Lincoln, the Politician
by T. Aaron Levy · English · Gutenberg #37686 · 423,955 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lincoln, the Politician
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: Lincoln, the Politician
Author: T. Aaron Levy
Release date: October 10, 2011 [eBook #37686]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37686
Credits: Produced by Roberta Staehlin, David Garcia and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LINCOLN, THE POLITICIAN ***
Produced by Roberta Staehlin, David Garcia and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Transcriber's note: Passages in italics are indicated by
_underscores_.
Small caps have been replaced by ALL CAPS.
STUDIES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
BEAUMARCHAIS, AND THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. Two volumes.
Illustrated. _By Elizabeth S. Kite._
THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC LANDS, FROM 1840 TO 1862. FROM
PRE-EMPTION TO HOMESTEAD. _By George M. Stephenson._
GEORGIA AS A PROPRIETARY PROVINCE--THE EXECUTION OF A TRUST. _By James
Ross McCain._
LINCOLN, THE POLITICIAN. _By T. Aaron Levy._
THE AGRICULTURAL PAPERS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. _Edited by Walter Edwin
Brooke, Ph.B._
RICHARD G. BADGER, PUBLISHER, BOSTON
LINCOLN THE POLITICIAN
BY
T. AARON LEVY
BOSTON
RICHARD G. BADGER
THE GORHAM PRESS
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY RICHARD G. BADGER
All Rights Reserved
Made in the United States of America
The Gorham Press, Boston. U.S.A.
PREFACE
Love of kind alone transcended Lincoln's political ambition. His career
as President, Statesman, Emancipator is a mystery unless his preparation
for leadership is demonstrated. He was no product of sudden elevation,
no creature of opportunity. No American Statesman was better equipped to
meet a national emergency. Lincoln the plain politician, the Illinois
legislator, the congressman, and the prairie debater, was a child of the
grocery store, of the pioneer gathering, of caucus and convention. It
was this political training that determined the mode in which he
breathed life into the momentous proclamation of the nineteenth century.
The world that admires his charity is in equal need of his policy.
Until the coming of the industrial movement following the Civil War, the
Commonwealth commanded the best heart and intelligence of the Republic.
Captains of industry had not usurped the places of power. A degraded
conception of devotion to the general welfare is in itself a sign of
degeneration. A corrupt political system is incompatible with a healthy
national existence. When individual aggrandizement is often preferred to
the common good, when private institutions frequently allure the genius
of a people, it is an inspiration to return to a politician who in
simplicity and sincerity believed that civil service and patriotism are
better than gold. An abounding demand of the day is a practical
political philosophy.
In spite of golden vision, of saintly Grail, civilization still
questions its real progress, and the sphynx of human suffering baffles
understanding. Life has ever been a ceaseless compromise between spirit
and matter, dream and reality, shadow and substance. In the never ending
conflict between the hosts of darkness and of light, of radicalism and
of conservatism, the battle often has been won by the use of superior
strategy. Wasted energy, a lack of well directed idealism and
indifference to the laws of human progress are the main obstacles to
human advancement. There is an ever present need of a fine sense of
proportion between vision and reality. The reformer needs more method,
while the practical representative needs more vision. The solution of
vexing governmental problems will be hastened by a clearer and more
general comprehension of the gigantic difficulties that stand in the way
of the domination of ideas over matter. High political success comes
from a profound knowledge of the character of the hostility thwarting
human progress. Patience as well as faith must be the guide. Society
suffers from misdirected emotion on the one hand and from impervious
apathy on the other. Sensational onslaught on evil has been often tested
and its futility proved. Likewise the common politician has made many
despair of democratic government. Abraham Lincoln represents the sanest
example of wise political action, his political life the best platform
for eternal warfare on organized evil.
The artist is measured not alone by his sleepless imagination but also
by the technic through which his vision assumes external form. Dante
skillfully gave voice to "ten silent centuries." Even so the dreams of
prophet and humanitarian await the touch of the political artist to find
immortality in visible manifestation. Neither a politician without a
luminous idea nor a dreamer without political craft ever develops into a
statesman. Democracy can solve its destiny only by an adequate
appreciation of the importance of working out its intrinsic mission. The
national ideal must become a reality. Dreamer and reformer are needed
and likewise the politician, the man of method, the student of matter,
the wielder of the tool. A heroic past will not save a nation. "The
central idea" of a people cannot be safely relinquished, but must
restlessly follow the law of practical evolution in each generation.
Abraham Lincoln was a child of American Democracy. He was trained in the
college of republican institutions. The danger to Democracy is the
treason of her own children. Lincoln stayed with his teachers--the plain
people. He never longed for a place they could not give nor an honor
they could not bestow. The aristocracy of externality, of clothes,
fashion, wealth, station and descent ever remained shadows to him. He
valued them at their real worth, with finer judgment than any man in
modern history. The possibility of such a career is in itself a
justification of republican government.
He walked the way of the average citizen, labored in the factory of
political methods. Living in the common atmosphere, loving the strife of
debate, near to the pioneer heart and mind, a student of popularity and
party organization, he was from the beginning a champion of the better
and broader humanity. He lived his democracy and led his people to a
higher realization of the resistless purposes of the republic. Striking
the better chords of their being, he led them to make a mere declaration
of freedom the possession of a forgotten people. During his political
pilgrimage he ever sought to widen in a practical way the Declaration of
Independence. Many prate much of Democracy but Lincoln dared to make it
the bread of humanity.
Abraham Lincoln used political machinery for the welfare of the people.
He was ambitious and loved success but not for its own sake. Station
gave him wider opportunity to practice his philosophy of life, his
affection for his fellowmen, and sympathy for the downtrodden. He is a
guide to the perplexed, to those who have not bartered their idealism in
the stifling fight. His life is richly calculated to deepen faith in the
ultimate triumph of righteousness, to lead to the conviction that spirit
and method are not sundered of necessity, that the vision is not
essentially a stranger to the party worker, that policy and compromise
have their place in the domain of progress.
He looms up in American History as a politician who glorified his craft,
who kept his hands clean in all of the sordidness of material success.
Vicarious government in a republic is ruinous. Lincoln is therefore an
inspiration for political consecration and the prophet of permanency. He
dedicated his talent to the external manifestations of the destiny of
the republic. His common sense, his practical sagacity and knowledge of
human nature and of its limitations for progress, his prudent
recognition of the labored advance of ethical sentiment and of the
solidarity of vested interests, as well as his superb idealism and
exalted spirit may well become food and life to those who believe in the
better politics. As these become the property and the possession of a
broader community the republic will know no fear, dissension will little
disturb her serenity and she will be equal to every emergency that may
threaten her integrity.
Beginning with the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Abraham Lincoln became and
remained a national figure. From that time his life belongs to the
history of the United States and has been dwelt upon with ever
increasing fullness and eulogy. By contrast his early political life has
been almost forgotten. This work covers that neglected period, dealing
with Lincoln the politician, showing his development and his training
for national leadership. The story is largely told in the words of
Lincoln himself, stress being laid on crucial incidents hitherto, in the
main, indifferently considered. A unity, dramatic in its simplicity,
appears in his recital, giving glimpses of a man who was guided by a
supreme political philosophy in seeking to externalize his gospel of the
brotherhood of man in statute and decision. Considerable attention is
devoted to Lincoln in Indiana and at New Salem, showing the peculiarity
of his power, his political popularity, and the rapid maturity of his
convictions as to the wisest methods of attacking entrenched evil. An
earnest, reverent and impartial study of his political career is an
enriching education. There is no need of hiding its humble, rude phases.
The more his life is lingered over, the greater the wonder grows at the
emerging of Lincoln from the humility and the poverty of his environment
with a "message of range and sweep," to the sons of men the world
over.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. LINCOLN IN KENTUCKY 15
II. LINCOLN'S ENVIRONMENT IN INDIANA 21
III. THE POLITICAL HERO OF NEW SALEM 39
IV. PRACTICAL LEGISLATOR 58
V. PROTESTOR AND PATRIOT 76
VI. PARTISAN IN STATE AND NATIONAL AFFAIRS 87
VII. RESTLESS POLITICAL AMBITION 109
VIII. LINCOLN OPPOSES THE INCEPTION OF THE MEXICAN
WAR IN CONGRESS 121
IX. LINCOLN'S ATTACK ON SLAVERY IN CONGRESS 135
X. THE SCHOOL OF SOLITUDE 152
XI. AN EMANCIPATED POLITICIAN 162
XII. THE PILOT OF THE NEW FAITH IN ILLINOIS 181
XIII. LINCOLN AND THE DRED SCOTT DECISION 197
XIV. LEADER OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN ILLINOIS 201
XV. THE DAWN OF NATIONAL LEADERSHIP 207
XVI. THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 213
BIBLIOGRAPHY 223
INDEX 227
LINCOLN THE POLITICIAN
CHAPTER I
LINCOLN IN KENTUCKY
The forefathers of Abraham Lincoln, like thousands of Western pioneers,
were of a sturdy English lineage. His immediate ancestry, however, was
less distinguished than that of many whose names are forgotten and whose
influence on American history is imperceptible. Every effort to explain
his career through an illustrious parentage has proved altogether
futile.
Lincoln's grandfather belonged to that band of fearless adventurers in
Kentucky, whose ideal was a lonely house in the middle of a vast farm,
even though maintained in the presence of skulking redskins.[1] It was
in this land that earned the title of "the Dark and Bloody Ground," that
a common frontier tragedy made the grandmother of Lincoln a widow. For
one day while her husband was in the fields, a short distance from the
house, with their youngest son Thomas, a sudden shot from an Indian
ambush broke the stillness of the woods and the father fell dead. The
oldest son Mordecai looking out of the loop hole in the loft of the
house saw an Indian raising his little brother from the ground. Aiming
at a silver ornament on the breast of the redman, he brought him down.
The boy ran to the cabin and the mother opened the door. She hastened
to a more settled community where her son Thomas, the father of the
President, grew to a shiftless manhood.[2]
[1] Shaler, 116.
[2] Lamon, 7-8.
The inhabitants of Kentucky were bred in the school of hardship. The
battle with the forest and buffalo abated, but there remained the heroic
fight with the soil. Splendid virile qualities were born in the strife
with the Indians and the forest. Inventions were yet unknown and a
living was drawn from the earth only through grinding labor. Yet
frontier life rapidly gave way to the march of civilization, the trail
and the path to the highway.
Hunters and warriors became tillers of the field. The merchant and
manufacturer, the pioneer preacher, physician, lawyer and politician
appeared with the onward tide of events.
The places of learning were few. Now and then a struggling teacher gave
all that he had from his humble store to the young confidently entrusted
to his care. Still something in the little log cabin school-house, even
on unfrequented paths, developed character. Out of the battle with
adverse conditions, with few advantages and manifold difficulties, came
statesmen, and even scholars, men who laid the foundation of states, who
guided the nation through its crises, and were equal to every emergency
that endangered its vitality.
The law abiding character of the people was notably evinced by the
supreme patience with which they effected their separation from the
mother state, Virginia.[3] With wisdom they established courts of
justice and the law of the land was speedily enforced. A malefactor who
violated the statute against card playing, after imprisonment, turned
his back on Kentucky, swearing "that it was the meanest country a white
man ever got into."[4]
[3] Shaler, 107.
[4] Milburn, 65.
The pioneers of Kentucky had in a high degree the instinct of
government, the passion for politics. Their sense of liberty was
tempered by devotion to constitutional principles and reverence for the
written law. The restless spirit of adventure was tamed by the potency
of political responsibilities. At an early day, they displayed interest
even in national problems. Their views were kindred to those of
Virginia. Accustomed to restrain their own freedom, they did not favor
the coercive measures of a distant, unknown, strong and centralized
government.[5] The political policy of Washington was far from popular;
that of Adams was odious.[6] The presidential contest between Adams and
Jefferson agitated Kentucky. Discussions were frequent and widespread
and even women participated. A pioneer boy was so elated over the
triumph of Jefferson that, sitting in his chamber alone, he drank in
cold water thirteen toasts in celebration of the triumphant event.[7]
[5] Ranck, 181-2, 216.
[6] Collins, 1, 284.
[7] Drake, 211.
It is probable that even in his infancy Lincoln listened at the fireside
to many political controversies. In that case he heard doctrines
advocated destructive of the national sovereignty, vitally hostile to
those avowed and cherished by him in his public career. Traces of his
early political surroundings on his vital convictions are hardly
discernible. Lincoln became a national politician with little patience
for the popular doctrine of State Sovereignty. He belonged to the
Federal party by instinct. No American statesman was broader in his
outlook of the general welfare. It is worthy of note that he passed his
infancy in Kentucky; his boyhood and minority in Indiana, and a varied
career in the State of Illinois. Not being the son of a single community
or commonwealth, he did not look to any individual state with fullness
of affection. He was a citizen of the Republic.
As early as 1790, an effort was made in Kentucky to promote the gradual
abolition of slavery. The arrival of Clay strengthened this movement.
Strong passions were aroused by the angry discussions that followed this
futile endeavor. About 1810 the number of slaves increased perceptibly.
The blighting effects of the institution soon began their revelation.
Labor was deemed disgraceful and demeaning. The possession of slaves,
not "high intellectual and moral endowments," became the test of social
status. Almost everything was subordinate to the dominating institution.
Such, in general, was the state of society in Kentucky when Thomas
Lincoln, in 1816, made his weary trail through tangled woodland to the
wild forests of Spencer County, Indiana. He was one of the multitude
discouraged with prospects in the Southern states. It was frequently the
overbearing conduct of slaveholders, rather than hatred to slavery, that
led the pioneer to leave the land of his nativity. Still it is amazing
that the majority of these emigrants bore no resentment to the
institution that provoked their removal, but became or remained vigorous
advocates in maintaining its supremacy.[8]
[8] Palmer,9. Drake, 208-209.
Efforts have been made to account for Thomas Lincoln's movement by
reason of his extreme hostility to slavery. Lamon indulges in a more
prosaic explanation, stating that there were not more than fifty slaves
in Hardin County; that it was practically a free community; that his
more fortunate relatives in other parts of the State had no scruples to
their ownership; that he was wanderer by nature gaining neither riches
nor credit; and that a quarrel with a neighbor, whose nose he bit off,
made him more anxious than ever to leave Kentucky.[9] Lincoln in his
campaign biography remarks that this removal was partly on account of
slavery, but chiefly on account of the difficulty in land titles in
Kentucky.[10] Ida Tarbell even endeavors to make a sort of Abolitionist
out of Thomas Lincoln. She quotes an old man, who claims that he was
present at the wedding of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, and that Tom
Lincoln and Nancy and Sally Bush were steeped full of Jess Head's
notions about the wrong of slavery and the rights of man, as explained
by Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine.[11] If this were the fact, it is
very strange that Thomas Lincoln never thereafter manifested any hatred
of slavery during a long life. If Thomas Lincoln had been a zealous
advocate of the rights of the black man, is it not stranger still that
his son never even hinted at receiving the slightest impetus to
anti-slavery opinions from his father? The long silence of Thomas,
Abraham and Sally Bush Lincoln disproves the contention that Thomas
Lincoln was a friend or champion of the enslaved, or that his views
differed from the prevailing sentiment in regard to Abolitionism.
[9] Lamon, 16-17.
[10] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 639.
[11] McClure, 234.
One incident looms up in the brief stay of Abraham in Kentucky. "I had
been fishing one day," said Lincoln, "and caught a little fish which I
was taking home. I met a soldier in the road, and having always been
told at home that we must be good to the soldiers, I gave him my
fish."[12] This story strikingly displays the influence of his mother.
Events were few in his early life, and made a correspondingly abiding
impression.
[12] Nicolay and Hay, 1, 27.
Lincoln was seven years old when he passed beyond the borders of
Kentucky. There he received the rudiments of an education from two
nomadic teachers. At the time of his departure, caste feeling was
beginning to dominate society in Kentucky, but Lincoln never showed any
of its manifestations. "He was," says Frederick Douglas, "the first
great man that I talked with in the United States freely, who in no
single instance reminded me of the difference between himself and myself
of the difference of color, and I thought that all the more remarkable
because he came from a state where there were black laws."[13]
[13] Rice, 193.
No human mind would have selected Hardin County for the birthplace of
the man who was to grapple with the most portentous problem in all
American history. For the slavery question baffled the wisdom of the
makers of the Constitution. It darkened the last hours of the stalwart
statesmen, Webster, Clay and Calhoun. It tried and tested the endurance
of this nation in a crisis of grave moment.
CHAPTER II
LINCOLN'S ENVIRONMENT IN INDIANA
The year that marked the advent of Indiana into national statehood,
witnessed the humble and unheralded entrance of Thomas Lincoln and his
family into Spencer County. The State was a haven for the pioneer of
peaceable disposition. The danger of the Indian no longer haunted the
land. Still life was a grim struggle, hewing the way through solid
forests to reach the new home, cutting the trees to build the log cabin,
patiently raising the first crop of corn. It took time to construct the
trail and then the road. Yet with marvelous rapidity, these early
settlers soon caused the church to appear, the schoolhouse and the
hamlet.[14]
[14] Birbeck, 90.
Party politics is largely the product of a settled community. When men
are engrossed in establishing a home matters of national significance
seem of little moment. The kitchen is more important to the log cabin
than the parlor. So the most pressing problems of a pioneer settlement
are those of local concern. Conventions and parties were unknown for
some time. Any man could proclaim his candidacy for office. Voters were
known as "Jones-men" or "Smith-men," after the candidate of their
choice. The earliest manifestations of party spirit arose over the
slavery question. Even under territorial government, delegates to
Congress were called "Slavery" or "Anti-Slavery." During the canvass in
which John Quincy Adams was selected as President, the Whig and
Democratic parties were little recognized in Indiana. On election day,
the workers shouted, "Here are Jackson tickets! Here are Clay!"[15] The
defeat of Jackson hastened the growth of partisanship. With the
introduction of party politics came resort to trickery in elections.[16]
[15] Smith, 1, 220.
[16] Smith Misc. Ind., 119.
Politics was a recreation to the early settler. When the newspaper was a
luxury, when there were few forms of amusement, it was an indulgence as
well as an educational influence to listen to the orator on the
questions of the day. Politics was the school of the nation, and in it
there were few truants.
The following incident illustrates a primitive political gathering.
School was dismissed at the time of the militia election, and so the
teacher took part in the festivities. A tin cup of whiskey was passed
around twice, then a two gallon jug and bucket of water. A warm
discussion arose about Indiana accepting the land donated by Congress
for the construction of the Wabash and Erie Canals. Dr. Stone was most
noisy against accepting. "Friends of the canal chose me," said the
teacher, "to reply." "I was 'half seas over' from free and frequent use
of the cup. I was puzzled to know what to do. Soon a fence rail was
slipped into the worn fence near by and a wash tub turned up and placed
upon it. Two or three seized hold of me and placed me on the eminence
amid shouts of the friends of the canal. I could scarcely preserve my
equilibrium. My lips refused utterance. After a long pause, I smote my
breast with my hand, and said, 'I feel too full for utterance.' (I meant
whiskey--they, full of indignation at the Dr.'s effrontery of
opposition). The ruse worked like a charm. They shouted, 'Let him have
it!' I raised my finger and pointed a moment steadily at the Doctor.
They shouted, 'Hit him again.' I made my first speech twenty-five
minutes. The Dr. talked again thirty minutes. I closed the debate and
there was a viva voce vote in favor of the canal."[17]
[17] Cox, 30.
As the early settler succeeded the hunter, agriculture became the main
means of subsistence, but it could not become a source of profit without
improved methods of transportation. The movement for internal
improvements was to have a profound influence on the course of events in
the West. The splendid enthusiasm that lately concerned itself with a
hostile environment was now employed in competing for the markets of the
East. The Westerner was not accustomed to wander in the realm of dreams,
yet he grew romantic in contemplating the resources of his fertile soil,
and believed the time would come when nations would pay tribute to his
products. The completion of the Erie Canal marked a distinct epoch in
this movement. It increased prices in some cases more than two hundred
per cent. This advance called for better shipping facilities. As times
became better, the people of the West became the missionaries of the
internal improvement system.[18]
[18] Squirrel Hunters of Ohio, 298.
Nothing so vividly revealed this enthusiasm as the reception afforded
Governor Clinton when he visited Ohio in 1825. He was hailed as a hero,
as a friend, as a benefactor. A contemporary observer thus described the
occasion:
"The grave and the gay, the man of gray hairs and the ruddy-faced youth,
matrons and maidens, and even lisping children, joined to tell his
worth, and on his virtues dwell, to hail his approach and to welcome his
arrival. Every street, where he passed, was thronged with multitudes,
and the windows were filled with the beautiful ladies of Ohio, waving
their snowy white handkerchiefs, and casting flowers on the pavement
where he was to pass on it." The Governor was deeply affected by such an
unusual demonstration, and even shed tears in the presence of his
worshippers.[19]
[19] Squirrel Hunters of Ohio, 288.
A vast system of internal improvements in Indiana was the fruition of a
campaign of more than a decade. It was an unfailing argument of those
seeking political preferment. The construction of roads and canals was
urged as one of the fundamental purposes of human society. This policy
was declared to be the highway from poverty to prosperity. It fairly
became the political religion of the day. Indiana, in 1836, started with
rejoicing on the path that was before long to involve it in disasters
that led it close to the chasm of bankruptcy and repudiation.
Spencer County was in the southern part of the State, bordering on the
Ohio River. The country was very rough and covered with forests,
sparsely inhabited and poorly adapted for prosperous farming. There
being no market for the products of the soil, the most primitive methods
in agriculture were in operation. Wild turkeys and deer were had at the
door of every man's cabin. Bears, wild-cats, even panthers, were still
in evidence.
Thomas Lincoln, though he often changed his home, did not modify his
character. He remained to the end a shiftless man of roving disposition
without effectual ambition. A carpenter by trade, while other men built
substantial homes in the wilderness, he was content to live in a
primitive log cabin without windows, floor or furniture. It was only the
influence of his second wife that secured those urgent improvements. A
man of supreme physical strength, slow to anger, yet dangerous when once
aroused, he was not without deep affection. Still he did not hesitate to
knock his inquisitive son off the fence for answering travelers'
questions. He was a master in the telling of stories. It was his chief
accomplishment, the main gift that his son owed to him. The nature of
his mind is somewhat shown by his rambling religious opinions. In
Kentucky he was a Free Will Baptist; in Indiana he espoused the cause of
Presbyterianism, and in Illinois he became a Campbellite. A relative
quaintly observes that happiness was the end of life with him.[20] John
Hanks, the uncle of Lincoln, was the most sturdy of his relatives; yet,
this same Hanks was so illiterate that when Lincoln became President, he
could not endow him with an Indian Agency.
[20] Lamon, 15.
The somberness of Lincoln's childhood was brightened by the memory of
his mother. In intellect, she was far above those with whom she enacted
the sad and short drama of her life. Even as a child in Kentucky he felt
the spell and potent influence of her words. When she died, young as he
was, he lived alone with his grief. The passing years hallowed the early
impression of his sorrow, yet during all these years the memory of his
mother was a mystic influence in his development; and so when he stood
almost at the summit of his career, he declared, "All that I am, all
that I hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."[21]
[21] Arnold, 20.
The greatness of Lincoln grows upon us when we contemplate the
conditions from which he emerged, and consider the manner of men among
whom he lived. Despite the efforts of many biographers to brighten his
early surroundings, we have the highest evidence in his conduct and
speech that he was nurtured in hopeless adversity; in poverty that was
not alone incidental to pioneer conditions, but continued long after it
was the common fate. He comprehensively described his environment in the
statement that there was absolutely nothing in his associations to
excite ambition for education.[22] There was little in his ancestry to
quicken his pride. He ever maintained a peculiar reticence about his
youthful days and his parentage. He may by constant thinking have
exaggerated the distressing state of his childhood, but in the main
there can be little addition to, or modification of, his reluctant
testimony.[23]
[22] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 596-597.
[23] Lamon, 17-18.
He made his own way in the trail of letters. He pursued plans of
educating himself infinitely better than those followed in schools and
universities. He has left us priceless testimony of the manner of his
intellectual development. "Among my earliest recollections," said
Lincoln, "I remember how when a child, I used to get irritated when
anybody talked to me in a way I could not understand. I do not think I
ever got angry at anything else in my life; but that always disturbed my
temper and has ever since. I can remember going to my little bedroom,
after hearing the neighbors talk of an evening with my father, and
spending no small part of the night walking up and down and trying to
make out what was the exact meaning of some of their, to me, dark
sayings. I could not sleep though I tried to, when I got on such a hunt
for an idea until I had caught it; and when I thought I had got it, I
was not satisfied until I had repeated it over and over again; until I
had put it in language plain enough, as I thought, for any boy I knew to
comprehend. This was a kind of passion with me, and it has stuck by me;
for I am never easy now, when I am handling a thought, till I have
bounded it north and south and bounded it east and west. But your
question reminds me of a bit of education which I am bound in honor to
mention. In the course of my law reading I constantly came upon the word
demonstrate. I thought at first that I understood its meaning, but soon
became satisfied that I did not. I said to myself, 'What do I mean when
I demonstrate more than when I reason or prove?' I consulted Webster's
Dictionary. That told of certain proof,--proof beyond the probability of
a doubt, but I could form no sort of idea what proof it was. I thought a
great many things were proved beyond the possibility of a doubt, without
recourse to any such reasoning as I understood demonstration to be. I
consulted all the dictionaries and books of reference I could find, but
with no better results. You might as well have defined blue to a blind
man. At last I said, 'Lincoln, you can never make a lawyer if you do not
understand what demonstrate means;' and I left my situation in
Springfield, went home to my father's house, and stayed there until I
could give any proposition in the six books of Euclid at sight. I then
found out what demonstrate meant, and went back to my law studies."[24]
[24] Tarbell, 1, 43.
Inadequate as his education may have been objectively, Lincoln was
supremely trained in the college of lonely thought. No American of
eminence owes less to the public school system. His entire career is a
mystery unless full value is given to the statement of Herndon that
"Lincoln read less and thought more than any other man of his time."[A]
[A] Oldroyd, 533.
His love of learning amounted to a passion. The time his companions
squandered in recreation he largely employed in mental improvement. His
literary education was a painful process and was gained without help.
His plan was slow but effective. "He read every book he could lay his
hands on; and, when he came across a passage that struck him, he would
write it down on boards if he had no paper. Then he would rewrite it,
look at it, repeat it. He had a copybook, a kind of scrap book, in
which he put down all things, and thus preserved them."[25]
[25] Lamon, 36-37.
By this method he gradually evolved a style of supreme strength and
sincerity. The Bible was the main force in its fruition. For a long time
he dabbled in "crude rhymes" and "awkward imitations of scriptural
lore." With all the gentleness of his nature, he was a master of satire,
and slowly learned to use this dangerous gift with moderation. One of
his early compositions was an impulsive effort to condemn cruelty to the
helpless toad and turtle. More ambitious products followed. The reading
of a newspaper article on temperance induced him to contribute something
on that theme. A minister found it a place in a newspaper, to the
ecstasy of the writer for the first time tasting the sweetness of
publicity. This success led him to indulge in other dissertations. His
political environment and his readings in American history germinated.
With exultant spirit he proclaimed that "the American Government was the
best form of government for an intelligent people; that it ought to be
kept sound, and preserved forever; that general education should be
fostered and carried all over the country; that the Constitution should
be saved, the Union perpetuated, and the laws revered, respected, and
enforced."[26] This effort met with instant approbation. A lawyer, to
whose criticism it was soberly entrusted, declared, "The world can't
beat it."[27]
[26] _Ibid._, 68-69.
[27] _Ibid._, 69.
Three books had a pervasive influence upon his political opinions, "The
Revised Statutes of Indiana," Weems' "Life of Washington," and a
"History of the United States."[28] Lincoln has left us indisputable
evidence of the profound power of Revolutionary History in moulding his
patriotic sentiments. For in his memorable speech in the Senate Chamber
at Trenton, New Jersey, he said:
"May I be pardoned if, upon this occasion, I mention that away back in
my childhood, the earliest days of my being able to read, I got hold of
a small book, such a one as few of the younger members have ever seen,
Weems' 'Life of Washington.' I remember all the accounts there given of
the battlefields and struggles for the liberties of the country, and
none fixed themselves upon my imagination so deeply as the struggle here
at Trenton, New Jersey. The crossing of the river, the contest with the
Hessians, the great hardships endured at that time, all fixed themselves
on my memory, more than any single Revolutionary event; and you all
know, for you have all been boys, how these early impressions last
longer than any others. I recollect thinking then, boy even though I
was, that there must have been something more than common that these men
struggled for. I am exceedingly anxious that that thing--that something
even more than national independence; that something that held out a
great promise to all the people of the world to all time to come--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 that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I
shall be a humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this,
his almost most chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great
struggle."[29]
[28] _Ibid._, 37.
[29] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 688.
The influence of Weems' "Life" is indicated by the fact that Lincoln did
not lose his boyish enthusiasm for the character of Washington. He once
exclaimed, "Let us believe as in the days of our youth that Washington
was spotless; it makes human nature better to believe that one human
being was perfect: that human perfection is possible."[30] This
devotion is still more significant as Lincoln very rarely indulged in
hero worship.
[30] Whitney, 45-46.
We shall not at all comprehend the political life of Abraham Lincoln
unless we fairly understand the momentous subjective influence of these
few volumes. One of them, the Revised Statutes of Indiana, contained the
Declaration of Independence. He was scarcely more than eighteen years
old when he brooded over the significance of that immortal
utterance.[31]
[31] McClure, 167.
His stepsister says, he was an indefatigable preacher. "When father and
mother would go to church, Abe would take down the Bible, read a verse,
give out a hymn, and we would sing. Abe was about fifteen years of age.
He preached, and we would do the crying. Sometimes he would join in the
chorus of tears. One day my brother, John Johnston, caught a land
terrapin, brought it to the place where Abe was preaching, threw it
against the tree and crushed the shell. It suffered much,--quivered all
over. Abe then preached against cruelty to animals, contending that an
ant's life was just as sweet to it as ours to us."[32]
[32] Lamon, 40.
Often mounting a real tree stump his quaint stories and impressive
manner gathered all his fellow laborers. It is related that Lincoln's
father and sometimes his employers, angered at the loss of labor, would
drag the orator from his eminence. It was about this time that Lincoln
said that his father taught him to work but never to love it.[33]
[33] _Ibid._, 36-40.
Lincoln's wit was no small part of his forensic eloquence. He was more
ready at the beginning of his career than in after years to ridicule
censorious conduct. So James Larkin found it, who was a great hand to
brag. He stepped up before Abe, who was in the crowd, and boasted of his
horse. "I have got the best horse in the country," he shouted to his
young listener. "I ran him three miles in exactly three minutes, and he
never fetched a long breath."
"I presume," said Abe, rather dryly, "that he fetched a good many short
ones though."[34]
[34] Herndon, 1, 43.
Lincoln further found opportunity for exercising his oratorical talent
in the speaking exhibitions at Gentryville. Public debates were no minor
attraction to the community. Discussions as to whether the Indian or
negro had the greater right to find fault with his treatment were
frequent and intense. The closing day of school was duly celebrated by
declamations, debates and dialogues. Many selections for these occasions
came from the Kentucky "Preceptor," rich in such utterance as Pitt's
"Speech on the Slave Trade."[35]
[35] Tarbell, 1, 36.
Lincoln was present on one occasion at a dramatic murder trial in which
John V. Brackenridge appeared for the defendant.[36] Lincoln heard the
polished and eloquent advocate as in a dream. After the trial the humble
backwood speaker freely praised the eloquence of the mature advocate.
Brackenridge glancing at his awkward shabby admirer turned away without
a word.
[36] Spencer County, 313.
Lincoln learned that ability does not always go hand in hand with
sympathy. He crawled into his own world where pride was to have no home,
where humble appearances were not to be despised. When Lincoln as
President met this same Brackenridge, he simply said, "If I could, as I
then thought, have made as good a speech as that, my soul would have
been satisfied; for it was up to that time the best speech I had ever
heard."[37]
[37] Herndon, 1, 49-50. Lamon, 67.
The people of Gentryville were largely of a rough hardy sort. Like other
pioneers they were ready to escape the monotony of their life by
engaging in exciting games. The rude joke, the vulgar gibe was prized.
To laugh loud was somewhat of a luxury to the hard working settler.
Refining influence was fairly unknown.
However, social distinctions gradually asserted themselves with the
progress of prosperity. Parties of some pretensions came into vogue, and
distinctions were made in the guests invited. Lincoln, who had been
welcomed at the ruder gatherings, log rollings and similar
entertainments, was not in favor with those seeking social prominence.
Fond of popular applause, he resented this treatment, and in spite wrote
satires and "chronicles," chastising the offenders.[38] These
productions were coarse, vulgar and even indecent, spiced with no lack
of wit. They appealed to many, though it is said that some were shocked.
[38] Lamon, 63.
On one occasion Lincoln placed certain reflections on the Grigsby family
where they could be readily discovered. Being found, they brought on a
fight for the family honor. Lincoln had his stepbrother, Johnston, first
stand "the brunt" of the contest. A terrible fight ensued, and when
Lincoln saw that Grigsby was too much for Johnston, he burst through the
ring, caught Grigsby, and threw him off some feet away. Then swinging a
bottle of liquor over his head swore that he was "the big buck of the
lick." "If any one doubts it," he shouted, "he has only to come on and
whet his horns." A general engagement resulted, but soon the field was
cleared and the wounded retired amid the exultant shouts of the
victors.[39]
[39] _Ibid._, 64-65.
From such an origin Lincoln came. Biographers seek to illumine its
poverty in vain. He was reared amid a shiftless family. No external
inducement guided him in his wearisome journey. He was in the daily
presence of vulgarity. He alone of all his companions started in a
titanic conflict with an enslaving environment.
The store was the social center of the pioneer town, the place to hear
the latest gossip. There the neighbors met to pass judgment on events of
general and local interest. The proprietor was often the only possessor
of the weekly newspaper. It was not as in later days the abode of
loungers mainly. It played a big part in the education of the frontier
community. It was the school of many men and the home of wit and wisdom.
Politics, religion and other problems were here subjected to the
scrutiny of men blest with good sense and judgment.
The store drew the choice spirits in story telling, and its hero was the
man who could best kindle laughter. In a community where this art was
the highway to the general good will, Lincoln soon became the master
among the many contestants for that distinction.
Wherever men congregated Lincoln sought supremacy. Political discussions
were frequent. The newcomer soon tried his hand in the art of
controversy. He gradually gained headway in the esteem of the
soberminded for the clearness of his statements, for the keenness of his
vision, and the honesty of his manner. Day by day he gathered strength
and wisdom. It is improbable that any other young man so soon won the
general good will or was so widely respected by all classes of men. In
this, even as a youth, he was unique. He had the splendid tact, the
inherent humanity that appealed to the various elements that constituted
the transitional frontier when it was evolving into a higher community.
There is very little satisfactory evidence of the political opinions of
Abraham Lincoln in Indiana. Lamon states that his family were all
Jackson Democrats; that Lincoln's employer, Jones, the grocery keeper
of Gentryville, was a Jackson Democrat, and that Lincoln read papers
that championed the principles of the Democratic party of that day, and
that he was in the beginning a follower of that eminent political
sage.[40] There is no corroboration of this testimony that Lincoln was
ever avowedly an attendant in the school of Jackson. Lincoln frequently
refers to the fact with pride that he was an old time Whig, and it might
be inferred from his speeches and statements that he was a devoted
follower of Clay from the very first. However, Lincoln was somewhat an
admirer of Andrew Jackson. It may be that early in life he passed
through the several stages of political development, and was thus aided
in becoming a tolerant politician.
[40] Lamon, 57, 123.
From childhood until 1829, Lincoln lived in Gentryville. In that year he
made a trip by boat to New Orleans with Allen Gentry. It was on this
venture that Lincoln had his first vital meeting with the members of the
race in whose destiny he was to be so deeply concerned. While their boat
was moored near Baton Rouge and they were fast asleep, they were
startled by footsteps on board. They knew "that it was a gang of negroes
come to rob, and perhaps to murder them. Allen, thinking to frighten the
intruders, cried out, 'Bring the guns, Lincoln; shoot them.' Abe came
without a gun, but he fell among the negroes with a huge bludgeon, and
belabored them most cruelly," but "received a scar which he carried with
him to his grave."[41] It is strange that this incident did not jaundice
the youthful Lincoln against the unfortunate people. Though his life was
endangered by these wayward sons of Ethiopia, it did not affect his
sympathy in any degree for the burdened and oppressed race, nor change
his judgment as to the injustice of their treatment.
[41] _Ibid._, 71, 72.
The origin of Lincoln's anti-slavery sentiments is somewhat of a
mystery. That Stephen Douglas, reared in New England, should become the
foremost champion of the Southern slavery policy, and that Abraham
Lincoln, a son of Kentucky, that of the bondsman, baffles the wisdom of
the historian.
Various efforts have been made to account for his views on the slavery
issue. The claim that he derived them from his parents in Kentucky has
been noted. Ida Tarbell enumerates the various abolition movements in
the western domain that may have influenced him. In 1819, Charles Osborn
published a paper advocating emancipation. A few years after Benjamin
Lundy issued the _Genius_ at Shelbyville. Scarcely one hundred miles
from Gentryville the _Abolition Intelligencer_ was started. There were
abolition societies in Kentucky and Illinois. The same author states
that "it is not impossible that as Frederick Douglas first realized his
own condition in reading a school speaker, the 'Columbian Orator,' so
Abraham Lincoln first felt the wrong of slavery in reading his
'Kentucky' or 'American Preceptor.'"[42]
[42] Tarbell, 1, 35, 36.
Considering the slowness of communication, the casual appearances of
even well-known journals, it is doubtful if Lincoln heard of the
abolition movement to any serious extent. It is at least significant
that Lincoln alone, of his entire family and of his associates, saw the
magnitude of the slavery evil. Like his sympathy for the suffering
animal world, his anti-slavery sentiments baffle explanation. He hated
the infliction of wrong instinctively.
There is a duality to the life of Lincoln that should command more
attention. Intellectually, he lived in a world of his own, a world in
which he found little companionship. Still he was not altogether the
fruition of a subjective life. He shared the common pioneer craving for
human society. It may have been rendered even more intense in his case
by the loneliness of his mental existence. Neither the forest, prairie
nor storm, the sunset or constellation were his friends as men were. He
loved his kind more than nature.
During his last years in Indiana he lived fully the life of the people
around him. Their ideals seemed his ideals. Athletic superiority was the
road to respect and honor, and Lincoln became the foremost man in
physical games. He first won renown as a wrestler. Stories of his
superior strength were heralded far and wide and his place was
unchallenged. He was a leader in the rude crowd where might was the test
of standing. Living among men devoted to hunting, he seldom indulged in
that common recreation. In this his individuality asserted itself. He
would not sanction suffering even in the animal world, and he seldom
swerved from his convictions even in the day when the wolf howled at the
cabin door.
The maturity of Lincoln's development at the time of his departure from
Indiana has not received just consideration. Gaunt and awkward in
appearance there was little in him to attract favorable attention. He
was without trade or profession. Nothing appeared to distinguish him
from the other members of the shiftless Lincoln and Hanks family. A
stranger would hardly have chosen him as a future son of fortune, even
from that humble crowd of wanderers. Uncouth in dress and manner, he
would have found small favor in polite society, and among those who
judge by things seen on the surface.
Viewed subjectively there is another Lincoln, a man of promise and
inevitable distinction. Those who have dwelt extensively on the
objective aspect of Lincoln have squandered sympathy on his want of
education. For though poor in material things, he was rich in mental
wealth, in the qualities that make manhood, in those virtues that
survive the mutations of time, that future generations dwell on with
ever increasing fondness. At the threshold of his majority he was
already possessed of elemental ability and greatness. He was one of
those rare souls that do not lose the golden ideals of youth with
passing years. The sneers of selfish men never changed the primal
sweetness of his nature.
The fourteen years that Lincoln lived in Indiana were years of splendid
fruition. By his peculiar process of self-development his mind had
attained a maturity far beyond his age. He mingled freely in the world
of men and events. He was close to the human heart, to the sorrows of
the humble, to the mute and deep emotions of the lonely dweller on the
western farms. He loved the plain people. He had the command of style,
the ease and pith of statement that schools rarely give. Ready of
speech, he could command the attention of the rough as well as the sober
minded. He was already renowned as a dispenser of laughter through the
magic of his stories. But above all he was rarely gifted with good
sense, with a mind not easily diverted by false lights, by the glitter
of objectivity. He went irresistibly to the root of things. A man of
fine emotions, wanting in the small social amenities, he seldom went
astray in the domain of reality.
It is also essential to mark the practical character of all his
learning. His knowledge was all useful and vitalizing. His mind was not
cumbered with waste materials. His education was sound to the core, was
all genuine, well calculated for a man in the very strife of life.
Judged by the standard of schools and universities he was not an
educated man, but judged by the broader standard of thought and action
he was supremely educated, the best educated man of his time. He served
his apprenticeship in the school of experience and only needed
opportunity to be of royal service to his fellowmen. Honest, homely and
humble, he was in harmony with the average man of his time, and was well
fitted to become a representative of the people.
CHAPTER III
THE POLITICAL HERO OF NEW SALEM
The immediate occasion for the departure of Thomas Lincoln from Indiana
was the visitation of the mysterious ailment widely known as the "milk
sick." The scant progress made by the family in Spencer County
strengthened his desire to try his fortune in a new land,--a land that
in the distance held forth alluring promises of betterment.
They arrived in Illinois at the transitional period when the progressive
settler was putting on the clothing of civilization. The concentration
of population scattered the obstacles of progress. The wilderness was
subdued, and the worth of the prairie land proved. The howl of the wolf
ever growing fainter and fainter marked the hurrying advance of another
dominion.[43] Shyly but steadily style showed itself in the home, food
and dress. Through the surface it betokened the coming of a settled
community; it was the unfailing external sign of prosperity and of
fellowship with religion and education.
[43] Ford, 94-95.
The old pioneer mourned the change. He saw the loom put away, and
ribbons supplant the cotton frock. With saddened heart, he met the new
civilization. To him, it was the doom of the old hospitality, of his
freedom, the coonskin cap; the deer shoes; the log cabin built with his
own hands. "Hog and hominy" no longer waited on hunger. What his child
named progress did not compensate him for the flight of the companions
of his youth. The pioneer had in the name of civilization cleared the
land of the Indian, who could not adapt himself to its way, and now the
victor was in turn to yield to the same unrelenting monarch.
John Hanks was the path finder for the little colony. He selected a
place close to Decatur as a home for the wanderers. Lincoln took a hand
in making the cabin which soon housed his father and family. But rather
than engage in manual labor, he was alert to show his skill as a
speaker. "After Abe got to Decatur," says John Hanks, "or rather to
Macon (my county), a man by the name of Posey came into our
neighborhood, and made a speech; it was a bad one, and I said Abe could
beat it. I turned down a box or keg, and Abe made his speech. The other
man was a candidate. Abe wasn't. Abe beat him to death, his subject
being the navigation of the Sangamon River. The man, after the speech
was through, took Abe aside, and asked him where he had learned so much,
and how he did so well. Abe replied, stating his manner and method of
reading, and what he had read. The man encouraged Lincoln to
persevere."[44]
[44] Lamon, 78.
Lincoln fretted under the tutorage of his father, and longed for the
hour of his legal freedom. When that period came, he promptly joined
John Hanks in guiding a flat boat to New Orleans for one Denton
Offutt.[45]
[45] _Ibid._, 78-80.
Perhaps the most critical incident in the life of Lincoln was this
second visit to New Orleans. Hitherto, with a single exception, his life
was simple and close to nature and the human heart. Young as he was, the
solemnity of the forest, the expanse of the prairie, the nearness to the
heart of things, the problems of life and their seriousness already cut
their lines in his sensitive organism. Knowing little of the mercantile
world, in the realm of thought he was already master of those around
him. There was something of Hamlet in this gaunt youth.
The varied amusements of the southern city that fascinated his
companions did not move or detain him. One sight alone riveted his
attention. A mulatto girl was on sale. She was trotted up and down like
an animal. Others saw the scene without flinching. It was nothing to
them; no lash on their backs. According to Herndon, the whole thing was
so revolting that Lincoln moved away from the scene with a deep feeling
of hate, saying to his companions, "By God, boys, let's get away from
this. If I ever get a chance to hit that thing (meaning slavery), I'll
hit it hard."[46]
[46] Herndon, 1, 67.
From that time Lincoln hated slavery with all his soul. The slave
dynasty was an organized evil of national power. It dominated the
actions and even the opinions of men; its whisper silenced the voice of
conscience; its power dictated legislative policies, and was even known
to intrude into the sanctuary of judicial tribunals. It was not a
stranger in distinguished pulpits.
Lincoln was weak, helpless, unregarded. A blow from his hand would then
fall impotent and unnoticed. Three courses of conduct confronted him. He
might, with the majority have become an apologist of slavery, as this
was the popular highway. Thus he might have gained the fame of Stephen
A. Douglas, but he would not have saved the nation. He might have become
an aggressive assailant of slavery. Such conduct would have made him a
political outcast in New Salem. In this way, he might have won the
renown of a Wendell Phillips but he would not have become the national
helmsman. He was neither abolitionist nor apologist.
One other way was open. He knew his weakness. The day to strike a blow
had not yet come. He held his anger and bided his hour. He would not
rush, but await the time when a blow from his hand would long leave its
traces on the evil. He turned back to his work and to his associates.
Objectively, he was the same as ever, but a soul had been awakened to
the crime of the ages that would not rest until the auction block should
be shattered and the American soil rendered uneasy at the presence of
the human auctioneer. He knew that sooner or later the occasion for
action would rejoice his soul. This faith reconciled him to the sluggard
march of events.
Some time in the summer of 1831, there drifted into the thriving village
of New Salem one who was to add lustre to her name. Some days later
Minter Graham, the school master, was "short of a clerk" at election.
Asking a tall stranger if he could write, he was met with the quaint
reply that he could make a few rabbit marks. "Lincoln," says the school
man, "performed the duties with great facility, much fairness, and
honesty and impartiality. This was the first public official act of his
life."[47]
[47] Lamon, 89.
Lincoln first gained prestige in New Salem through his droll stories. It
was the fast road to the good will of an audience. In those days when
amusement was scant it was no mean gift. It was then a kind of legal
tender for a dinner or similar hospitality, and in a pioneer community
popular favor is a harbinger of high honor. Lincoln found little to do
until he became the chief clerk of the presuming store of Denton Offutt.
Here he rapidly won the regard of the listener and participated in many
discussions; here he met and talked with the people, and he made another
advance in the public esteem.
Like many pioneer communities New Salem was largely dominated by a
rough crowd of young men, known there as the "Clary Grove Boys." They
were typical of the class in Illinois that stubbornly yielded to the
reign of the law. They rapidly disappeared in settled communities, but
in the outlying towns, for a long time, they maintained their power.
Usually acting in unison, they were much sought by those seeking
political preferment. They attended church, heard the sermon, wept and
prayed, shouted, got up and fought an hour, and then went back to prayer
just as the spirit moved them.[48] Rude and even cruel to the traveler,
they made mercy the companion of the orphan. They had no sympathy for
weakness, or patience with culture. No stranger could attain standing in
their affection unless he proved his worth in the gantlet of a physical
contest with one of their leaders.
[48] History of Sangamon County, 211.
The enthusiasm of Offutt for Lincoln was boundless. He declared that,
"Abe knew more than any man in the United States," that "he would some
day be President of the United States." All this did not disturb the
boys of Clary Grove, but when he bragged "that he could, at that present
moment, outrun, whip or throw down any man in Sangamon County," then the
pride of the gang was awakened. A bet of ten dollars was made that Jack
Armstrong, their leader, "was a better man than Lincoln." The newcomer
could not well avoid a combat. In the presence of a host of sympathizers
of the Clary Grove leader, the fight began. Lincoln put forth his
strength and the crowd saw Armstrong's supremacy endangered. In the heat
of the fray, they forgot the rules of fair fighting and broke through
the ring. This angered Lincoln, and with a giant's effort, he gathered
their champion in his arms and shook him like a child. Lincoln's bearing
won the regard of Armstrong. He grasped the hand of the victor,
proclaiming in the presence of his followers that Lincoln was the best
fellow that ever broke into the settlement.[49] A wonderful friendship
resulted. "Whenever Lincoln worked Jack 'did his loafing'; and, when
Lincoln was out of work, he spent days and weeks together at Jack's
cabin, where Jack's jolly wife, 'old Hannah,' stuffed him with bread and
honey, laughed at his ugliness, and loved him for his goodness."[50]
[49] Lamon, 90-94.
[50] _Ibid._ 93-94.
This was an eventful occasion in the life of Lincoln. The humble ask
little of friendship and give much. A lover of the law, in a single hour
he became the idol of the lawless element in New Salem. From that time,
they submitted to his guidance. Respect for his strength grew into
admiration for his learning. Slowly and surely, the latest addition to
the gang tempered its harshness. As a member, he achieved what would
have been impossible as a stranger. He loved their virtues, and was
gentle with their vices. So it was that, though he did not drink or
smoke with them, they did not think the less of him. Lincoln did not
laud his freedom from failing, so they were patient as children with
him, even in his chiding. The source of his influence was sympathy, and
not ability; solidity of character, not brilliancy; the simple virtues,
not genius.
Lincoln was dowered with supreme physical strength. Rumor claimed that
he could lift a load of a thousand pounds. This renown brought him
further influence with the rougher element. He was also skilled in
manual labor. A settler relates that he was the best hand at husking
corn on the stalk that he ever saw. He grew in the estimate of the
farmers around New Salem, in a community where agriculture was almost
the sole source of wealth and prosperity.
Lincoln's boyish enthusiasm for athletic events was doubtless somewhat
calmed with passing years. As other interests dawned on him he was
persuaded to concern himself with horse races and other games of chance
more than his judgment advised. An admirer states, "I got Lincoln, who
was at the race, to be a judge of the race, much against his will, and
after hard persuasion. Lincoln decided correctly; and the other judge
said 'Lincoln is the fairest man I ever had to deal with; if Lincoln is
in this country when I die, I want him to be my administrator, for he is
the only man I ever met with that was wholly and unselfishly
honest.'"[51]
[51] Lamon, 154.
The steamer _Talisman_ in 1832 made a trip to determine the navigability
of the Sangamon. Lincoln was selected as helmsman from Beardstown to New
Salem. The _Talisman_ on the return trip "stuck" at the mill dam. Equal
to the emergency, Lincoln "rigged up" an apparatus in the presence of
the entire assembly of New Salem. All were sure that he had saved the
steamer. The trip was of vast worth to Lincoln. Making several speeches
and shaking hands with every one, in this one week, he learned to know
more people than he would have otherwise met in many months.[52]
[52] Ross, 112. Lamon, 81-83.
Lincoln was not only honest, but men trusted him. His personality
pervaded the community. So a biographer states, "I once asked Rowan
Herndon what induced him to make such liberal terms in dealing with
Lincoln, whom he had known for so short a time." "I believed that he was
thoroughly honest," was the reply, "and that impression was so strong in
me that I accepted his note in payment of the whole. He had no money,
but I would have advanced him still more if he had asked for it."[53]
[53] Herndon, 1, 98.
Lincoln was not endowed with business skill. The only failure he ever
made in life was as a merchant. He had no capacity for business. His
partner claimed that Lincoln could wrap himself up in a great moral
question; but that in dealing with the financial and commercial
interests of a community or government he was as inadequate as he was
managing the economy of his own household, and that in that respect
alone he always regarded Mr. Lincoln as a weak man.[54]
[54] Herndon, 1, 165-6.
Lincoln's fairness vied with his sympathy in giving him a peculiar
influence over his fellowmen. He made peace a daily guest of the rude
crowd. His method was novel in New Salem. A stranger, angered by the
abuse of Jack Armstrong, struck him a blow that felled the giant.
Lincoln made himself the judge of the event. "Well, Jack," said he,
"what did you say to the man?" Whereupon Jack repeated the words. "Well,
Jack," replied Abe, "if you were a stranger in a strange town, as this
man is, and you were called a d----d liar, &c., what would you do?"
"Whip him, by God!" "Then this man has done no more to you than you
would have done to him." "Well, Abe," said the honest bruiser, "it's all
right," and, taking his opponent by the hand, forgave him heartily, and
"treated." Jack always "treated" his victim when he thought he had been
too hard upon him.[55]
[55] Lamon, 94-95.
Esteemed for his strength he was loved for his kindness. None could
resist the charm of his help to the poor and the lowly, to the waifs of
misfortune. Ab, a barefooted fellow, was chopping wood on a wintry day
to earn a dollar that he might buy a pair of shoes. Lincoln, seeing his
plight, seized the axe, and soon the job was done. The story runs that
"Ab remembered this act with the liveliest gratitude. Once he, being a
cast-iron Democrat, determined to vote against his party and for Mr.
Lincoln; but the friends, as he afterwards said with tears in his eyes,
made him drunk, and he had voted against Abe."[56] Chandler, a poor
settler, desiring to enter a small tract of land that was coveted by a
rich neighbor, started for Springfield at the same time with his rival
and on the same mission. On the way Chandler met Lincoln. Noticing that
the horse of Chandler could not stand a forced march, Lincoln gave him
his horse--fresh and full of grit. Between the two, a friendship sprang
up which all the political discords of twenty-five years never shattered
nor strained.[57]
[56] _Ibid._, 152-153.
[57] Herndon, 1, 115-116.
He was active in the first debating organization of New Salem. Those who
knew him for his strength were amazed at the logic of his statements.
The president of this society said to his wife that there was more in
Abe's head than wit and fun; that he was already a fine speaker; that he
only lacked culture to enable him to reach the high destiny in store for
him. Thereafter the president displayed a deeper interest in his
progress. During one of the debates, Lincoln dashed into a controversy
on slavery, dilating on its malignancy, deploring the dark and hopeless
state of the poor white man. With discernment he placed his hand on the
mischief, the creation of an aristocracy in a republic; the resulting
conflict between the doctrine of the fathers and that of the children;
between the North and the South. His discussion ranged over the
consequences. He pictured the grapple of opposing principles; a land
drenched with fraternal blood.[58] A biographer is justified in
contending that he became as familiar for the goodness of his
understanding as for the muscular power of his body, and the unfailing
humor of his talk.[59]
[58] Maltby, 33.
[59] Lamon, 96.
With the arrival of spring in 1832, the Black Hawk War broke out. A
company was organized in Sangamon County for immediate service. The
first fruit of Lincoln's popularity with "the boys" was his decisive
election as captain. His opponent was a man of means. The manner of
election was democratic. Lincoln and his antagonist stood some distance
apart, while the men showed their preference by taking their place near
the man of their choice. The one with the most adherents was selected
for leadership. Lincoln made a very modest speech to his comrades,
expressing his gratification, and telling them how undeserved he thought
it was and promised that he would do the best he could to prove himself
worthy of their confidence.[60]
[60] Lamon, 101-102.
The captain needed the mastery of his temper to control the lawless
spirit of the volunteers. Accustomed to be cajoled in politics, they
were not ready for obedience even in the shadow of war. A story has been
told that Capt. Lincoln's first command was answered by being told to
"go to the devil."[61]
[61] Stevens, 277.
Lincoln was jealous of the welfare of his men. Thinking them maltreated,
he told an officer of the regular army that they were volunteers under
the regulations of Illinois, and that resistance would thereafter be
made to unjust orders; that his men must be equal in all particulars, in
rations, arms and camps, to the regular army. The officer saw that
Lincoln was right, and thereafter they were treated like the regular
army. This efficient service in behalf of the volunteers drew officers
and rank to him.[62]
[62] Lamon, 111.
During the march a peaceable Indian strayed into camp and was at the
mercy of the soldiers. This old man showed a letter from General Cass
testifying to his fidelity; the enraged men pronounced it a forgery, and
rushed upon him. The captain stepped between. "Men, this must not be
done. He must not be shot and killed by us." The passion of the mob was
stayed by this exhibition of courage, not allayed. One bolder than his
fellows cried out, "This is cowardly on your part, Lincoln." The
captain towered in lonely power. "If any man thinks I am a coward let
him test it." A new voice was heard, "You are larger and heavier than we
are." "This you can easily guard against. Choose your weapons." The word
coward was never again coupled with his name. "He has often declared
himself, that his life and character were both at stake, and would
probably have been lost, had he not at that supremely critical moment
forgotten the officer, and asserted the man. To have ordered the
offenders under arrest would have created a formidable mutiny; to have
tried and punished them would have been impossible. They could scarcely
be called soldiers; they were merely armed citizens, with a nominal
military organization. They were but recently enlisted, and their term
of service was just about to expire. Had he preferred charges against
them, and offered to submit their differences to a court of any sort, it
would have been regarded as an act of personal pusillanimity, and his
efficiency would have been gone forever."[63]
[63] Lamon, 109.
Lincoln and other volunteers arrived home just before the State
election. That New Salem should present Lincoln as a candidate for the
Legislature was the natural culmination of his position in the
community. His friends were heart and soul in the cause. His record as a
soldier increased the interest of his companions and his associates in
the election.
Lincoln allied himself with the Whig organization and championed its
principles. The popular party in Sangamon County prided themselves on
their devotion to Andrew Jackson. They derisively called their opponents
"Federalists," while the latter struggled "to shuffle off the odious
name."[64] Lamon argues that Lincoln was a nominal Jackson man on the
ground that he received the votes of all parties at New Salem, that he
was the next year appointed postmaster by General Jackson; that the
Democrats ran him for the Legislature two years later, and that he was
elected by a larger majority than any other candidate.[65] These reasons
are without weight. Party lines at the time were not yet closely drawn,
and the supreme personal popularity of Lincoln suffered little from the
partisanship of that period. It is a distinct mark of Lincoln's courage
and his love of principle that he devoted himself to the weaker party of
Illinois. Selfish ambition would have advised alliance with the dominant
organization. Still, the better element in Sangamon County was largely
attracted to the Whig side. Lincoln coming from the company of the Clary
Grove boys, enthusiasts for Jackson, fearlessly decided his political
relations. National history might have been changed if Abraham Lincoln
had consulted his companions, or temporary interest in the selection of
party affiliation.
[64] _Ibid._, 122.
[65] Lamon, 123-124.
After his return from the war, he threw himself into the campaign of
1832. In his first speech, just as he started, he saw that a friend was
getting worsted in a fight near by. Hurrying from the platform, he
grasped the offender and threw him some ten feet away. He then again
mounted the eminence and delivered the following address: "Gentlemen and
Fellow Citizens, I presume you all know who I am. I am humble Abraham
Lincoln. I have been solicited by many friends to become a candidate for
the Legislature. My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman's
dance. I am in favor of a national bank. I am in favor of the internal
improvement system and a high protective tariff. These are my sentiments
and political principles. If elected, I shall be thankful; if not, it
will be all the same."[66]
[66] _Ibid._, 125-126.
Making a speech under such conditions was a more thorough preparation
for the activities of life than the training of schools and even
universities afford its votaries. This talk is frank and bold. It early
avows sentiments hostile to the administration in power. It reveals the
"Whiggism" of the orator. It is a product of the times; a speech to be
expected from a young speaker sensitive to his surroundings.
The testimony of Judge Logan shows that Lincoln had in his youth a
mature mind. "He was a very tall, gawky, and rough looking fellow then;
his pantaloons didn't meet his shoes by six inches. But after he began
speaking I became very much interested in him. He made a very sensible
speech. His manner was very much the same as in after life; that is, the
same peculiar characteristics were apparent then, though of course in
after years he evinced more knowledge and experience. But he had then
the same novelty and the same peculiarity in presenting his ideas. He
had the same individuality that he kept through all his life."[67]
[67] Nicolay & Hay, 1, 108.
A companion allows us a view of Lincoln as a politician at this period.
Deferential to the rich, agreeable to the poor, he was at home
everywhere. He talked with the husband and wife about their hopes in
life, about the school and the farm. The mother would hear with joy of
her fine children; Willie was the image of father; Sarah the most
beautiful, and looked like her mother. The distribution of nuts and
candy captured the children. During the preparation for supper, he would
walk over the farm with his host, and be shown its worth. After the meal
he would tell the boys and girls stories of the trials of frontier life
in Indiana. He thus secured the esteem of all.
Early in this campaign, he issued a political circular. This first
written address of Lincoln should command attention. It contains
abundant evidence of close thinking, political sagacity and quaint
utterance. This youthful appeal of Lincoln is a sober production
expressing thoughts that go straight to the mind. The circular is
conclusive that his style and his thought were not altogether the
fruition of his maturity.
The address deals mainly with the navigability of the Sangamon River. No
theme was closer to the people in the county. The arrival of the steamer
_Talisman_ had been hailed with rapture. A newspaper thus gave utterance
to the common feeling: "We congratulate our farmers, our mechanics, our
merchants and our professional men, for the rich harvest in prospect,
and we cordially invite emigrating citizens from other states, whether
rich or poor, if so they are industrious and honest, to come thither and
partake of the good things of Sangamon."[68] The enthusiasm reached the
women, for they indulged in a grand ball to honor the occasion.[69] The
ardent championship of this vain proposal, for it was never either
effected or seriously attempted, is proof that Lincoln was a student of
popularity. At this period he proclaimed the doctrine that the
representative of the people should reflect the known views of his
constituency.[70]
[68] History of Sangamon County, 53.
[69] _Ibid._
[70] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 7.
He next paid heed to the problem of usury. Money, always seeking the
highest bidder, preyed on the industry of the people. The common
contract rate was about fifty per cent. In many instances it rose to
more than one hundred, and unfortunates even paid two or three times as
much.[71] "It seems," Lincoln said, "as though we are never to have an
end to this baneful and corroding system, acting almost as prejudicial
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 the 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 other cases
it would have its intended effect. I would favor the passage of a law on
this subject which might not be easily evaded. Let it be such that the
labor and difficulty of evading it could only be justified in cases of
greatest necessity."[72] This rather remarkable admission is interesting
in view of his subsequent utterances on the sacred enforcement of all
laws lest single relaxations prove an inducement for other
violation.[73]
[71] Lamon, 133.
[72] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 3.
[73] _Ibid._, 12.
A rather becoming modesty pervades the conclusion of his address. He
maintained that he might be wrong in regard to any or all the subjects
he discussed, declaring that it was better only sometimes to be right
than at all times to be wrong, that he was ready to renounce his
opinions as soon as he discovered them to be erroneous.[74]
[74] _Ibid._, 4.
"Every man," he observed, "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."[75] This illumines our limited knowledge
of his attitude toward an essential problem of life. Lincoln did not
fling away ambition. With patient footstep he restlessly followed the
vision of higher place along the road of helpful service to his
fellow-men. As he rose in influence, he never forsook his early ideals;
that the measure of success was worthiness and not station, that power
was only respectable as it was mercifully exercised. He believed that
altruistic responsibility expanded with growing opportunities. His good
deeds, not his personal wants, grew with his growth.
[75] _Ibid._
He did not rest with an appeal to the reason of men. He deftly put in
motion the human chord in democracy that vibrates to the poor and the
struggling. He declared that he was young and unknown; that he was born,
and would ever remain, in the most humble walks of life; that he had no
wealthy or popular relations or friends to recommend him; that his case
was thrown exclusively upon the independent voters of the county; and
that, if elected, they would have conferred a favor upon him, for which
he would be unremitting in his labors to compensate.[76]
[76] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 4.
"But, if the good people," he concluded, "in their wisdom shall see fit
to keep me in the background, I have been too familiar with
disappointments to be very much chagrined."[77] Suffused with seeming
humor and the pathos of half hidden tragedy this averment brings us face
to face with a life reluctantly asserting its individuality. It is
hardly strange that one who pronounces himself a companion of many
disappointments when only twenty-three years old should soon get the
name of "Old Abe." Sorrow had already left its traces on his heart and
brain, so that the appellation was fitting. Still, he encountered
uncomplainingly the exigencies of human events.
[77] _Ibid._
"The Democrats of New Salem worked for Lincoln out of their personal
regard for him. That was the general understanding of the matter here at
the time. In this he made no concession of principle whatever. He was as
stiff as a man could be in his Whig doctrines. They did this for him
simply because he was popular--because he was Lincoln."[78] Despite the
efforts of his friends in New Salem, Lincoln was yet too little known
to be elected a representative of Sangamon County.
[78] Nicolay & Hay, 1, 102-103.
One fact stands out boldly. Out of the total 300 votes cast in the
precinct of New Salem, where he was best known, Lincoln received
277.[79] This did not pass without the scrutiny of those who studied the
details of local politics. It revealed an amazing popularity. It was a
defeat that practiced politicians knew betokened future triumphs. It
marked the trail of a triumphing career in the common course of events.
With ardent pride, he later said of this defeat, that it was the only
time he was ever beaten on a direct vote of the people.[80]
[79] Nicolay & Hay, 1, 109. Tarbell, 1, 91.
[80] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 641.
John Calhoun, a stalwart Democrat, a surveyor in Sangamon County, and
later infamous in Kansas history, needed a deputy. He selected Lincoln,
who thereupon retreated to a farm of the schoolmaster Graham, where he
studied a book on surveying. Struggling with the task for six weeks, he
came forth prepared for his new work. He so mastered the subject that he
became renowned for the accuracy of his measurements. "If I can be
perfectly free," Lincoln is reported to have said, "in my political
action, I will take the office, but if my sentiments or even expression
of them is to be abridged in any way I would not have it or any other
office."[81] This story is rather heroic. The work was of a business
character, and politics did not dictate every act of Calhoun; he was
willing to help a worthy ambitious young man. On the other hand, the
store of Lincoln had "winked out"; he had nothing to do; he was eager to
enter into an honorable vocation without an inquisition into the motives
of Calhoun. It was a friendly act without any suggestion of political
obligation; a kindly service that cemented a friendship never severed,
though they met as rivals on the field of controversy. Even in the days
when it was common to blacken the name of Calhoun, Lincoln never joined
in the general hue and cry.[82]
[81] Herndon, 1, 111.
[82] Lamon, 148.
The acceptance of the office of postmaster at New Salem, under the
administration of General Jackson, had no particular bearing upon the
political views of Abraham Lincoln. The office was of so little monetary
importance, that Lincoln carried its whole contents in his hat. He was
the only man of standing in the community that could afford to give it
abundant attention for the small pay. The office was doubtless freely
tendered, the more freely as Lincoln was not of a partisan temperament.
It was of value to him. It enabled him to be of service and thus gain
the good will of many. He readily made known the contents of letters to
the illiterate. He also read aloud to the inhabitants gathered at the
store, all the news from the recent papers.[83]
[83] _Ibid._
"The first time I ever saw Abe with a law-book in his hand," says Squire
Godbey, "he was sitting astride Jake Bale's wood pile in New Salem. Says
I, 'Abe, what are you studying?'--'Law,' says Abe. 'Great God Almighty!'
responded I."[84] Lincoln states in his campaign biography that one of
his fellow candidates, Major John T. Stuart, in his first canvass
encouraged him to study law, and that after election he borrowed books
of Stuart and went at it in good earnest. He also states that he never
studied with anybody.[85]
[84] _Ibid._, 140.
[85] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 642.
During his legal apprenticeship of three or four years, he was at the
call of every citizen. He wrote deeds, contracts and other legal papers,
and often appeared before the local Justice of the Peace. All this
service was free. He was not forgotten by those he helped. Even when he
moved to Springfield, his New Salem friends found that his counsel was
ever at their disposal. His door was as open to poverty as to riches.
His study of the law widened the exercise of his sympathy and his
usefulness. Then, too, every satisfied client was likely to become a
political supporter.
It would have been amazing if Lincoln had come short of being the hero
of New Salem. He won "golden opinions" from every class of men. His
popularity had a substantial basis. He rode into favor on the tide of
service to his fellowmen. Wholesale dispenser of laughter and sympathy,
clerk at a store of the village, athlete of renown, arbiter of fights
and games, pilot on a memorable journey, a debater of singular skill, an
orator commanding attention, a sincere student, a soldier of some
distinction, popular postmaster, a skilled surveyor, and later a lawyer
and legislator--master in all these relations, he proved his worth and
value to the community. No man was more thoroughly gifted in the
qualities of manhood and character that lodge in the human heart. He
took up the harp of pioneer life and smote all "the vital chords with
might." Attuned to the lowly sentiments, to the humble ways and the
hardships of the people of the prairie, his sympathies were as broad as
the plains of Sangamon County. The drunkard, the outcast, the children
and the women, the rowdy and the ruffian, the teacher, the store keeper,
and politicians, all were his friends. He was odd in liking so many of
his kind, in the universality of his sympathies.
While Lincoln acted from a "full warm heart," policy could not have
dictated wiser conduct for a political career. Could genius have planned
the course, it would not have added greater skill to its success. His
very faults were the highway to public esteem. Almost every man, each
woman and child in New Salem were gladdened by his honest hand shake,
the cheer of his voice and the charm of his character.
CHAPTER IV
PRACTICAL LEGISLATOR
The fame of Lincoln as a law student and lawyer, as surveyor and
postmaster, spread beyond New Salem, and the qualities that had
attracted local distinction continued to find him admirers in a broader
world. He steadily gained headway with an ever growing audience.
Naturally, the Whigs gave him concerted support as one of their
candidates for the Legislature of 1834. In addition he made large
inroads into the Democratic party. Its leaders sought to diminish the
strength his name would add to the Whig ticket by adopting him as one of
their candidates.[86] The flattering proposal was not swallowed by
Lincoln. He realized that acceptance might involve estrangement from his
own party--no small matter for one who was ambitious politically. He was
wise enough to counsel with the leading Whigs and his personal friends
as to the prudence of such an alliance. They advised an agreement. It is
claimed by Lamon that Lincoln and Dawson made a bargain with the
Democratic party that nearly demoralized the Whigs, decidedly weakening
the vote of their favorite champion, Major Stuart.[87] In fact, the
alliance was more disastrous to the enemy. The Whigs fared well, as it
was, in the campaign; and in a year or two, Sangamon County, a former
stronghold of Jackson, passed into the control of the followers of Clay.
[86] Lamon, 155-156.
[87] _Ibid._, 156.
We have no evidence as to whether Lincoln was less a partisan in the
campaign as the result of Democratic endorsement. It was largely a "hand
shaking" canvass, a man to man combat. Affable to every one, Lincoln was
master in this mode of securing support. On one occasion he came upon
thirty men in a field. They declared they would not vote for a man
unless he could make a hand. "Well, boys," said he, "if that is all, I
am sure of your votes." Taking hold of the cradle, he led the way all
the round with perfect ease, and the boys were satisfied.[88]
[88] Lamon, 156.
"The next day he was speaking at Berlin. He went from my house with Dr.
Barnett, the man that had asked me who this man Lincoln was. I told him
that he was a candidate for the Legislature. He laughed and said, 'Can't
the party raise no better material than that?' I said, 'Go to-morrow,
and hear all before you pronounce judgment.' When he came back, I said,
'Doctor, what say you now?' 'Why, sir,' said he, 'he is a perfect
take-in; he knows more than all of them put together.'"[89]
[89] _Ibid._
"Mr. J. R. Herndon, his friend and landlord, heard him make several
speeches about this time, and gives us the following extract from one,
which seems to have made a special impression upon the minds of his
auditors: 'Fellow citizens, I have been told that some of my opponents
have said that it was a disgrace to the County of Sangamon to have such
a looking man as I am stuck up for the Legislature. Now, I thought this
was a free country; that is the reason I address you to-day. Had I known
to the contrary, I should not have consented to run; but I will say one
thing, let the shoe pinch where it may; when I have been a candidate
before you five or six times, and have been beaten every time, I will
consider it a disgrace, and will be sure never to try it again; but I
am bound to beat that man if I am beat myself. Mark that!'"[90]
[90] Lamon, 127.
Voting at this period was _viva voce_ and not by ballot. One seeking the
vote of Lincoln, pompously supported him. Lincoln thereupon voted
against that candidate. Those who witnessed the action marveled much and
approved his conduct.[91] At this election, of the four successful
candidates for Sangamon County, Dawson received 1390 votes; Lincoln
followed with 1376. Stuart, the popular Whig, had nearly 200 votes
less.[92] These figures speak with eloquence of the advance made by the
surveyor in two years.
[91] Nicolay & Hay, 1, 67.
[92] Herndon, 1, 118.
"After he was elected to the Legislature," says Mr. Smoot, "he came to
my house one day in company with Hugh Armstrong. Says he, 'Smoot, did
you vote for me?' I told him I did. 'Well,' says he, 'you must loan me
money to buy suitable clothing, for I want to make a decent appearance
in the Legislature.' I then loaned him two hundred dollars, which he
returned to me according to promise."[93]
[93] Lamon, 157.
Compelled by events to be his own teacher, Lincoln learned to depend on
his own resources. Reared in a rough school, accustomed to be a leader
among his intellectual inferiors, still, in all humility, he looked to
his legislative experience with joy. Deprecating his kind of education,
open minded he anxiously awaited the privilege of associating with many
of the leading men of the State. There gathered at the Capitol its best
blood, the choice sons of Illinois, the representatives of the ambition,
the intelligence, and the popularity of the State. "The society of
Vandalia and the people attracted thither by the Legislature made it,
for that early day, a gay place indeed. Compared to Lincoln's former
environments, it had no lack of refinement and polish. That he absorbed
a good deal of this by contact with the men and women who surrounded
him, there can be no doubt. The 'drift of sentiment and the sweep of
civilization' at this time can best be measured by the character of the
legislation. There were acts to incorporate banks, turnpikes, bridges,
insurance companies, towns, railroads and female academies. The vigor
and enterprise of New England fusing with the illusory prestige of
Kentucky and Virginia was fast forming a new civilization to spread over
the prairies."[94]
[94] Herndon, 1, 155.
Lincoln with modesty remained a witness of the doings of the
Legislature. Content to wait for the fitting time to make an impression,
he did not rush into debate. It was a scouting period. Scanty of talk,
rich in thought, ever on the lookout for information, steady in
attendance, studying parliamentary procedure, he gained a name for
solidity, far better than brilliancy or oratory for real influence in a
legislative body.[95]
[95] _Ibid._
Lincoln forgot the prudence expressed in his first circular, for he
jumped into the movement that hurried along the internal improvement
policy. His practice was behind his theory in matters of finance.
Lincoln made little stir in this session, he took no glorious part in
its deliberations, and made no record for independence. He usually voted
with the members of his party. He became grounded in the finesse of law
making, an art whose acquirement and importance are seldom considered.
For method as well as merit is an element in the making of the statute.
Still, in measuring himself with his associates, he gained confidence
and found that he was not far behind in the training for political
prosperity. While he would not deceive, he learned how not to be
deceived. He discovered that men in the Senate are not of a far
different order from those in the field; that culture often hides a
mean soul; that polish is often the tinsel of education. He remained the
same Lincoln, longing for the reality of the old life without pretense.
He was content to return to his admirers in Clary Grove, with no
exaltation or pride in his new distinction as legislator.
A special session of the Legislature was held in December, 1835. One of
the evils of the time was the eagerness of representatives for public
offices of a more permanent character than the uncertain tenure of
popular election. New offices were constantly created. Lincoln took a
bold stand on the danger. He voted with the majority that the election
of a member of the Legislature to a State office was corrupting. He
voted with the minority to apply the principle also to relatives and
connections of the members. Lincoln remained a persistent supporter of
internal improvements. Some of the advocates shifted their votes from
time to time, but he remained constant in his devotion.
The influence of Lincoln extended over a widening territory and his fame
spread with new opportunities. After two scant years of public life, he
was considered among the leaders of his party. No longer waiting on the
advice of friends, he offered himself as a candidate for renomination.
He initiated his campaign with the following political fulmination:
"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 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."[96]
[96] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 7.
In commanding contrast to his first circular, this fairly seems to crowd
out every dispensable expression. Contact with the pioneer had taught
him to court the power of brevity, so this announcement is more like a
creed than an address. Homely and curt in character, it suited the time.
It was the best way to the heart of the average voter. Democracy found
in it its own image. Lincoln leans more than a little to the popular. He
advocates the distribution of the public lands money for the building of
canals and railroads without borrowing money, and openly declares his
subserviency in being governed by the public will on all questions.
Much attention has been dedicated to the suggestion advocating an
equality of suffrage. This expression loses considerable significance
considering its random character. There is little subsequent evidence of
his belief in female suffrage as a wise and just political measure.
Still, it may be fairly assumed that the untrammeled mind of Lincoln,
with a sure faith in universal suffrage, followed the cherished doctrine
to the end. "All such questions," he observed one day to Herndon as they
were discussing temperance in his office, "must first find lodgment with
the most enlightened souls who stamp them with their approval. In God's
own time they will be organized into law and thus woven into the fabric
of our institutions."[97]
[97] Herndon, 1, 158.
The request of candidates to "show their hands" was of special
significance at this time. It was a transitional period, the parting of
ways between the "whole hog Jacksonite" and the moderate Democrat. There
was no room for lukewarm adherents. It was a period of positive
alliance. Diplomacy was no longer a factor. The center of gravity
shifted from local to national affairs. Contests became partisan
controversies on general issues.
The campaign of 1836 is the low ebb of the old personal campaign, where
every man fought his own battle on his own worth, where the people
judged every candidate on individual merit. This is the last time
seekers of office are asked "to show their hand." From that time,
political affiliation and not personal worth began to be the marrow of a
contest. Partisan devotion submerged personal fealty. The people
involuntarily created parties, and straightway became slaves of their
own handiwork, selling independence for party loyalty. Partisanship held
them in its clutches, and they hardly dared to loosen its embrace. The
man who ventured to exercise his judgment was charged with being a
weakling, or opened himself to the impious accusation in a democratic
community that he regarded himself greater than his party. The vision of
the average worker in the ranks became near sighted, and the bias of
his judgment knew no limit. Party spirit set free an element of discord
among men that sundered friendships, wrought enmities between brothers,
and banished reason. From that time even Lincoln ceased to gather any
considerable support from his political antagonists.
Lincoln was wise enough to note the tendency of these events. Wasting no
regrets over the new conditions, he bound himself to the party of his
choice without equivocation. Fairly but energetically maintaining the
sanctity of the Whig principles, he became a fearless and feared
champion of its doctrine. He displayed keen political wisdom in this
conduct. Partisanship seldom rewards the laggard in the day of
prosperity.
That Lincoln entered with zeal into this campaign and indulged in the
fashion of the day in the issuance of handbills of a flaring character,
the following is significant evidence:
"TO THE PEOPLE OF SANGAMON COUNTY--Fellow Citizens: I have this
moment been shown a handbill signed 'Truth Teller' in which my name
is done up in large capitals. No one can doubt the object of this
attack at this late hour. An effort is now made to show that John T.
Stuart and myself opposed the passage of the bill by which the
Wiggins loan was paid. The handbill says--the only vote taken on the
bill when the yeas and nays were taken was upon engrossing the bill
for a third reading. 'That's a lie!' Let the reader refer to pages
124, 125 and 126 of the Journal and he will see that the yeas and
nays were taken _twice_ upon the bill _after_ the vote referred to
by this lying Truth Teller, and he will also see that my course
toward the bill was anything but unfriendly. It is impossible to
make a lengthy answer at this late hour. All I have to say is that
the author is a liar and a _scoundrel_, and that if he will avow
the authorship to me, I promise to give his proboscis a good
wringing. A. Lincoln."[98]
[98] Hand bill in possession of Dr. Jayne, Springfield, Ill.
One of the sure signs of the spirit of increasing partisanship was the
virulence and bitterness of political gatherings. Contests between
leaders became frequent. Debates were had on the prairie that equaled in
earnestness senatorial controversies. There was all the high tension of
the gladiatorial combat intensified by the championship of something
more than a personal issue--the stake of party principles. We are
informed that on one occasion a Whig candidate, at the top of his voice,
branded the statement of a Democratic opponent, as false. As passion ran
high, a duel seemed a likely result. Lincoln followed on the program.
With his marvelous fairness he discussed the subject gently and serenely
so as to satisfy friend and foe. Judicial, though earnest in advocacy,
he fully calmed the tumult.[99]
[99] Lamon, 188.
It was doubtless at this time that the following incident deeply
disturbed his calmness. Something had displeased the "wild boys" who had
been his supporters from the first. Perhaps a rumor that he affected
strange ways, or voted for some measure not to their liking, caused the
trouble. The leader at once gave the call and they gathered. Seldom
revealing himself, he then gave freedom to his emotion. He told them
that he never would forget those who had given him his start, the men
who stood by him, who had made him what he was and all that he hoped to
be. He bade them if they still cherished unkindness, if they still held
him guilty, to tear him to pieces limb by limb. The generous hearts of
the frontiersmen, overcome by this unwonted display of feeling, lost all
resentment, and the leader regained his prestige thus rudely
shaken.[100]
[100] Oldroyd, 557.
Early in the campaign Lincoln spoke at Springfield. Some of the Clary
Grove boys and other admirers followed him, confident that he would
distinguish himself at his first appearance. They were not slow in
claiming that he would make a better stump speech than any one at the
county seat. He splendidly defended the principles of his party, and
produced a profound impression. Among his auditors was a Mr. Forquer,
who had the finest house in Springfield, lately protected by the only
lightning rod in that locality. Formerly a Whig, his apostasy was
rewarded with a lucrative office. He felt the sting of Lincoln's strong
presentation of the principles of the Whig party. The recent recruit to
the Democratic organization replied by a speech able and apparently
fair, still skillfully mingled with sarcasm. Scorn and satire were
freely used, so that the anxiety of the friends of Lincoln was awakened.
Speed relates that his reply to Forquer was characterized by great
dignity and force; that he would never forget the conclusion of that
speech. "Mr. Forquer commenced his speech," said Lincoln, "by announcing
that the young man would have to be taken down. It is for you, fellow
citizens, not for me to say whether I am up or down. The gentleman has
seen fit to allude to my being a young man; but he forgets that I am
older in years than I am in tricks and trades of politicians. I desire
to live, and I desire place and distinction; but I would rather die now
than, like the gentleman, live to see the day that I would change my
politics for an office worth three thousand dollars a year, and then
feel compelled to erect a lightning rod to protect a guilty conscience
from an offended God."[101]
[101] Herndon, 1, 171-2.
Lincoln showed supreme skill in striking a chord in the pioneer heart.
He knew the thoughts of the plain people, knew that they hated every
pretension of manner. For many years whenever Forquer rose to speak he
was pointed at as the man who put a lightning rod on his house to ward
off the vengeance of the Supreme Power.[102] Lincoln was not averse to
appeal to other sentiments of the people. At a gathering of farmers in
joint debate with his rival, he said: "I am too poor to own a carriage,
but my friend has generously invited me to ride with him. I want you to
vote for me if you will; but if not then vote for my opponent, for he is
a fine man."[103]
[102] Herndon, 1, 172.
[103] Tarbell, 1, 130.
In this campaign, Lincoln rose to eminence as a political speaker. From
that time he was one of the stalwart Whigs selected by common consent
for leadership in the contests with their strong disciplined and
victorious opponents. Lincoln's services were given popular endorsement.
He led all the rest of his able associates.[104]
[104] Herndon, 1, 163.
In the Legislature of 1836 Lincoln played the part of a politician. The
external side of his career is described by Lamon, who declares that "he
was the smartest parliamentarian and the cunningest 'log roller.'"[105]
[105] Lamon, 195.
The State was now aglow with enthusiasm over the prospects of the policy
of internal improvements. A few days before the Legislature assembled, a
mass convention in Sangamon County instructed their members to vote for
the system of internal improvements.[106] This was one of the many
manifestations of the public sentiment.
[106] _Ibid._, 196.
Lincoln followed the common political ambition of his time. He became an
aggressive champion of the public improvement policy. He told his friend
Speed, in confidence, that he aimed at the great distinction of being
called the "De Witt Clinton of Illinois." With many other public men of
that day he ventured the hope of rivalling the fame of the builder of
the Erie Canal.[107] A leading member of the finance committee, he was
foremost in urging the popular measures by which everybody was to be
enriched by some stroke of statesmanship, some mysterious manipulation
in finance. The state loans were to construct railroads, the railroads
were to build cities; the cities in turn were to create a demand for
farms; capital rushing for investment was to follow, and lands were
steadily to rise in value. The tax on real estate was to go into a
sinking fund, and thus shuffle off local assessment. In this fine way
taxation was to be banished.[108] With untiring step many followed the
vision. Politics as well as fancy every now and then has its lamp of
Aladdin.
[107] Benton, 1, 22. Lamon, p. 195.
[108] Lamon, 197.
No one voted more persistently for local and State improvements, relief
acts and the incorporation of organizations, than Abraham Lincoln. This
was not done in darkness. The solemn protest of some sane members was
put forth against the prevailing folly that held its repeated
jubilations in the Legislature. They commented on the madness of the
immense schemes, on the multitude of officers with ample salaries. They
dimly prophesied shadow and gloom to the hopes of the enamored
majority.[109] Another resolution advising consultation with the people
before borrowing money for all the contemplated enterprises received
only nine votes. Lincoln was not among that eminent minority.[110]
[109] House Journal of 1836-37, 680.
[110] _Ibid._, 367.
Governor Ford makes the following stinging comment on those who put into
operation the internal improvement policy: They have been excused upon
the ground that they were instructed to vote as they did, and that they
had every right to believe that they were truly reflecting the will of
their constituents. But members ought to resign such small offices, to
sacrifice a petty ambition, rather than become the willing tools of a
deluded people, to bring so much calamity upon the country.[111]
[111] Ford, 196.
The chief task of Lincoln and the other members of the Sangamon
delegation in the tenth biennial session of the Legislature was to
secure the removal of the capital from Vandalia to Springfield. This
called forth his utmost ingenuity. Many rivals sought the prize. It was
no mean problem to grasp victory from a crowd of contending communities.
Lincoln set himself resolutely to the practical problem. It demanded
patience, skill and every art of the legislator. Twice its enemies laid
the Springfield bill on the table. He gathered his despairing associates
for counsel in the hour of seeming defeat. The bill was squeezed through
at the last moment.
Governor Ford and other Democrats seriously believed, and long repeated
the charge, that the "Long Nine," as the Sangamon delegation was called,
"log rolled the removal" through the Legislature. Nicolay and Hay,
however, contend that the removal was due to the adroit management of
Mr. Lincoln--first in inducing all the rival claimants to unite in a
vote to move the capital from Vandalia, and then carrying a direct vote
for Springfield through the joint convention by assistance of the
Southern counties. They cite as evidence of this personal influence of
Lincoln the statement of a legislator: "He made Webb and me vote for the
removal, though we belonged to the southern part of the state. We
defended our vote before our constituents by saying that necessity would
ultimately force the seat of government to a central position. But in
reality we gave the vote to Lincoln because we liked him, because we
wanted to oblige our friend, and because we recognized him as our
leader."[112] This statement is not sufficient to meet the contention
that the removal was cunningly attained. The personal power of Lincoln
with some legislators may have been an availing factor. Still the
majority of the lawmakers were men moved mainly by material
considerations. It is not reasonable to assume that in voting on a vital
and important proposition they would not highly consider its effect on
their own measures; that they would enable the Sangamon delegation to
return triumphantly to their constituents without some understanding of
reciprocity. That Lincoln reluctantly or otherwise made some peculiar
alliances or engaged in some questionable strategy may be reasonably
deduced from the admission: "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."[113]
[112] Nicolay & Hay, 138-139.
[113] Tarbell, 1, 137.
Still there is stirring evidence that Lincoln would not barter his
principles even for the success of his most cherished purpose in that
session. An effort was made to unite the friends of Springfield with
those of a measure Lincoln refused to sanction. Every argument was used
to influence Mr. Lincoln to yield his objections, and thus secure the
removal of the capital to his own city, but without effect. Finally
after midnight, when the candles were burning low in the room, he rose
amid the silence and solemnity which prevailed, and made an eloquent and
powerful speech, saying in conclusion: "You may burn my body to ashes,
and scatter them to the winds of heaven; you may drag my soul down to
the regions of darkness and despair to be tormented forever; but you
will never get me to support a measure which I believe to be wrong,
although by doing so I may accomplish that which I believe to be
right."[B]
[B] Tarbell, 1, 138-9.
In matters involving method and detail, he used every art of the
politician. Still when principle was at stake, he would not bow to
expediency. With rare precision, he keenly followed the hazy border land
between principle and policy. In securing results, he surpassed common
politicians; in fealty to integrity he rivalled the patriot.
The year 1837 was a crucial period in many respects for Lincoln. He had
steadily moved forward until he became the leader of New Salem. He had
shown superior skill as a local politician. But his future as lawyer and
politician in New Salem was already bounded. With his success as a
legislator and the applause of larger communities, his longing for fame
and power grew stronger. With no keen regret, he sundered the ties that
bound him to Clary Grove where his word was law, to enter upon a life of
more varied and extensive character. His entrance into Springfield was
as humble as that into New Salem. Speed relates that Lincoln came into
his store, set his saddle bags on the counter, and inquired what a
single bedstead would cost. Being told that the amount complete was
seventeen dollars, Lincoln said that it was cheap enough, but cheap as
it was, he did not have the money to pay, but if he would be trusted
until Christmas, and his experiment there as a lawyer was a success, he
would pay then, if he failed he would probably never pay at all. The
tone of his voice was so full of pathos that Speed felt for him, and he
thought that he never saw so gloomy and melancholy a face in his life,
and he then told Lincoln that he had a very large room and a very large
double bed in it, which he was welcome to share with him. Without saying
a word Lincoln took his saddle bags on his arm, went upstairs, set them
down on the floor, came down again, and with a face beaming with
pleasure and smiles, exclaimed, "Well, Speed, I'm moved."[114]
[114] Herndon, 1, 176.
In the special session of 1837, the accusation that the removal of the
capital was born of "bargain and corruption," challenged the integrity
of the Sangamon delegation. A prominent Democrat, General Ewing, thus
taunted them: "The arrogance of Springfield, its presumption in claiming
the seat of government is not to be endured; the law has been passed by
chicanery and trickery; the Springfield delegation has sold out to the
internal improvement men, and has promised its support to every measure
that would gain a vote to the law removing the seat of government."[115]
That Lincoln hurried to the defence of the onslaught of an eminent
opponent, is another indication that he was rapidly becoming chief of
his fellows. He here displayed the same kind of talent that won him
applause from audiences on the prairie.[116] General Linder states that
then, for the first time, he began to conceive a very high opinion of
the talents and personal courage of Abraham Lincoln. The intervention of
friends alone averted a duel between Lincoln and Ewing.[117]
[115] Tarbell, 1, 139.
[116] Lamon, 201.
[117] Tarbell, 1, 139.
During this session, a resolution was introduced by Mr. Linder for a
legislative inquiry into the affairs of the State Bank, generally known
to be in a hazardous condition. The introducer ventured to support his
resolution with a tone of superiority that invited chastisement. Again
Lincoln bore the brunt of the defence, railing at Mr. Linder about his
pretensions, saying that in one faculty at least, there could be no
dispute of the gentleman's superiority over him and most other men, and
that was, the faculty of so entangling a subject that neither himself,
nor any other man, could find head or tail to it.[118]
[118] Tarbell, 1, 140, 141.
In speaking of the resolution itself, Lincoln indulged in these typical
expressions: It is an old maxim and a very sound one, that he who dances
should always pay the fiddler. I am decidedly opposed to the people's
money being used to pay the fiddler. 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.[119] The people know their
rights and they are never slow to assert and maintain them when they are
invaded. 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 with the bank. No, sir, it is the politician who is
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. 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 step removed from honest men. I say this with the greater
freedom, because, being a politician myself, none can regard it as
personal.[120]
[119] _Ibid._, 141.
[120] _Ibid._, 142.
The speech was published in the _Sangamon Journal_ with the editorial
comment that Lincoln's remarks on Linder's bank resolution were quite to
the point; that he carried the true Kentucky rifle, and when he fired he
seldom failed sending the shot home.[121]
[121] _Ibid._
Lincoln's bold words about the politician, modified by his quaint
admission, allow us a glimpse of the inner man. It took no mean courage
to make so unpalatable an assertion. Still tempering his speech with his
rare kind of diplomacy, he did not suffer in the estimation of his
associates, those whose esteem he valued.
CHAPTER V
PROTESTER AND PATRIOT
The year 1837 is the culmination of the first period of abolitionism in
Illinois. Until then, abolitionism was a hated eastern conception.
Despite opposition, and somewhat feeding on it, it slowly filtered its
way through an almost impervious public sentiment. A small band
encountered with heroism, the continuous martyrdom that waits on the
protagonist. Few in numbers, zealous in their gospel, superbly confident
in the rectitude of their counsel they aroused the spirit of
retaliation. Their excessive zeal transcended all other obligations,
rendering them indifferent, if not hostile, to the constitutional
compact. They stimulated and encouraged to life a corresponding
bitterness among the multitude.
It was in those days a mortal offence to call a man an abolitionist. The
popular mind scarcely distinguished between men who stole horses and men
who freed negroes. They regarded anti-slavery men as robbers, disturbers
of the peace, the instigators of arson, and enemies to the Union which
gave us as a people liberty and strength. "In testimony of these
sentiments, Illinois enacted a 'black code' of most preposterous and
cruel severity,--a code that would have been a disgrace to a slave
state, and was simply an infamy in a free one. It borrowed the
provisions of the most revolting laws known among men, for exiling,
selling, beating, bedeviling, and torturing negroes, whether bond or
free."[122]
[122] Lamon, 206.
That the opposition of slavery was bothering the people of Sangamon
County, is evident from the following resolution adopted at Springfield
in 1837 at a public meeting, over which Judge Brown presided:
"Resolved that in the opinion of this meeting the doctrine of the
immediate emancipation of the slaves of this country (although
promulgated by those who profess to be Christians) is at variance with
Christianity, and its tendency is to breed contention, broil and mobs;
and the leaders of those calling themselves Abolitionists are designing
ambitious men and dangerous members of society and should be shunned by
all good citizens."[123]
[123] History of Sangamon County, 251.
Illinois would scarcely brook unchained utterance on the darkest
question of all the ages,--the "right of one man to eat the bread which
another earned." A kind of stifling ostracism awaited the lowly or the
towering disciple who spoke in the language of Jefferson, of the fear
awakening problem. Every generation has its remorseless method of
crucifying its heroes of speech and deed. Business and political
interests, social influences and religious affiliations concerted in the
crushing of abolitionism. Success might have crowned their effort had
prudence been their companion, but they mobbed, maltreated, and even
murdered the champions of the new movement. Had madness confounded them,
they could not have acted more unwisely. This, more than all the
agitation of abolition leaders, quickened the moral vitality of the
people. There were many white men who cared little for the slave, but
much for the gospel of free speech as old as the Anglo-Saxon race. This
fatal policy of brute force finally dictated the doom of a power that
long mocked all opposition, that dreamed of an imperial government
grander than the vision which "Stout Cortez" beheld when he first stared
at the Pacific, "silent on a peak in Darien."
The motives that prompted public sentiment in Illinois to throttle
discussion on the slave question, almost baffle understanding. The
Lovejoys attacked no vested interest in the State, menaced no
substantial rights of person or property. While the Southern States
busied themselves with the doctrine that it was the privilege of each
State to demean itself as it wished, subject only to the Constitution,
as it interpreted that instrument, there was small occasion for a
Northern commonwealth to curb its own citizens, to sacrifice ancient and
cherished rights for the pleasure of an exacting foreign institution.
The anti-slavery forces with keenness of vision saw the weak point of
the enemy's attack, so they ranged themselves round the banner,
proclaiming the doctrine of free speech and the sacredness of an
unshackled press. Nothing more inherently reveals the weakness of the
advocates of slavery, than their morbid fear of free and frank inquiry
into its policy and wisdom. In the face of an institution demanding mob
power, and the sacrifice of priceless principles, the Abolitionists
performed a wholesome public service in contending that then more than
ever liberty of discussion should be protected, maintained and hallowed.
Suddenly, in the same year up starts Lincoln the statesman, Lincoln the
politician sinks. He possessed the rare gift of concealing his most
cherished opinions until the time was ripe for expression. He was aware
of the folly of mouthing truths when no good could come therefrom. In
this, he was a politician. Still when the occasion called for an act of
fortitude, when the solemnity of the hour summoned heroic utterance, as
from "heights afar," the sound of his voice was heard and the thrill of
his words awakened. In this, he was a supreme statesman.
Strange medley of the ideal and the practical,--at times he appeared the
very woof of the visionary, and then stood forth as a petty politician.
He was a mystery and a wonder to his contemporaries. They never beheld
such a man; they had no standard by which to measure him. First, amazing
some by the minuteness of his strategy, he would then startle others by
a bold proclamation of immortal truth. There was something elusive in
the manifoldness of his nature. The world with childlike simplicity
looks for uniformity of action, for consistency. So it was that in later
years time-servers called Lincoln the apostle of radicalism, and
radicals named him the slave of conservatism.
The legislature instead of branding the black crime of the murder of
Lovejoy in 1837, hastened to pass resolutions of sympathy with slavery.
No external inducement guided Lincoln to fly in the face of the
sentiment of the Legislature, the State and Nation in regard to
Abolitionism. His conduct mystifies unless the abiding impress of the
incident at New Orleans is fully measured. It was no idle vaunt that
stirred him to the declaration that if he ever had the chance he would
strike a blow for the enslaved. The testing time was at hand. His oath
was "registered in Heaven." It was necessary to join the majority in
their defence of slavery, or strike a lonely path in behalf of the
enslaved. His soul faced that crisis. No longer helpless, he was widely
known, and was distinguished for his services as a political leader.
High in position, his act and word carrying weight, he proclaimed his
protest. The chance being at hand, he struck slavery a stinging blow.
The silence of nearly a decade was broken in words that shall echo for
evermore. Only one other representative, Dan Stone, of Sangamon County,
dared to sign the following signal dissent that will save him from an
oblivion that has already enshrouded those who voted for the successful
resolutions:
"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 the 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 of the County of Sangamon."[124]
[124] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 15.
The resolutions that passed the General Assembly were still rather
conservative for the time and place. The protest of Lincoln is therefore
the more significant, as indicating its origin from some deep mental or
moral sentiment. Every letter in the protest is weighed. No product of
Lincoln is more native to his genius. It is as restrained as a judicial
decision. Avoiding unneeded antagonism, it is framed with admirable
diplomacy. Radical in thought, still so moderate in expression, it saved
his power for further good, not placing him beyond fellowship with his
associates. Yet with all its subdued character, with infinite wisdom it
made the assault at the weakest point, declaring that slavery was
founded, not only on injustice, but _bad policy_. In the last phrase
lurked the sting that was to awaken the self-interest of the North, the
same kind of selfishness that solidified the South in defending the
institution. Lincoln was among the first to grasp and lay stress on the
warp of the issue. He once declared that honest statesmanship was the
employment of individual meanness for the public good. When
self-interest became enlisted with conscience against the evil, its days
were numbered. While Abolitionism was noisily tugging at one of the
pillars that supported human bondage, Lincoln serenely forged an
argument linking its moral and industrial weakness, an argument that
finally shook its very foundation, until the peculiar institution that
dominated the destiny of the nation for more than half a century tumbled
to destruction. While other men were forced to change their opinions
through the malignancy of slavery to keep abreast of public sentiment,
Lincoln remained steadfast in his opinions and his policy. At the
outset, he foresaw that no institution could last long that rested on
injustice and bad policy. Only a change of external conditions separated
the man who entered a solemn protest against the iniquity of slavery in
a hostile community and the leader who gave life to the momentous act of
the nineteenth century.
The period preceding the murder of Lovejoy was an era of unrest. The mob
spirit ranged over the land. Thus in commenting upon the murder of the
mulatto McIntosh, Lovejoy says: "In Charlestown it burns a Convent over
the head of defenseless women; in Baltimore it desecrates the Sabbath,
and works all that day in demolishing a private citizen's house; in
Vicksburg it hangs up gamblers, three or four in a row; and in St.
Louis it forces a man--a hardened wretch certainly, and one that
deserves to die, but not _thus_ to die--it forces him from beneath the
aegis of our constitution and laws, hurries him to the stake and burns
him alive!"[C]
[C] Lovejoy, 172.
Without doubt, the murder of Lovejoy and similar incidents drew the mind
of Lincoln to the discussion of the subject of the preservation of our
institutions. For Herndon has left valuable testimony as to the
influence of like events on his own opinions. The cruel and uncalled-for
murder aroused anti-slavery sentiments, penetrating the college at
Jacksonville where he was attending, and both faculty and students were
unrestrained in their denunciation. Herndon's father, believing that the
college was too strongly permeated with the virus of Abolitionism,
forced him to withdraw from the institution. But Herndon declares that
it was too late; that the murder of Lovejoy filled him with more
desperation than the slave scene in New Orleans did Lincoln. For while
the latter believed in non-interference with slavery, as long as the
Constitution authorized its existence, Herndon, although acting
nominally with the Whig party up to 1853, struck out for Abolitionism
pure and simple.[125]
[125] Herndon, 1, 178-9.
In the fall of 1837, Lincoln addressed the Young Men's Lyceum at
Springfield, Illinois, in a formal discourse bearing traces of
considerable preparation. The style is fulsome and fanciful, and unlike
his own crisp utterance of previous or subsequent periods. For a time he
wandered from his natural self and followed the glitter of what he
doubtless deemed a more cultivated form of expression. Thus it begins:
"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."[126]
[126] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 9.
It is especially important to take note of Lincoln's attitude of the
prevailing mob spirit. His treatment of that theme, his mode and manner
and thought, is so like that of the editor of the _Alton Observer_, that
it is reasonable to assume that there was a common origin to the common
sentiment. The same scenes and events that stirred the soul of Lovejoy
aroused that of Lincoln. His direct onslaught on the mob spirit being
largely connected with the slave issue, was an indirect attack on
slavery. In this, Lincoln and the Abolitionists stood on the same
ground. He extravagantly denounced the malefaction of the mobs, saying
that they pervaded the country from New England to Louisiana; and alike
sprang up among the pleasure-hunting masters of Southern slaves, and the
order-loving citizens of the land of steady habits, that this process of
hanging went on 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. He further
insisted that by the operation of this mobocratic spirit, the strongest
bulwark of any government might effectually be broken down and
destroyed--the attachment of the people. He contended that whenever the
vicious portion of population should be permitted to burn churches,
ravage provision stores, throw printing presses into rivers, shoot
editors, and hang and burn obnoxious persons with impunity, this
government could not last.[127]
[127] _Ibid._, 10-11.
Under the display of such extravagant expression there is still
patriotic apprehensiveness of danger to the national existence. He
fought out the solution of the problem unaided until the way seemed
clear and plain. To him the remedy was simple--obedience to the law of
the land.
"Let reverence for the law 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....
"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 arises, let
proper legal provision be made for them with the least possible delay,
but till then, if not too intolerable, be borne with."[128]
[128] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 12.
His remedy bespeaking reverence for the laws, would destroy the rampant
spirit in the slavery movement and in abolitionism, so that neither
would violate the law of the land, and so that the controversy might be
conducted without intruding on the sanctity of the fundamental
principles of the Constitution.
From this time, Lincoln ceased to be a mere local politician. He became
intensely concerned over national questions. Naturally, a man of broad
views, he soon threw off the coil of locality, and with zeal invaded the
arena of national issues. His mind ranged over the general domain for
materials. Local issues were only stepping stones to him. Leaving the
valley of minor matters, with exuberant spirits, he rejoicingly entered
the new land of larger import, and of broader moment to the weal of the
nation. For the first time he encountered extensive questions concerning
the very foundations of the Republic.
"Towering genius," he said, "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."[129]
[129] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 13.
We here strike a golden vein in his character. Ranging over the world's
activities for an illustration to rival the ambition of towering genius,
he finds it in the enslavement or emancipation of a race. Out of the
loneliness of his individuality, out of the solemnity of his
deliberations, he grew into a great character. It is his own
illustration dug out of his mental experience, a product of a mind
brooding over a national destiny. He saw with unerring vision, for men
did come in his own generation who did not scruple to climb to power
upon the back of an enslaved people. The true Lincoln consists not only
of the humble man, of homely face, gaunt form, shambling limbs, quaint
utterance, rude story and humble way. We may also see him in his early
manhood with Titan power, fighting and triumphing over the brute forces
of his being, over his ambition, and towering to the greatness of
righteous triumph. Conduct is only the shadow of soul struggle. Nearly
three decades before the Emancipation, its destiny was determined in no
small measure by the events that led to the murder of Lovejoy.
CHAPTER VI
PARTISAN IN STATE AND NATIONAL AFFAIRS
The campaign of 1838 did not differ materially from that of previous
years. A colleague of Lincoln says that they called at nearly every
home; that it was customary to keep some whiskey in the house, for
private use and to treat guests; that the subject was always mentioned
as a matter of etiquette, but with the remark to Lincoln that though he
never drank, his friend might like to take a little. Lincoln often told
his associates that he never drank and had no desire for drink, nor the
companionship of drinking men.
Some light is thrown on the nature of the conduct of office seekers by
the following incident: During this campaign, Douglas and Stuart,
candidates for Congress, "fought like tigers in Herndon's grocery, over
a floor that was drenched with slops, and gave up the struggle only when
both were exhausted. Then, as a further entertainment to the populace,
Mr. Stuart ordered a 'barrel of whiskey and wine.'"[130]
[130] Lamon, 230.
Joshua Speed states that some of the Whigs contributed a purse of two
hundred dollars to enable Lincoln to pay his personal expense in the
canvass. After the election, the candidate handed Speed $199.25, with
the request that he return it to the subscribers. "I did not need the
money," said he, "I made the canvass on my own horse; my entertainment
being at the houses of friends, cost me nothing; and my only outlay was
seventy-five cents for a barrel of cider, which some farm hands
insisted I should treat them to."[131]
[131] Nicolay & Hay, 1, 158.
On one occasion, Col. Taylor, a demagogue of the Democratic party, was
hypocritically appealing to his "horny handed neighbors" in language of
feigned adulation. Lincoln knew his man. He deftly removed the vest of
the orator and revealed to his astonished hearers "a ruffled shirt front
glittering with watch chain, seals and other golden jewels." The speaker
stood confused. The audience roared with laughter. When it came
Lincoln's turn to answer, he retorted. "While Colonel Taylor was making
these charges against the Whigs over the country, riding in fine
carriages, wearing ruffled shirts, kid gloves, massive gold watch chains
with large gold seals, and flourishing a heavy gold-headed cane, I was a
poor boy, hired on a flat-boat at eight dollars a month, and had only
one pair of breeches to my back, and they were buckskin. Now if you know
the nature of buckskin when wet and dried by the sun, it will shrink;
and my breeches kept shrinking until they left several inches of my legs
bare between the tops of my socks and the lower part of my breeches; and
whilst I was growing taller they were growing shorter, and so much
tighter that they left a blue streak around my legs that can be seen to
this day. If you call this aristocracy I plead guilty to the
charge."[132]
[132] Herndon, 1, 186.
When the Legislature convened in 1838, Lincoln was a candidate of his
party for speaker. His opponent was chosen by a plurality of one vote.
Lamon declares that this distinction was a barren honor, and known to be
such at the time, but cites no reason for his statement.[133] At least
the humble representative of Sangamon County continued to rise in the
esteem of his associates. His activity was crowned with the approval of
those with whom he fought side by side in the turmoil and debate of
controversy. It is a significant indication of his diplomacy. He had so
won the confidence of his companions that even differences on that
slavery issue did not cause him the loss of their esteem and favor. The
recipient of such an honor is likely to be the possessor of amiable
personal qualities that call forth devotion, even more than the sturdy
qualities of talent and ability.[134] In matters of political
expediency, Lincoln did not run athwart the sentiments of the majority.
Despite the mutterings of discontent in some quarters, despite a growing
feeling that the internal improvement policy was likely to involve the
State in disaster, the finance committee, of which Lincoln was a
prominent member, advised even further indulgence in the fatal policy.
Finally, the fearful financial condition of the State stared the people
and their representatives in the face. The supporters of the internal
improvement system stubbornly began to yield to the policy of
retrenchment. Still, in the Special Session of 1839, assembled to
deliberate over the momentous state of affairs, Lincoln with peculiar
logic urged they were so far advanced in a general system of internal
improvements that they could not retreat from it without disgrace and
great loss, and that the conclusion was that they must advance.[135]
[133] Lamon, 212.
[134] Lamon, 212.
[135] From Lincoln's Report for Finance Committee on Expediency of
Purchasing all Unsold Lands of United States in Illinois, Jan. 23, 1839,
223.
Lincoln was one of thirty-three members to vote for laying the bill
repealing improvements on the table, while sixty opposed this action;
and he was one of thirty-five who voted against the repeal of the
internal improvement policy, while thirty-seven voted for it.[136] Thus,
to the very end, Lincoln persisted in the disastrous policy that clouded
the history and prosperity of Illinois for many years.
[136] House Journal of 1839, 265.
Lincoln basked in political events. He was alive to the details in
political strategy. In November, 1839, he wrote to Stuart, his partner,
in regard to a voter: "Evan Butler is jealous that you never send your
compliments to him. You must not neglect him next time."[137]
[137] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 41.
From the very beginning, he concerned himself with the candidacy of
General Harrison. Recognizing its elemental political strength, he
watched its growth with increasing interest. Harrison had never
distinguished himself as a public citizen. Lincoln looked at the
political side of the picture alone, little dreaming that the day was to
come when his election was to depend, in some measure, on the same
emotions that promoted the triumph of Harrison. In both campaigns the
log cabin played a dominant part.
Speed's store in Springfield was the retreat of Lincoln, Douglas and
Baker, and other political leaders of the dominant parties. However,
partisanship was about to triumph, and common meeting places were soon
to become unknown. In December, 1839, just as the campaign of 1840 was
looming up, a political discussion between the leaders grew violent in
the grocery over the national issue. During the angry debate, Douglas,
with his imperial manner, flung forth the taunt: "Gentlemen, this is no
place to talk politics; we will discuss the question publicly with
you."[138]
[138] Lamon, 232.
Lincoln, who had schooled himself in logical dissertation, loved a
political contest. He had met the champions of the Legislature without
dismay, and was more feared than fearing. Shortly afterward Lincoln
presented a resolution to accept the flaunting challenge of Douglas.
Logan, Baker, Browning and Lincoln were the chosen disputants of the
Whig cause. The Democrats put forth Douglas, Calhoun, Lambourn and
Thomas as their champions. Each speaker was allowed an evening for his
address. This controversy was long known as "the great debate."[139]
[139] Lamon, 232.
That Lincoln was climbing to eminence slowly, that he was marvelously
free from egoism and the aggressiveness of the common political orator
is manifest from the first paragraph of his address: "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 these 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
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 my 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."[140]
[140] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 21.
His manner of holding an opponent to the point at issue, his directness
of speech are strikingly displayed: "I now ask the audience, when Mr.
Calhoun shall answer me, to hold him to the questions. Permit him not to
escape them. Require him either to show that the subtreasury would not
injuriously affect the currency, or that we should in some way receive
an equivalent for that injurious effect. Require him either to show that
the subtreasury would not be more expensive as a fiscal agent than a
bank, or that we would in some way be compensated for the additional
expense."[141]
[141] _Ibid._, 29-30.
Although of limited experience in public controversy, the least known of
the Whig debaters, diffident of his own capacity, yet he sought the most
brilliant and distinguished debater in the Democratic party--Douglas.
Free from sham, he was merciless in exposing it in others, as the
following attack on his elusive antagonist indicates: "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 Postoffice, 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 be unexposed,--I readily consented that, on the score both
of veracity and sagacity, the audience would judge whether he or I were
the more deserving of the world's contempt."[142]
[142] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 35.
Sober in the main as the speeches of Webster, on the currency issue
Lincoln only once let loose his rollicking and suffusing sense of humor:
"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."[143]
[143] _Ibid._, 35-36.
That he was still subject to the fashion of pioneer exuberant
expression; that he was somewhat entangled in the growing partisanship
of the time, is thoroughly evident from his stormy peroration: "Many
free countries have lost their liberty, and ours may lose hers; but if
she shall, let it be 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 helplessness 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."[144]
[144] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 36.
This fulsome conclusion more than his sustained logical argument swept
over his audience and made it a popular success, so that admiring
friends promoted its publication in the Sangamon _Journal_. Lamon,
however, curtly makes this dampening comment on his eloquent diction:
"Considering that the times were extremely peaceful, and that the
speaker saw no bloodshed except what flowed from the noses of
belligerents in the groceries about Springfield, the speech seems to
have been unnecessarily defiant."[145]
[145] Lamon, 236.
The Committee of Whigs in charge of Harrison's political campaign in
Illinois issued a circular urging the organization of the whole State
for the Presidential contest. Lincoln was a prominent member of this
body and his style shows through this appeal. It was a combination of
skillful play to party spirit, and a thorough knowledge of the mode of
conducting a successful campaign. "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 cooperation; and as we do our
duty, so we shall expect you to do yours."[146]
[146] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 38.
The circular then proposed a new method of bringing out the full Whig
vote, in essence the same that is now employed by every successful
political organization. The following was the plan of organization:--
(1) To divide every county into small districts, and to appoint in each
a subcommittee, with the duty to make a perfect list of all the voters,
and to ascertain their choice with certainty, all doubtful voters to be
designated in separate lines.
(2) To keep a constant watch on the doubtful voters, and from time to
time have them talked to by those they trusted, and to place in their
hands convincing documents.
(3) To report, at least once a month, and on election days see that
every Whig was brought to the polls.[147]
[147] _Ibid._
Lincoln was brought up in a practical school where votes are a matter of
calculation, where the things done on the stage were plotted and planned
behind the stage. Few men were more thoroughly trained in the methods of
securing results. He eagerly wrote to Stuart for copies of the "Life of
Harrison," and also requested "The Senate Journal of New York" of
September, 1814. "I have a newspaper article which says that that
document proves that Van Buren voted against raising troops in the last
war. And in general send me everything you think will be a good
'war-club.'"[148] He was learning that political battles are won and
lost, not alone on discussion of principles, but on appeals to the
emotions of men.
[148] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 39.
As a politician, his judgment prevailed over his sentiment. He was not
carried away by the enthusiasm of the hour, but looked beneath the
surface for events that suggested public sentiment. So he noted with
discernment "A great many of the grocery sort of Van Buren men, as
formerly, are out for Harrison. Our Irish blacksmith, Gregory, is for
Harrison. I believe I may say that all our friends think the chances of
carrying the State very good."[149]
[149] _Ibid._, 40.
For the first time in years, the Whigs conducted a campaign more
aggressive than that of their opponents. General Harrison represented no
definite political policy. The log cabin, the coon skin cap, the
political songs, the enthusiasm of even the children, all this was more
potent than the solid and sober discussion of such issues as the
currency, executive power, American labor, protection and internal
improvements.
The sober thinking and dignified leaders of the Whig party were somewhat
shocked by the uncouth campaign of 1840. It was not in keeping with the
dignity of its traditions. Leaders like Webster brooked with impatience
a campaign in which judgment was fairly forgotten.
The whole campaign was one of luxuriant freedom, of intense excitement,
of exaggerated discourse. A resolution adopted at Springfield during
March, indicates the language that was abroad: "Resolved, that the
election of Harrison and Tyler would emancipate the land from the
Catilines who infest it; would restore it to prosperity and peace, and
bring back the time when good measures, good principles and good men
would control the administration of our government."[150]
[150] History of Sangamon County, 252.
Lincoln was foremost in the emotional fight of 1840. With all the zeal
of eager youth, he rushed into the contest. As a presidential elector,
he traversed a large portion of the State. Thus a newspaper of the day
says: "He is going it with a perfect rush. Thus far the Locofocos have
not been able to start a man that can hold a candle to him in political
debate. All of their crack nags that have entered the list against him
have come off the field crippled or broke down. He is now wending his
way north."[151]
[151] Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, 8, 224.
An incident little known, but of vast importance in illumining the kind
of orator Lincoln was in 1840, is found in an almost forgotten book.
Therein we find the impression that gaunt Lincoln made upon a cultured
resident and distinguished lawyer of St. Louis, who says that at a
gathering of Whigs in April, 1840, at Belleville, Mr. Lincoln was the
first speaker to an immense crowd. "He rang all the changes upon 'coon
skins,' 'hard cider,' 'log cabins,' etc., and among other things he
launched forth in true Lincoln style and manner and said he had been
'raised over _thar_ on Irish potatoes and buttermilk and mauling
rails.'... I went to Col. Edward Baker, I think it was, and told him for
goodness sake to try and get Lincoln down from the stand; that he was
doing us more harm than good ... when Lincoln goes to weaving his
buttermilk, etc., it would seem as if we were verging rather too near
onto the ridiculous. We succeeded very soon in getting Lincoln down
from the stand and got up another speaker who seemed to have more
judgment in managing the canvass."[152]
[152] Darbey, 447.
This statement should not be neglected. It is the judgment of a
civilization different from that of pioneer Illinois. Events had hardly
sobered the style and the manner of the sensitive politician of Sangamon
County. Later on he grew to a more reserved and severe exposition of
political discussion, grew to appeal to the judgment rather than the
sentiments of men, grew to lift the debate of the hour above the clash
of partisan controversy.
During this campaign, he once failed to come up to the requirements of
the occasion in a debate with Douglas. A friend describes his distress
at his failure: "He begged to be permitted to try it again, and was
reluctantly indulged; and in the next effort he transcended our highest
expectations. I never heard and never expect to hear such a triumphant
vindication as he then gave of Whig measures or policy. He never after,
to my knowledge, fell below himself."[153]
[153] Herndon, 1, 190.
The debates of this campaign were a product of the excited and heated
condition of the public mind. Thus, Gen. John Ewing, of Indiana,
challenged the whole Democratic party and threatened to annihilate it.
Douglas was pitted against him. There was no formality at the meetings.
Each was to speak an hour alternately. The debate was to begin at eight
and adjourn at twelve; meet at two and continue to sundown each day
until the contest would be ended. At the end of the fifth day, Ewing
"threw up the sponge," and a vigorous shout was given by the Democrats.
"E. D. Baker, notified of Ewing's defeat, mounted a butcher block and
began to address us. They protested that the game of 'two pluck one'
could not be tolerated. He persisted and at once the cry was raised
'pull him down.' At length he yielded, otherwise it would have ended
with a number of broken heads."[154]
[154] History of Sangamon County, 205.
Another incident still further discloses the character of the
controversy that prevailed at that period. Arnold says that Baker was
speaking in a room under Lincoln's office, and communicating with it by
a trap door. Lincoln in his office, listened. Baker, becoming excited,
abused the Democrats. A cry was raised, "Pull him off the stand!"
Lincoln, knowing a general fight was imminent, descended through the
opening of the trap door, and springing to the side of Baker, said:
"Gentlemen, let us not disgrace the age and country in which we live.
This is a land where freedom of speech is guaranteed. Baker has a right
to speak, and a right to be permitted to do so. I am here to protect
him, and no man shall take him from this stand if I can prevent it."
Baker finished without further interruption.[155]
[155] Arnold, 67-68.
Lincoln and Douglas often met in debate in this campaign. Lamon states
that Lincoln in the course of one speech imputed to Van Buren the great
sin of having voted in the New York State Convention for negro suffrage
with a property qualification. Douglas denied the fact, and Lincoln
attempted to prove his statement by reading a certain passage from
Holland's Life of Van Buren, whereupon Douglas got mad, snatched up the
book, and, tossing it into the crowd, remarked sententiously, "Damn such
a book!"[156]
[156] Lamon, 236.
The above encounter shows Lincoln's method of attack. He followed his
brilliant antagonist with facts that all his ingenuity could not evade.
From that day, Lincoln loved nothing better than a fray with the feared
champion of Democracy. No other Whig orator could fret Douglas as
Lincoln did. They were as different in mental and moral outlook as they
were in appearance. Lincoln saw through his skillful opponent. He knew
his strength and he knew his weakness. He was prepared for his
chameleon-like attacks and onslaughts. While contemporaries hardly saw
in Lincoln the future rival of the growing Douglas, still Lincoln was
gaining strength in the technic of debate that was later to be of
inestimable service to him in controversies of national import.
In the 1840-1 Legislature, Lincoln was again the candidate of his party
for speaker. As leader of the minority, he doubtless deemed it an
obligation on his part to provide some plan to pay the State debt and
save its honor. He no longer cherished the illusion of gaining fame as
the DeWitt Clinton of Illinois. There were some in the Legislature who
boldly favored repudiation of the whole State debt. Others advocated
payment of such part of it as the State actually received an equivalent
for. Only a few dared to demand adequate taxation for the payment of the
interest on the bonds. That was an unpopular expedient.
Lincoln walked the middle way. He was not a friend of repudiation and
still he did not court a loss of public esteem by proposing substantial
direct taxation. His bill provided that the Governor should issue
interest bonds as might be absolutely necessary for the payment of the
interest upon the lawful debt of the State. He declared that he
submitted the proposition with great diffidence; that he felt his share
of the responsibility in the crisis; and, that after revolving in his
mind every scheme which seemed to afford the least prospect of relief,
he submitted this as the result of his own deliberations; that it might
be objected that the bonds would not be salable; that he was no
financier, but that he believed the bonds would be equal to the best in
the market, and that as to the impropriety of borrowing money to pay
interest on borrowed money,--he would reply, that if it were a fact that
our population and wealth were increasing in a ratio greater than the
increased interest hereby incurred, then it was not a good
objection.[157]
[157] Lamon, 214.
He concluded with characteristic modesty that, "he had no pride in its
success as a measure of his own, but submitted it to the wisdom of the
House, with the hope, that, if there was anything objectionable in it,
it would be pointed out and amended."[158]
[158] _Ibid._, 215.
Lamon calls it a loose document, as the Governor was to determine the
"amount of bonds necessary," and the sums for which they should be
issued, and interest was to be paid only upon the "lawful" debt; and the
Governor was to determine what part of it was lawful and what was
unlawful.[159] Still in essence, Lincoln's plan of leaving the
determination of the lawfulness of the debt to an authority not the
legislative, was finally adopted.[160]
[159] _Ibid._, 213-214.
[160] _Ibid._, 215.
The shameless interference with the judicial system of Illinois about
1840 luridly illustrates the enslaving partisanship of that time. Under
the provision of the State Constitution permitting every white male
adult to vote, aliens had known the right of suffrage for years.
Nine-tenths of the aliens allied themselves with the Democratic
organization so that their support was essential to its success. As the
Presidential contest grew in intensity there sprang up a controversy
about these unnaturalized voters. Each party arrayed itself on the side
of its own interest. The Whigs maintained that the Federal Constitution
had provided against the participation of aliens in the affairs of
government. A test case was brought to the Illinois Supreme Court which
consisted of three Whigs and one Democrat. The latter informed Douglas,
in advance, that the majority had agreed upon a decision unfavorable to
the alien vote, but that there was a technical error in the record. This
knowledge became serviceable to the Democrats. The case, by reason of
the imperfection, was put over to the December term, and 10,000 alien
votes saved the State for another Democratic administration.
The attitude of the Whig judges was made a pretext to reorganize the
judiciary by increasing their number, thus enabling the political
complexion of that tribunal to represent the party in power. Early in
the winter, however, the Supreme Court rendered a decision that affirmed
the contention of Douglas and his party. Still, the advocates for
reorganization were not stayed in their purpose, and they moved forward
in what they termed a reformation of the judiciary.
This action of making the judiciary dependent on the Legislature was
extremely pernicious in immediate results. It also started political
impulses malignant and enduring, little appreciated by those who
wantonly inaugurated the change. The participation of Douglas in this
enterprise was effectively utilized by Lincoln in the debate of 1858. It
is not surprising that Lincoln and other Whigs in the Legislature were
unwilling witnesses of this degradation. They framed protests, declaring
that the immutable principles of justice were to make way for party
interests, and the bonds of social order were to be rent in twain, in
order that a desperate faction might be sustained at the expense of the
people; that the independence of the judiciary had been destroyed; that
hereafter the courts would be independent of the people, and entirely
dependent upon the Legislature; that rights of property and liberty of
conscience could no longer be regarded as safe from the encroachments
of unconstitutional legislation.[161]
[161] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 47.
This strong statement from the Whigs represented the conscience of the
State. The protesting element is generally alert in awakening public
sentiment or responding to it on the issues of the day, thus affording a
wholesome check upon the dominant organization in making inroads upon
righteous government. In this way, it becomes the selfish interest of at
least one political party to be on the side of honest statesmanship.
At no time was Lincoln more active in legislative affairs than during
the early part of the 1840-41 session. In the internal improvement
system, bank discussions, the attack upon the Sangamon delegation and in
almost every legislative proceeding he was ready to bear his share of
the fight.
But during the session, an event occurred that shadowed his political
career. Lincoln, the democrat, the man of humility, of common ancestry,
was attracted to Mary Todd, a Southern aristocrat, a woman of beauty and
ambition. Lamon finds the source of this in selfishness, saying: "Born
in the humblest circumstances, uneducated, poor, acquainted with
flatboats and groceries, but a stranger to the drawing-room, it was
natural that he should seek in a matrimonial alliance those social
advantages which he felt were necessary to his political
advancement."[162]
[162] Lamon, 237-8.
This biographer overlooks the fact that it is not an uncommon event for
a homely, humble man to be diverted from the common highway as Lincoln
was. It is very hard to read in this story anything of designing
selfishness. At one time severing his engagement to Miss Todd, the same
despondency that crushed him upon the death of Ann Rutledge again became
his master. His own words describe his condition: "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 the earth.
Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell; I awfully forebode I
shall not. To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better, it
appears to me."[163]
[163] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 45.
He was absent from the Legislature for nearly three weeks. A visit to
his friend Speed in Kentucky recalled him to his better nature.[164] The
injustice he had done Miss Todd rankled until a reconciliation followed.
Out of this there arose events that culminated in a duel. Though this
event was soon hushed, yet its echoes lingered, for he said in 1858, "If
all the good things I have done are remembered as long and as well as my
scrape with Shields, it is plain I shall not soon be forgotten."[165]
[164] Herndon, 1, 202.
[165] _Ibid._, 217.
The panic of 1837 and the disintegration of the internal improvement
system were holding their requiem over the finances of the State. Money
was a furtive visitor. The currency of the State banks, fairly
worthless, was nearly the only circulating medium. During the summer of
1841, the Administration invalidated the use of State Bank notes for the
payment of taxes but the salary of lawmakers was still payable in
currency. The Whigs hastened to charge the state officers with adding to
the burdens of the people that they might be assured of their salaries.
The Auditor of the State was James Shields. Rather vain and aggressive,
he was not inclined "to beware of an entrance into a quarrel."
It was at this time that Lincoln was having stolen conferences with Miss
Todd. The restless spirit of the latter sought the political field for
adventure. A daughter of leisure, she had no rival in sarcasm in
Springfield. Hunting for material, she found a subject in the
pretentious Auditor, and enjoyed worrying the sensitive official. Under
such influences, Lincoln aided or sanctioned the composition of an
article ridiculing Shields. Like many similar productions, it professed
to come from a back-woods settlement, and affected a homely if not a
vulgar form of speech. The paragraph that follows is a sample of the
effusion:--
"I looked in at the window, and there was this same fellow Shields
floatin' about on the air, without heft or earthly substance, just like
a lock of cat-fur where cats have been fightin'.
"He was paying his money to this one, and that one, and t'other one, and
sufferin' great loss because it wasn'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.'"[166]
[166] Lamon, 255, 256.
The production appeared in the Sangamon _Journal_, and at once aroused
the wrath of Shields. A demand for the identity of the author followed.
Doubtless to save Miss Todd from entanglement, Lincoln announced himself
as the writer. Thereupon, Shields demanded a full retraction of all
offensive allusions. Strangely enough, Lincoln did not welcome this
solution of the situation. He took advantage of the rather ardent demand
for an apology and held his ground with these words: "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."[167]
[167] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 69.
With such a start, a duel for a time seemed inevitable. At the last
moment, common friends conveniently, and doubtless to the great
satisfaction of the contestants, calmed the affair without a real
encounter.
Duelling was the rage of the hour.[168] Lincoln was too sensitive to the
good opinion of the community to fly in the face of popular sentiment.
So he violated the law of the State to engage in a transaction
unsanctioned by his judgment, not ready to defy the general taste in a
matter where the standard was still that of the pioneer community. It is
not therefore surprising that in later years, Lincoln was abashed by his
part in this fight. This was his last personal quarrel, and marks a
decisive epoch in his career.[169] Thereafter, he became a champion of
principles and was prepared to play a part in debates of world-wide
moment.
[168] _Ibid._, 71.
[169] Nicolay & Hay, 1, 211.
A dramatic contest ran through this session on the part of the banks to
obtain further condonation in the suspension of specie payments. The
Whigs were friendly, calling them, "the institutions of the country,"
branding opposition unpatriotic. The Democrats, however, were on the
whole hostile to the banks. They called them "rag barons, rags, printed
lies, bank vassals, ragocracy, and the 'British-bought bank, bluelight,
Federal, Whig party.'"[170]
[170] Lamon, 217.
The contest was rendered closer by "opportune loans to Democrats." The
fight grew in intensity as if the wealth, the industry and the very
happiness of the people were at stake. The Democrats, in order to kill
the banks, were bent on a _sine die_ adjournment of the special term.
The Whigs in their zeal to save them invented what was a novel
expedient at that time in parliamentary tactics. The Whigs absented
themselves to prevent a quorum, leaving Lincoln and Gillespie to call
the ayes and noes. The Democrats discovered the game, and the
sergeant-at-arms was sent out. There was great excitement in the House,
which was then held in a church at Springfield. Soon several Whigs were
caught and brought in and the plan was spoiled. Then Lincoln and his
accomplice determined to leave the hall. Going to the door, and finding
it locked, they raised a window and jumped out, but not until the
Democrats had succeeded in adjourning. Mr. Gillespie remarked that
"Lincoln always regretted that he entered into that arrangement, as he
deprecated every thing that savored of the revolutionary."[171]
[171] Lamon, 217.
This incident discloses Lincoln the politician, Lincoln the student of
methods engaging in practices that his judgment subsequently
disapproved. He was thoroughly schooled in securing results. The student
of Lincoln should not hurry over this incident, nor minimize its
significance. He mingled in common, sordid, political events.
Though Lincoln engaged freely in the political machinations of his day,
he did not sanction corruption. He stood out as a champion of an
untainted franchise. He did not still his conscience with the soothing
medicine that corruption was the common practice. He moved at this
session that the part of the Governor's message relating to fraudulent
voting be referred to the Committee on elections, with instructions to
prepare and report a bill for such an act as might afford the greatest
possible protection of the elective franchise against all frauds.[172]
[172] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 42.
Bred in the school of partisanship, where the doctrine that spoils is
the fruit of victory, was almost a creed, Lincoln never enslaved himself
by the acceptance of that dogma, either in practice or theory. Early in
life he had reasoned out the principle that public office is a trust. He
dared to assert its integrity at a time when it met little favor. He
wrote in 1840 that he was opposed to removal of public officials to make
places for friends.[173] Still, the malevolent conduct of an office
holder stirred his resentment. In the same letter he said there was no
question as to the propriety of removing the postmaster at Carlinville,
that the latter boldly refused to deliver during the canvass all
documents franked by Whig members of Congress.[174]
[173] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 43.
[174] _Ibid._, 43-44.
By his tact and service, Lincoln stood well with the party leaders, so
that in 1841 he was widely mentioned as a worthy candidate for Governor.
A formal protest from his hand and that of his close friends against
such a movement was put in the Sangamon _Journal_: "His talents and
services endear him to the Whig party; but we do not believe he desires
the nomination. He has already made great sacrifices in maintaining his
party principles, and before his political friends ask him to make
additional sacrifices, the subject should be well considered. The office
of Governor, which would of necessity interfere with the practice of his
profession, would poorly compensate him for the loss of four of the best
years of his life." Whether he could have attained the nomination is not
known. Lincoln was not accustomed to put aside political honors. It is
significant that the young legislator readily availed himself of a mode
of self-glorifying declination popular with politicians to this
day.[175]
[175] Nicolay & Hay, 1, 217-8.
With this session, Lincoln concluded his duties as the representative of
the people. In 1832, he entered Vandalia, a son of poverty, timid of his
ability, ungifted in appearance. In eight years, he plowed his way to
the very front as the champion of his associates, a skillful leader of
his party. Still it is amazing how faint a trace Lincoln left on the
history of Illinois, hewing out no legislative enactment endearing his
memory to the people of the State. Ford only notes him as a Congressman
who in the State Legislature followed the glitter of a false finance,
and a destructive plan of public improvement. Had his career ended here,
no one would have ventured to rescue his name from oblivion. One act
only, overtops the events submerged by time, an event that sober history
passed by, little knowing that it was the one fact, richer than all
others, in the annals, under its scrutiny. For in the light of later
events, the protest of 1837 showed an enkindled soul that in the
goodness of time thrilled the land with a second edition of the
Declaration of Independence.
CHAPTER VII
RESTLESS POLITICAL AMBITION
The termination of Lincoln's legislative career, his marriage and his
increasing legal practice did not stay his hunger for political
distinction. Music, society or nature did not allure him. His range of
interest was limited. His pleasure was not in his fame as a counselor.
He was impatient of the tiresome devotion to detail demanded of the
lawyer. Longing to be a leader in the world of events, he sought a wider
field of activity for the full expression of his personality, splendidly
realizing that his greatest service to himself and his fellows was in
guiding and interpreting a righteous public opinion.
Lamon has portrayed Lincoln's political ambition with merciless
vividness, claiming that he was never agitated by any passion more
intense than his thirst for distinction; that it governed all his
conduct, from the hour when he astonished himself by his oratorical
success in the back settlements of Macon County, to the day when the
assassin marked him as the first hero of the restored Union; that he was
ever ready to be honored, and struggled incessantly for place.[176]
Politics was his world,--a world filled with enchantment. "In his
office," says Mr. Herndon, "he sat down, or spilt himself on his lounge,
read aloud, told stories, talked politics,--never science, art,
literature, railroad gatherings, colleges, asylums, hospitals, commerce,
education, progress, nothing that interested the world generally except
politics."[177]
[176] Lamon, 237.
[177] Lamon, 482.
Yet Lamon and Herndon missed the deeper unity in his life. Neither
politics nor distinction was the end with him. They were the paths
leading to his palace, not the palace itself. It is not too much to say
that love of his kind transcended his love of distinction. At the time
when he seemed lost in the maelstrom of partisanship, as Burns in the
storm thought of the "ourie" cattle, so Lincoln thought of those hapless
sons of misfortune who were biding the "bitter brattle" of slavery. Thus
in a letter to his friend Speed, he said, "In 1841 you and I had
together a tedious low-water trip on a steamboat from Louisville to St.
Louis. You may remember, as I well do, that from Louisville to the mouth
of the Ohio there were on board ten or a dozen slaves shackled together
with irons. That sight was a continued torment to me, and I see
something like it every time I touch the Ohio or any other slave
border."[178]
[178] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 216.
The extent to which he mingled in political affairs is shown by his
activity at a mass meeting in March, 1843, at Springfield. He was the
master of ceremonies. In a careful statement, he uttered the cardinal
principles of his party. He was materially steeped in the party spirit
of his day. For the fifth resolution recommends that a Whig candidate
for Congress be run in every district, regardless of the chances of
success. "We are aware," it continued, "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."[179]
[179] _Ibid._, 76.
Though Lincoln, at first, fought the convention system for the
nomination of candidates, as undemocratic, his conversion to its
championship further exposes his training in the school of practical
politics. The statement declared that the Whigs should not stop to
inquire whether the system was just, but that while their opponents used
the plan it was madness in them not to defend themselves with it.[180]
[180] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 76.
The conclusion of this address is also a sure sign of prolonged
association with the hue and cry of party spirit: It stated with
assurance that the Whigs were always a majority of the nation, and that
if every Whig would act as though he knew the result to depend upon his
action, that surely a Whig would be elected President of the United
States.[181]
[181] _Ibid._, 79.
Political office being the reward of party service, Lincoln was a
zealous worker in the ranks. He was ever at the call of the party
managers for speeches or other personal work. They could not charge him
with being a laggard in the day of defeat. He did not wait for waves of
advancement. He was not in accord with the policy that the office should
seek the man. He slowly toiled his way to the eminence he reached. While
Lincoln was in Congress, Herndon wrote to him complaining of his
sluggard progress in politics, and carped at the old men for usurping
all the places of power and profit. In an intimate reply to his
associate, we find the plain paths he trod: "You must not wait to be
brought forward by the older men. For instance, do you suppose that I
should ever have got into notice if I had waited to be hunted up and
pushed forward by older men? You young men get together and form a
'Rough and Ready Club,' and have regular meetings and speeches. Take in
everybody you can get. Harrison Grimsley, L. A. Enos, Lee Kimball, and
C. W. Matheny would do to begin the thing; but as you go along gather up
all the shrewd, wild boys about town, whether just of age or a little
under age,--Chris. Logan, Reddick Ridgely, Lewis Swizler, and hundreds
such. Let every one play the part he can play best,--some speak, some
sing, and all 'holler.' Your meetings will be of evenings; the older men
and the women will go to hear you; so that it will not only contribute
to the election of 'Old Zach,' but will be an interesting pastime, and
improving to the intellectual faculties of all engaged. Don't fail to do
this."[182]
[182] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 131-132.
Lincoln no sooner completed his long term in the Legislature than he
cast his eye on a seat in Congress. "Now, if you should hear" he wrote a
friend, "any one say that Lincoln don't want to go to Congress, I wish
you, as a personal friend of mine, would tell him you have reason to
believe he is mistaken. The truth is I would like to go very much.
Still, circumstances may happen which may prevent my being a candidate.
If there are any who be my friends in such an enterprise, what I now
want is that they shall not throw me away just yet."[183]
[183] Herndon, 1, 253.
Lincoln's race for the nomination was full of excitement. When he began
his canvass, he was a member of the firm of Logan and Lincoln. Besides
Hardin, Baker and Lincoln, Logan also was a candidate. Logan deemed his
long service as entitling him to the honor, while Lincoln regarded his
legislative career as his claim to distinction. It is not amazing that
concord did not dwell in this home of political rivalry. Herndon says he
was not, therefore, surprised to have Lincoln rush into his quarters and
with more or less agitation tell him that he had determined to sever the
partnership with Logan; and Herndon states that although painfully aware
of his want of ability and experience, when Lincoln remarked in his
earnest, honest way, "Billy, I can trust you if you can trust me," he
felt relieved and accepted the generous proposal of legal
partnership.[184]
[184] Herndon, 1, 252.
The most dramatic incident in this fight was the contest between Baker
and Lincoln. It was a battle between brilliancy and solidity. No man of
his time surpassed Baker in dashing eloquence. Handsome, of winning
personality, he was the idol of the young men of Springfield. Lincoln
was no longer, as at New Salem, the leader of the gang. His alliance
with aristocratic Mary Todd, the demands of his profession and a settled
life largely sundered the partnership. It was a natural, not a sudden,
intentional separation. Strange rumors were afloat that he was no more a
friend to the lowly and that he was seeking new ways. Not free to mingle
with the people, he could not readily combat the suspicion. And they
were ever demanding a perfect embodiment of their conception of heroism.
They found it fully in one of the most dramatic heroes and charming
personalities in the panorama of American politics--Edward D. Baker.
When the friends of Baker first put forth the charge that Lincoln
belonged to a proud family, he was amused. He met it with a laughing
remark: "That sounds strange to me, for I do not remember of but one who
ever came to see me, and while he was in town he was accused of stealing
a Jew's harp."[185] But as the campaign developed in intensity, and he
realized that the shameless report was scattered to his harm, he thought
bitterly of the false charge. The injustice of the accusation and his
incapacity to meet it, quite crushed him. He could meet an open foe with
a giant's strength, but the gnat of malignant rumor defied him. Thus the
humblest politician that ever trod the soil of the Western continent was
not saved from the charge of being "puffed up," and the leader of the
lowly traveled in the domain of bitter experience. The enthusiasm of
the young men carried the day for Baker in Sangamon County.
[185] _Ibid._, 255.
After his defeat, Lincoln took his old friend Jim Matheny far into the
woods. He unburdened himself, protesting that he was anything but
aristocratic and proud. "Why, Jim," he said, "I am now and always shall
be the same Abe Lincoln I was when you first saw me."[186]
[186] Lamon, 273.
The story of the defeat as told by Lincoln to Speed, shows much of his
political training: "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 who
has cut him out and is marrying his own dear 'gal'."[187]
[187] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 79.
Yet, Lincoln did not at once reconcile himself to the selection of
Baker. A letter from his friends in Menard County led him still to
contemplate possibilities and induced him to skirmish on the frontier of
his duty to the choice of Sangamon County. He wrote to a supporter: "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."[188]
[188] _Ibid._, 80.
In this same letter, he gave an account of the factors that conspired to
his defeat, saying that it would astonish the older citizens to learn
that he (uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flatboat at $10.00 per
month) had been put down there as a candidate of pride and wealth; that
there was, too, the strangest combination of church influence against
him; that Baker was a Campbellite, and with few exceptions got all that
church; that his wife had some relations in the Presbyterian churches,
and some with the Episcopal churches, and wherever it would tell, he was
set down as either one or the other, while it was everywhere contended
that no Christian ought to go for him, because he belonged to no church,
was suspected of being a deist, and had talked about fighting a
duel.[189] In the long letter Lincoln did not even mention the personal
strength and popularity of his opponent, or suggest that Baker was the
victor by his own merit.
[189] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 80.
Though Lincoln returned to the practice of his profession with increased
devotion, he kept his interest in local and national events. He still
remained a student of the whims of individual voters as well as a keen
observer of political affairs of general moment. A letter to Hardin at
Washington illustrates this: "Knowing that you have correspondents
enough, I have forborne to trouble you heretofore; and I now only do so,
to get you to set a matter right which has got wrong with one of our
best friends. It is old Uncle Thomas Campbell of Spring Creek--(Berlin,
P. O.). He has received several documents from you, and he says that
they are old newspapers and documents, having no sort of interest in
them. He is, therefore, getting a strong impression that you treat him
with disrespect. This, I know, is a mistaken impression; and you must
correct it. The way, I leave to yourself. Robert W. Canfield says that
he would like to have a document or two from you.
"The Locos here are in considerable trouble about Van Buren's letter on
Texas, and the Virginia electors. They are growing sick of the Tariff
question; and consequently are much confounded at V. B.'s cutting them
off from the new Texas question. Nearly half the leaders swear they
won't stand it."[190]
[190] Tarbell, 2, 290.
As early as 1837, Webster publicly declared that it could not be
disguised that a desire, or an intention, was already manifested to
annex Texas to the United States.[191] Under the nursing of Tyler and
Calhoun, a treaty of annexation was concluded and the scheme almost
consummated. The Senate, in 1844, alone stood in the way. The proposal
of annexation overtopped all other issues in the campaign of that year.
It proved at the time a dominating incident and left abundant traces on
American history. Van Buren, rising to the solitary eminence of
statesmanship, uttered a firm and subdued protest against the southern
policy. But the edict of the Calhoun democracy, that Texas must be
annexed was remorseless, and their old friend, Martin Van Buren, in the
homely language of Lincoln, was "turned out to root."[192] It proved the
beginning of the cleft on the slavery question that in less than twenty
years hopelessly divided the successors of the triumphant Jackson party.
[191] Greeley, 1, 152.
[192] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 140.
In June, 1844, Clay fairly represented the views of the Whigs declaring
that the annexation of Texas, at this time, without the consent of
Mexico, as a measure compromising the National character, involving war
with Mexico, probably with other foreign powers, dangerous to the
integrity of the Union, inexpedient in the present financial condition
of the country, was not called for by any general expression of public
opinion.[193] Later coquetting with southern sympathies on this issue,
he modified his opposition to the present annexation of Texas with the
fatal statement that he had no hesitation in saying that, far from
having any _personal_ objection to the annexation of Texas, _he should
be glad to see it_--without dishonor, without war, with the common
consent of the Union and upon just and fair terms.[194] This seeming
retreat, despite all explanation, insured his defeat. The diversion
gained him no strength in the South and alienated needed support in the
North.
[193] Greeley, 1, 164.
[194] Greeley, 1, 166.
The Southern States openly put forth their reasons for annexation. To
keep pace with the northern growth they needed new States, otherwise
they saw the doom of the institution that they deemed the very palladium
of their prosperity and happiness. The unresting Calhoun finally
triumphed in awakening dormant fears and sentiments.[195]
[195] _Ibid._, 158.
The main contention in the famous letter of Jackson was better
calculated, than this southern claim, to appeal to the northern
democracy, and was more in harmony with the substantial trend of the
national destiny. "I do not hesitate to say that the welfare and
happiness of our Union require that it should be accepted. If, in a
military point of view alone, the question be examined, it will be found
to be most important to the United States to be in possession of the
territory.
"Great Britain has already made treaties with Texas; and we know that
far-seeing nation never omits a circumstance, in her extensive
intercourse with the world, which can be turned to account in increasing
her military resources. May she not enter into an alliance with
Texas?"[196]
[196] _Ibid._
While the Texan issue stirred the Garrisonian Abolitionists, it did not
allay their hostility to organized political action, they declared that
they would open no road to political preferment; that the strength of
their cause was in the humble, fervent prayer of the righteous man,
which availeth much, and the blessing of that God who had chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the mighty; that it was to be
expected that some political wolves would put on the clothing of
Abolitionism, and seek to elevate themselves and manage the anti-slavery
organization for their own purposes.[D] The political Abolitionists,
however, named James G. Birney for President.
[D] Johnson, 307.
There was then, already, a complexity of opinion on the slavery question
that shadowed forth the future alignment of parties. While many were
confounded by wavering lights, Lincoln picked his way with sure footed
precision through maze and pitfall. His unprejudiced mind wondered at
the conduct of the "Liberty men" that deprecating the annexation of
Texas, deliberately promoted its success by indirection. Their
application of the proposition "we are not to do evil that good may come
of it" he reduced to plain sophistry, saying that if by their votes they
could have prevented the extension of slavery, it would have been good,
and not evil, so to have used their votes, even though it involved the
casting of them for a slaveholder, and he earnestly asked if the fruit
of electing Clay would have been to prevent the extension of slavery,
could the act of electing him have been evil?[197] He held that it was a
paramount duty of the free States to let the slavery of the other States
alone, while it was equally clear that they should never knowingly lend
themselves, directly or indirectly, to prevent slavery from dying a
natural death--to find new places for it to live in, when it could no
longer exist in the old.[198] Here, is clearly announced the seeming
paradox that, though slavery was an evil, there still remained the duty
to let it alone in the States where it then existed. This further piles
up evidence that his views suffered little change with years.
[197] Tarbell, 2, 293.
[198] _Ibid._, 293-294.
Lincoln boldly participated in the campaign of 1844; Clay was the
political hero of his youth and manhood as Washington was of his
boyhood. Like many other Whigs, he, too, was enthralled by the magic of
the far famed eloquence of the name, that, in the words of the orator
who nominated Clay, expressed more enthusiasm, that it had in it more
eloquence than the names of Chatham, Burke, Patrick Henry, and, more
than any other and all other names together.[199]
[199] Nicolay & Hay, 1, 225.
During the campaign, Lincoln encountered his former employer, John
Calhoun, and other old antagonists. It is said that Calhoun came nearer
whipping Lincoln in debate than Douglas did.[200] Nothing survives of
those speeches. Still, his enthusiasm and skill in the controversies of
the campaign awakened a demand for his services throughout the State.
His name as an orator even invaded Indiana. In the closing hours of the
contest his voice was heard on the soil that he hastened from some
fifteen years before as an adventurer. While speaking at Gentryville,
his old friend Nat Grigsby entered the room. Lincoln stopped and crying
out "There's Nat," scrambled through the crowd to his modest associate
of former days. After greeting him warmly, he returned to the platform.
When the speech was done, he passed the rest of the evening with Nat.
Then Lincoln insisted that they should sleep together; and long into the
night, they talked over old times and were once more Abe and Nat.[201]
[200] Lamon, 274.
[201] _Ibid._, 274-5.
The appearance of Clay's August letter stirred the political
Abolitionists to fateful activity. They insisted that his antagonism to
annexation, not being founded on anti-slavery convictions, was of no
account.[202] They polled enough votes to elect pro-slavery Polk.
Mingled with the ribaldry, the din and howl of abandoned politicians
over the election of Polk, were the exultant shouts of the sober and
respectable men of the Liberty Party. They celebrated in unison the
victory they both promoted.
[202] Greeley, 1, 167.
The solemn selection of James K. Polk instead of Henry Clay as
President, was a discordant incident that the Whig patriot did not
linger over willingly. That a pigmy should sit in the seat of the
statesman, that a puppet should stand in the place of the nature-dowered
son of American policies,--this opinion made Clay's followers doubt the
wisdom of republican government. To them this defeat was more than a
partisan grief, it was a national loss. From loyal supporters hurried a
grand tribute to their uncrowned champion in his retreat: "We will
remember you, Henry Clay, while the memory of the glorious or the sense
of the good remains in us, with a grateful and admiring affection which
shall strengthen with our strength and shall not decline with our
decline. We will remember you in all our future trials and reverses as
him whose name honored defeat and gave it a glory which victory could
not have brought. We will remember you when patriotic hope rallies again
to successful contest with the agencies of corruption and ruin; for we
will never know a triumph which you do not share in life, whose glory
does not accrue to you in death."[203]
[203] Nicolay & Hay, 1, 236.
CHAPTER VIII
LINCOLN OPPOSES THE INCEPTION OF THE MEXICAN WAR IN CONGRESS
It is quite generally believed in Sangamon County that a bargain was
entered into between Baker, Lincoln, Logan and Hardin whereby the "four
should 'rotate' in Congress until each had had a term."[204] There is
evidence in the writings of Lincoln that there was some kind of an
understanding between Baker, Lincoln and Logan. There is a startling
story as to the character of the arrangement. A delegate to the Pekin
Convention of 1843 states, that he was asked by Lincoln immediately
after the nomination of Hardin, if he would favor a resolution
recommending Baker for the next term. On being answered in the
affirmative Lincoln told the delegate to prepare the resolution, and he
would support it. It created a profound sensation, especially among the
friends of Hardin. After angry discussion, the resolution passed by a
bare majority.[205] This incident illustrates the sagacious policy of
Lincoln in furthering his restless political ambition. He publicly
declined to contest the nomination of Baker in 1844. Pursuant to a
widespread expectation, Baker did not stand in the way of Lincoln two
years later.
[204] Lamon, 275.
[205] Tarbell, 195-6.
Lincoln kept close to those who moulded public opinion,--the men of the
press. Then the personality of an editor was a weighty factor in the
decision of political contests. He wrote to an editor and supporter in
1846 that as the paper at Pekin had nominated Hardin for governor and
the Alton paper indirectly nominated him for Congress, it would give
Hardin a great start, and perhaps use him up, if the Whig papers of the
district should nominate Hardin for Congress, and that he wished that
the editor would let nothing appear in his paper which might operate
against him.[206]
[206] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 82.
To this, he received a reply that this supporter had, in fact, nominated
Hardin for governor. The tactful response deserves attention: "Let me
assure you that if there is anything in my letter indicating an opinion
that the nomination for governor, which I supposed to have been made in
the Pekin paper, was operating or could operate against me, such was not
my meaning. Now that I know that nomination was made by you, I say that
it may do me good, while I do not see that it can do me harm. But, while
the subject is in agitation, should any of the papers in the district
nominate the same man for Congress, that would do me harm; and it was
that which I wished to guard against. Let me assure you that I do not
for a moment suppose that what you have done is ill-judged, or that
anything that you shall do will be."[207]
[207] _Ibid._, 83.
"I should be pleased," he wrote another friend, "if I could concur with
you in the hope that my name would be the only one presented to the
convention; but I cannot. Hardin is a man of desperate energy and
perseverance, and one that never backs out; and I fear, to think
otherwise is to be deceived in the character of our adversary. I would
rejoice to be spared the labor of a contest; but 'being in', I shall go
it thoroughly, and to the bottom." He then admonished his friend not to
relax any of his vigilance.[208]
[208] _Ibid._, 84.
He was sensitive to the shifting changes of the campaign. "N
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/37686