; but the representatives from other parts of +the State had a veto upon it, and regulated the policy. He +thought that if the State had all the lands, the policy of the +Legislature would be more liberal to all sections. + +He referred to the policy of the General Government. He thought +that if the national debt had not been paid, the expenses of the +government would not have doubled, as they had done since that +debt was paid. + + + + +TO _________ ROW. + +SPRINGFIELD, June 11, 1839 + +DEAR ROW: + +Mr. Redman informs me that you wish me to write you the +particulars of a conversation between Dr. Felix and myself +relative to you. The Dr. overtook me between Rushville and +Beardstown. + +He, after learning that I had lived at Springfield, asked if I +was acquainted with you. I told him I was. He said you had +lately been elected constable in Adams, but that you never would +be again. I asked him why. He said the people there had found +out that you had been sheriff or deputy sheriff in Sangamon +County, and that you came off and left your securities to suffer. +He then asked me if I did not know such to be the fact. I told +him I did not think you had ever been sheriff or deputy sheriff +in Sangamon, but that I thought you had been constable. I +further told him that if you had left your securities to suffer +in that or any other case, I had never heard of it, and that if +it had been so, I thought I would have heard of it. + +If the Dr. is telling that I told him anything against you +whatever, I authorize you to contradict it flatly. We have no +news here. + +Your friend, as ever, + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +SPEECH ON NATIONAL BANK + +IN THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES + +SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, December 20, 1839. + +FELLOW-CITIZENS:--It is peculiarly embarrassing to me to attempt +a continuance of the discussion, on this evening, which has been +conducted in this hall on several preceding ones. It is so +because on each of those evenings there was a much fuller +attendance than now, without any reason for its being so, except +the greater interest the community feel in the speakers who +addressed them then than they do in him who is to do so now. I +am, indeed, apprehensive that the few who have attended have done +so more to spare me mortification than in the hope of being +interested in anything I may be able to say. This circumstance +casts a damp upon my spirits, which I am sure I shall be unable +to overcome during the evening. But enough of preface. + +The subject heretofore and now to be discussed is the subtreasury +scheme of the present administration, as a means of collecting, +safe-keeping, transferring, and disbursing, the revenues of the +nation, as contrasted with a national bank for the same purposes. +Mr. Douglas has said that we (the Whigs) have not dared to meet +them (the Locos) in argument on this question. I protest against +this assertion. I assert that we have again and again, during +this discussion, urged facts and arguments against the +subtreasury which they have neither dared to deny nor attempted +to answer. But lest some may be led to believe that we really +wish to avoid the question, I now propose, in my humble way, to +urge those arguments again; at the same time begging the audience +to mark well the positions I shall take and the proof I shall +offer to sustain them, and that they will not again permit Mr. +Douglas or his friends to escape the force of them by a round and +groundless assertion that we "dare not meet them in argument." + +Of the subtreasury, then, as contrasted with a national bank for +the before-enumerated purposes, I lay down the following +propositions, to wit: (1) It will injuriously affect the +community by its operation on the circulating medium. (2) It +will be a more expensive fiscal agent. (3) It will be a less +secure depository of the public money. To show the truth of the +first proposition, let us take a short review of our condition +under the operation of a national bank. It was the depository of +the public revenues. Between the collection of those revenues +and the disbursement of them by the government, the bank was +permitted to and did actually loan them out to individuals, and +hence the large amount of money actually collected for revenue +purposes, which by any other plan would have been idle a great +portion of the time, was kept almost constantly in circulation. +Any person who will reflect that money is only valuable while in +circulation will readily perceive that any device which will keep +the government revenues in constant circulation, instead of being +locked up in idleness, is no inconsiderable advantage. By the +subtreasury the revenue is to be collected and kept in iron boxes +until the government wants it for disbursement; thus robbing the +people of the use of it, while the government does not itself +need it, and while the money is performing no nobler office than +that of rusting in iron boxes. The natural effect of this change +of policy, every one will see, is to reduce the quantity of money +in circulation. But, again, by the subtreasury scheme the +revenue is to be collected in specie. I anticipate that this +will be disputed. I expect to hear it said that it is not the +policy of the administration to collect the revenue in specie. +If it shall, I reply that Mr. Van Buren, in his message +recommending the subtreasury, expended nearly a column of that +document in an attempt to persuade Congress to provide for the +collection of the revenue in specie exclusively; and he concludes +with these words: + +"It may be safely assumed that no motive of convenience to the +citizens requires the reception of bank paper." In addition to +this, Mr. Silas Wright, Senator from New York, and the political, +personal and confidential friend of Mr. Van Buren, drafted and +introduced into the Senate the first subtreasury bill, and that +bill provided for ultimately collecting the revenue in specie. +It is true, I know, that that clause was stricken from the bill, +but it was done by the votes of the Whigs, aided by a portion +only of the Van Buren senators. No subtreasury bill has yet +become a law, though two or three have been considered by +Congress, some with and some without the specie clause; so that I +admit there is room for quibbling upon the question of whether +the administration favor the exclusive specie doctrine or not; +but I take it that the fact that the President at first urged the +specie doctrine, and that under his recommendation the first bill +introduced embraced it, warrants us in charging it as the policy +of the party until their head as publicly recants it as he at +first espoused it. I repeat, then, that by the subtreasury the +revenue is to be collected in specie. Now mark what the effect +of this must be. By all estimates ever made there are but +between sixty and eighty millions of specie in the United States. +The expenditures of the Government for the year 1838--the last +for which we have had the report--were forty millions. Thus it +is seen that if the whole revenue be collected in specie, it will +take more than half of all the specie in the nation to do it. By +this means more than half of all the specie belonging to the +fifteen millions of souls who compose the whole population of the +country is thrown into the hands of the public office-holders, +and other public creditors comprising in number perhaps not more +than one quarter of a million, leaving the other fourteen +millions and three quarters to get along as they best can, with +less than one half of the specie of the country, and whatever +rags and shinplasters they may be able to put, and keep, in +circulation. By this means, every office-holder and other public +creditor may, and most likely will, set up shaver; and a most +glorious harvest will the specie-men have of it,--each specie- +man, upon a fair division, having to his share the fleecing of +about fifty-nine rag-men. In all candor let me ask, was such a +system for benefiting the few at the expense of the many ever +before devised? And was the sacred name of Democracy ever before +made to indorse such an enormity against the rights of the +people? + +I have already said that the subtreasury will reduce the quantity +of money in circulation. This position is strengthened by the +recollection that the revenue is to be collected in Specie, so +that the mere amount of revenue is not all that is withdrawn, but +the amount of paper circulation that the forty millions would +serve as a basis to is withdrawn, which would be in a sound state +at least one hundred millions. When one hundred millions, or +more, of the circulation we now have shall be withdrawn, who can +contemplate without terror the distress, ruin, bankruptcy, and +beggary that must follow? The man who has purchased any article-- +say a horse--on credit, at one hundred dollars, when there are +two hundred millions circulating in the country, if the quantity +be reduced to one hundred millions by the arrival of pay-day, +will find the horse but sufficient to pay half the debt; and the +other half must either be paid out of his other means, and +thereby become a clear loss to him, or go unpaid, and thereby +become a clear loss to his creditor. What I have here said of a +single case of the purchase of a horse will hold good in every +case of a debt existing at the time a reduction in the quantity +of money occurs, by whomsoever, and for whatsoever, it may have +been contracted. It may be said that what the debtor loses the +creditor gains by this operation; but on examination this will be +found true only to a very limited extent. It is more generally +true that all lose by it--the creditor by losing more of his +debts than he gains by the increased value of those he collects; +the debtor by either parting with more of his property to pay his +debts than he received in contracting them, or by entirely +breaking up his business, and thereby being thrown upon the world +in idleness. + +The general distress thus created will, to be sure, be temporary, +because, whatever change may occur in the quantity of money in +any community, time will adjust the derangement produced; but +while that adjustment is progressing, all suffer more or less, +and very many lose everything that renders life desirable. Why, +then, shall we suffer a severe difficulty, even though it be but +temporary, unless we receive some equivalent for it? + +What I have been saying as to the effect produced by a reduction +of the quantity of money relates to the whole country. I now +propose to show that it would produce a peculiar and permanent +hardship upon the citizens of those States and Territories in +which the public lands lie. The land-offices in those States and +Territories, as all know, form the great gulf by which all, or +nearly all, the money in them is swallowed up. When the quantity +of money shall be reduced, and consequently everything under +individual control brought down in proportion, the price of those +lands, being fixed by law, will remain as now. Of necessity it +will follow that the produce or labor that now raises money +sufficient to purchase eighty acres will then raise but +sufficient to purchase forty, or perhaps not that much; and this +difficulty and hardship will last as long, in some degree, as any +portion of these lands shall remain undisposed of. Knowing, as I +well do, the difficulty that poor people now encounter in +procuring homes, I hesitate not to say that when the price of the +public lands shall be doubled or trebled, or, which is the same +thing, produce and labor cut down to one half or one third of +their present prices, it will be little less than impossible for +them to procure those homes at all.... + +Well, then, what did become of him? (Postmaster General Barry) +Why, the President immediately expressed his high disapprobation +of his almost unequaled incapacity and corruption by appointing +him to a foreign mission, with a salary and outfit of $18,000 a +year! The party now attempt to throw Barry off, and to avoid the +responsibility of his sins. Did not the President indorse those +sins when, on the very heel of their commission, he appointed +their author to the very highest and most honorable office in his +gift, and which is but a single step behind the very goal of +American political ambition? + +I return to another of Mr. Douglas's excuses for the expenditures +of 1838, at the same time announcing the pleasing intelligence +that this is the last one. He says that ten millions of that +year's expenditure was a contingent appropriation, to prosecute +an anticipated war with Great Britain on the Maine boundary +question. Few words will settle this. First, that the ten +millions appropriated was not made till 1839, and consequently +could not have been expended in 1838; second, although it was +appropriated, it has never been expended at all. Those who heard +Mr. Douglas recollect that he indulged himself in a contemptuous +expression of pity for me. "Now he's got me," thought I. But +when he went on to say that five millions of the expenditure of +1838 were payments of the French indemnities, which I knew to be +untrue; that five millions had been for the post-office, which I +knew to be untrue; that ten millions had been for the Maine +boundary war, which I not only knew to be untrue, but supremely +ridiculous also; and when I saw that he was stupid enough to hope +that I would permit such groundless and audacious assertions to +go unexposed,--I readily consented that, on the score both of +veracity and sagacity, the audience should judge whether he or I +were the more deserving of the world's contempt. + +Mr. Lamborn insists that the difference between the Van Buren +party and the Whigs is that, although the former sometimes err in +practice, they are always correct in principle, whereas the +latter are wrong in principle; and, better to impress this +proposition, he uses a figurative expression in these words: "The +Democrats are vulnerable in the heel, but they are sound in the +head and the heart." The first branch of the figure--that is, +that the Democrats are vulnerable in the heel--I admit is not +merely figuratively, but literally true. Who that looks but for +a moment at their Swartwouts, their Prices, their Harringtons, +and their hundreds of others, scampering away with the public +money to Texas, to Europe, and to every spot of the earth where a +villain may hope to find refuge from justice, can at all doubt +that they are most distressingly affected in their heels with a +species of "running itch"? It seems that this malady of their +heels operates on these sound-headed and honest-hearted creatures +very much like the cork leg in the comic song did on its owner: +which, when he had once got started on it, the more he tried to +stop it, the more it would run away. At the hazard of wearing +this point threadbare, I will relate an anecdote which seems too +strikingly in point to be omitted. A witty Irish soldier, who +was always boasting of his bravery when no danger was near, but +who invariably retreated without orders at the first charge of an +engagement, being asked by his captain why he did so, replied: +"Captain, I have as brave a heart as Julius Caesar ever had; but, +somehow or other, whenever danger approaches, my cowardly legs +will run away with it." So with Mr. Lamborn's party. They take +the public money into their hand for the most laudable purpose +that wise heads and honest hearts can dictate; but before they +can possibly get it out again, their rascally "vulnerable heels" +will run away with them. + +Seriously this proposition of Mr. Lamborn is nothing more or less +than a request that his party may be tried by their professions +instead of their practices. Perhaps no position that the party +assumes is more liable to or more deserving of exposure than this +very modest request; and nothing but the unwarrantable length to +which I have already extended these remarks forbids me now +attempting to expose it. For the reason given, I pass it by. + +I shall advert to but one more point. Mr. Lamborn refers to the +late elections in the States, and from their results confidently +predicts that every State in the Union will vote for Mr. Van +Buren at the next Presidential election. Address that argument +to cowards and to knaves; with the free and the brave it will +effect nothing. It may be true; if it must, let it. Many free +countries have lost their liberty, and ours may lose hers; but if +she shall, be it my proudest plume, not that I was the last to +desert, but that I never deserted her. I know that the great +volcano at Washington, aroused and directed by the evil spirit +that reigns there, is belching forth the lava of political +corruption in a current broad and deep, which is sweeping with +frightful velocity over the whole length and breadth of the land, +bidding fair to leave unscathed no green spot or living thing; +while on its bosom are riding, like demons on the waves of hell, +the imps of that evil spirit, and fiendishly taunting all those +who dare resist its destroying course with the hopelessness of +their effort; and, knowing this, I cannot deny that all may be +swept away. Broken by it I, too, may be; bow to it I never will. +The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to +deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it +shall not deter me. If ever I feel the soul within me elevate +and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of its +almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my +country deserted by all the world beside, and I standing up +boldly and alone, and hurling defiance at her victorious +oppressors. Here, without contemplating consequences, before +high heaven and in the face of the world, I swear eternal +fidelity to the just cause, as I deem it, of the land of my life, +my liberty, and my love. And who that thinks with me will not +fearlessly adopt the oath that I take? Let none falter who thinks +he is right, and we may succeed. But if, after all, we shall +fail, be it so. We still shall have the proud consolation of +saying to our consciences, and to the departed shade of our +country's freedom, that the cause approved of our judgment, and +adored of our hearts, in disaster, in chains, in torture, in +death, we never faltered in defending. + + + + +TO JOHN T. STUART. + +SPRINGFIELD, December 23, 1839. + +DEAR STUART: + +Dr. Henry will write you all the political news. I write this +about some little matters of business. You recollect you told me +you had drawn the Chicago Masark money, and sent it to the +claimants. A hawk-billed Yankee is here besetting me at every +turn I take, saying that Robert Kinzie never received the eighty +dollars to which he was entitled. Can you tell me anything about +the matter? Again, old Mr. Wright, who lives up South Fork +somewhere, is teasing me continually about some deeds which he +says he left with you, but which I can find nothing of. Can you +tell me where they are? The Legislature is in session and has +suffered the bank to forfeit its charter without benefit of +clergy. There seems to be little disposition to resuscitate it. + +Whenever a letter comes from you to Mrs._____________ +I carry it to her, and then I see Betty; she is a tolerable nice +"fellow" now. Maybe I will write again when I get more time. + +Your friend as ever, +A. LINCOLN + +P. S.--The Democratic giant is here, but he is not much worth +talking about. +A.L. + + + + +1840 + + +CIRCULAR FROM WHIG COMMITTEE. + +Confidential. + +January [1?], 1840. + +To MESSRS _______ + +GENTLEMEN:--In obedience to a resolution of the Whig State +convention, we have appointed you the Central Whig Committee of +your county. The trust confided to you will be one of +watchfulness and labor; but we hope the glory of having +contributed to the overthrow of the corrupt powers that now +control our beloved country will be a sufficient reward for the +time and labor you will devote to it. Our Whig brethren +throughout the Union have met in convention, and after due +deliberation and mutual concessions have elected candidates for +the Presidency and Vice-Presidency not only worthy of our cause, +but worthy of the support of every true patriot who would have +our country redeemed, and her institutions honestly and +faithfully administered. To overthrow the trained bands that are +opposed to us whose salaried officers are ever on the watch, and +whose misguided followers are ever ready to obey their smallest +commands, every Whig must not only know his duty, but must firmly +resolve, whatever of time and labor it may cost, boldly and +faithfully to do it. Our intention is to organize the whole +State, so that every Whig can be brought to the polls in the +coming Presidential contest. We cannot do this, however, without +your co-operation; and as we do our duty, so we shall expect you +to do yours. After due deliberation, the following is the plan +of organization, and the duties required of each county +committee: + +(1) To divide their county into small districts, and to appoint +in each a subcommittee, whose duty it shall be to make a perfect +list of all the voters in their respective districts, and to +ascertain with certainty for whom they will vote. If they meet +with men who are doubtful as to the man they will support, such +voters should be designated in separate lines, with the name of +the man they will probably support. + +(2) It will be the duty of said subcommittee to keep a constant +watch on the doubtful voters, and from time to time have them +talked to by those in whom they have the most confidence, and +also to place in their hands such documents as will enlighten and +influence them. + +(3) It will also be their duty to report to you, at least once a +month, the progress they are making, and on election days see +that every Whig is brought to the polls. + +(4) The subcommittees should be appointed immediately; and by the +last of April, at least, they should make their first report. + +(5) On the first of each month hereafter we shall expect to hear +from you. After the first report of your subcommittees, unless +there should be found a great many doubtful voters, you can tell +pretty accurately the manner in which your county will vote. In +each of your letters to us, you will state the number of certain +votes both for and against us, as well as the number of doubtful +votes, with your opinion of the manner in which they will be +cast. + +(6) When we have heard from all the counties, we shall be able to +tell with similar accuracy the political complexion of the State. +This information will be forwarded to you as soon as received. + +(7) Inclosed is a prospectus for a newspaper to be continued +until after the Presidential election. It will be superintended +by ourselves, and every Whig in the State must take it. It will +be published so low that every one can afford it. You must raise +a fund and forward us for extra copies,--every county ought to +send--fifty or one hundred dollars,--and the copies will be +forwarded to you for distribution among our political opponents. +The paper will be devoted exclusively to the great cause in which +we are engaged. Procure subscriptions, and forward them to us +immediately. + +(8) Immediately after any election in your county, you must +inform us of its results; and as early as possible after any +general election we will give you the like information. + +(9) A senator in Congress is to be elected by our next +Legislature. Let no local interests divide you, but select +candidates that can succeed. + +(10) Our plan of operations will of course be concealed from +every one except our good friends who of right ought to know +them. + +Trusting much in our good cause, the strength of our candidates, +and the determination of the Whigs everywhere to do their duty, +we go to the work of organization in this State confident of +success. We have the numbers, and if properly organized and +exerted, with the gallant Harrison at our head, we shall meet our +foes and conquer them in all parts of the Union. + +Address your letters to Dr. A. G. Henry, R. F, Barrett; A. +Lincoln, E. D. Baker, J. F. Speed. + + + + +TO JOHN T. STUART. + +SPRINGFIELD, +March 1, 1840 + +DEAR STUART: + +I have never seen the prospects of our party so bright in these +parts as they are now. We shall carry this county by a larger +majority than we did in 1836, when you ran against May. I do not +think my prospects, individually, are very flattering, for I +think it probable I shall not be permitted to be a candidate; but +the party ticket will succeed triumphantly. Subscriptions to the +"Old Soldier" pour in without abatement. This morning I took +from the post office a letter from Dubois enclosing the names of +sixty subscribers, and on carrying it to Francis I found he had +received one hundred and forty more from other quarters by the +same day's mail. That is but an average specimen of every day's +receipts. Yesterday Douglas, having chosen to consider himself +insulted by something in the Journal, undertook to cane Francis +in the street. Francis caught him by the hair and jammed him +back against a market cart where the matter ended by Francis +being pulled away from him. The whole affair was so ludicrous +that Francis and everybody else (Douglass excepted) have been +laughing about it ever since. + +I send you the names of some of the V.B. men who have come out +for Harrison about town, and suggest that you send them some +documents. + +Moses Coffman (he let us appoint him a delegate yesterday), Aaron +Coffman, George Gregory, H. M. Briggs, Johnson (at Birchall's +Bookstore), Michael Glyn, Armstrong (not Hosea nor Hugh, but a +carpenter), Thomas Hunter, Moses Pileher (he was always a Whig +and deserves attention), Matthew Crowder Jr., Greenberry Smith; +John Fagan, George Fagan, William Fagan (these three fell out +with us about Early, and are doubtful now), John M. Cartmel, +Noah Rickard, John Rickard, Walter Marsh. + +The foregoing should be addressed at Springfield. + +Also send some to Solomon Miller and John Auth at Salisbury. +Also to Charles Harper, Samuel Harper, and B. C. Harper, and T. +J. Scroggins, John Scroggins at Pulaski, Logan County. + +Speed says he wrote you what Jo Smith said about you as he passed +here. We will procure the names of some of his people here, and +send them to you before long. Speed also says you must not fail +to send us the New York Journal he wrote for some time since. + +Evan Butler is jealous that you never send your compliments to +him. You must not neglect him next time. + +Your friend, as ever, +A. LINCOLN + + + + +RESOLUTION IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. + +November 28, 1840. + +In the Illinois House of Representatives, November 28, 1840, Mr. +Lincoln offered the following: + +Resolved, That so much of the governor's message as relates to +fraudulent voting, and other fraudulent practices at elections, +be referred to the Committee on Elections, with instructions to +said committee to prepare and report to the House a bill for such +an act as may in their judgment afford the greatest possible +protection of the elective franchise against all frauds of all +sorts whatever. + + + + +RESOLUTION IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. + +December 2, 1840. + +Resolved, That the Committee on Education be instructed to +inquire into the expediency of providing by law for the +examination as to the qualification of persons offering +themselves as school teachers, that no teacher shall receive any +part of the public school fund who shall not have successfully +passed such examination, and that they report by bill or +otherwise. + + + + +REMARKS IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. + +December 4, 1840 + +In the House of Representatives, Illinois, December 4, 1840, on +presentation of a report respecting petition of H. N. Purple, +claiming the seat of Mr. Phelps from Peoria, Mr. Lincoln moved +that the House resolve itself into Committee of the Whole on the +question, and take it up immediately. Mr. Lincoln considered the +question of the highest importance whether an individual had a +right to sit in this House or not. The course he should propose +would be to take up the evidence and decide upon the facts +seriatim. + +Mr. Drummond wanted time; they could not decide in the heat of +debate, etc. + +Mr. Lincoln thought that the question had better be gone into +now. In courts of law jurors were required to decide on +evidence, without previous study or examination. They were +required to know nothing of the subject until the evidence was +laid before them for their immediate decision. He thought that +the heat of party would be augmented by delay. + +The Speaker called Mr. Lincoln to order as being irrelevant; no +mention had been made of party heat. + +Mr. Drummond said he had only spoken of debate. Mr. Lincoln +asked what caused the heat, if it was not party? Mr. Lincoln +concluded by urging that the question would be decided now better +than hereafter, and he thought with less heat and excitement. + +(Further debate, in which Lincoln participated.) + + + + +REMARKS IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. + +December 4, 1840. + +In the Illinois House of Representatives, December 4, 1840, House +in Committee of the Whole on the bill providing for payment of +interest on the State debt,--Mr. Lincoln moved to strike out the +body and amendments of the bill, and insert in lieu thereof an +amendment which in substance was that the governor be authorized +to issue bonds for the payment of the interest; that these be +called "interest bonds"; that the taxes accruing on Congress +lands as they become taxable be irrevocably set aside and devoted +as a fund to the payment of the interest bonds. Mr. Lincoln went +into the reasons which appeared to him to render this plan +preferable to that of hypothecating the State bonds. By this +course we could get along till the next meeting of the +Legislature, which was of great importance. To the objection +which might be urged that these interest bonds could not be +cashed, he replied that if our other bonds could, much more could +these, which offered a perfect security, a fund being irrevocably +set aside to provide for their redemption. To another objection, +that we should be paying compound interest, he would reply that +the rapid growth and increase of our resources was in so great a +ratio as to outstrip the difficulty; that his object was to do +the best that could be done in the present emergency. All agreed +that the faith of the State must be preserved; this plan appeared +to him preferable to a hypothecation of bonds, which would have +to be redeemed and the interest paid. How this was to be done, he +could not see; therefore he had, after turning the matter over in +every way, devised this measure, which would carry us on till the +next Legislature. + +(Mr. Lincoln spoke at some length, advocating his measure.) + +Lincoln advocated his measure, December 11, 1840. + +December 12, 1840, he had thought some permanent provision ought +to be made for the bonds to be hypothecated, but was satisfied +taxation and revenue could not be connected with it now. + + + + +1841 + + +TO JOHN T. STUART--ON DEPRESSION + +SPRINGFIELD, Jan 23, 1841 + +DEAR STUART: +I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were +equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be +one cheerful face on earth. Whether I shall ever be better, I +cannot tell; I awfully forbode I shall not. To remain as I am is +impossible. I must die or be better, as it appears to me.... +I fear I shall be unable to attend any business here, and a +change of scene might help me. If I could be myself, I would +rather remain at home with Judge Logan. I can write no more. + + + + +REMARKS IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. + +January 23, 1841 + + +In the House of Representatives January 23, 1841, while +discussing the continuation of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, +Mr. Moore was afraid the holders of the "scrip" would lose. + +Mr. Napier thought there was no danger of that; and Mr. Lincoln +said he had not examined to see what amount of scrip would +probably be needed. The principal point in his mind was this, +that nobody was obliged to take these certificates. It is +altogether voluntary on their part, and if they apprehend it will +fall in their hands they will not take it. Further the loss, if +any there be, will fall on the citizens of that section of the +country. + +This scrip is not going to circulate over an extensive range of +country, but will be confined chiefly to the vicinity of the +canal. Now, we find the representatives of that section of the +country are all in favor of the bill. + +When we propose to protect their interests, they say to us: Leave +us to take care of ourselves; we are willing to run the risk. +And this is reasonable; we must suppose they are competent to +protect their own interests, and it is only fair to let them do +it. + + + + +CIRCULAR FROM WHIG COMMITTEE. + +February 9, 1841. + +Appeal to the People of the State of Illinois. + +FELLOW-CITIZENS:--When the General Assembly, now about +adjourning, assembled in November last, from the bankrupt state +of the public treasury, the pecuniary embarrassments prevailing +in every department of society, the dilapidated state of the +public works, and the impending danger of the degradation of the +State, you had a right to expect that your representatives would +lose no time in devising and adopting measures to avert +threatened calamities, alleviate the distresses of the people, +and allay the fearful apprehensions in regard to the future +prosperity of the State. It was not expected by you that the +spirit of party would take the lead in the councils of the State, +and make every interest bend to its demands. Nor was it expected +that any party would assume to itself the entire control of +legislation, and convert the means and offices of the State, and +the substance of the people, into aliment for party subsistence. +Neither could it have been expected by you that party spirit, +however strong its desires and unreasonable its demands, would +have passed the sanctuary of the Constitution, and entered with +its unhallowed and hideous form into the formation of the +judiciary system. + +At the early period of the session, measures were adopted by the +dominant party to take possession of the State, to fill all +public offices with party men, and make every measure affecting +the interests of the people and the credit of the State operate +in furtherance of their party views. The merits of men and +measures therefore became the subject of discussion in caucus, +instead of the halls of legislation, and decisions there made by +a minority of the Legislature have been executed and carried into +effect by the force of party discipline, without any regard +whatever to the rights of the people or the interests of the +State. The Supreme Court of the State was organized, and judges +appointed, according to the provisions of the Constitution, in +1824. The people have never complained of the organization of +that court; no attempt has ever before been made to change that +department. Respect for public opinion, and regard for the +rights and liberties of the people, have hitherto restrained the +spirit of party from attacks upon the independence and integrity +of the judiciary. The same judges have continued in office since +1824; their decisions have not been the subject of complaint +among the people; the integrity and honesty of the court have not +been questioned, and it has never been supposed that the court +has ever permitted party prejudice or party considerations to +operate upon their decisions. The court was made to consist of +four judges, and by the Constitution two form a quorum for the +transaction of business. With this tribunal, thus constituted, +the people have been satisfied for near sixteen years. The same +law which organized the Supreme Court in 1824 also established +and organized circuit courts to be held in each county in the +State, and five circuit judges were appointed to hold those +courts. In 1826 the Legislature abolished these circuit courts, +repealed the judges out of office, and required the judges of the +Supreme Court to hold the circuit courts. The reasons assigned +for this change were, first, that the business of the country +could be better attended to by the four judges of the Supreme +Court than by the two sets of judges; and, second, the state of +the public treasury forbade the employment of unnecessary +officers. In 1828 a circuit was established north of the +Illinois River, in order to meet the wants of the people, and a +circuit judge was appointed to hold the courts in that circuit. + +In 1834 the circuit-court system was again established throughout +the State, circuit judges appointed to hold the courts, and the +judges of the Supreme Court were relieved from the performance of +circuit court duties. The change was recommended by the then +acting governor of the State, General W. L. D. Ewing, in the +following terms: + +"The augmented population of the State, the multiplied number of +organized counties, as well as the increase of business in all, +has long since convinced every one conversant with this +department of our government of the indispensable necessity of an +alteration in our judiciary system, and the subject is therefore +recommended to the earnest patriotic consideration of the +Legislature. The present system has never been exempt from +serious and weighty objections. The idea of appealing from the +circuit court to the same judges in the Supreme Court is +recommended by little hopes of redress to the injured party +below. The duties of the circuit, too, it may be added, consume +one half of the year, leaving a small and inadequate portion of +time (when that required for domestic purposes is deducted) to +erect, in the decisions of the Supreme Court, a judicial monument +of legal learning and research, which the talent and ability of +the court might otherwise be entirely competent to." + +With this organization of circuit courts the people have never +complained. The only complaints which we have heard have come +from circuits which were so large that the judges could not +dispose of the business, and the circuits in which Judges Pearson +and Ralston lately presided. + +Whilst the honor and credit of the State demanded legislation +upon the subject of the public debt, the canal, the unfinished +public works, and the embarrassments of the people, the judiciary +stood upon a basis which required no change--no legislative +action. Yet the party in power, neglecting every interest +requiring legislative action, and wholly disregarding the rights, +wishes, and interests of the people, has, for the unholy purpose +of providing places for its partisans and supplying them with +large salaries, disorganized that department of the government. +Provision is made for the election of five party judges of the +Supreme Court, the proscription of four circuit judges, and the +appointment of party clerks in more than half the counties of the +State. Men professing respect for public opinion, and +acknowledged to be leaders of the party, have avowed in the halls +of legislation that the change in the judiciary was intended to +produce political results favorable to their party and party +friends. The immutable principles of justice are to make way for +party interests, and the bonds of social order are to be rent in +twain, in order that a desperate faction may be sustained at the +expense of the people. The change proposed in the judiciary was +supported upon grounds so destructive to the institutions of the +country, and so entirely at war with the rights and liberties of +the people, that the party could not secure entire unanimity in +its support, three Democrats of the Senate and five of the House +voting against the measure. They were unwilling to see the +temples of justice and the seats of independent judges occupied +by the tools of faction. The declarations of the party leaders, +the selection of party men for judges, and the total disregard +for the public will in the adoption of the measure, prove +conclusively that the object has been not reform, but +destruction; not the advancement of the highest interests of the +State, but the predominance of party. + +We cannot in this manner undertake to point out all the +objections to this party measure; we present you with those +stated by the Council of Revision upon returning the bill, and we +ask for them a candid consideration. + +Believing that the independence of the judiciary has been +destroyed, that hereafter our courts will be independent of the +people, and entirely dependent upon the Legislature; that our +rights of property and liberty of conscience can no longer be +regarded as safe from the encroachments of unconstitutional +legislation; and knowing of no other remedy which can be adopted +consistently with the peace and good order of society, we call +upon you to avail yourselves of the opportunity afforded, and, at +the next general election, vote for a convention of the people. + +S. H. LITTLE, +E. D. BAKER, +J. J. HARDIN, +E. B. WEBS, +A. LINCOLN, +J. GILLESPIE, + +Committee on behalf of the Whig members of the Legislature. + + + + +EXTRACT FROM A PROTEST IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE AGAINST THE +REORGANIZATION OF THE JUDICIARY. + +February 26, 1841 + +For the reasons thus presented, and for others no less apparent, +the undersigned cannot assent to the passage of the bill, or +permit it to become a law, without this evidence of their +disapprobation; and they now protest against the reorganization +of the judiciary, because--(1) It violates the great principles +of free government by subjecting the judiciary to the +Legislature. (2) It is a fatal blow at the independence of the +judges and the constitutional term of their office. (3) It is a +measure not asked for, or wished for, by the people. (4) It will +greatly increase the expense of our courts, or else greatly +diminish their utility. (5) It will give our courts a political +and partisan character, thereby impairing public confidence in +their decisions. (6) It will impair our standing with other +States and the world. (7)It is a party measure for party +purposes, from which no practical good to the people can possibly +arise, but which may be the source of immeasurable evils. + +The undersigned are well aware that this protest will be +altogether unavailing with the majority of this body. The blow +has already fallen, and we are compelled to stand by, the +mournful spectators of the ruin it will cause. + +[Signed by 35 members, among whom was Abraham Lincoln.] + + + + +TO JOSHUA F. SPEED--MURDER CASE + +SPRINGFIELD June 19, 1841. + +DEAR SPEED:--We have had the highest state of excitement here for +a week past that our community has ever witnessed; and, although +the public feeling is somewhat allayed, the curious affair which +aroused it is very far from being even yet cleared of mystery. +It would take a quire of paper to give you anything like a full +account of it, and I therefore only propose a brief outline. The +chief personages in the drama are Archibald Fisher, supposed to +be murdered, and Archibald Trailor, Henry Trailor, and William +Trailor, supposed to have murdered him. The three Trailors are +brothers: the first, Arch., as you know, lives in town; the +second, Henry, in Clary's Grove; and the third, William, in +Warren County; and Fisher, the supposed murdered, being without a +family, had made his home with William. On Saturday evening, +being the 29th of May, Fisher and William came to Henry's in a +one-horse dearborn, and there stayed over Sunday; and on Monday +all three came to Springfield (Henry on horseback) and joined +Archibald at Myers's, the Dutch carpenter. That evening at +supper Fisher was missing, and so next morning some ineffectual +search was made for him; and on Tuesday, at one o'clock P.M., +William and Henry started home without him. In a day or two +Henry and one or two of his Clary-Grove neighbors came back for +him again, and advertised his disappearance in the papers. The +knowledge of the matter thus far had not been general, and here +it dropped entirely, till about the 10th instant, when Keys +received a letter from the postmaster in Warren County, that +William had arrived at home, and was telling a very mysterious +and improbable story about the disappearance of Fisher, which +induced the community there to suppose he had been disposed of +unfairly. Keys made this letter public, which immediately set +the whole town and adjoining county agog. And so it has +continued until yesterday. The mass of the people commenced a +systematic search for the dead body, while Wickersham was +despatched to arrest Henry Trailor at the Grove, and Jim Maxcy to +Warren to arrest William. On Monday last, Henry was brought in, +and showed an evident inclination to insinuate that he knew +Fisher to be dead, and that Arch. and William had killed him. +He said he guessed the body could be found in Spring Creek, +between the Beardstown road and Hickox's mill. Away the people +swept like a herd of buffalo, and cut down Hickox's mill-dam +nolens volens, to draw the water out of the pond, and then went +up and down and down and up the creek, fishing and raking, and +raking and ducking and diving for two days, and, after all, no +dead body found. + +In the meantime a sort of scuffling-ground had been found in the +brush in the angle, or point, where the road leading into the +woods past the brewery and the one leading in past the brick-yard +meet. From the scuffle-ground was the sign of something about +the size of a man having been dragged to the edge of the thicket, +where it joined the track of some small-wheeled carriage drawn by +one horse, as shown by the road-tracks. The carriage-track led +off toward Spring Creek. Near this drag-trail Dr. Merryman found +two hairs, which, after a long scientific examination, he +pronounced to be triangular human hairs, which term, he says, +includes within it the whiskers, the hair growing under the arms +and on other parts of the body; and he judged that these two were +of the whiskers, because the ends were cut, showing that they had +flourished in the neighborhood of the razor's operations. On +Thursday last Jim Maxcy brought in William Trailor from Warren. +On the same day Arch. was arrested and put in jail. Yesterday +(Friday) William was put upon his examining trial before May and +Lovely. Archibald and Henry were both present. Lamborn +prosecuted, and Logan, Baker, and your humble servant defended. +A great many witnesses were introduced and examined, but I shall +only mention those whose testimony seemed most important. The +first of these was Captain Ransdell. He swore that when William +and Henry left Springfield for home on Tuesday before mentioned +they did not take the direct route,--which, you know, leads by +the butcher shop,--but that they followed the street north until +they got opposite, or nearly opposite, May's new house, after +which he could not see them from where he stood; and it was +afterwards proved that in about an hour after they started, they +came into the street by the butcher shop from toward the brick- +yard. Dr. Merryman and others swore to what is stated about the +scuffle-ground, drag-trail, whiskers, and carriage tracks. Henry +was then introduced by the prosecution. He swore that when they +started for home they went out north, as Ransdell stated, and +turned down west by the brick-yard into the woods, and there met +Archibald; that they proceeded a small distance farther, when he +was placed as a sentinel to watch for and announce the approach +of any one that might happen that way; that William and Arch. +took the dearborn out of the road a small distance to the edge of +the thicket, where they stopped, and he saw them lift the body of +a man into it; that they then moved off with the carriage in the +direction of Hickox's mill, and he loitered about for something +like an hour, when William returned with the carriage, but +without Arch., and said they had put him in a safe place; that +they went somehow he did not know exactly how--into the road +close to the brewery, and proceeded on to Clary's Grove. He also +stated that some time during the day William told him that he and +Arch. had killed Fisher the evening before; that the way they +did it was by him William knocking him down with a club, and +Arch. then choking him to death. + +An old man from Warren, called Dr. Gilmore, was then introduced +on the part of the defense. He swore that he had known Fisher +for several years; that Fisher had resided at his house a long +time at each of two different spells--once while he built a barn +for him, and once while he was doctored for some chronic disease; +that two or three years ago Fisher had a serious hurt in his head +by the bursting of a gun, since which he had been subject to +continued bad health and occasional aberration of mind. He also +stated that on last Tuesday, being the same day that Maxcy +arrested William Trailor, he (the doctor) was from home in the +early part of the day, and on his return, about eleven o'clock, +found Fisher at his house in bed, and apparently very unwell; +that he asked him how he came from Springfield; that Fisher said +he had come by Peoria, and also told of several other places he +had been at more in the direction of Peoria, which showed that he +at the time of speaking did not know where he had been wandering +about in a state of derangement. He further stated that in about +two hours he received a note from one of Trailor's friends, +advising him of his arrest, and requesting him to go on to +Springfield as a witness, to testify as to the state of Fisher's +health in former times; that he immediately set off, calling up +two of his neighbors as company, and, riding all evening and all +night, overtook Maxcy and William at Lewiston in Fulton County; +that Maxcy refusing to discharge Trailor upon his statement, his +two neighbors returned and he came on to Springfield. Some +question being made as to whether the doctor's story was not a +fabrication, several acquaintances of his (among whom was the +same postmaster who wrote Keys, as before mentioned) were +introduced as sort of compurgators, who swore that they knew the +doctor to be of good character for truth and veracity, and +generally of good character in every way. + +Here the testimony ended, and the Trailors were discharged, Arch. +and William expressing both in word and manner their entire +confidence that Fisher would be found alive at the doctor's by +Galloway, Mallory, and Myers, who a day before had been +despatched for that purpose; which Henry still protested that no +power on earth could ever show Fisher alive. Thus stands this +curious affair. When the doctor's story was first made public, +it was amusing to scan and contemplate the countenances and hear +the remarks of those who had been actively in search for the dead +body: some looked quizzical, some melancholy, and some furiously +angry. Porter, who had been very active, swore he always knew +the man was not dead, and that he had not stirred an inch to hunt +for him; Langford, who had taken the lead in cutting down +Hickox's mill-dam, and wanted to hang Hickox for objecting, +looked most awfully woebegone: he seemed the "victim of +unrequited affection," as represented in the comic almanacs we +used to laugh over; and Hart, the little drayman that hauled +Molly home once, said it was too damned bad to have so much +trouble, and no hanging after all. + +I commenced this letter on yesterday, since which I received +yours of the 13th. I stick to my promise to come to Louisville. +Nothing new here except what I have written. I have not seen +_____ since my last trip, and I am going out there as soon as I +mail this letter. + +Yours forever, +LINCOLN. + + + + +STATEMENT ABOUT HARRY WILTON. + +June 25, 1841 + +It having been charged in some of the public prints that Harry +Wilton, late United States marshal for the district of Illinois, +had used his office for political effect, in the appointment of +deputies for the taking of the census for the year 1840, we, the +undersigned, were called upon by Mr. Wilton to examine the papers +in his possession relative to these appointments, and to +ascertain therefrom the correctness or incorrectness of such +charge. We accompanied Mr. Wilton to a room, and examined the +matter as fully as we could with the means afforded us. The only +sources of information bearing on the subject which were +submitted to us were the letters, etc., recommending and opposing +the various appointments made, and Mr. Wilton's verbal statements +concerning the same. From these letters, etc., it appears that +in some instances appointments were made in accordance with the +recommendations of leading Whigs, and in opposition to those of +leading Democrats; among which instances the appointments at +Scott, Wayne, Madison, and Lawrence are the strongest. According +to Mr. Wilton's statement of the seventy-six appointments we +examined, fifty-four were of Democrats, eleven of Whigs, and +eleven of unknown politics. + +The chief ground of complaint against Mr. Wilton, as we had +understood it, was because of his appointment of so many +Democratic candidates for the Legislature, thus giving them a +decided advantage over their Whig opponents; and consequently our +attention was directed rather particularly to that point. We +found that there were many such appointments, among which were +those in Tazewell, McLean, Iroquois, Coles, Menard, Wayne, +Washington, Fayette, etc.; and we did not learn that there was +one instance in which a Whig candidate for the Legislature had +been appointed. There was no written evidence before us showing +us at what time those appointments were made; but Mr. Wilton +stated that they all with one exception were made before those +appointed became candidates for the Legislature, and the letters, +etc., recommending them all bear date before, and most of them +long before, those appointed were publicly announced candidates. + +We give the foregoing naked facts and draw no conclusions from +them. + +BEND. S. EDWARDS, A. LINCOLN. + + + + +TO MISS MARY SPEED--PRACTICAL SLAVERY + +BLOOMINGTON, ILL., September 27, 1841. + +Miss Mary Speed, Louisville, Ky. + +MY FRIEND: +By the way, a fine example was presented on board the boat for +contemplating the effect of condition upon human happiness. A +gentleman had purchased twelve negroes in different parts of +Kentucky, and was taking them to a farm in the South. They were +chained six and six together. A small iron clevis was around the +left wrist of each, and this fastened to the main chain by a +shorter one, at a convenient distance from the others, so that +the negroes were strung together precisely like so many fish upon +a trotline. In this condition they were being separated forever +from the scenes of their childhood, their friends, their fathers +and mothers, and brothers and sisters, and many of them from +their wives and children, and going into perpetual slavery where +the lash of the master is proverbially more ruthless and +unrelenting than any other where; and yet amid all these +distressing circumstances, as we would think them, they were the +most cheerful and apparently happy creatures on board. One, +whose offence for which he had been sold was an overfondness for +his wife, played the fiddle almost continually, and the others +danced, sang, cracked jokes, and played various games with cards +from day to day. How true it is that 'God tempers the wind to +the shorn lamb,' or in other words, that he renders the worst of +human conditions tolerable, while he permits the best to be +nothing better than tolerable. To return to the narrative: When +we reached Springfield I stayed but one day, when I started on +this tedious circuit where I now am. Do you remember my going to +the city, while I was in Kentucky, to have a tooth extracted, and +making a failure of it? Well, that same old tooth got to paining +me so much that about a week since I had it torn out, bringing +with it a bit of the jawbone, the consequence of which is that my +mouth is now so sore that I can neither talk nor eat. + +Your sincere friend, +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +1842 + + +TO JOSHUA F. SPEED--ON MARRIAGE + +January 3?, 1842. + +MY DEAR SPEED:--Feeling, as you know I do, the deepest solicitude +for the success of the enterprise you are engaged in, I adopt +this as the last method I can adopt to aid you, in case (which +God forbid!) you shall need any aid. I do not place what I am +going to say on paper because I can say it better that way than I +could by word of mouth, but, were I to say it orally before we +part, most likely you would forget it at the very time when it +might do you some good. As I think it reasonable that you will +feel very badly some time between this and the final consummation +of your purpose, it is intended that you shall read this just at +such a time. Why I say it is reasonable that you will feel very +badly yet, is because of three special causes added to the +general one which I shall mention. + +The general cause is, that you are naturally of a nervous +temperament; and this I say from what I have seen of you +personally, and what you have told me concerning your mother at +various times, and concerning your brother William at the time +his wife died. The first special cause is your exposure to bad +weather on your journey, which my experience clearly proves to be +very severe on defective nerves. The second is the absence of +all business and conversation of friends, which might divert your +mind, give it occasional rest from the intensity of thought which +will sometimes wear the sweetest idea threadbare and turn it to +the bitterness of death. The third is the rapid and near +approach of that crisis on which all your thoughts and feelings +concentrate. + +If from all these causes you shall escape and go through +triumphantly, without another "twinge of the soul," I shall be +most happily but most egregiously deceived. If, on the contrary, +you shall, as I expect you will at sometime, be agonized and +distressed, let me, who have some reason to speak with judgment +on such a subject, beseech you to ascribe it to the causes I have +mentioned, and not to some false and ruinous suggestion of the +Devil. + +"But," you will say, "do not your causes apply to every one +engaged in a like undertaking?" By no means. The particular +causes, to a greater or less extent, perhaps do apply in all +cases; but the general one,--nervous debility, which is the key +and conductor of all the particular ones, and without which they +would be utterly harmless,--though it does pertain to you, does +not pertain to one in a thousand. It is out of this that the +painful difference between you and the mass of the world springs. + +I know what the painful point with you is at all times when you +are unhappy; it is an apprehension that you do not love her as +you should. What nonsense! How came you to court her? Was it +because you thought she deserved it, and that you had given her +reason to expect it? If it was for that why did not the same +reason make you court Ann Todd, and at least twenty others of +whom you can think, and to whom it would apply with greater force +than to her? Did you court her for her wealth? Why, you know she +had none. But you say you reasoned yourself into it. What do +you mean by that? Was it not that you found yourself unable to +reason yourself out of it? Did you not think, and partly form the +purpose, of courting her the first time you ever saw her or heard +of her? What had reason to do with it at that early stage? There +was nothing at that time for reason to work upon. Whether she +was moral, amiable, sensible, or even of good character, you did +not, nor could then know, except, perhaps, you might infer the +last from the company you found her in. + +All you then did or could know of her was her personal appearance +and deportment; and these, if they impress at all, impress the +heart, and not the head. + +Say candidly, were not those heavenly black eyes the whole basis +of all your early reasoning on the subject? After you and I had +once been at the residence, did you not go and take me all the +way to Lexington and back, for no other purpose but to get to see +her again, on our return on that evening to take a trip for that +express object? What earthly consideration would you take to find +her scouting and despising you, and giving herself up to another? +But of this you have no apprehension; and therefore you cannot +bring it home to your feelings. + +I shall be so anxious about you that I shall want you to write by +every mail. Your friend, + +LINCOLN. + + + + +TO JOSHUA F. SPEED. + +SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, February 3, 1842. + +DEAR SPEED:--Your letter of the 25th January came to hand to-day. +You well know that I do not feel my own sorrows much more keenly +than I do yours, when I know of them; and yet I assure you I was +not much hurt by what you wrote me of your excessively bad +feeling at the time you wrote. Not that I am less capable of +sympathizing with you now than ever, not that I am less your +friend than ever, but because I hope and believe that your +present anxiety and distress about her health and her life must +and will forever banish those horrid doubts which I know you +sometimes felt as to the truth of your affection for her. If +they can once and forever be removed (and I almost feel a +presentiment that the Almighty has sent your present affliction +expressly for that object), surely nothing can come in their +stead to fill their immeasurable measure of misery. The death- +scenes of those we love are surely painful enough; but these we +are prepared for and expect to see: they happen to all, and all +know they must happen. Painful as they are, they are not an +unlooked for sorrow. Should she, as you fear, be destined to an +early grave, it is indeed a great consolation to know that she is +so well prepared to meet it. Her religion, which you once +disliked so much, I will venture you now prize most highly. But +I hope your melancholy bodings as to her early death are not well +founded. I even hope that ere this reaches you she will have +returned with improved and still improving health, and that you +will have met her, and forgotten the sorrows of the past in the +enjoyments of the present. I would say more if I could, but it +seems that I have said enough. It really appears to me that you +yourself ought to rejoice, and not sorrow, at this indubitable +evidence of your undying affection for her. Why, Speed, if you +did not love her although you might not wish her death, you would +most certainly be resigned to it. Perhaps this point is no +longer a question with you, and my pertinacious dwelling upon it +is a rude intrusion upon your feelings. If so, you must pardon +me. You know the hell I have suffered on that point, and how +tender I am upon it. You know I do not mean wrong. I have been +quite clear of "hypo" since you left, even better than I was +along in the fall. I have seen ______ but once. She seemed very +cheerful, and so I said nothing to her about what we spoke of. + +Old Uncle Billy Herndon is dead, and it is said this evening that +Uncle Ben Ferguson will not live. This, I believe, is all the +news, and enough at that unless it were better. Write me +immediately on the receipt of this. Your friend, as ever, + +LINCOLN. + + + + +TO JOSHUA F. SPEED--ON DEPRESSION + +SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, February 13, 1842. + +DEAR SPEED:--Yours of the 1st instant came to hand three or four +days ago. When this shall reach you, you will have been Fanny's +husband several days. You know my desire to befriend you is +everlasting; that I will never cease while I know how to do +anything. But you will always hereafter be on ground that I have +never occupied, and consequently, if advice were needed, I might +advise wrong. I do fondly hope, however, that you will never +again need any comfort from abroad. But should I be mistaken in +this, should excessive pleasure still be accompanied with a +painful counterpart at times, still let me urge you, as I have +ever done, to remember, in the depth and even agony of +despondency, that very shortly you are to feel well again. I am +now fully convinced that you love her as ardently as you are +capable of loving. Your ever being happy in her presence, and +your intense anxiety about her health, if there were nothing +else, would place this beyond all dispute in my mind. I incline +to think it probable that your nerves will fail you occasionally +for a while; but once you get them firmly guarded now that +trouble is over forever. I think, if I were you, in case my mind +were not exactly right, I would avoid being idle. I would +immediately engage in some business, or go to making preparations +for it, which would be the same thing. If you went through the +ceremony calmly, or even with sufficient composure not to excite +alarm in any present, you are safe beyond question, and in two or +three months, to say the most, will be the happiest of men. + +I would desire you to give my particular respects to Fanny; but +perhaps you will not wish her to know you have received this, +lest she should desire to see it. Make her write me an answer to +my last letter to her; at any rate I would set great value upon a +note or letter from her. Write me whenever you have leisure. +Yours forever, +A. LINCOLN. +P. S.--I have been quite a man since you left. + + + + +TO G. B. SHELEDY. + +SPRINGFIELD, ILL., Feb. 16, 1842. + +G. B. SHELEDY, ESQ.: + +Yours of the 10th is duly received. Judge Logan and myself are +doing business together now, and we are willing to attend to your +cases as you propose. As to the terms, we are willing to attend +each case you prepare and send us for $10 (when there shall be no +opposition) to be sent in advance, or you to know that it is +safe. It takes $5.75 of cost to start upon, that is, $1.75 to +clerk, and $2 to each of two publishers of papers. Judge Logan +thinks it will take the balance of $20 to carry a case through. +This must be advanced from time to time as the services are +performed, as the officers will not act without. I do not know +whether you can be admitted an attorney of the Federal court in +your absence or not; nor is it material, as the business can be +done in our names. + +Thinking it may aid you a little, I send you one of our blank +forms of Petitions. It, you will see, is framed to be sworn to +before the Federal court clerk, and, in your cases, will have +[to] be so far changed as to be sworn to before the clerk of your +circuit court; and his certificate must be accompanied with his +official seal. The schedules, too, must be attended to. Be sure +that they contain the creditors' names, their residences, the +amounts due each, the debtors' names, their residences, and the +amounts they owe, also all property and where located. + +Also be sure that the schedules are all signed by the applicants +as well as the Petition. Publication will have to be made here +in one paper, and in one nearest the residence of the applicant. +Write us in each case where the last advertisement is to be sent, +whether to you or to what paper. + +I believe I have now said everything that can be of any +advantage. Your friend as ever, +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +TO GEORGE E. PICKETT--ADVICE TO YOUTH + +February 22, 1842. + +I never encourage deceit, and falsehood, especially if you have +got a bad memory, is the worst enemy a fellow can have. The fact +is truth is your truest friend, no matter what the circumstances +are. Notwithstanding this copy-book preamble, my boy, I am +inclined to suggest a little prudence on your part. You see I +have a congenital aversion to failure, and the sudden +announcement to your Uncle Andrew of the success of your "lamp +rubbing" might possibly prevent your passing the severe physical +examination to which you will be subjected in order to enter the +Military Academy. You see I should like to have a perfect +soldier credited to dear old Illinois--no broken bones, scalp +wounds, etc. So I think it might be wise to hand this letter +from me in to your good uncle through his room-window after he +has had a comfortable dinner, and watch its effect from the top +of the pigeon-house. + +I have just told the folks here in Springfield on this 111th +anniversary of the birth of him whose name, mightiest in the +cause of civil liberty, still mightiest in the cause of moral +reformation, we mention in solemn awe, in naked, deathless +splendor, that the one victory we can ever call complete will be +that one which proclaims that there is not one slave or one +drunkard on the face of God's green earth. Recruit for this +victory. + +Now, boy, on your march, don't you go and forget the old maxim +that "one drop of honey catches more flies than a half-gallon of +gall." Load your musket with this maxim, and smoke it in your +pipe. + + + + +ADDRESS BEFORE THE SPRINGFIELD WASHINGTONIAN +TEMPERANCE SOCIETY, FEBRUARY 22, 1842. + +Although the temperance cause has been in progress for near +twenty years, it is apparent to all that it is just now being +crowned with a degree of success hitherto unparalleled. + +The list of its friends is daily swelled by the additions of +fifties, of hundreds, and of thousands. The cause itself seems +suddenly transformed from a cold abstract theory to a living, +breathing, active, and powerful chieftain, going forth +"conquering and to conquer." The citadels of his great adversary +are daily being stormed and dismantled; his temple and his +altars, where the rites of his idolatrous worship have long been +performed, and where human sacrifices have long been wont to be +made, are daily desecrated and deserted. The triumph of the +conqueror's fame is sounding from hill to hill, from sea to sea, +and from land to land, and calling millions to his standard at a +blast. + +For this new and splendid success we heartily rejoice. That that +success is so much greater now than heretofore is doubtless owing +to rational causes; and if we would have it continue, we shall do +well to inquire what those causes are. + +The warfare heretofore waged against the demon intemperance has +somehow or other been erroneous. Either the champions engaged or +the tactics they adopted have not been the most proper. These +champions for the most part have been preachers, lawyers, and +hired agents. Between these and the mass of mankind there is a +want of approachability, if the term be admissible, partially, at +least, fatal to their success. They are supposed to have no +sympathy of feeling or interest with those very persons whom it +is their object to convince and persuade. + +And again, it is so common and so easy to ascribe motives to men +of these classes other than those they profess to act upon. The +preacher, it is said, advocates temperance because he is a +fanatic, and desires a union of the Church and State; the lawyer +from his pride and vanity of hearing himself speak; and the hired +agent for his salary. But when one who has long been known as a +victim of intemperance bursts the fetters that have bound him, +and appears before his neighbors "clothed and in his right mind," +a redeemed specimen of long-lost humanity, and stands up, with +tears of joy trembling in his eyes, to tell of the miseries once +endured, now to be endured no more forever; of his once naked and +starving children, now clad and fed comfortably; of a wife long +weighed down with woe, weeping, and a broken heart, now restored +to health, happiness, and a renewed affection; and how easily it +is all done, once it is resolved to be done; how simple his +language! there is a logic and an eloquence in it that few with +human feelings can resist. They cannot say that he desires a +union of Church and State, for he is not a church member; they +cannot say he is vain of hearing himself speak, for his whole +demeanor shows he would gladly avoid speaking at all; they cannot +say he speaks for pay, for he receives none, and asks for none. +Nor can his sincerity in any way be doubted, or his sympathy for +those he would persuade to imitate his example be denied. + +In my judgment, it is to the battles of this new class of +champions that our late success is greatly, perhaps chiefly, +owing. But, had the old-school champions themselves been of the +most wise selecting, was their system of tactics the most +judicious? It seems to me it was not. Too much denunciation +against dram-sellers and dram-drinkers was indulged in. This I +think was both impolitic and unjust. It was impolitic, because +it is not much in the nature of man to be driven to anything; +still less to be driven about that which is exclusively his own +business; and least of all where such driving is to be submitted +to at the expense of pecuniary interest or burning appetite. +When the dram-seller and drinker were incessantly told not in +accents of entreaty and persuasion, diffidently addressed by +erring man to an erring brother, but in the thundering tones of +anathema and denunciation with which the lordly judge often +groups together all the crimes of the felon's life, and thrusts +them in his face just ere he passes sentence of death upon him +that they were the authors of all the vice and misery and crime +in the land; that they were the manufacturers and material of all +the thieves and robbers and murderers that infest the earth; that +their houses were the workshops of the devil; and that their +persons should be shunned by all the good and virtuous, as moral +pestilences--I say, when they were told all this, and in this +way, it is not wonderful that they were slow to acknowledge the +truth of such denunciations, and to join the ranks of their +denouncers in a hue and cry against themselves. + +To have expected them to do otherwise than they did to have +expected them not to meet denunciation with denunciation, +crimination with crimination, and anathema with anathema--was to +expect a reversal of human nature, which is God's decree and can +never be reversed. + +When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, +kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an +old and a true maxim that "a drop of honey catches more flies +than a gallon of gall." So with men. If you would win a man to +your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. +Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say +what he will, is the great highroad to his reason; and which, +when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing +his judgment of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause +really be a just one. On the contrary, assume to dictate to his +judgment, or to command his action, or to mark him as one to be +shunned and despised, and he will retreat within himself, close +all the avenues to his head and his heart; and though your cause +be naked truth itself, transformed to the heaviest lance, harder +than steel, and sharper than steel can be made, and though you +throw it with more than herculean force and precision, you shall +be no more able to pierce him than to penetrate the hard shell of +a tortoise with a rye straw. Such is man, and so must he be +understood by those who would lead him, even to his own best +interests. + +On this point the Washingtonians greatly excel the temperance +advocates of former times. Those whom they desire to convince +and persuade are their old friends and companions. They know +they are not demons, nor even the worst of men; they know that +generally they are kind, generous, and charitable even beyond the +example of their more staid and sober neighbors. They are +practical philanthropists; and they glow with a generous and +brotherly zeal that mere theorizers are incapable of feeling. +Benevolence and charity possess their hearts entirely; and out of +the abundance of their hearts their tongues give utterance; "love +through all their actions runs, and all their words are mild." +In this spirit they speak and act, and in the same they are heard +and regarded. And when such is the temper of the advocate, and +such of the audience, no good cause can be unsuccessful. But I +have said that denunciations against dramsellers and dram- +drinkers are unjust, as well as impolitic. Let us see. I have +not inquired at what period of time the use of intoxicating +liquors commenced; nor is it important to know. It is sufficient +that, to all of us who now inhabit the world, the practice of +drinking them is just as old as the world itself that is, we have +seen the one just as long as we have seen the other. When all +such of us as have now reached the years of maturity first opened +our eyes upon the stage of existence, we found intoxicating +liquor recognized by everybody, used by everybody, repudiated by +nobody. It commonly entered into the first draught of the infant +and the last draught of the dying man. From the sideboard of the +parson down to the ragged pocket of the houseless loafer, it was +constantly found. Physicians proscribed it in this, that, and +the other disease; government provided it for soldiers and +sailors; and to have a rolling or raising, a husking or +"hoedown," anywhere about without it was positively insufferable. +So, too, it was everywhere a respectable article of manufacture +and merchandise. The making of it was regarded as an honorable +livelihood, and he who could make most was the most enterprising +and respectable. Large and small manufactories of it were +everywhere erected, in which all the earthly goods of their +owners were invested. Wagons drew it from town to town; boats +bore it from clime to clime, and the winds wafted it from nation +to nation; and merchants bought and sold it, by wholesale and +retail, with precisely the same feelings on the part of the +seller, buyer, and bystander as are felt at the selling and +buying of ploughs, beef, bacon, or any other of the real +necessaries of life. Universal public opinion not only tolerated +but recognized and adopted its use. + +It is true that even then it was known and acknowledged that many +were greatly injured by it; but none seemed to think the injury +arose from the use of a bad thing, but from the abuse of a very +good thing. The victims of it were to be pitied and +compassionated, just as are the heirs of consumption and other +hereditary diseases. Their failing was treated as a misfortune, +and not as a crime, or even as a disgrace. If, then, what I have +been saying is true, is it wonderful that some should think and +act now as all thought and acted twenty years ago? and is it just +to assail, condemn, or despise them for doing so? The universal +sense of mankind on any subject is an argument, or at least an +influence, not easily overcome. The success of the argument in +favor of the existence of an overruling Providence mainly depends +upon that sense; and men ought not in justice to be denounced for +yielding to it in any case, or giving it up slowly, especially +when they are backed by interest, fixed habits, or burning +appetites. + +Another error, as it seems to me, into which the old reformers +fell, was the position that all habitual drunkards were utterly +incorrigible, and therefore must be turned adrift and damned +without remedy in order that the grace of temperance might +abound, to the temperate then, and to all mankind some hundreds +of years thereafter. There is in this some thing so repugnant to +humanity, so uncharitable, so cold-blooded and feelingless, that +it, never did nor ever can enlist the enthusiasm of a popular +cause. We could not love the man who taught it we could not hear +him with patience. The heart could not throw open its portals to +it, the generous man could not adopt it--it could not mix with +his blood. It looked so fiendishly selfish, so like throwing +fathers and brothers overboard to lighten the boat for our +security, that the noble-minded shrank from the manifest meanness +of the thing. And besides this, the benefits of a reformation to +be effected by such a system were too remote in point of time to +warmly engage many in its behalf. Few can be induced to labor +exclusively for posterity, and none will do it enthusiastically. +--Posterity has done nothing for us; and, theorize on it as we +may, practically we shall do very little for it, unless we are +made to think we are at the same time doing something for +ourselves. + +What an ignorance of human nature does it exhibit to ask or to +expect a whole community to rise up and labor for the temporal +happiness of others, after themselves shall be consigned to the +dust, a majority of which community take no pains whatever to +secure their own eternal welfare at no more distant day! Great +distance in either time or space has wonderful power to lull and +render quiescent the human mind. Pleasures to be enjoyed, or +pains to be endured, after we shall be dead and gone are but +little regarded even in our own cases, and much less in the cases +of others. Still, in addition to this there is something so +ludicrous in promises of good or threats of evil a great way off +as to render the whole subject with which they are connected +easily turned into ridicule. "Better lay down that spade you are +stealing, Paddy; if you don't you'll pay for it at the day of +judgment." "Be the powers, if ye 'll credit me so long I'll take +another jist." + +By the Washingtonians this system of consigning the habitual +drunkard to hopeless ruin is repudiated. They adopt a more +enlarged philanthropy; they go for present as well as future +good. They labor for all now living, as well as hereafter to +live. They teach hope to all-despair to none. As applying to +their cause, they deny the doctrine of unpardonable sin; as in +Christianity it is taught, so in this they teach--"While--While +the lamp holds out to burn, The vilest sinner may return." And, +what is a matter of more profound congratulation, they, by +experiment upon experiment and example upon example, prove the +maxim to be no less true in the one case than in the other. On +every hand we behold those who but yesterday were the chief of +sinners, now the chief apostles of the cause. Drunken devils are +cast out by ones, by sevens, by legions; and their unfortunate +victims, like the poor possessed who were redeemed from their +long and lonely wanderings in the tombs, are publishing to the +ends of the earth how great things have been done for them. + +To these new champions and this new system of tactics our late +success is mainly owing, and to them we must mainly look for the +final consummation. The ball is now rolling gloriously on, and +none are so able as they to increase its speed and its bulk, to +add to its momentum and its magnitude--even though unlearned in +letters, for this task none are so well educated. To fit them +for this work they have been taught in the true school. They +have been in that gulf from which they would teach others the +means of escape. They have passed that prison wall which others +have long declared impassable; and who that has not shall dare to +weigh opinions with them as to the mode of passing? + +But if it be true, as I have insisted, that those who have +suffered by intemperance personally, and have reformed, are the +most powerful and efficient instruments to push the reformation +to ultimate success, it does not follow that those who have not +suffered have no part left them to perform. Whether or not the +world would be vastly benefited by a total and final banishment +from it of all intoxicating drinks seems to me not now an open +question. Three fourths of mankind confess the affirmative with +their tongues, and, I believe, all the rest acknowledge it in +their hearts. + +Ought any, then, to refuse their aid in doing what good the good +of the whole demands? Shall he who cannot do much be for that +reason excused if he do nothing? "But," says one, "what good can +I do by signing the pledge? I never drank, even without +signing." This question has already been asked and answered more +than a million of times. Let it be answered once more. For the +man suddenly or in any other way to break off from the use of +drams, who has indulged in them for a long course of years and +until his appetite for them has grown ten or a hundredfold +stronger and more craving than any natural appetite can be, +requires a most powerful moral effort. In such an undertaking he +needs every moral support and influence that can possibly be +brought to his aid and thrown around him. And not only so, but +every moral prop should be taken from whatever argument might +rise in his mind to lure him to his backsliding. When he casts +his eyes around him, he should be able to see all that he +respects, all that he admires, all that he loves, kindly and +anxiously pointing him onward, and none beckoning him back to his +former miserable "wallowing in the mire." + +But it is said by some that men will think and act for +themselves; that none will disuse spirits or anything else +because his neighbors do; and that moral influence is not that +powerful engine contended for. Let us examine this. Let me ask +the man who could maintain this position most stiffly, what +compensation he will accept to go to church some Sunday and sit +during the sermon with his wife's bonnet upon his head? Not a +trifle, I'll venture. And why not? There would be nothing +irreligious in it, nothing immoral, nothing uncomfortable--then +why not? Is it not because there would be something egregiously +unfashionable in it? Then it is the influence of fashion; and +what is the influence of fashion but the influence that other +people's actions have on our actions--the strong inclination each +of us feels to do as we see all our neighbors do? Nor is the +influence of fashion confined to any particular thing or class of +things; it is just as strong on one subject as another. Let us +make it as unfashionable to withhold our names from the +temperance cause as for husbands to wear their wives' bonnets to +church, and instances will be just as rare in the one case as the +other. + +"But," say some, "we are no drunkards, and we shall not +acknowledge ourselves such by joining a reformed drunkard's +society, whatever our influence might be." Surely no Christian +will adhere to this objection. If they believe as they profess, +that Omnipotence condescended to take on himself the form of +sinful man, and as such to die an ignominious death for their +sakes, surely they will not refuse submission to the infinitely +lesser condescension, for the temporal, and perhaps eternal, +salvation of a large, erring, and unfortunate class of their +fellow-creatures. Nor is the condescension very great. In my +judgment such of us as have never fallen victims have been spared +more by the absence of appetite than from any mental or moral +superiority over those who have. Indeed, I believe if we take +habitual drunkards as a class, their heads and their hearts will +bear an advantageous comparison with those of any other class. +There seems ever to have been a proneness in the brilliant and +warm-blooded to fall into this vice--the demon of intemperance +ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of genius and +of generosity. What one of us but can call to mind some +relative, more promising in youth than all his fellows, who has +fallen a sacrifice to his rapacity? He ever seems to have gone +forth like the Egyptian angel of death, commissioned to slay, if +not the first, the fairest born of every family. Shall he now be +arrested in his desolating career? In that arrest all can give +aid that will; and who shall be excused that can and will not? +Far around as human breath has ever blown he keeps our fathers, +our brothers, our sons, and our friends prostrate in the chains +of moral death. To all the living everywhere we cry, "Come sound +the moral trump, that these may rise and stand up an exceeding +great army." "Come from the four winds, O breath! and breathe +upon these slain that they may live." If the relative grandeur +of revolutions shall be estimated by the great amount of human +misery they alleviate, and the small amount they inflict, then +indeed will this be the grandest the world shall ever have seen. + +Of our political revolution of '76 we are all justly proud. It +has given us a degree of political freedom far exceeding that of +any other nation of the earth. In it the world has found a +solution of the long-mooted problem as to the capability of man +to govern himself. In it was the germ which has vegetated, and +still is to grow and expand into the universal liberty of +mankind. But, with all these glorious results, past, present, +and to come, it had its evils too. It breathed forth famine, +swam in blood, and rode in fire; and long, long after, the +orphan's cry and the widow's wail continued to break the sad +silence that ensued. These were the price, the inevitable price, +paid for the blessings it bought. + +Turn now to the temperance revolution. In it we shall find a +stronger bondage broken, a viler slavery manumitted, a greater +tyrant deposed; in it, more of want supplied, more disease +healed, more sorrow assuaged. By it no Orphans starving, no +widows weeping. By it none wounded in feeling, none injured in +interest; even the drammaker and dram-seller will have glided +into other occupations so gradually as never to have felt the +change, and will stand ready to join all others in the universal +song of gladness. And what a noble ally this to the cause of +political freedom, with such an aid its march cannot fail to be +on and on, till every son of earth shall drink in rich fruition +the sorrow-quenching draughts of perfect liberty. Happy day +when-all appetites controlled, all poisons subdued, all matter +subjected-mind, all-conquering mind, shall live and move, the +monarch of the world. Glorious consummation! Hail, fall of +fury! Reign of reason, all hail! + +And when the victory shall be complete, when there shall be +neither a slave nor a drunkard on the earth, how proud the title +of that land which may truly claim to be the birthplace and the +cradle of both those revolutions that shall have ended in that +victory. How nobly distinguished that people who shall have +planted and nurtured to maturity both the political and moral +freedom of their species. + +This is the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the birthday of +Washington; we are met to celebrate this day. Washington is the +mightiest name of earth long since mightiest in the cause of +civil liberty, still mightiest in moral reformation. On that +name no eulogy is expected. It cannot be. To add brightness to +the sun or glory to the name of Washington is alike impossible. +Let none attempt it. In solemn awe pronounce the name, and in its +naked deathless splendor leave it shining on. + + + + +TO JOSHUA F. SPEED. + +SPRINGFIELD, February 25, 1842. + +DEAR SPEED:--Yours of the 16th instant, announcing that Miss +Fanny and you are "no more twain, but one flesh," reached me this +morning. I have no way of telling you how much happiness I wish +you both, though I believe you both can conceive it. I feel +somewhat jealous of both of you now: you will be so exclusively +concerned for one another, that I shall be forgotten entirely. +My acquaintance with Miss Fanny (I call her this, lest you should +think I am speaking of your mother) was too short for me to +reasonably hope to long be remembered by her; and still I am sure +I shall not forget her soon. Try if you cannot remind her of that +debt she owes me--and be sure you do not interfere to prevent her +paying it. + +I regret to learn that you have resolved to not return to +Illinois. I shall be very lonesome without you. How miserably +things seem to be arranged in this world! If we have no friends, +we have no pleasure; and if we have them, we are sure to lose +them, and be doubly pained by the loss. I did hope she and you +would make your home here; but I own I have no right to insist. +You owe obligations to her ten thousand times more sacred than +you can owe to others, and in that light let them be respected +and observed. It is natural that she should desire to remain with +her relatives and friends. As to friends, however, she could not +need them anywhere: she would have them in abundance here. + +Give my kind remembrance to Mr. Williamson and his family, +particularly Miss Elizabeth; also to your mother, brother, and +sisters. Ask little Eliza Davis if she will ride to town with me +if I come there again. And finally, give Fanny a double +reciprocation of all the love she sent me. Write me often, and +believe me + +Yours forever, + +LINCOLN. + +P. S. Poor Easthouse is gone at last. He died awhile before day +this morning. They say he was very loath to die.... + +L. + + + + +TO JOSHUA F. SPEED--ON MARRIAGE CONCERNS + +SPRINGFIELD, February 25,1842. + +DEAR SPEED:--I received yours of the 12th written the day you +went down to William's place, some days since, but delayed +answering it till I should receive the promised one of the 16th, +which came last night. I opened the letter with intense anxiety +and trepidation; so much so, that, although it turned out better +than I expected, I have hardly yet, at a distance of ten hours, +become calm. + +I tell you, Speed, our forebodings (for which you and I are +peculiar) are all the worst sort of nonsense. I fancied, from +the time I received your letter of Saturday, that the one of +Wednesday was never to come, and yet it did come, and what is +more, it is perfectly clear, both from its tone and handwriting, +that you were much happier, or, if you think the term preferable, +less miserable, when you wrote it than when you wrote the last +one before. You had so obviously improved at the very time I so +much fancied you would have grown worse. You say that something +indescribably horrible and alarming still haunts you. You will +not say that three months from now, I will venture. When your +nerves once get steady now, the whole trouble will be over +forever. Nor should you become impatient at their being even +very slow in becoming steady. Again you say, you much fear that +that Elysium of which you have dreamed so much is never to be +realized. Well, if it shall not, I dare swear it will not be the +fault of her who is now your wife. I now have no doubt that it +is the peculiar misfortune of both you and me to dream dreams of +Elysium far exceeding all that anything earthly can realize. Far +short of your dreams as you may be, no woman could do more to +realize them than that same black-eyed Fanny. If you could but +contemplate her through my imagination, it would appear +ridiculous to you that any one should for a moment think of being +unhappy with her. My old father used to have a saying that "If +you make a bad bargain, hug it all the tighter"; and it occurs to +me that if the bargain you have just closed can possibly be +called a bad one, it is certainly the most pleasant one for +applying that maxim to which my fancy can by any effort picture. + +I write another letter, enclosing this, which you can show her, +if she desires it. I do this because she would think strangely, +perhaps, should you tell her that you received no letters from +me, or, telling her you do, refuse to let her see them. I close +this, entertaining the confident hope that every successive +letter I shall have from you (which I here pray may not be few, +nor far between) may show you possessing a more steady hand and +cheerful heart than the last preceding it. +As ever, your friend, + +LINCOLN. + + + + +TO JOSHUA F. SPEED. + +SPRINGFIELD, March 27, 1842 + +DEAR SPEED:--Yours of the 10th instant was received three or four +days since. You know I am sincere when I tell you the pleasure +its contents gave me was, and is, inexpressible. As to your farm +matter, I have no sympathy with you. I have no farm, nor ever +expect to have, and consequently have not studied the subject +enough to be much interested with it. I can only say that I am +glad you are satisfied and pleased with it. But on that other +subject, to me of the most intense interest whether in joy or +sorrow, I never had the power to withhold my sympathy from you. +It cannot be told how it now thrills me with joy to hear you say +you are "far happier than you ever expected to be." That much I +know is enough. I know you too well to suppose your expectations +were not, at least, sometimes extravagant, and if the reality +exceeds them all, I say, Enough, dear Lord. I am not going +beyond the truth when I tell you that the short space it took me +to read your last letter gave me more pleasure than the total sum +of all I have enjoyed since the fatal 1st of January, 1841. +Since then it seems to me I should have been entirely happy, but +for the never-absent idea that there is one still unhappy whom I +have contributed to make so. That still kills my soul. I cannot +but reproach myself for even wishing to be happy while she is +otherwise. She accompanied a large party on the railroad cars to +Jacksonville last Monday, and on her return spoke, so that I +heard of it, of having enjoyed the trip exceedingly. God be +praised for that. + +You know with what sleepless vigilance I have watched you ever +since the commencement of your affair; and although I am almost +confident it is useless, I cannot forbear once more to say that I +think it is even yet possible for your spirits to flag down and +leave you miserable. If they should, don't fail to remember that +they cannot long remain so. One thing I can tell you which I +know you will be glad to hear, and that is that I have seen--and +scrutinized her feelings as well as I could, and am fully +convinced she is far happier now than she has been for the last +fifteen months past. + +You will see by the last Sangamon Journal, that I made a +temperance speech on the 22d of February, which I claim that +Fanny and you shall read as an act of charity to me; for I cannot +learn that anybody else has read it, or is likely to. +Fortunately it is not very long, and I shall deem it a sufficient +compliance with my request if one of you listens while the other +reads it. + +As to your Lockridge matter, it is only necessary to say that +there has been no court since you left, and that the next +commences to-morrow morning, during which I suppose we cannot +fail to get a judgment. + +I wish you would learn of Everett what he would take, over and +above a discharge for all the trouble we have been at, to take +his business out of our hands and give it to somebody else. It +is impossible to collect money on that or any other claim here +now; and although you know I am not a very petulant man, I +declare I am almost out of patience with Mr. Everett's +importunity. It seems like he not only writes all the letters he +can himself, but gets everybody else in Louisville and vicinity +to be constantly writing to us about his claim. I have always +said that Mr. Everett is a very clever fellow, and I am very +sorry he cannot be obliged; but it does seem to me he ought to +know we are interested to collect his claim, and therefore would +do it if we could. + +I am neither joking nor in a pet when I say we would thank him to +transfer his business to some other, without any compensation for +what we have done, provided he will see the court cost paid, for +which we are security. + +The sweet violet you inclosed came safely to hand, but it was so +dry, and mashed so flat, that it crumbled to dust at the first +attempt to handle it. The juice that mashed out of it stained a +place in the letter, which I mean to preserve and cherish for the +sake of her who procured it to be sent. My renewed good wishes +to her in particular, and generally to all such of your relations +who know me. + +As ever, + +LINCOLN. + + + + +TO JOSHUA F. SPEED. + +SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, July 4, 1842. + +DEAR SPEED:--Yours of the 16th June was received only a day or +two since. It was not mailed at Louisville till the 25th. You +speak of the great time that has elapsed since I wrote you. Let +me explain that. Your letter reached here a day or two after I +started on the circuit. I was gone five or six weeks, so that I +got the letters only a few weeks before Butler started to your +country. I thought it scarcely worth while to write you the news +which he could and would tell you more in detail. On his return +he told me you would write me soon, and so I waited for your +letter. As to my having been displeased with your advice, surely +you know better than that. I know you do, and therefore will not +labor to convince you. True, that subject is painful to me; but +it is not your silence, or the silence of all the world, that can +make me forget it. I acknowledge the correctness of your advice +too; but before I resolve to do the one thing or the other, I +must gain my confidence in my own ability to keep my resolves +when they are made. In that ability you know I once prided +myself as the only or chief gem of my character; that gem I lost- +-how and where you know too well. I have not yet regained it; +and until I do, I cannot trust myself in any matter of much +importance. I believe now that had you understood my case at the +time as well as I understand yours afterward, by the aid you +would have given me I should have sailed through clear, but that +does not now afford me sufficient confidence to begin that or the +like of that again. + +You make a kind acknowledgment of your obligations to me for your +present happiness. I am pleased with that acknowledgment. But a +thousand times more am I pleased to know that you enjoy a degree +of happiness worthy of an acknowledgment. The truth is, I am not +sure that there was any merit with me in the part I took in your +difficulty; I was drawn to it by a fate. If I would I could not +have done less than I did. I always was superstitious; I believe +God made me one of the instruments of bringing your Fanny and you +together, which union I have no doubt He had fore-ordained. +Whatever He designs He will do for me yet. "Stand still, and see +the salvation of the Lord" is my text just now. If, as you say, +you have told Fanny all, I should have no objection to her seeing +this letter, but for its reference to our friend here: let her +seeing it depend upon whether she has ever known anything of my +affairs; and if she has not, do not let her. + +I do not think I can come to Kentucky this season. I am so poor +and make so little headway in the world, that I drop back in a +month of idleness as much as I gain in a year's sowing. I should +like to visit you again. I should like to see that "sis" of +yours that was absent when I was there, though I suppose she +would run away again if she were to hear I was coming. + +My respects and esteem to all your friends there, and, by your +permission, my love to your Fanny. + +Ever yours, + +LINCOLN. + + + + +A LETTER FROM THE LOST TOWNSHIPS + +Article written by Lincoln for the Sangamon Journal in ridicule +of James Shields, who, as State Auditor, had declined to receive +State Bank notes in payment of taxes. The above letter purported +to come from a poor widow who, though supplied with State Bank +paper, could not obtain a receipt for her tax bill. This, and +another subsequent letter by Mary Todd, brought about the +"Lincoln-Shields Duel." + + + + +LOST TOWNSHIPS + +August 27, 1842. + +DEAR Mr. PRINTER: + +I see you printed that long letter I sent you a spell ago. I 'm +quite encouraged by it, and can't keep from writing again. I +think the printing of my letters will be a good thing all round-- +it will give me the benefit of being known by the world, and give +the world the advantage of knowing what's going on in the Lost +Townships, and give your paper respectability besides. So here +comes another. Yesterday afternoon I hurried through cleaning up +the dinner dishes and stepped over to neighbor S_______ to see if +his wife Peggy was as well as mout be expected, and hear what +they called the baby. Well, when I got there and just turned +round the corner of his log cabin, there he was, setting on the +doorstep reading a newspaper. "How are you, Jeff?" says I. He +sorter started when he heard me, for he hadn't seen me before. +"Why," says he, "I 'm mad as the devil, Aunt 'Becca!" "What +about?" says I; "ain't its hair the right color? None of that +nonsense, Jeff; there ain't an honester woman in the Lost +Townships than..." --"Than who?" says he; "what the mischief are +you about?" I began to see I was running the wrong trail, and so +says I, "Oh! nothing: I guess I was mistaken a little, that's +all. But what is it you 're mad about?" + +"Why," says he, "I've been tugging ever since harvest, getting +out wheat and hauling it to the river to raise State Bank paper +enough to pay my tax this year and a little school debt I owe; +and now, just as I 've got it, here I open this infernal Extra +Register, expecting to find it full of 'Glorious Democratic +Victories' and 'High Comb'd Cocks,' when, lo and behold! I find a +set of fellows, calling themselves officers of the State, have +forbidden the tax collectors, and school commissioners to receive +State paper at all; and so here it is dead on my hands. I don't +now believe all the plunder I've got will fetch ready cash enough +to pay my taxes and that school debt." + +I was a good deal thunderstruck myself; for that was the first I +had heard of the proclamation, and my old man was pretty much in +the same fix with Jeff. We both stood a moment staring at one +another without knowing what to say. At last says I, "Mr. +S______ let me look at that paper." He handed it to me, when I +read the proclamation over. + +"There now," says he, "did you ever see such a piece of impudence +and imposition as that?" I saw Jeff was in a good tune for saying +some ill-natured things, and so I tho't I would just argue a +little on the contrary side, and make him rant a spell if I +could. "Why," says I, looking as dignified and thoughtful as I +could, "it seems pretty tough, to be sure, to have to raise +silver where there's none to be raised; but then, you see, 'there +will be danger of loss' if it ain't done." + +"Loss! damnation!" says he. "I defy Daniel Webster, I defy King +Solomon, I defy the world--I defy--I defy--yes, I defy even you, +Aunt 'Becca, to show how the people can lose anything by paying +their taxes in State paper." + +"Well," says I, "you see what the officers of State say about it, +and they are a desarnin' set of men. But," says I, "I guess you +'re mistaken about what the proclamation says. It don't say the +people will lose anything by the paper money being taken for +taxes. It only says 'there will be danger of loss'; and though +it is tolerable plain that the people can't lose by paying their +taxes in something they can get easier than silver, instead of +having to pay silver; and though it's just as plain that the +State can't lose by taking State Bank paper, however low it may +be, while she owes the bank more than the whole revenue, and can +pay that paper over on her debt, dollar for dollar;--still there +is danger of loss to the 'officers of State'; and you know, Jeff, +we can't get along without officers of State." + +"Damn officers of State!" says he; "that's what Whigs are always +hurrahing for." + +"Now, don't swear so, Jeff," says I, "you know I belong to the +meetin', and swearin' hurts my feelings." + +"Beg pardon, Aunt 'Becca," says he; "but I do say it's enough to +make Dr. Goddard swear, to have tax to pay in silver, for +nothing only that Ford may get his two thousand a year, and +Shields his twenty-four hundred a year, and Carpenter his sixteen +hundred a year, and all without 'danger of loss' by taking it in +State paper. Yes, yes: it's plain enough now what these officers +of State mean by 'danger of loss.' Wash, I s'pose, actually lost +fifteen hundred dollars out of the three thousand that two of +these 'officers of State' let him steal from the treasury, by +being compelled to take it in State paper. Wonder if we don't +have a proclamation before long, commanding us to make up this +loss to Wash in silver." + +And so he went on till his breath run out, and he had to stop. I +couldn't think of anything to say just then, and so I begun to +look over the paper again. "Ay! here's another proclamation, or +something like it." + +"Another?" says Jeff; "and whose egg is it, pray?" + +I looked to the bottom of it, and read aloud, "Your obedient +servant, James Shields, Auditor." + +"Aha!" says Jeff, "one of them same three fellows again. Well +read it, and let's hear what of it." + +I read on till I came to where it says, "The object of this +measure is to suspend the collection of the revenue for the +current year." + +"Now stop, now stop!" says he; "that's a lie a'ready, and I don't +want to hear of it." + +"Oh, maybe not," says I. + +"I say it-is-a-lie. Suspend the collection, indeed! Will the +collectors, that have taken their oaths to make the collection, +dare to end it? Is there anything in law requiring them to +perjure themselves at the bidding of James Shields? + +"Will the greedy gullet of the penitentiary be satisfied with +swallowing him instead of all of them, if they should venture to +obey him? And would he not discover some 'danger of loss,' and be +off about the time it came to taking their places? + +"And suppose the people attempt to suspend, by refusing to pay; +what then? The collectors would just jerk up their horses and +cows, and the like, and sell them to the highest bidder for +silver in hand, without valuation or redemption. Why, Shields +didn't believe that story himself; it was never meant for the +truth. If it was true, why was it not writ till five days after +the proclamation? Why did n't Carlin and Carpenter sign it as +well as Shields? Answer me that, Aunt 'Becca. I say it's a lie, +and not a well told one at that. It grins out like a copper +dollar. Shields is a fool as well as a liar. With him truth is +out of the question; and as for getting a good, bright, passable +lie out of him, you might as well try to strike fire from a cake +of tallow. I stick to it, it's all an infernal Whig lie!" + +"A Whig lie! Highty tighty!" + +"Yes, a Whig lie; and it's just like everything the cursed +British Whigs do. First they'll do some divilment, and then +they'll tell a lie to hide it. And they don't care how plain a +lie it is; they think they can cram any sort of a one down the +throats of the ignorant Locofocos, as they call the Democrats." + +"Why, Jeff, you 're crazy: you don't mean to say Shields is a +Whig!" + +"Yes, I do." + +"Why, look here! the proclamation is in your own Democratic +paper, as you call it." + +"I know it; and what of that? They only printed it to let us +Democrats see the deviltry the Whigs are at." + +"Well, but Shields is the auditor of this Loco--I mean this +Democratic State." + +"So he is, and Tyler appointed him to office." + +"Tyler appointed him?" + +"Yes (if you must chaw it over), Tyler appointed him; or, if it +was n't him, it was old Granny Harrison, and that's all one. I +tell you, Aunt 'Becca, there's no mistake about his being a Whig. +Why, his very looks shows it; everything about him shows it: if I +was deaf and blind, I could tell him by the smell. I seed him +when I was down in Springfield last winter. They had a sort of a +gatherin' there one night among the grandees, they called a fair. +All the gals about town was there, and all the handsome widows +and married women, finickin' about trying to look like gals, tied +as tight in the middle, and puffed out at both ends, like bundles +of fodder that had n't been stacked yet, but wanted stackin' +pretty bad. And then they had tables all around the house +kivered over with [------] caps and pincushions and ten +thousand such little knick-knacks, tryin' to sell 'em to the +fellows that were bowin', and scrapin' and kungeerin' about 'em. +They would n't let no Democrats in, for fear they'd disgust the +ladies, or scare the little gals, or dirty the floor. I looked +in at the window, and there was this same fellow Shields floatin' +about on the air, without heft or earthly substances, just like a +lock of cat fur where cats had been fighting. + +"He was paying his money to this one, and that one, and t' other +one, and sufferin' great loss because it was n't silver instead +of State paper; and the sweet distress he seemed to be in,--his +very features, in the ecstatic agony of his soul, spoke audibly +and distinctly, 'Dear girls, it is distressing, but I cannot +marry you all. Too well I know how much you suffer; but do, do +remember, it is not my fault that I am so handsome and so +interesting.' + +"As this last was expressed by a most exquisite contortion of his +face, he seized hold of one of their hands, and squeezed, and +held on to it about a quarter of an hour. 'Oh, my good fellow!' +says I to myself, 'if that was one of our Democratic gals in the +Lost Townships, the way you 'd get a brass pin let into you would +be about up to the head.' He a Democrat! Fiddlesticks! I tell +you, Aunt 'Becca, he's a Whig, and no mistake; nobody but a Whig +could make such a conceity dunce of himself." + +"Well," says I, "maybe he is; but, if he is, I 'm mistaken the +worst sort. Maybe so, maybe so; but, if I am, I'll suffer by it; +I'll be a Democrat if it turns out that Shields is a Whig, +considerin' you shall be a Whig if he turns out a Democrat." + +"A bargain, by jingoes!" says he; "but how will we find out?" + +"Why," says I, "we'll just write and ax the printer." + +"Agreed again!" says he; "and by thunder! if it does turn out +that Shields is a Democrat, I never will __________" + +"Jefferson! Jefferson!" + +"What do you want, Peggy?" + +"Do get through your everlasting clatter some time, and bring me +a gourd of water; the child's been crying for a drink this +livelong hour." + +"Let it die, then; it may as well die for water as to be taxed to +death to fatten officers of State." + +Jeff run off to get the water, though, just like he hadn't been +saying anything spiteful, for he's a raal good-hearted fellow, +after all, once you get at the foundation of him. + +I walked into the house, and, "Why, Peggy," says I, "I declare we +like to forgot you altogether." + +"Oh, yes," says she, "when a body can't help themselves, +everybody soon forgets 'em; but, thank God! by day after to- +morrow I shall be well enough to milk the cows, and pen the +calves, and wring the contrary ones' tails for 'em, and no thanks +to nobody." + +"Good evening, Peggy," says I, and so I sloped, for I seed she +was mad at me for making Jeff neglect her so long. + +And now, Mr. Printer, will you be sure to let us know in your +next paper whether this Shields is a Whig or a Democrat? I don't +care about it for myself, for I know well enough how it is +already; but I want to convince Jeff. It may do some good to let +him, and others like him, know who and what these officers of +State are. It may help to send the present hypocritical set to +where they belong, and to fill the places they now disgrace with +men who will do more work for less pay, and take fewer airs while +they are doing it. It ain't sensible to think that the same men +who get us in trouble will change their course; and yet it's +pretty plain if some change for the better is not made, it's not +long that either Peggy or I or any of us will have a cow left to +milk, or a calf's tail to wring. + +Yours truly, + +REBECCA ____________ + + + + +INVITATION TO HENRY CLAY. + +SPRINGFIELD, ILL., Aug 29, 1842. + +HON. HENRY CLAY, Lexington, Ky. + +DEAR SIR:--We hear you are to visit Indianapolis, Indiana, on the +5th Of October next. If our information in this is correct we +hope you will not deny us the pleasure of seeing you in our +State. We are aware of the toil necessarily incident to a +journey by one circumstanced as you are; but once you have +embarked, as you have already determined to do, the toil would +not be greatly augmented by extending the journey to our capital. +The season of the year will be most favorable for good roads, and +pleasant weather; and although we cannot but believe you would be +highly gratified with such a visit to the prairie-land, the +pleasure it would give us and thousands such as we is beyond all +question. You have never visited Illinois, or at least this +portion of it; and should you now yield to our request, we +promise you such a reception as shall he worthy of the man on +whom are now turned the fondest hopes of a great and suffering +nation. + +Please inform us at the earliest convenience whether we may +expect you. + +Very respectfully your obedient servants, +A. G. HENRY, A. T. BLEDSOE, +C. BIRCHALL, A. LINCOLN, +G. M. CABANNISS, ROB'T IRWIN, +P. A. SAUNDERS, J. M. ALLEN, +F. N. FRANCIS. +Executive Committee "Clay Club." + +(Clay's answer, September 6, 1842, declines with thanks.) + + + + +CORRESPONDENCE ABOUT THE LINCOLN-SHIELDS DUEL. + +TREMONT, September 17, 1842. + +ABRA. LINCOLN, ESQ.:--I regret that my absence on public business +compelled me to postpone a matter of private consideration a +little longer than I could have desired. It will only be +necessary, however, to account for it by informing you that I +have been to Quincy on business that would not admit of delay. I +will now state briefly the reasons of my troubling you with this +communication, the disagreeable nature of which I regret, as I +had hoped to avoid any difficulty with any one in Springfield +while residing there, by endeavoring to conduct myself in such a +way amongst both my political friends and opponents as to escape +the necessity of any. Whilst thus abstaining from giving +provocation, I have become the object of slander, vituperation, +and personal abuse, which were I capable of submitting to, I +would prove myself worthy of the whole of it. + +In two or three of the last numbers of the Sangamon Journal, +articles of the most personal nature and calculated to degrade me +have made their appearance. On inquiring, I was informed by the +editor of that paper, through the medium of my friend General +Whitesides, that you are the author of those articles. This +information satisfies me that I have become by some means or +other the object of your secret hostility. I will not take the +trouble of inquiring into the reason of all this; but I will take +the liberty of requiring a full, positive, and absolute +retraction of all offensive allusions used by you in these +communications, in relation to my private character and standing +as a man, as an apology for the insults conveyed in them. + +This may prevent consequences which no one will regret more than +myself. + +Your obedient servant, JAS. SHIELDS. + + + + +TO J. SHIELDS. + +TREMONT, September 17, 1842 + +JAS. SHIELDS, ESQ.:--Your note of to-day was handed me by General +Whitesides. In that note you say you have been informed, through +the medium of the editor of the Journal, that I am the author of +certain articles in that paper which you deem personally abusive +of you; and without stopping to inquire whether I really am the +author, or to point out what is offensive in them, you demand an +unqualified retraction of all that is offensive, and then proceed +to hint at consequences. + +Now, sir, there is in this so much assumption of facts and so +much of menace as to consequences, that I cannot submit to answer +that note any further than I have, and to add that the +consequences to which I suppose you allude would be matter of as +great regret to me as it possibly could to you. + +Respectfully, + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +TO A. LINCOLN FROM JAS. SHIELDS + +TREMONT, September 17, 1842. + +ABRA. LINCOLN, ESQ.:--In reply to my note of this date, you +intimate that I assume facts and menace consequences, and that +you cannot submit to answer it further. As now, sir, you desire +it, I will be a little more particular. The editor of the +Sangamon Journal gave me to understand that you are the author of +an article which appeared, I think, in that paper of the 2d +September instant, headed "The Lost Townships," and signed +Rebecca or 'Becca. I would therefore take the liberty of asking +whether you are the author of said article, or any other over the +same signature which has appeared in any of the late numbers of +that paper. If so, I repeat my request of an absolute retraction +of all offensive allusions contained therein in relation to my +private character and standing. If you are not the author of any +of these articles, your denial will he sufficient. I will say +further, it is not my intention to menace, but to do myself +justice. + +Your obedient servant, +JAS. SHIELDS. + + + + +MEMORANDUM OF INSTRUCTIONS TO E. H. MERRYMAN, + +Lincoln's Second, + +September 19, 1842. + +In case Whitesides shall signify a wish to adjust this affair +without further difficulty, let him know that if the present +papers be withdrawn, and a note from Mr. Shields asking to know +if I am the author of the articles of which he complains, and +asking that I shall make him gentlemanly satisfaction if I am the +author, and this without menace, or dictation as to what that +satisfaction shall be, a pledge is made that the following answer +shall be given: + +"I did write the 'Lost Townships' letter which appeared in the +Journal of the 2d instant, but had no participation in any form +in any other article alluding to you. I wrote that wholly for +political effect--I had no intention of injuring your personal or +private character or standing as a man or a gentleman; and I did +not then think, and do not now think, that that article could +produce or has produced that effect against you; and had I +anticipated such an effect I would have forborne to write it. +And I will add that your conduct toward me, so far as I know, had +always been gentlemanly; and that I had no personal pique against +you, and no cause for any." + +If this should be done, I leave it with you to arrange what shall +and what shall not be published. If nothing like this is done, +the preliminaries of the fight are to be-- + +First. Weapons: Cavalry broadswords of the largest size, +precisely equal in all respects, and such as now used by the +cavalry company at Jacksonville. + +Second. Position: A plank ten feet long, and from nine to twelve +inches broad, to be firmly fixed on edge, on the ground, as the +line between us, which neither is to pass his foot over upon +forfeit of his life. Next a line drawn on the ground on either +side of said plank and parallel with it, each at the distance of +the whole length of the sword and three feet additional from the +plank; and the passing of his own such line by either party +during the fight shall be deemed a surrender of the contest. + +Third. Time: On Thursday evening at five o'clock, if you can get +it so; but in no case to be at a greater distance of time than +Friday evening at five o'clock. + +Fourth. Place: Within three miles of Alton, on the opposite side +of the river, the particular spot to be agreed on by you. + +Any preliminary details coming within the above rules you are at +liberty to make at your discretion; but you are in no case to +swerve from these rules, or to pass beyond their limits. + + + + +TO JOSHUA F. SPEED. + +SPRINGFIELD, October 4, 1842. + +DEAR SPEED:--You have heard of my duel with Shields, and I have +now to inform you that the dueling business still rages in this +city. Day before yesterday Shields challenged Butler, who +accepted, and proposed fighting next morning at sunrise in Bob +Allen's meadow, one hundred yards' distance, with rifles. To +this Whitesides, Shields's second, said "No," because of the law. +Thus ended duel No. 2. Yesterday Whitesides chose to consider +himself insulted by Dr. Merryman, so sent him a kind of quasi- +challenge, inviting him to meet him at the Planter's House in St. +Louis on the next Friday, to settle their difficulty. Merryman +made me his friend, and sent Whitesides a note, inquiring to know +if he meant his note as a challenge, and if so, that he would, +according to the law in such case made and provided, prescribe +the terms of the meeting. Whitesides returned for answer that if +Merryman would meet him at the Planter's House as desired, he +would challenge him. Merryman replied in a note that he denied +Whitesides's right to dictate time and place, but that he +(Merryman) would waive the question of time, and meet him at +Louisiana, Missouri. Upon my presenting this note to Whitesides +and stating verbally its contents, he declined receiving it, +saying he had business in St. Louis, and it was as near as +Louisiana. Merryman then directed me to notify Whitesides that +he should publish the correspondence between them, with such +comments as he thought fit. This I did. Thus it stood at +bedtime last night. This morning Whitesides, by his friend +Shields, is praying for a new trial, on the ground that he was +mistaken in Merryman's proposition to meet him at Louisiana, +Missouri, thinking it was the State of Louisiana. This Merryman +hoots at, and is preparing his publication; while the town is in +a ferment, and a street fight somewhat anticipated. + +But I began this letter not for what I have been writing, but to +say something on that subject which you know to be of such +infinite solicitude to me. The immense sufferings you endured +from the first days of September till the middle of February you +never tried to conceal from me, and I well understood. You have +now been the husband of a lovely woman nearly eight months. That +you are happier now than the day you married her I well know, for +without you could not be living. But I have your word for it, +too, and the returning elasticity of spirits which is manifested +in your letters. But I want to ask a close question, "Are you +now in feeling as well as judgment glad that you are married as +you are?" From anybody but me this would be an impudent question, +not to be tolerated; but I know you will pardon it in me. Please +answer it quickly, as I am impatient to know. I have sent my +love to your Fanny so often, I fear she is getting tired of it. +However, I venture to tender it again. + +Yours forever, + +LINCOLN. + + + + +TO JAMES S. IRWIN. + +SPRINGFIELD, +November 2, 1842. + +JAS. S. IRWIN ESQ.: + +Owing to my absence, yours of the 22nd ult. was not received +till this moment. Judge Logan and myself are willing to attend +to any business in the Supreme Court you may send us. As to +fees, it is impossible to establish a rule that will apply in +all, or even a great many cases. We believe we are never accused +of being very unreasonable in this particular; and we would +always be easily satisfied, provided we could see the money--but +whatever fees we earn at a distance, if not paid before, we have +noticed, we never hear of after the work is done. We, therefore, +are growing a little sensitive on that point. + +Yours etc., + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +1843 + + +RESOLUTIONS AT A WHIG MEETING AT SPRINGFIELD, +ILLINOIS, MARCH 1, 1843. + +The object of the meeting was stated by Mr. Lincoln of +Springfield, who offered the following resolutions, which were +unanimously adopted: + +Resolved, That a tariff of duties on imported goods, producing +sufficient revenue for the payment of the necessary expenditures +of the National Government, and so adjusted as to protect +American industry, is indispensably necessary to the prosperity +of the American people. + +Resolved, That we are opposed to direct taxation for the support +of the National Government. + +Resolved, That a national bank, properly restricted, is highly +necessary and proper to the establishment and maintenance of a +sound currency, and for the cheap and safe collection, keeping, +and disbursing of the public revenue. + +Resolved, That the distribution of the proceeds of the sales of +the public lands, upon the principles of Mr. Clay's bill, accords +with the best interests of the nation, and particularly with +those of the State of Illinois. + +Resolved, That we recommend to the Whigs of each Congressional +district of the State to nominate and support at the approaching +election a candidate of their own principles, regardless of the +chances of success. + +Resolved, That we recommend to the Whigs of all portions of the +State to adopt and rigidly adhere to the convention system of +nominating candidates. + +Resolved, That we recommend to the Whigs of each Congressional +district to hold a district convention on or before the first +Monday of May next, to be composed of a number of delegates from +each county equal to double the n tuber of its representatives in +the General Assembly, provided, each county shall have at least +one delegate. Said delegates to be chosen by primary meetings of +the Whigs, at such times and places as they in their respective +counties may see fit. Said district conventions each to nominate +one candidate for Congress, and one delegate to a national +convention for the purpose of nominating candidates for President +and Vice-President of the United States. The seven delegates so +nominated to a national convention to have power to add two +delegates to their own number, and to fill all vacancies. + +Resolved, That A. T. Bledsoe, S. T. Logan, and A. Lincoln be +appointed a committee to prepare an address to the people of the +State. + +Resolved, That N. W. Edwards, A. G. Henry, James H. Matheny, John +C. Doremus, and James C. Conkling be appointed a Whig Central +State Committee, with authority to fill any vacancy that may +occur in the committee. + + + + +CIRCULAR FROM WHIG COMMITTEE. + +Address to the People of Illinois. + +FELLOW-CITIZENS:-By a resolution of a meeting of such of the +Whigs of the State as are now at Springfield, we, the +undersigned, were appointed to prepare an address to you. The +performance of that task we now undertake. + +Several resolutions were adopted by the meeting; and the chief +object of this address is to show briefly the reasons for their +adoption. + +The first of those resolutions declares a tariff of duties upon +foreign importations, producing sufficient revenue for the +support of the General Government, and so adjusted as to protect +American industry, to be indispensably necessary to the +prosperity of the American people; and the second declares direct +taxation for a national revenue to be improper. Those two +resolutions are kindred in their nature, and therefore proper and +convenient to be considered together. The question of protection +is a subject entirely too broad to be crowded into a few pages +only, together with several other subjects. On that point we +therefore content ourselves with giving the following extracts +from the writings of Mr. Jefferson, General Jackson, and the +speech of Mr. Calhoun: + +"To be independent for the comforts of life, we must fabricate +them ourselves. We must now place the manufacturer by the side +of the agriculturalist. The grand inquiry now is, Shall we make +our own comforts, or go without them at the will of a foreign +nation? He, therefore, who is now against domestic manufactures +must be for reducing us either to dependence on that foreign +nation, or to be clothed in skins and to live like wild beasts in +dens and caverns. I am not one of those; experience has taught +me that manufactures are now as necessary to our independence as +to our comfort." Letter of Mr. Jefferson to Benjamin Austin. + +"I ask, What is the real situation of the agriculturalist? Where +has the American farmer a market for his surplus produce? Except +for cotton, he has neither a foreign nor a home market. Does not +this clearly prove, when there is no market at home or abroad, +that there [is] too much labor employed in agriculture? Common +sense at once points out the remedy. Take from agriculture six +hundred thousand men, women, and children, and you will at once +give a market for more breadstuffs than all Europe now furnishes. +In short, we have been too long subject to the policy of British +merchants. It is time we should become a little more +Americanized, and instead of feeding the paupers and laborers of +England, feed our own; or else in a short time, by continuing our +present policy, we shall all be rendered paupers ourselves." -- +General Jackson's Letter to Dr. Coleman. + +"When our manufactures are grown to a certain perfection, as they +soon will be, under the fostering care of government, the farmer +will find a ready market for his surplus produce, and--what is of +equal consequence--a certain and cheap supply of all he wants; +his prosperity will diffuse itself to every class of the +community." Speech of Hon. J. C. Calhoun on the Tariff. + +The question of revenue we will now briefly consider. For +several years past the revenues of the government have been +unequal to its expenditures, and consequently loan after loan, +sometimes direct and sometimes indirect in form, has been +resorted to. By this means a new national debt has been created, +and is still growing on us with a rapidity fearful to +contemplate--a rapidity only reasonably to be expected in time of +war. This state of things has been produced by a prevailing +unwillingness either to increase the tariff or resort to direct +taxation. But the one or the other must come. Coming +expenditures must be met, and the present debt must be paid; and +money cannot always be borrowed for these objects. The system of +loans is but temporary in its nature, and must soon explode. It +is a system not only ruinous while it lasts, but one that must +soon fail and leave us destitute. As an individual who +undertakes to live by borrowing soon finds his original means +devoured by interest, and, next, no one left to borrow from, so +must it be with a government. + +We repeat, then, that a tariff sufficient for revenue, or a +direct tax, must soon be resorted to; and, indeed, we believe +this alternative is now denied by no one. But which system shall +be adopted? Some of our opponents, in theory, admit the propriety +of a tariff sufficient for a revenue, but even they will not in +practice vote for such a tariff; while others boldly advocate +direct taxation. Inasmuch, therefore, as some of them boldly +advocate direct taxation, and all the rest--or so nearly all as +to make exceptions needless--refuse to adopt the tariff, we think +it is doing them no injustice to class them all as advocates of +direct taxation. Indeed, we believe they are only delaying an +open avowal of the system till they can assure themselves that +the people will tolerate it. Let us, then, briefly compare the +two systems. The tariff is the cheaper system, because the +duties, being collected in large parcels at a few commercial +points, will require comparatively few officers in their +collection; while by the direct-tax system the land must be +literally covered with assessors and collectors, going forth like +swarms of Egyptian locusts, devouring every blade of grass and +other green thing. And, again, by the tariff system the whole +revenue is paid by the consumers of foreign goods, and those +chiefly the luxuries, and not the necessaries, of life. By this +system the man who contents himself to live upon the products of +his own country pays nothing at all. And surely that country is +extensive enough, and its products abundant and varied enough, to +answer all the real wants of its people. In short, by this +system the burthen of revenue falls almost entirely on the +wealthy and luxurious few, while the substantial and laboring +many who live at home, and upon home products, go entirely free. +By the direct-tax system none can escape. However strictly the +citizen may exclude from his premises all foreign luxuries,--fine +cloths, fine silks, rich wines, golden chains, and diamond +rings,--still, for the possession of his house, his barn, and his +homespun, he is to be perpetually haunted and harassed by the +tax-gatherer. With these views we leave it to be determined +whether we or our opponents are the more truly democratic on the +subject. + +The third resolution declares the necessity and propriety of a +national bank. During the last fifty years so much has been said +and written both as to the constitutionality and expediency of +such an institution, that we could not hope to improve in the +least on former discussions of the subject, were we to undertake +it. We, therefore, upon the question of constitutionality +content ourselves with remarking the facts that the first +national bank was established chiefly by the same men who formed +the Constitution, at a time when that instrument was but two +years old, and receiving the sanction, as President, of the +immortal Washington; that the second received the sanction, as +President, of Mr. Madison, to whom common consent has awarded the +proud title of "Father of the Constitution"; and subsequently the +sanction of the Supreme Court, the most enlightened judicial +tribunal in the world. Upon the question of expediency, we only +ask you to examine the history of the times during the existence +of the two banks, and compare those times with the miserable +present. + +The fourth resolution declares the expediency of Mr. Clay's land +bill. Much incomprehensible jargon is often used against the +constitutionality of this measure. We forbear, in this place, +attempting an answer to it, simply because, in our opinion, those +who urge it are through party zeal resolved not to see or +acknowledge the truth. The question of expediency, at least so +far as Illinois is concerned, seems to us the clearest +imaginable. By the bill we are to receive annually a large sum +of money, no part of which we otherwise receive. The precise +annual sum cannot be known in advance; it doubtless will vary in +different years. Still it is something to know that in the last +year--a year of almost unparalleled pecuniary pressure--it +amounted to more than forty thousand dollars. This annual +income, in the midst of our almost insupportable difficulties, in +the days of our severest necessity, our political opponents are +furiously resolving to take and keep from us. And for what? +Many silly reasons are given, as is usual in cases where a single +good one is not to be found. One is that by giving us the +proceeds of the lands we impoverish the national treasury, and +thereby render necessary an increase of the tariff. This may be +true; but if so, the amount of it only is that those whose pride, +whose abundance of means, prompt them to spurn the manufactures +of our country, and to strut in British cloaks and coats and +pantaloons, may have to pay a few cents more on the yard for the +cloth that makes them. A terrible evil, truly, to the Illinois +farmer, who never wore, nor ever expects to wear, a single yard +of British goods in his whole life. Another of their reasons is +that by the passage and continuance of Mr. Clay's bill, we +prevent the passage of a bill which would give us more. This, if +it were sound in itself, is waging destructive war with the +former position; for if Mr. Clay's bill impoverishes the treasury +too much, what shall be said of one that impoverishes it still +more? But it is not sound in itself. It is not true that Mr. +Clay's bill prevents the passage of one more favorable to us of +the new States. Considering the strength and opposite interest +of the old States, the wonder is that they ever permitted one to +pass so favorable as Mr. Clay's. The last twenty-odd years' +efforts to reduce the price of the lands, and to pass graduation +bills and cession bills, prove the assertion to be true; and if +there were no experience in support of it, the reason itself is +plain. The States in which none, or few, of the public lands +lie, and those consequently interested against parting with them +except for the best price, are the majority; and a moment's +reflection will show that they must ever continue the majority, +because by the time one of the original new States (Ohio, for +example) becomes populous and gets weight in Congress, the public +lands in her limits are so nearly sold out that in every point +material to this question she becomes an old State. She does not +wish the price reduced, because there is none left for her +citizens to buy; she does not wish them ceded to the States in +which they lie, because they no longer lie in her limits, and she +will get nothing by the cession. In the nature of things, the +States interested in the reduction of price, in graduation, in +cession, and in all similar projects, never can be the majority. +Nor is there reason to hope that any of them can ever succeed as +a Democratic party measure, because we have heretofore seen that +party in full power, year after year, with many of their leaders +making loud professions in favor of these projects, and yet doing +nothing. What reason, then, is there to believe they will +hereafter do better? In every light in which we can view this +question, it amounts simply to this: Shall we accept our share of +the proceeds under Mr. Clay's bill, or shall we rather reject +that and get nothing? + +The fifth resolution recommends that a Whig candidate for +Congress be run in every district, regardless of the chances of +success. We are aware that it is sometimes a temporary +gratification, when a friend cannot succeed, to be able to choose +between opponents; but we believe that that gratification is the +seed-time which never fails to be followed by a most abundant +harvest of bitterness. By this policy we entangle ourselves. By +voting for our opponents, such of us as do it in some measure +estop ourselves to complain of their acts, however glaringly +wrong we may believe them to be. By this policy no one portion +of our friends can ever be certain as to what course another +portion may adopt; and by this want of mutual and perfect +understanding our political identity is partially frittered away +and lost. And, again, those who are thus elected by our aid ever +become our bitterest persecutors. Take a few prominent examples. +In 1830 Reynolds was elected Governor; in 1835 we exerted our +whole strength to elect Judge Young to the United States Senate, +which effort, though failing, gave him the prominence that +subsequently elected him; in 1836 General Ewing, was so elected +to the United States Senate; and yet let us ask what three men +have been more perseveringly vindictive in their assaults upon +all our men and measures than they? During the last summer the +whole State was covered with pamphlet editions of +misrepresentations against us, methodized into chapters and +verses, written by two of these same men,--Reynolds and Young, in +which they did not stop at charging us with error merely, but +roundly denounced us as the designing enemies of human liberty, +itself. If it be the will of Heaven that such men shall +politically live, be it so; but never, never again permit them to +draw a particle of their sustenance from us. + +The sixth resolution recommends the adoption of the convention +system for the nomination of candidates. This we believe to be +of the very first importance. Whether the system is right in +itself we do not stop to inquire; contenting ourselves with +trying to show that, while our opponents use it, it is madness in +us not to defend ourselves with it. Experience has shown that we +cannot successfully defend ourselves without it. For examples, +look at the elections of last year. Our candidate for governor, +with the approbation of a large portion of the party, took the +field without a nomination, and in open opposition to the system. +Wherever in the counties the Whigs had held conventions and +nominated candidates for the Legislature, the aspirants who were +not nominated were induced to rebel against the nominations, and +to become candidates, as is said, "on their own hook." And, go +where you would into a large Whig county, you were sure to find +the Whigs not contending shoulder to shoulder against the common +enemy, but divided into factions, and fighting furiously with one +another. The election came, and what was the result? The +governor beaten, the Whig vote being decreased many thousands +since 1840, although the Democratic vote had not increased any. +Beaten almost everywhere for members of the Legislature,-- +Tazewell, with her four hundred Whig majority, sending a +delegation half Democratic; Vermillion, with her five hundred, +doing the same; Coles, with her four hundred, sending two out of +three; and Morgan, with her two hundred and fifty, sending three +out of four,--and this to say nothing of the numerous other less +glaring examples; the whole winding up with the aggregate number +of twenty-seven Democratic representatives sent from Whig +counties. As to the senators, too, the result was of the same +character. And it is most worthy to be remembered that of all +the Whigs in the State who ran against the regular nominees, a +single one only was elected. Although they succeeded in +defeating the nominees almost by scores, they too were defeated, +and the spoils chucklingly borne off by the common enemy. + +We do not mention the fact of many of the Whigs opposing the +convention system heretofore for the purpose of censuring them. +Far from it. We expressly protest against such a conclusion. We +know they were generally, perhaps universally, as good and true +Whigs as we ourselves claim to be. + +We mention it merely to draw attention to the disastrous result +it produced, as an example forever hereafter to be avoided. That +"union is strength" is a truth that has been known, illustrated, +and declared in various ways and forms in all ages of the world. +That great fabulist and philosopher Aesop illustrated it by his +fable of the bundle of sticks; and he whose wisdom surpasses that +of all philosophers has declared that "a house divided against +itself cannot stand." It is to induce our friends to act upon +this important and universally acknowledged truth that we urge +the adoption of the convention system. Reflection will prove +that there is no other way of practically applying it. In its +application we know there will be incidents temporarily painful; +but, after all, those incidents will be fewer and less intense +with than without the system. If two friends aspire to the same +office it is certain that both cannot succeed. Would it not, +then, be much less painful to have the question decided by mutual +friends some time before, than to snarl and quarrel until the day +of election, and then both be beaten by the common enemy? + +Before leaving this subject, we think proper to remark that we do +not understand the resolution as intended to recommend the +application of the convention system to the nomination of +candidates for the small offices no way connected with politics; +though we must say we do not perceive that such an application. +of it would be wrong. + +The seventh resolution recommends the holding of district +conventions in May next, for the purpose of nominating candidates +for Congress. The propriety of this rests upon the same reasons +with that of the sixth, and therefore needs no further +discussion. + +The eighth and ninth also relate merely to the practical +application of the foregoing, and therefore need no discussion. + +Before closing, permit us to add a few reflections on the present +condition and future prospects of the Whig party. In almost all +the States we have fallen into the minority, and despondency +seems to prevail universally among us. Is there just cause for +this? In 1840 we carried the nation by more than a hundred and +forty thousand majority. Our opponents charged that we did it by +fraudulent voting; but whatever they may have believed, we know +the charge to be untrue. Where, now, is that mighty host? Have +they gone over to the enemy? Let the results of the late +elections answer. Every State which has fallen off from the Whig +cause since 1840 has done so not by giving more Democratic votes +than they did then, but by giving fewer Whig. Bouck, who was +elected Democratic Governor of New York last fall by more than +15,000 majority, had not then as many votes as he had in 1840, +when he was beaten by seven or eight thousand. And so has it +been in all the other States which have fallen away from our +cause. From this it is evident that tens of thousands in the +late elections have not voted at all. Who and what are they? is +an important question, as respects the future. They can come +forward and give us the victory again. That all, or nearly all, +of them are Whigs is most apparent. Our opponents, stung to +madness by the defeat of 1840, have ever since rallied with more +than their usual unanimity. It has not been they that have been +kept from the polls. These facts show what the result must be, +once the people again rally in their entire strength. Proclaim +these facts, and predict this result; and although unthinking +opponents may smile at us, the sagacious ones will "believe and +tremble." And why shall the Whigs not all rally again? Are +their principles less dear now than in 1840? Have any of their +doctrines since then been discovered to be untrue? It is true, +the victory of 1840 did not produce the happy results +anticipated; but it is equally true, as we believe, that the +unfortunate death of General Harrison was the cause of the +failure. It was not the election of General Harrison that was +expected to produce happy effects, but the measures to be adopted +by his administration. By means of his death, and the unexpected +course of his successor, those measures were never adopted. How +could the fruits follow? The consequences we always predicted +would follow the failure of those measures have followed, and are +now upon us in all their horrors. By the course of Mr. Tyler the +policy of our opponents has continued in operation, still leaving +them with the advantage of charging all its evils upon us as the +results of a Whig administration. Let none be deceived by this +somewhat plausible, though entirely false charge. If they ask us +for the sufficient and sound currency we promised, let them be +answered that we only promised it through the medium of a +national bank, which they, aided by Mr. Tyler, prevented our +establishing. And let them be reminded, too, that their own +policy in relation to the currency has all the time been, and +still is, in full operation. Let us then again come forth in our +might, and by a second victory accomplish that which death +prevented in the first. We can do it. When did the Whigs ever +fail if they were fully aroused and united? Even in single +States, under such circumstances, defeat seldom overtakes them. +Call to mind the contested elections within the last few years, +and particularly those of Moore and Letcher from Kentucky, +Newland and Graham from North Carolina, and the famous New Jersey +case. In all these districts Locofocoism had stalked omnipotent +before; but when the whole people were aroused by its enormities +on those occasions, they put it down, never to rise again. + +We declare it to be our solemn conviction, that the Whigs are +always a majority of this nation; and that to make them always +successful needs but to get them all to the polls and to vote +unitedly. This is the great desideratum. Let us make every +effort to attain it. At every election, let every Whig act as +though he knew the result to depend upon his action. In the +great contest of 1840 some more than twenty one hundred thousand +votes were cast, and so surely as there shall be that many, with +the ordinary increase added, cast in 1844 that surely will a Whig +be elected President of the United States. + +A. LINCOLN. +S. T. LOGAN. +A. T. BLEDSOE. + +March 4, 1843. + + + + +TO JOHN BENNETT. + +SPRINGFIELD, March 7, 1843. + +FRIEND BENNETT: + +Your letter of this day was handed me by Mr. Miles. It is too +late now to effect the object you desire. On yesterday morning +the most of the Whig members from this district got together and +agreed to hold the convention at Tremont in Tazewell County. I +am sorry to hear that any of the Whigs of your county, or indeed +of any county, should longer be against conventions. On last +Wednesday evening a meeting of all the Whigs then here from all +parts of the State was held, and the question of the propriety. +of conventions was brought up and fully discussed, and at the end +of the discussion a resolution recommending the system of +conventions to all the Whigs of the State was unanimously +adopted. Other resolutions were also passed, all of which will +appear in the next Journal. The meeting also appointed a +committee to draft an address to the people of the State, which +address will also appear in the next journal. + +In it you will find a brief argument in favor of conventions--and +although I wrote it myself I will say to you that it is +conclusive upon the point and can not be reasonably answered. +The right way for you to do is hold your meeting and appoint +delegates any how, and if there be any who will not take part, +let it be so. The matter will work so well this time that even +they who now oppose will come in next time. + +The convention is to be held at Tremont on the 5th of April and +according to the rule we have adopted your county is to have +delegates--being double your representation. + +If there be any good Whig who is disposed to stick out against +conventions get him at least to read the arguement in their +favor in the address. + +Yours as ever, + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +JOSHUA F. SPEED. + +SPRINGFIELD, March 24, 1843. + +DEAR SPEED:--We had a meeting of the Whigs of the county here on +last Monday to appoint delegates to a district convention; and +Baker beat me, and got the delegation instructed to go for him. +The meeting, in spite of my attempt to decline it, appointed me +one of the delegates; so that in getting Baker the nomination I +shall be fixed a good deal like a fellow who is made a groomsman +to a man that has cut him out and is marrying his own dear "gal." +About the prospects of your having a namesake at our town, can't +say exactly yet. + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +TO MARTIN M. MORRIS. + +SPRINGFIELD, ILL., March 26, 1843. + +FRIEND MORRIS: + +Your letter of the a 3 d, was received on yesterday morning, and +for which (instead of an excuse, which you thought proper to ask) +I tender you my sincere thanks. It is truly gratifying to me to +learn that, while the people of Sangamon have cast me off, my old +friends of Menard, who have known me longest and best, stick to +me. It would astonish, if not amuse, the older citizens to learn +that I (a stranger, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, +working on a flatboat at ten dollars per month) have been put +down here as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic +family distinction. Yet so, chiefly, it was. There was, too, +the strangest combination of church influence against me. Baker +is a Campbellite; and therefore, as I suppose, with few +exceptions got all that church. My wife has some relations in +the Presbyterian churches, and some with the Episcopal churches; +and therefore, wherever it would tell, I was set down as either +the one or the other, while it was everywhere contended that no +Christian ought to go for me, because I belonged to no church, +was suspected of being a deist, and had talked about fighting a +duel. With all these things, Baker, of course, had nothing to +do. Nor do I complain of them. As to his own church going for +him, I think that was right enough, and as to the influences I +have spoken of in the other, though they were very strong, it +would be grossly untrue and unjust to charge that they acted upon +them in a body or were very near so. I only mean that those +influences levied a tax of a considerable per cent. upon my +strength throughout the religious controversy. But enough of +this. + +You say that in choosing a candidate for Congress you have an +equal right with Sangamon, and in this you are undoubtedly +correct. In agreeing to withdraw if the Whigs of Sangamon should +go against me, I did not mean that they alone were worth +consulting, but that if she, with her heavy delegation, should be +against me, it would be impossible for me to succeed, and +therefore I had as well decline. And in relation to Menard +having rights, permit me fully to recognize them, and to express +the opinion that, if she and Mason act circumspectly, they will +in the convention be able so far to enforce their rights as to +decide absolutely which one of the candidates shall be +successful. Let me show the reason of this. Hardin, or some +other Morgan candidate, will get Putnam, Marshall, Woodford, +Tazewell, and Logan--making sixteen. Then you and Mason, having +three, can give the victory to either side. + +You say you shall instruct your delegates for me, unless I +object. I certainly shall not object. That would be too +pleasant a compliment for me to tread in the dust. And besides, +if anything should happen (which, however, is not probable) by +which Baker should be thrown out of the fight, I would be at +liberty to accept the nomination if I could get it. I do, +however, feel myself bound not to hinder him in any way from +getting the nomination. I should despise myself were I to +attempt it. I think, then, it would be proper for your meeting +to appoint three delegates and to instruct them to go for some +one as the first choice, some one else as a second, and perhaps +some one as a third; and if in those instructions I were named as +the first choice, it would gratify me very much. If you wish to +hold the balance of power, it is important for you to attend to +and secure the vote of Mason also: You should be sure to have men +appointed delegates that you know you can safely confide in. If +yourself and James Short were appointed from your county, all +would be safe; but whether Jim's woman affair a year ago might +not be in the way of his appointment is a question. I don't know +whether you know it, but I know him to be as honorable a man as +there is in the world. You have my permission, and even request, +to show this letter to Short; but to no one else, unless it be a +very particular friend who you know will not speak of it. + +Yours as ever, + +A. LINCOLN. + +P. S Will you write me again? + + + + +TO MARTIN M. MORRIS. + +April 14, 1843. + +FRIEND MORRIS: + +I have heard it intimated that Baker has been attempting to get +you or Miles, or both of you, to violate the instructions of the +meeting that appointed you, and to go for him. I have insisted, +and still insist, that this cannot be true. Surely Baker would +not do the like. As well might Hardin ask me to vote for him in +the convention. Again, it is said there will be an attempt to +get up instructions in your county requiring you to go for Baker. +This is all wrong. Upon the same rule, Why might not I fly from +the decision against me in Sangamon, and get up instructions to +their delegates to go for me? There are at least twelve hundred +Whigs in the county that took no part, and yet I would as soon +put my head in the fire as to attempt it. Besides, if any one +should get the nomination by such extraordinary means, all +harmony in the district would inevitably be lost. Honest Whigs +(and very nearly all of them are honest) would not quietly abide +such enormities. I repeat, such an attempt on Baker's part +cannot be true. Write me at Springfield how the matter is. +Don't show or speak of this letter. + +A. LINCOLN + + + + +TO GEN. J. J. HARDIN. + +SPRINGFIELD, May 11, 1843. + +FRIEND HARDIN: + +Butler informs me that he received a letter from you, in which +you expressed some doubt whether the Whigs of Sangamon will +support you cordially. You may, at once, dismiss all fears on +that subject. We have already resolved to make a particular +effort to give you the very largest majority possible in our +county. From this, no Whig of the county dissents. We have many +objects for doing it. We make it a matter of honor and pride to +do it; we do it because we love the Whig cause; we do it because +we like you personally; and last, we wish to convince you that we +do not bear that hatred to Morgan County that you people have so +long seemed to imagine. You will see by the journals of this +week that we propose, upon pain of losing a barbecue, to give you +twice as great a majority in this county as you shall receive in +your own. I got up the proposal. + +Who of the five appointed is to write the district address? I +did the labor of writing one address this year, and got thunder +for my reward. Nothing new here. + +Yours as ever, + +A. LINCOLN. + +P. S.--I wish you would measure one of the largest of those +swords we took to Alton and write me the length of it, from tip +of the point to tip of the hilt, in feet and inches. I have a +dispute about the length. + +A. L. + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Writings of Lincoln, v1 +By Abraham Lincoln + |