Life of Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States : containing his early history and political career ; together with the speeches, messages, proclamations and other official documents illustrative of his eventful administration
Crosby, Frank
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'. 5? - I*,®** •■•.•■.• ■•■' . - *.; a * >; '• i<'‘ f J m it : « ; I I: t 1,' '' ■'1 r-.-J r vjL ■ri n ■ >„ ' i)' “ If this country cannot be saved without giving up the principle of Liberty, I waa about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.” Frmn Mr. Lincoln's Speech at Independence Hall, Fhiladelphia, February 21, 1861. “ I believe this G-overnment cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.” ' Springfield, Illinois, June, 18o8. “ I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which the Eevolu- tion was made.” Trenton, New Jersey, February 21, 1861. “ Having thus chosen our course, without guile and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear and with manly hearts.” Message, July 5, 1861. ' In giving freedom to the slaves, we assure freedom to the free | honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve.” Message, December 1, 1862. “ I hope peace will come soon, and come to stay ; and so come as to he worth the keeping in all future time.” i Springfield Letter, August 26, 1863. “ The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here | but it can never forget what the brave men, living and dead, did here.” Speech at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863. “I shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation, nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the Acts of Congress.” Amnesty Proclamation, December 8, 1863. 0 “I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have con- trolled me. Letter to A. G. Hodges, April 4, 1864. “ With malice towards 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.” Last Inaugural, March 4,.1865, (1) Irtra "with MAI.ICK TOWAKllS NONK.WITH CHARITY VOn AU..WITH bTKMNKSS IN THE RIGHT, AS GOO GIVES USTTl SEE THE RIGH T, I.KT US STRIVE ONTO EINISH THE WORK WE ARE IN " A.L1NCOLN LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. CONTAINING HIS EARLY HISTORY AND POLITICAL CAREER; TOGETHER WITH THE SPEECHES, MESSAGES, PROCLAMATIONS AND OTHER OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE OP HIS EVENTFUL ADMINISTRATION. BY FRANK CROSBY, MEMBER OF THE PHILADELPHIA BAR. “ Let all the ends thoh aim’st at be tht country’s, Thy God’s and truth’s ; then if thou fall’st Thou fall’st a blessed martyr.” PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY JOHN E. POTTER, No. 617 SANSOM STREET, 1 86 6. Eutered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by JOHN E. POTTER. In the Clerk’s Office of the Bistric.t Corirt of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Penn&ylvauia. PHILADELPHIA: 8XEEE0TYPED BY 8. A. GEOKGB, COLLINS, PRINTEE. DEDICATED TO THE GOOD AND TRUE OF THE NATION REDEEMED— REGENERATED— DISENTHRALLED. PREFACE An attempt has been made in the following pages to portray Abraham Lincohi, mainly in his relations to the country at large during his eventful administration. With this view, it has not been deemed necessary to cumoer the work with the minute details of his life prior to that time. This period has, therefore, been but glanced at, with a care to present enough to make a connected whole. His Congressional career, and his campaign with Senator Douglas are presented in outline, yet so, it is believed, that a clear idea of these incidents in his life can be obtained. After the time of his election as President, however, a different course of treatment has been pursued. Thenceforward, to the close of his life, especial pains have been taken to present everything which should show him as he was — the Statesman persistent, reso- lute, free from boasting or ostentation, destitute of hate, nevei exultant, guarded in his prophecies, threatening none at home or abroad, indulging in no utopian dreams of a blissful future, moving quietly, calmly, conscientiously, irresistibly on to the end he saw with clearest vision. Yet, even in what is presented as a complete record of his ad ministration, too much must not be expected. It is impossible, for example, to thoroughly dissect the events of the great Rebellion in a work like the present. Nothing of the kind has been attempted. The prominent features only have been sketched ; and that solely / for the purpose of bringing into the distinct foreground him whose life is under consideration. 7 8 PREFACE. Yarioiis Speeches, Proclamations, and Letters, not vitally essential to the unity of the main body of the work, yet valuable as affording illustrations of the man — have been collected in the Appendix. Imperfect as this portraiture must necessarily be, there is one conciliatory thought. The subject needs no embellishment. It furnishes its own setting. The acts of the man speak for them- selves. Only such an arrangement is needed as shall show the bearing of each upon the other, the development of each, the pro- cesses of growth. Those words of the lamented dead which nestle in our hearts so tenderly — they call for no explanation. Potent, searching, taking hold of our consciences, they will remain with us while reason lasts. Nor will the people’s interest be but for the moment. The bap- tism of blood to which the Nation has been called, cannot be for- gotten 'for generations. And while memories of him abide, there will inevitably be associated with them the placid, quiet face, not devoid of mirth — its patient, anxious, yet withal hopeful expres- sion— the sure, elastic step — the clearly cut, sharply defined speech of him, who, under Providence, was to lead us through the trial and anguish of those bitter days to the rest and refreshing of a peace, whose dawn only, alas ! he was to see. Though this work may not rise to the height required, it is hoped that it is not utterly unworthy of the^subject. Such as it is — a laoor of love — it is offered to those who loved and labored with the patriot and hero, with the earnest desire that it may not be regarded an unwarrantable intrusion upon ground on which any might hesitate to venture. f. c. Philadelphia, June, 1865. CONTEJfTS CHAPTER I. BOYHOOD AND EARLY MANHOOD. Preliminary — Birth of Abraham Lincoln — Removal from Kentucky — At Work — Self Edu cation — Personal Characteristics — Another Removal — Trip to New Orleans — Becomes « Clerk — Black Hawk War — Engages in Politics — Successive Elections to the Legisla- ture— Anti-Slavery Protest — Commences Practice as a Lawyer — Traits of Character-— Marriage — Return to Politics — Election to Congress ' 13 ' CHAPTER II. IN CONGRESS AND ON THE STUMP. The Mexican War — Internal Improvements — Slavery in the District of Columbia — Public Lands — Retires to Private Life — Kausas-Nebraska Bill — Withdraws in Favor of Senator Trumbull — Formation of Republican Party — Nominated for U. S. Senator — Opening Speech of Mr. Lincoln — Douglas Campaign — The Canvass — Tribute to the Declaration of Independence — Result of the Contest 19 CHAPTER III. BEFORE THE NATION. Speeches in Ohio— Extract from the Cincinnati Speech — Visits the East — Celebrated Speech at the Cooper Institute, New York — Interesting Incident 34 CHAPTER IV. NOMINATED AND ELECTED PRESIDENT. The Republican National Convention — Democratic Convention — Constitutional Union Con- vention— Ballotings at Chicago— The Result — Enthusiastic Reception — Visit to Spring- field — Address and Letter of Acceptance — The Campaign — Result of the Election — South Carolina’s Movements — Buchanan’s Pusillanimity — Secession of States — Con- federate Constitution — Peace Convention — Constitutional Amendments — Terms of the Rebels 60 CHAPTER V. ! TO WASHINGTON. The Departure — Farewell Remarks — Speech at Toledo — At Indianapolis — At Cincinuad— * At Columbus — At Steubenville — At Pittsburgh — At Cleveland — At Buffalo — At Alb;iny • — At Poughkeepsie — At New York — At Trenton — ^t Philadel])hia — At “ Independence i Hall” — Flag Raising — Speech at Harrisburg — Secret Departure for Washington — Com- [ ments 67 i CHAPTER VI. THE NEW ADMINISTRATION. Speeches at Washington — The Inaugural Address — Its Effect — The Cabinet — Commis- , Bioners from Montgomery — E.xtracts from A. II. Stephens’ Speech — Virginia Commis- Bioners — Fall of Fort Sumter 90 (9) 10 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. PREPARING FOR WAR. Effects of Sumter’s Fall — ^President’s Call for Troops — Response in the Loyal Slates — In the Border States — Baltirr<ore Riots — Maryland’s Position — President’s Letter to Maryland Authorities — Blockade Proclamation — Additional Proclamation — Comments Abroa^— Second Call for Troops — Special Order for Florida— Military Movements 108 CHAPTER Vm. THE FIRST SESSION OF CONGRESS. Opening of Congress — President’s First Message — Its Nature — Action of Congress — Resolu- tion Declaring the Object of the War — Bull Run — Its Effect 117 CHAPTER IX. CLOSE OF 1861. Election of the Rebels — Davis’ Boast — McClellan appointed Commander of Potomac Am.y — Proclamation of a National Fast — Intercourse with Rebels Forbidden — Fugitive Slaves — Gen. Butler’s Views — Gen. McClellan’s Letter from Secretary Cameron — Act of August 6th, 1861 — Gen. Fremont’s Order — Letter of the President Modifying the Same — Instruc- tions to Gen. Sherman — Ball’s -Bluff — Gen. Scott’s Retirement— Army of the Poto- mac. 137 CHAPTER X. THE CONGRESS OF 1861-62. The Military Situation — Seizure of Mason and Slidell — Opposition to the Administration — President’s Message— Financial Legislation — Committee on the Conduct of the War — Confiscation Bill 1-18 CHAPTER XI. THE SLAVERY QUESTION. Situation of thr President — His Policy — Gradual Emancipation — Message — Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbi# — Repudiation of Gen. Hunter’s Emancipation Order — Conference with Congressmen from the Border Slave States — Address to the Same — Military Order — Proclamation under the Conscription Act 171 CHAPTER XII. THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. Prc.sident’s War Order — Reason for the Same — Results in West and Southwest — Ainiy of the Potomac — Presidential Orders — Letter to McClellan — Order for Army Corps— The Issue of the Campaign — Unfortunate Circumstances — President’s Speech at Union Meeting — Comments — Operations in Virginia and Maryland — In the West and South- west 181 CHAPTER XIII. FREEDOM TO MILLIONS. Tnbune Editorial — Letter to Mr. Greeley — Announcement of the Emancipation Proclama-. tinn — Suspension of the Habeas Corpus in certain Cases — Order for Observance of the Siibbath — The Emancipation Proclamation 190 CHAPTER XIV. LAST SESSION OF THE THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. Situation of the Country — Opposition to the Administration — President’s Message I9fl CONTENTS 11 CHAPTER XV. THE TIDE TURNED. Military Successes — ^Favorable Elections — Emancipation Policy — Letter to Manchester (Eng.) Workingmen — Proclamation for a National Fast — Letter to Erastus Coming- Letter to a Committee on Recalling Vallandigham 220 CHAPTER XVI. LETTERS AND SPEECHES. Speech at Washington — Letter to Gen. Grant — Thanksgiving Proclamation — Letter Con- cerning the Emancipation Proclamation — Proclamation for Annual Thanksgiving — Dedi- catory Speech at Gettysburg 242 CHAPTER XVII. THE THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. Organization of the House — Different Opinions as to Reconstruction — Provisions for Par- ut n of Rebels — President’s Proclamation of Pardonr— Annual Message — Explanatory Proclamation 2o3 CHAPTER XVIII. '' PROGRESS. President’s Speech at Washington — Speech to a New York Committee — Speem in Bal tlmore — Letter to a Kentuckian — Employment of Colored Troops — Davis’ 'Threat- General Order— President’s Order on the Subject 275 CHAPTER XIX. RENOMINATED. Lieut. Gen. Grant — His Military Record — Continued Movements — Correspondence with the President — Across the Rapidan — Richmond Invested — President’s Letter to a Grant Meeting — Meeting of Republican National Convention — The Platform — The Nomination — Mr. Lincoln’s Reply to the Committee of Notification — Remarks to Union League Committee — Speech at a Serenade — Speech to Ohio Troops 285 CHAPTER XX. RECONSTRUCTION. President’s Speech at Philadelphia — Philadelphia Fair — Correspondence with Committee of National Convention — Proclamation of Martial Law in Kentucky — Question of Re- construction— President’s Proclamation on the Subject — Congressional Plan 2*^8 ^ CHAPTER XXI. PRESIDENTIAL CAMP.AIGN OP 1864. Proclamation for a Fast — Speech to Soldiers — Another Speech — “To Whom it may Con- cern”— Chicago Convention — Opposition Embarrassed — Resolution No. 2 — McClellan’s Acceptance — Capture of the Mobile Forts and Atlanta — Proclamation for Thanksgiving — Remarks on Employment of Negro Soldiers — Address to Loyal Marylanders 314 CHAPTER XXII. RE-ELECTED Presidential Campaign of 1864 — Fremont’s Withdrawal — Wade and Davis — Peace and War Democrats — Rebel Sympathizers — October Election — Result of Presidential Election- Speech to Pennsylvanians — Speech at a Serenade — Letter to a Soldier’s Mother — Open- _ng of Congress — Last Annual Message 325 12 CONTENTS CHAPTER XXIII. TIGHTENING THE LINES. Speech at a Serenade — Reply to a Presentation Address — Peace Rumors — Rebel Commis- sioners— Instructions to Secretary Seward — The Conference in Hampton Roads— Result — Extra Session of the Senate — Military Situation — Sherman — Charleston — Col- umbia— Wilmington — Fort Fisher — Sheridan — Grant — Rebel Congress — Second Inaug- uration— Inaugural — English Comment — Proclamation to Deserters 350 CHAPTER XXIV. IN RICHMOND. President, Visits City Point — ^Lee’s Failure — Grant’s Movement — Abraham Lincoln in Richmond — Lee’s Surrender — President’s Impromptu Speech — Speech on Reconstruc- tion— Proclamation Closing Certain Ports — Proclamation Relative to Maritime Rights— \ Supplementary Proclamation — Orders from the War Department — The Traitor Presi- dent 362 CHAPTER XXV. THE LAST ACT. Interview with Mr. Colfax — Cabinet Meeting — Incident — Evening Conversation — Possi- bility of Assassination — Leaves for the Theatre — In the Theatre — Precautions for the Murder — The Pistol Shot — Escape of the Assassin — Death of the President — Pledges Redeemed — Situation of the Country — Effect of the Murder — Obsequies at Washington —Borne Home — Grief of the People — At Rest 374 CHAPTER XXVI. THE MAN. Reasons for Ilis Re-election — What was Accomplished — Leaning on the People — State Papers — Ilis Tenacity of Purpose — Washington and Lincoln — Asa Man — Favorite Poem —Autobiography — His Modesty — A Christian — Conclusion 382 APPENDIX. Mr. Lincoln’s Speeches in Congress and Elsewhere, Proclamations, Letters, etc., not included in the Body of the Work. Speech on the Mexican War, (In Congress, Jan. 12, 1848) 391 Speech on Internal Improvements, (In Congress, June 20, 1848) 403 Speech on the Presidency and General Politics, (In Congress, Jifly 27, 1848) 417 Speech in Reply to Mr. Douglas, on Kansas^ the Dred Scott Decision, and the Utah Question, (At Springfield, June 26, 1857) 431 Speech in Hcply to Senator Douglas, (At Chicago, July 10, 1858) 442 Opening Passages of his Speech at Freeport 4-'>9 Letter to Gen. McClellan.'. 464 Letter to Gen. Schofield Relative to the Removal of Gen. Curtis 4r0 Tliree Hundred Thousand Men Called For 466 Rev. Dr. Mcl’heeters — President’s Reply to an Appeal for Interference 468 An Klectloi\ Ordered in the State of Arkansas 470 Letter *o William Fishhack on the Election in Arkansas 471 Call fi»r Five Hundred Thousand Men 471 l.etter to Mrs. Gurney 473 The Tennessee Test Oath 474 LIFE OF ABRAHAM lINCOLK CHAPTER I. BOYHOOD AND EARLY MANHOOD. Preliminary — Birth of Abraham Lincoln — Removal from Kentucky — At Work — ^Self Education — Personal Characteristics— Another Removal— Trip to New Orleans— Be- comes Clerk — Black Hawk War — ^Engages in Politics — Successive Elections to the Legislature — Anti-Slavery Protest — Commences Practice as a Lawyer — Traits of Charac- ter-Marriage— Return to Politics — Election to Congress. % The leading incidents in the early life of the men who have most decidedly influenced the destinies of our republic, pre- sent a striking similarity. The details, indeed, differ ; but the story, in outline, is the same — “ the short and simple annals of the poor.” Of obscure parentage — accustomed to toil from their tender years — with few facilities for the education of the school — the most struggled on, independent, self-reliant, till by their own right hands they had hewed their way to the positions for which their individual talents and peculiarities stamped them as best fitted. Children of nature, rather than of art, they have ever in their later years — amid scenes and associa- tions entirely dissimilar to those with which in youth and early manhood, they were familiar — retained somewhat in- dicative of their origin and training. In speech or in action — often in both — they have smacked of their native soil. If they have lacked the grace of the courtier, ample compensa- tion has been afforded in the honesty of the man. If their (13) 14 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Where Born. Early Life. Education. address was at times abrupt, it was at least frank and unmis- takable. Both friend and foe knew exactly where to find them. Unskilled in the doublings of the rtere politician or the trimmer, they have borne themselves straight forward to the points whither their judgment and conscience directed. Such men may have been deemed fit subjects for the jests and sneers of more cultivated Europeans, but they are none the less dear to us as Americans — will none the less take their place among those whose names the good, throughout the world, will not willingly let die. Of this class, pre-eminently, was the statesman whose life and public services the following pages are to exhibit. Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States, son of Thomas and Nancy Lincoln — the former a Kentuckian, the latter a Virginian — was born February 12th, 1809, near Hodgenville, the county-seat of what is now known as La Rue county, Kentucky. He had one sister, two years ,his senior, who died, married, in early womanhood ; and his only brother, his junior by two years, died in childhood. When nine years of age, he lost his mother, the family having, two years previously, removed to what was then the territory of Indiana, and settled in the southern part, near the Ohio river, about midway between Louisville and Evans- ville. The thirteen years which the lad spent here inured him to all the exposures and hardships of frontier life. An active assistant in farm duties, he neglected no opportunity of strengthening his mind, reading with avidity such instruc- tive works as he could procure — on winter evenings, often- times, by the light of the blazing fire-place. As satisfaction for damage accidentally done to a borrowed copy of Weems^ Life of Washington — the only one known to be in the neigh- borhood— he pulled fodder for two days for the owner. At twenty years of age, he had readied the height of nearly si.x feet and four inches, with a comparatively slender yet uncommonly strong, muscular frame — a youthful giant BOYHOOD AND EARLY MANHOOD. 15 Rome fes to Illinois. Visits New Orleans. Black Hawk War. among a race of giants. Morally, he was proverbially honest, conscientious, and upright. In 1830, his father again emigrated, halting for a year on the north fork of the Sangamon river, Illinois, but afterwards pushing on to Coles county, some seventy miles to the east- ward, on the upper waters of the Kaskaskia and Embarrass, where his adventurous life ended in 1851, he being in his seventy-third year. The first year in Illinois the son spent with the father ; the next he aided in constructiog a flat-boat, on which, with other hands, a successful trip to New Orleans and back was made. This city — then the El Dorado of the Western frontiersman — had been visited by the young man, in the same capacity, when he was nineteen years of age. Returning from this expedition, he acted for a year as clerk for his former employer, who was engaged in a store and flouring mill at New Salem, twenty miles below Spring- field. While thus occupied, tidings reached him of an Indian invasion on the western border of the State — since known as the Black Hawk war, from an old Sac chief of that name, who was the prominent mover in the matter. In New Salem and vicinity, a company of volunteers was promptly raised, of which young Lincoln was elected captain — his first pro- motion. The company, however, having disbanded, he again enlisted as a private, and during t^e three months’ service of this, his first short military campaign, he faithfully dischar^^ed his duty to his country, persevering amid peculiar hardships and against the influences of older men around him. With characteristic humor and sarcasm, while commenting, in a Congressional speech during the canvass of 1848, upon the efforts of General Cass’s biographers to exalt their idol into a military hero, he thus alluded to this episode in his life: “By the way, Mr. Speaker, did you know I am a military hero ? Yes, sir, in the days of the Black Hawk war, I fought, bled, and came away. Speaking of General Cass’s career. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 16 \ _ Speech. Engages in Politics. Elected to the Legislature, reminds me of my own. I was not at Stillman’s defeat, but ^ I was about as near it as Cass to Hull’s surrender ; and like him, I saw the place very soon afterward. It is quite certain I did hot break my sword, for I had none to break ; but ] bent a musket pretty badly on one occasion. If Cass broke- his sword, the idea is, he broke it in desperation ; I bent the musket by accident. If General Cass went in advance of me in picking whortleberries, I guess I surpassed him in charges upon the wild onions. If he saw any live, fighting Indians, it was more than I did, but I had a good many bloody strug- gles with the mosquitoes ; and although I never fainted from loss of blood, I can truly say I was often very hungry. “ Mr. Speaker, if I should ever conclude to doflf whatever our Democratic friends may suppose there is of black-cockade Federalism about me, and, thereupon, they should take me up as their candidate for the Presidency, I protest they shall not make fun of me as they have of General Cass, by attempt- ing to write me into a military hero.” This bit of adventure over, Mr. Lincoln — who had deter- mined to become a lawyer, in common with most energetic, enterprising young men of that period and section — embarked in politics, warmly espousing the cause of Henry Clay, in a State at that time decidedly opposed to his great leader, and received a gratifying evidence of his personal popularity where he was best known, in securing an almost unanimous vote in his own precinct in Sangamon county as a candidate for rep- resentative in the State Legislature, although a little later in the same canvass General Jackson, the Democratic candidate for the Presidency, led his competitor, Clay, one hundredUnd fifty-five votes. While pursuing his law studies, he engaged in land survey- ing as a means of support. In 1834, not yet having been admitted to the bar — a backwoodsman in manner, dress, and expression — tall, lank, and by no means prepossessing — he was first elected to the Legislature of his adopted State, BOYHOOD AND EARLY MANHOOD. 17 Arquaintance with Douglas. His views of Slavery iu 1836. being the youngest member, with a single exception. During this session he rarely took the floor to speak, content to play the part of an observer rather than of an actor. It was at this period that he became acquainted with Stephen A. Douglas, then a recent immigrant from Vermont, in connec- tion with whom he was destined to figure so prominently before the country. In 1836, he was elected for a second term. During this session, he put upon record, together with one of his pol- *' leagues, his views relative to slavery, in the following pro- test, bearing date March 3d, 1837 : — “ 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 institu- tion of slavery in the different States. “ They believe that the Congress of the United States Las 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 said district.’’ In 1838 and 1840, he was again elected and received the vote of vhis party for the speakership. First elected at twenty-five, he had been continued so long as his inclination allowed, and until by his kind manners, his ability, and un- questioned integrity, he had won a position, when but a little past thirty, as the virtual leader of his party in Illinois. His reputation as a close and logical debater had been established; his native talent as an orator had been developed ; his earnest zeal for his party had brought around him troops of friends ; 2 I 18 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. A lawyer. ^ Settles at Springfield. Marriage. while his acknowledged goodness of heart had knit many to him. who, upon purely political grounds, would have held themselves aloof. While a member of the Legislature, he had devoted him- self, as best he could — considering the necessity he was under of eking out a support for himself, and the demands made upon his time by his political associates — to mastering his chosen profession, and in 1836 was admitted to practice. Securing at once a good amount of business, he began to rise as a most effective jury advocate, who could readily perceive, and promptly avail himself of, the turning points of a case. A certain quaint humor, withal, which he was wont to employ in illustration — combined with his sterling, prac- tical sense, going straight to the core of things — stamped him as an original. Disdaining the tricks of the mere rhetorician, he spoke from the heart to the heart, and was universally regarded by those with whom he came in -contact as every inch a man, in the best and broadest sense of that term. His thou'ghts, his manner, his address were eminently his own. Affecting none of the cant of the demagogue, the people trusted him, revered him as one of the best, if not the best, among them. Their sympathies were his — their weal his desire, their interests a common stock with his own. Having permanently located himself at Springfield, the seat of Sangamon county — which ever after he called his home — he devoted himself to the practice of his profession, and on the 4th of November, 1842, married Mary Todd, daughter of the Hon. Robert S. Todd, of Lexington, Ken- tucky, a lady of accomplished manners and refined social tastes. Although he had determined to retire from the political arena and taste the sweets which a life with one’s own fam- ily can alone secure, his earnest wishes were at length over- ruled by the as earnest demands of that party with the success of which he firmly believed his country’s best interests iden- IN CONGRESS AND ON THE STUMP. 19 Elected to Congress. A Whig throughout. Mexican War. tified, and in 1844 he thoroughly canvassed his State in behalf of Clay — afterward passing into Indiana, and daily addressing immense gatherings until the day of election. Over the defeat of the great Kentuckian he sorrowed as one almost without hope ; feeling it, indeed, far more keenly than his generous nature would have done, had it been a merely personal discomfiture. Two years later, in 1846, Mr. Lincoln was persuaded to accept the Whig nomination for Congress in the Sangamon district, and was elected by an unprecedently large majority. Texas had meanwhile been annexed ; the Mexican war was in progress ; the Tariff*, of 1842 had been repealed. With the opening of the Thirtieth Congress — December 6th, 1841 — Mr. Lincoln took his seat in the lower house of Congress, Stephen A. Douglas also appearing for the first time as a member of the Senate. CHAPTER II. IN CONGRESS AND ON THE STUMP. The Mexican War — Internal Improvements— Slavery in the District of Columbia— Public Lands — Retires to Private Life — Kansas-Nebraska Bill — Withdraws in favor of Senator Trumbull — Formation of Republican Party — Nominated for U. S. Senator — Opening Speech of Mr. Lincoln — Douglas Campaign — The Canvass — Tribute to tho Declaration of Independence — Result of the Contest. Mr. Lincoln was early recognized as one of the foremost ^ of the Western men upon the floor of the House. His . Congressional record is that of ,a Whig of those days. Believing that Mr. Polk’s administration had mismanaged affairs with Mexico at the outset, he, in common with others of his party, was unwilling, while voting supplies and favor- ing suitable rewards for our gallant soldiers, to be forced into an unqualified indorsement of the war with that country from its beginning to its close. 20 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Resolutions of Inquiry. Slavery in the District of Columbia, Accordingly, December 22d, 1847, he introduced a series of resolutions of inquiry concerning the origin of the war, call- ing for definite official information, which were laid over under the rule, and never acted upon. Upon a test question on abandoning the war, without any material result accom- plished, he voted with the minority in favor of laying that resolution upon the .table. In all questions bearing upon the matter of internal improvements, he took an active interest. He took manly ground in favor of the unrestricted right of petition, and favored a liberal policy toward the people in disposing of the public lands. He exerted himself during the canvass of 1848, to secure the election of General Taylor, delivering several effective campaign speeches in New England and the West. At the second session of the Thirtieth Congress, he voted in favor of laying upon the table a resolution instructing the Committee on the District of Columbia to report a bill pro- hibiting the slave-trade in the District, and subsequently read a substitute which he favored. This substitute contained the form of a bill enacting that no person not already within the District, should be held in slavery therein, and providing for the gradual emancipation of the slaves already within the District, with compensation to the owners, if a majority of the legal voters of the District should assent to the act, at an election to be holden for the purpose. It made an excep- tion of the right of citizens of the slave-holding States coming to the District on public business, to “ be attended into and out of said District, and while there, by the neces- sary servants of themselves and their families. In regard to the grant of public lands to the new States, to aid in the construction of railways and canals, he favored the interests of his own constituents, under such restrictions as the proper scope of these grants required. Having declined to be a candidate for re-election, he retired IN CONGRESS AND ON THE STUMP. 21 Kaneas-Nebraska Bill. Election ol' U. S. Senator. Formation of the Republican Party. once more to private life, resuming the professional practice which had been temporarily interrupted by his public duties, and taking no active part in politics through the period of General Taylor’s administration, or in any of the exciting scenes of 1850. The introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska bill by Stephen A. Douglas, in 1854, aroused him from his repose, and summoned him once more to battle for the right. In the canvass of that year, he was one of the mo^t active leaders of the anti-Nebraska movement, addressing the people re- peatedly from the stump, with all his characteristic earnest- ness and energy, and powerfully aided in effecting the remarkable political changes of that year in Illinois. The Legislature that year having to choose a United States Senator, and for the first time in the history of the State, the election of one opposed to the Democratic party being within the reach of possibility, Mr. Lincoln, although the first choice of the great body of the opposition, with characteristic self-sacrificing disposition, appealed to his old Whig friends to go over in a solid body to Mr. Trumbull, a man of Demo- cratic antecedents, who could command the full vote of the anti-Nebraska Democrats ; and the latter was consequently elected. Mr. Lincoln was subsequently offered the nomina- tion for Governor of Illinois, but declined the honor in favor of Col. William H. Bissell, who was elected by a decisive majority. In the formation of the Republican party as such, Mr Lincoln bore an active and influential part, his name being presented, but ineffectually, at the first National Convention of that party, for Vice-President ; laboring earnestly during the canvass of 1856, for the election of General Fremont, whose electoral ticket he headed. After Mr. Douglas had taken ground against Mr. Bu chanan’s administration relative to the so-called Lecompton Constitution of Kansas, and had received the indorsement of 22 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Nominated for Senator. Opening Speech. The Slavery Agitation the Democratic party of Illinois — his re-election as Senator depending upon the result of the State election in 1858 — the Republican Convention of that year with shouts of applause, unanimously resolved that Abraham Lincoln was “ the first and only choice of the Republicans of Illinois for the United States Senate, as the successor of Stephen A. Douglas.” At the close of the proceedings, he delivered the following speech, which struck the key-note of his contest with Senator Douglas, one of the most exciting and remark- able ever witnessed in this country ; Gentlemen op the Convention : — If we could first know where we, are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far on into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation had not only not ceased, but has constantly aug- mented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed. ‘A house divided against itself can not stand.’ I believe this Government can not endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not ex- pect 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 be- come 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 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. “ Have we no tendency to the latter condition ? Let any one who doubts, carefully contemplate that now almost com- plete legal combination — piece of machinery, so to speak — compounded of the Nebraska doctrine, and the Dred' Scott decision. Let him consider not only what work the machinery is adapted to do, and how well adapted, but also let him study IN CONGRESS AND ON THE STUMP. 23 Opening Speech. Squatter Sovereignty. Liberty to Amend. the history of its construction, and trace, if he can, or rather fail, if he can, to trace the evidences of design, and concert of action, among its chief master-workers from the beginning. - But, so far. Congress only had acted ; and an indorsement, by the people, real or apparent, was indispensable, to save the point already gained, and give chance for more. The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the States by State Constitutions, and from most of the national territory by Congressional prohibition. Four days later com- menced the struggle, which ended in repealing that Congres- sional prohibition. This opened all the national territory to slavery, and was the first point gained. “ This necessity had not been overlooked, but had been provided for, as well as might be, in the notable argument of ‘ squatter sovereignty,' otherwise called ‘ sacred right of self- government,' which latter phrase, though expressive of the only rightful basis of any government, was so perverted in this attempted use of it as to amount to just this : that if any one man choose to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed to object. That argument was incorporated into the Nebraska Bill itself, in the language which follows : ‘ It being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor exclude it therefrom ; but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.’ “ Then opened the roar of loose declamation in favor of * squatter sovereignty,’ and ‘sacred right of self-government,’ “ ‘ But,’ said opposition members, ‘ let us be more specific — let us amend the bill so as to expressly declare that the people of the territory may exclude slavery.’ ‘Not we,’ said the friends of the measure ; and down they voted the amend- ment. “ While the Nebraska Bill was passing through Congress, a law case, involving the question of a negro’s freedoiH, by 24 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. The Bred Scott Case. In the Supreme Court. Buchanan’s Election. reason of his owner having voluntarily taken him first into a free State and then a territory covered by the Congressional prohibition, and held him as a slave — for a long time in each — was passing through the IT. S. Circuit Court for the District of Missouri; and both the N*ebraska Bill and. law suit were brought to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. The negro’s name was ‘ Dred Scott,’ which name now designates the decision finally made in the case. “Before the then next Presidential election case, the law came to, and was argued in the Supreme Court of the United States ; but the decision of it was deferred until after the election. Still, before the election. Senator Trumbull, on the floor of the Senate, requests the leading advocate of the Nebraska Bill to state opinion whether a people of a ter- ritory can constitutionally exclude slavery from their limits ; and the latter answers, ‘ That is a question for the Supreme Court.* “ The election came. Mr. Buchanan was elected, and the indorsement, such as it was, secured. That‘was the second point gained. The indorsement, however, fell short of a clear popular majority by nearly four hundred thousand votes, and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly reliable and satis- tactory. The outgoing President in his last annual message, as impressively as possible echoed back upon the people the weight and authority of the indorsement. “ The Supreme Court met again ; did not announce their decision, but ordered a re-argument. The Presidential in- auguration came, and still no decision of the court ; but the incoming President, in his Inaugural Address, fervently ex- horted the people to abide by the forthcoming decision, what- ever it might be. Then, in a few days came the decision. “ This was the third point gained. “ The reputed author of the Nebraska Bill finds an early occasion to make a speech at this capitol indorsing the Dred Scott decision, and vehemently denouncing all opposition to IN' CONGRESS AND ON THE STUMP. 25 Trouble between Douglas aud Buchanan. Points of the Dred Scott Decision. it. The new President, too, seizes the early occasion of the Silliman letter to indorse and strongly construe that decision, and to express his astonishment that any different view had ever been entertained. At length a squabble springs up between the President and the author of the Nebraska Bill on the mere question of fact, whether the Lecompton Consti- tution was or was not, in any just sense, made by the people of Kansas ; and, in that squabble, the latter declares that all he wants is a fair vote for the people, and that be cares not whether slavery be voted down or voted up. I do not un-^ derstand his declaration that he cares not whether slavery be voted down or voted up, to be intended by him other than as an apt definition of the policy he would impress upon the public mind — the principle for which he declares he has suffered much, and is ready to suffer to the end. ‘'And well may he cling to that principle. If he has any parental feeling, well may he cling to it. That principle is the only shred left of his original Nebraska doctrine. Tinder the Dred Scott decision, ‘ squatter sovereignty’ squatted out of existence, tumbled down like temporary scaffolding — like the mould at the foundry, served through one blast, and fell back into loose sand — helped to carry an election, and then was kicked to the winds. His late joint struggle with the Bepublicans, against the Lecompton Constitution, involves nothing of the original Nebraska doctrine. That struggle was made on a point — the right of a people to make their own Constitution — upon which he and the Republicans have never differed. “ The several points of the Dred Scott decision, in connec- tion with Senator Douglas’s ‘ care not’ policy, constitute the piece of machinery in its present state of advancement. The wording points of that machinery are : “ First, That no negro slave, imported as such from Affrica, and no descendant of such, can ever be a citizen of any State, 26 LIFE OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. Points of the Bred Scott, Decision. The Nebraska Doctrine. in the sense of that term as used in the Constitution of the United States. “ This point is made in order to deprive the negro, in every possible event, of the benefit of this provision of the United States Constitution, which declares that — ‘ The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immu- nities of citizens in the several States.’ * “ Secondly, that ‘ subject to the Constitution of the United States,’ neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature can exclude slavery from any United States Territory. “ This point is made in order that individual men may fill up the Territories with slaves, without danger of losing them as property, and thus to enhance the chances of permanency to the institution through all the future. “ Thirdly, that whether the holding a negro in actual slavery in a free State makes him free, as against the holder, the United States courts will not decide, but will leave it to be decided by the courts of any slave State the negro may be forced into by the master. “ This point is made, not to be pressed immediately ; but, if acquiesced in for a while, and apparently indorsed by the people at an election, then, to sustg-in the logical conclusion that what Dred Scott’s master might lawfully do with Dred Scott, in the free State of Illinois, every other master may* lawfully do with any other one, or one thousand slaves, in Illinois, or in any other free State. ^‘Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska doctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould public opinion, at least Northern public opinion, not to care whether slavery is voted down or voted up. “ This shows exactly where we now are, and partially also, whither we are tending. “It will throw additional light on the latter, to go back and run the mind over the string of historical facts already stated. Several things will now appear less dark and IN CONGKESS AND ON THE STUMP. 27 Objects of the Movers. Singular Result. mysterious than they did when they were transpiring. The people were to be left “ perfectly free,” “ subject only to the Constitution.” What the Constitution had to do with it, outsiders could not then see. Plainly enough now, it was an exactly fitted niche for the Dred Scott decision afterward to come in, and declare that perfect freedom of the people to be just no freedom at all. -• “ Why was the amendment expressly declaring the right of the people to exclude slavery, voted down ? Plainly enough now, the adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for the Dred Scott decision. ‘‘ Why was the court decision held up ? Why even a Senator’s individual opinion withheld till after the Presi- dential election ? Plainly enough now ; the speaking out then would have damaged the perfectly free'’’ argument upon which the eleption was to be carried. 