Lincoln, after delivering his farewell address in Springfield, tried to write it down on a b.u.mpy train. He finally dictated it to John Nicolay, who completed writing the brief speech.
Back in Springfield, Lincoln"s friend James Conkling described the audience"s response to Lincoln"s farewell remarks when he wrote his son, Clinton, a good friend of Bob Lincoln"s, the next day. As for the crowd, "Many eyes were filled to overflowing." Of "Mr. Lincoln," his "breast heaved with emotion and he could scarcely command his feelings sufficiently to commence."
In the next day"s paper, Edward L. Baker editorialized in the Journal, the Journal, "We have known Mr. Lincoln for many years; we have heard him speak upon a hundred different occasions; but we never saw him so profoundly affected, nor did he ever utter an address which seemed to us so full of simple and touching eloquence." "We have known Mr. Lincoln for many years; we have heard him speak upon a hundred different occasions; but we never saw him so profoundly affected, nor did he ever utter an address which seemed to us so full of simple and touching eloquence."
Lincoln"s farewell words did not stay in Springfield. His remarks appeared in newspapers the next day and in Harper"s Weekly. Harper"s Weekly. Citizens in large cities and small towns across America were eager to know more about this gangly rail splitter from the West who was about to become their president. Citizens in large cities and small towns across America were eager to know more about this gangly rail splitter from the West who was about to become their president.
LINCOLN"S JOURNEY TO WASHINGTON would provide his first opportunity to speak to the American people since his election three months earlier. He would see and be seen by more people in more places than any American president before him. After Lincoln"s extended silence, politicians, press, and ordinary people were eager to take his measure. Yet his speeches on his journey from Springfield to Washington have usually been overlooked or undervalued. would provide his first opportunity to speak to the American people since his election three months earlier. He would see and be seen by more people in more places than any American president before him. After Lincoln"s extended silence, politicians, press, and ordinary people were eager to take his measure. Yet his speeches on his journey from Springfield to Washington have usually been overlooked or undervalued.
Seward had urged Lincoln in December 1860 to make the long trip through some of the most populous states, from the prairies of Illinois, across central Indiana and Ohio, down to Cincinnati to the Southern border on the Ohio River. In Cleveland and Pittsburgh, Lincoln would encounter people on the western border of the urban-industrial edge of an expanding America. He would arrive in New York in a region settled by New England Yankees and proceed through the center of the state to New York City. He looked forward to his visit to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the birthplace of the nation. The twelve-day trip would cover 1,904 miles over the tracks of eighteen separate railroads. Lincoln"s itinerary called for him to arrive in the nation"s capital to a gala reception late on Sat.u.r.day afternoon, February 23, 1861, ten days before his inauguration.
The events of the twelve days took on the festive moods of a carnival, a political rally, and a religious revival. Between the major cities, the train would make numerous stops at small towns decorated with American flags. Lincoln would say again and again that the celebrations were not about a person, but about an office and a nation. He insisted that the guest lists should not be partisan. In that spirit, he invited supporters of Stephen Douglas, John Breckinridge, and John Bell to ride with him.
Whatever the original reasons for the journey, by the time of Lincoln"s departure from Springfield it had become controversial. Seward had long ago changed his mind about the wisdom of the trip. He wrote on December 29, 1860, informing Lincoln of a Southern plot to seize the capital on or before March 4. Seward stated, "I therefore renew my suggestion of your coming earlier than you otherwise would-and coming in by surprise-without announcement." Lincoln did not take Seward"s counsel and continued planning his extended preinaugural trip. Nicolay wrote that Lincoln "had no fondness for public display," but well understood "the importance of personal confidence and live sympathy" between a leader and his const.i.tuents.
AS IF LINCOLN"S TRAIN TRIP to Washington were not drama enough, a second train with another president-elect departed on the same day, February 11, 1861, bound for his own inauguration. Only one week before Lincoln"s departure, on February 4, delegates from six Southern states gathered in Montgomery, Alabama, to begin the task of hammering out a new nation. Four days later, this Confederate convention adopted a provisional const.i.tution. The next day, they unanimously elected a provisional president, Jefferson Davis, and a provisional vice president, Lincoln"s friend Alexander Stephens of Georgia. to Washington were not drama enough, a second train with another president-elect departed on the same day, February 11, 1861, bound for his own inauguration. Only one week before Lincoln"s departure, on February 4, delegates from six Southern states gathered in Montgomery, Alabama, to begin the task of hammering out a new nation. Four days later, this Confederate convention adopted a provisional const.i.tution. The next day, they unanimously elected a provisional president, Jefferson Davis, and a provisional vice president, Lincoln"s friend Alexander Stephens of Georgia.
Starting on February 11, 1861, all eyes across the nation were fixed on not one but two trains. After departing from Springfield, Lincoln"s moved slowly east through Indianapolis, Columbus, and Pittsburgh toward Washington. Davis, after leaving his plantation, Brierfield, in Mssissippi, was carried by boat to Vicksburg, and then traveled by train in a roundabout route to Jackson, Chattanooga, and Atlanta, and then west toward Montgomery, the Confederate capital. The public"s fascination with these two journeys to two capitals was chronicled in the New York Times New York Times on February 11, 1861, in two columns placed side by side: on February 11, 1861, in two columns placed side by side: The New Administration The New Confederacy The New Confederacy
LINCOLN"S TRAIN ARRIVED at its first overnight stop at Indianapolis right on schedule at 5 p.m. on February 11, 1861. Governor Oliver P. Morton, Indiana"s first native-born governor, welcomed Lincoln who, on the first of many occasions, had to reply extemporaneously to welcoming words by a local politician. In his remarks Lincoln offered what would become an oft-repeated demur: "I do not expect, upon this occasion, or on any occasion, till after I get to Washington, to attempt any lengthy speech." at its first overnight stop at Indianapolis right on schedule at 5 p.m. on February 11, 1861. Governor Oliver P. Morton, Indiana"s first native-born governor, welcomed Lincoln who, on the first of many occasions, had to reply extemporaneously to welcoming words by a local politician. In his remarks Lincoln offered what would become an oft-repeated demur: "I do not expect, upon this occasion, or on any occasion, till after I get to Washington, to attempt any lengthy speech."
Lincoln referred to himself as an "accidental instrument." He would work with this metaphor in several ways in the days ahead. In Indianapolis, he restricted his responsibility as president by saying his role was "temporary" and "for a limited time." His real purpose, he said, was to encourage the responsibilities ordinary citizens must ask of one another.
During an evening reception for members of the Indiana legislature, Lincoln grew impatient as he asked for the speeches that he had entrusted to his son. The boy and the bag were missing. When Robert, who was being called "the Prince of rails" by his young friends, finally arrived, he explained that he had left the oilcloth bag with the hotel clerk. Lincoln bid a hasty departure to the reception, and his long legs carried him quickly down the stairs to the hotel lobby. Burrowing through the pile of luggage, Lincoln attacked the first bag that looked like his, but it surrendered only a dirty shirt, playing cards, and a half-empty whiskey bottle. He quickly discovered his bag and recovered the copies of the inaugural address and other speeches, the whole episode good for a laugh at the end of an exhausting day.
While in Indianapolis, Lincoln gave Orville H. Browning, who had accompanied Lincoln on the train, one of the copies of his inaugural address. Upon his return to Springfield, Browning wrote his response to Lincoln. He made a single proposal, which he wrote at the bottom of the page of Lincoln"s text. He suggested that Lincoln "modify" the pa.s.sage: "All the power at my disposal will be used to reclaim the public property and places which have fallen; to hold, occupy and possess these, and all other property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties on imports; but beyond what may be necessary for these, there will be no invasion of any State."
Browning told Lincoln, "On principle the pa.s.sage is right as it now stands. The fallen places ought to be reclaimed. But cannot that be accomplished as well, or even better without announcing the purpose in your inaugural?" He suggested revising the sentence to delete the clause, "to reclaim the public property and places which have fallen."
JEFFERSON DAVIS"S PRESIDENTIAL TRAIN pulled into Jackson, Mississippi, on the evening of February 11, 1861. Encircled by well-wishers, he spoke at the capitol to an audience that "occupied every available inch of s.p.a.ce." Davis declared that he deplored war but would face it "with stern serenity of one who knows his duty and intends to perform it." He a.s.serted that England and France will "not allow our great staple to be dammed up within our limits." Finally, if war came, Davis promised to "go forward ... with a firm resolve to do his duty as G.o.d might grant him power. " pulled into Jackson, Mississippi, on the evening of February 11, 1861. Encircled by well-wishers, he spoke at the capitol to an audience that "occupied every available inch of s.p.a.ce." Davis declared that he deplored war but would face it "with stern serenity of one who knows his duty and intends to perform it." He a.s.serted that England and France will "not allow our great staple to be dammed up within our limits." Finally, if war came, Davis promised to "go forward ... with a firm resolve to do his duty as G.o.d might grant him power. "
THE PRESIDENTIAL SPECIAL arrived in Columbus on February 13, 1861, punctually at 2 p.m. Lincoln went directly to the capitol, where he addressed the Ohio legislature. In his prepared remarks he said, "I have not maintained silence from any want to real anxiety. It is a good thing that there is no more than anxiety, for there is nothing going wrong. ... We entertain different views upon political questions, but n.o.body is suffering anything." arrived in Columbus on February 13, 1861, punctually at 2 p.m. Lincoln went directly to the capitol, where he addressed the Ohio legislature. In his prepared remarks he said, "I have not maintained silence from any want to real anxiety. It is a good thing that there is no more than anxiety, for there is nothing going wrong. ... We entertain different views upon political questions, but n.o.body is suffering anything."
Lincoln"s remark "there is nothing going wrong" added to the controversy that was building toward his inauguration. Supporters contended that his remarks were part of a strategy to diminish public alarm. Critics argued that Lincoln"s remarks exposed a president-elect out of touch with the forces gearing up for civil war.
Meanwhile, Jefferson Davis traveled through Mississippi and Alabama on February 14, 1861, the firing of cannons welcoming him at many stops. In Stevenson, in northeastern Alabama, he told the crowd he expected the border states to become part of the Confederate States of America within sixty days. He also declared that "England will recognize us, and ... gra.s.s will grow in the northern cities where the pavements have been worn off by the tread of commerce." Davis concluded by saying he "hopes for peace but is prepared for war."
on the morning of february 15, 1861, Lincoln spoke from the balcony of the Monongahela House in Pittsburgh to a crowd of five thousand standing under umbrellas. After Columbus, he was determined to sidestep questions about an impending civil war and instead spoke about the tariff, a topic of great importance in Pennsylvania. He declared that because there was no direct taxation, a tariff was necessary. "The tariff is to the government what a meal is to the family." In speaking about protections for home industries, Lincoln stated, "I must confess I do not understand the subject in all its multiform bearings."
Villard characterized the Pittsburgh speech as "the least creditable performance" of the entire trip. "What he said was really nothing but crude, ignorant twaddle." He believed that this speech proved Lincoln to be "the veriest novice in economic matters."
Next, Lincoln backtracked to Cleveland. Here he was entering greater New England, for the northern tier of Ohio was settled by westward-moving Yankees from the New England states. New England, and by extension northern New York and northern Ohio, were the regions that supported abolitionism most strongly. Cheering spectators stood in deep mud along Euclid Street. Lincoln told the a.s.sembled crowd, "Frequent allusion is made to the excitement at present existing in our national politics, and it is as well that I should also allude to it here. I think that there is no occasion for any excitement. The crisis, as it is called, is altogether an artificial crisis."
These remarks only fueled the controversy begun in Columbus. Did the president-elect not understand the escalating crisis?
The nation"s greatest orator read the daily newspaper reports of Lincoln"s speeches. Edward Everett, a native of Ma.s.sachusetts, had served with distinction in a multiplicity of offices for over four decades. He began as a young professor at Harvard in 1819 and later returned as president of the nation"s oldest college. Everett served Ma.s.sachusetts as congressman, senator, and governor and represented the United States as secretary of state and minister to England. On February 15, 1861, he wrote in his diary, "These speeches thus far have been of the most ordinary kind, dest.i.tute of everything, not merely of felicity and grace, but of common pertinence." Everett, who believed that speeches were a mirror revealing the character of the person, had formed an opinion about Lincoln. "He is evidently a person of very inferior cast of character, wholly unequal to the crisis."
LINCOLN LEFT C CLEVELAND on the morning of February 16, 1861. The train traveled east again, through Ohio and across the northwest corner of Pennsylvania. Entering New York, the Presidential Special chugged along the sh.o.r.e of Lake Erie. The first stop was Westfield, where a banner was stretched across the tracks emblazoned, "Welcome Abraham Lincoln to the Empire State." on the morning of February 16, 1861. The train traveled east again, through Ohio and across the northwest corner of Pennsylvania. Entering New York, the Presidential Special chugged along the sh.o.r.e of Lake Erie. The first stop was Westfield, where a banner was stretched across the tracks emblazoned, "Welcome Abraham Lincoln to the Empire State."
He told the crowd that several months earlier he had received a letter from a "young lady" from Westfield. His correspondent recommended that he "let his whiskers grow, as it would improve my personal appearance." Lincoln had accepted her counsel, and now he wished to know if she was present in the crowd. A small boy cried out, "There she is Mr. Lincoln." Grace Bedell, a blushing eleven-year-old girl with dark eyes, stepped from the crowd, and President-elect Lincoln gave her several hearty kisses "amid the yells of delight from the excited crowd."
Lincoln arrived in Buffalo in the afternoon. Exhausted, at the half-way point of his long train trip, he rested on the Sabbath, attending church the next day with former president Millard Fillmore. Across the street from Lincoln"s hotel, a banner on the Young Men"s Christian a.s.sociation building was inscribed with words of reply to Lincoln"s farewell remarks at Springfield: "We Will Pray For You."
Lincoln, upon his arrival in Westfield, New York, asked to see Grace Bedell, the young girl who had written to tell him he would look better in whiskers.
JEFFERSON DAVIS ENDURED his longest day of traveling and speaking on February 16, 1861. Arriving in Atlanta at about four o"clock in the morning, he spoke at midmorning, taking aim at Northern abolitionism, especially "its systematic aggression upon the const.i.tutional rights of the South for the last forty years." his longest day of traveling and speaking on February 16, 1861. Arriving in Atlanta at about four o"clock in the morning, he spoke at midmorning, taking aim at Northern abolitionism, especially "its systematic aggression upon the const.i.tutional rights of the South for the last forty years."
After the speech, Davis boarded his special car on the Atlanta and West Point Railroad and headed west across Georgia. During the day he stopped to speak in Fairburn, Palmetto, Newman, Grantville, LaGrange, and West Point. At each stop he was greeted by women waving their handkerchiefs. Entering Alabama, the Davis train stopped for speeches at Opelika and Auburn. A correspondent for the New York Tribune New York Tribune reported that Davis would give elements of the same speech several times during his many stops. Davis arrived in Montgomery, Alabama, at 10 p.m. at the completion of his eight-hundred-mile train trip. reported that Davis would give elements of the same speech several times during his many stops. Davis arrived in Montgomery, Alabama, at 10 p.m. at the completion of his eight-hundred-mile train trip.
On Monday, February 18, 1861, while Lincoln"s train traveled through the Mohawk Valley toward Albany, Lincoln learned that Jefferson Davis had taken the oath of office as provisional president of the Confederate States of America, and Alexander Stephens the oath of office as vice president. In Montgomery, Davis gave his inaugural address from the portico of the Alabama capitol building, which was now the capitol of the Confederacy. Without a national anthem, the band played "La Ma.r.s.eillaise," the national anthem of France.
Davis spoke to his fellow Southerners, to the citizens of the United States, and to foreign nations who had a vital interest in the availability of cotton. He never mentioned Lincoln. The speech was remarkably mild; some in the audience had expected to hear a trumpet call to war. As for oratory, the second sentence of the address was typical.
Looking forward to the speedy establishment of a permanent government to take the place of this, and which by its greater moral and physical power will be better able to combat with the many difficulties which arise from the conflicting interests of separate nations, I enter upon the duties of the office to which I have been chosen with the hope that the beginning of our career as a Confederacy may not be obstructed by hostile opposition to our enjoyment of the separate existence and independence which we have a.s.serted, and, with the blessing of Providence, intend to maintain.
This sentence of one hundred words reveals the limitations of Davis"s leadership. The sentences would only get longer as the speech unfolded. The contrast to Lincoln"s economy of language and rhetorical artistry would become even more apparent in the four years to come.
LINCOLN ARRIVED IN NEW YORK CITY on Tuesday, February 19, 1861, at 3 p.m. with what had to be mixed emotions. He was returning to the scene of his triumph at Cooper Union the previous winter, but though he had carried the state in the election, he received less than 35 percent of the vote in the city. on Tuesday, February 19, 1861, at 3 p.m. with what had to be mixed emotions. He was returning to the scene of his triumph at Cooper Union the previous winter, but though he had carried the state in the election, he received less than 35 percent of the vote in the city.
An apprehensive crowd estimated at more than two hundred thousand greeted Lincoln. One astute observer was Walt Whitman, the young poet who was in the midst of negotiations with a Boston publisher to bring out an expanded third edition of his Leaves of Gra.s.s. Leaves of Gra.s.s. Whitman found himself on the top of a Broadway omnibus stalled in traffic. He took the measure of Lincoln for the first time. Whitman found himself on the top of a Broadway omnibus stalled in traffic. He took the measure of Lincoln for the first time.
I had, I say, a capital view of it all, and especially of Mr. Lincoln, his look and gait-his perfect composure and coolness-his unusual and uncouth height, his dress of complete black, stovepipe hat pushed back on the head, darkbrown complexion, seam"d and wrinkled yet canny-looking face, black, bushy head of hair, disproportionately long neck, and his hands held behind him as he stood observing the people.
Whitman wrote of Lincoln, "He look"d with curiosity upon that immense sea of faces, and the sea of faces return"d the look with similar curiosity."
The poet spied hostility as well as curiosity and admiration in the crowd. "Many an a.s.sa.s.sin"s knife and pistol lurk"d in hip or breast-pocket there, ready, as soon as break and riot came."
Another interested eyewitness was George Templeton Strong. Strong, a lawyer, Episcopal vestryman, and trustee of Columbia College, was a careful observer of political events. In 1835, at age fifteen, he began to write in uniform blank books every evening before he went to bed. He wrote for the next forty years. The diary, ultimately comprising nearly four and a half million words, would remain unknown to the public for more than fifty years after Strong"s death in 1875. A supporter of Seward, Strong had been following Lincoln"s trip as it wound its way toward New York. He wrote an appraisal in his diary. "Lincoln is making little speeches as he wends his way towards Washington, and has said some things that are sound and credible and raise him in my esteem." However, Strong confided, "But I should have been better pleased with him had he held his tongue altogether."
Strong walked uptown on Broadway the next afternoon to join the crowd welcoming Lincoln. Later that evening Strong recorded in his diary, "The great rail-splitter"s face was visible to me for an instant, and seemed a keen, clear, honest face, not so ugly as his portraits."
AFTER LINCOLN HAD SPENT more than a week on the Presidential Special, newspapers across the North and South began to weigh in with their a.s.sessments of his preinaugural speeches. The more than a week on the Presidential Special, newspapers across the North and South began to weigh in with their a.s.sessments of his preinaugural speeches. The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Sun, with ardent Southern sympathies, offered the opinion, "He approaches the capital of the country more in the character of a harlequin," or a character in a comedy. "There is that about his speechification which, if it were not for the gravity of the occasion, would be ludicrous." The pro-Lincoln with ardent Southern sympathies, offered the opinion, "He approaches the capital of the country more in the character of a harlequin," or a character in a comedy. "There is that about his speechification which, if it were not for the gravity of the occasion, would be ludicrous." The pro-Lincoln Chicago Tribune Chicago Tribune countered, "The wiseacres who indulge in criticism of the verbal structure of Mr. Lincoln"s recent speeches" were off the mark. The countered, "The wiseacres who indulge in criticism of the verbal structure of Mr. Lincoln"s recent speeches" were off the mark. The Tribune"s Tribune"s defense pointed out that former presidents George Washington and Andrew Jackson did not have the "gift of gab" when asked to speak extemporaneously. defense pointed out that former presidents George Washington and Andrew Jackson did not have the "gift of gab" when asked to speak extemporaneously.
Yet some pro-Lincoln editors were worried. Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield Springfield (Ma.s.sachusetts) (Ma.s.sachusetts) Republican, Republican, had been enthusiastic about Lincoln when he heard him speak in Boston in 1848, and the paper had supported Lincoln in the 1860 election. But Bowles was concerned as he read reports of Lincoln"s speeches. On February 26, 1861, he wrote to Henry L. Dawes, a member of Congress from Ma.s.sachusetts, of his discouragement both with Lincoln and the disagreements rankling the Republican Party. Bowles told Dawes, "Lincoln is a "simple Susan." " had been enthusiastic about Lincoln when he heard him speak in Boston in 1848, and the paper had supported Lincoln in the 1860 election. But Bowles was concerned as he read reports of Lincoln"s speeches. On February 26, 1861, he wrote to Henry L. Dawes, a member of Congress from Ma.s.sachusetts, of his discouragement both with Lincoln and the disagreements rankling the Republican Party. Bowles told Dawes, "Lincoln is a "simple Susan." "
Among Republicans in Congress trepidation abounded. In several speeches, when Lincoln seemed to be supporting coercion of the South, his words were taken to be a refutation of Seward"s efforts at conciliation. In other speeches, Lincoln seemed to point toward a policy of moderation. Questioners wondered whether Lincoln was wavering in his position or even certain of his own opinion.
Charles Francis Adams, the son and grandson of presidents, whom Seward would soon propose to Lincoln to become minister to England, was deeply concerned. He confided to his diary on February 20, 1861, "[Lincoln"s speeches] betray a person unconscious of his position as well as the nature of the contest around him." Adams thought that Lincoln was "good-natured, kindly," but he considered the president-elect "frivolous and uncertain." In Adams"s evaluation, Lincoln"s speeches "put to flight all notions of greatness."
THE PRESIDENTIAL SPECIAL departed New York at 9:05 a.m. on February 21, 1861, reaching Trenton, the state capital of New Jersey, at 11:50 a.m. Speaking in the Senate chamber, Lincoln told the legislators that of all the accounts of the "struggles for liberties," none remained so fixed in his mind as Washington crossing the Delaware and winning the battle at Trenton on December 26, 1776. departed New York at 9:05 a.m. on February 21, 1861, reaching Trenton, the state capital of New Jersey, at 11:50 a.m. Speaking in the Senate chamber, Lincoln told the legislators that of all the accounts of the "struggles for liberties," none remained so fixed in his mind as Washington crossing the Delaware and winning the battle at Trenton on December 26, 1776.
At Indianapolis, Lincoln had spoken of himself as an "accidental instrument." At Trenton, he changed his meaning and his metaphor: "I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people." Lincoln often pointed to his humble beginnings, but his depiction of the American people as an "almost chosen people" is one of his most enigmatic phrases. The concept that Americans were G.o.d"s chosen people arrived with the Puritans. This ident.i.ty flourished in the eighteenth century and, whether in secular or religious versions, undergirded the revolutionary generation that founded a new nation in 1776. In the middle of the nineteenth century, Americans added the sense of "manifest destiny," the right and duty to inhabit and civilize the whole of the continent to promote the great experiment in democracy.
Lincoln never clarified "almost." Is his qualification an allusion to slavery? In an era of absolutes, whether sponsored by abolitionists or secessionists, Lincoln could live comfortably with the uncertainties facing an "almost chosen people."
Lincoln reached Philadelphia at 4 p.m. on Thursday, February 21, 1861. In response to greetings from Mayor Alexander Henry, Lincoln declared his fidelity to the Declaration of Independence and the Const.i.tution. "All my political warfare has been in favor of the teachings coming forth from that sacred hall." Lincoln used fiery imagery from the Psalms to swear his allegiance: "May my right hand forget its cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if ever I prove false to those teachings."
The next day, the booming of cannon and the ringing of church bells announced the celebration of the birthday of George Washington. Early in the morning, Lincoln traveled by carriage to Independence Hall where he partic.i.p.ated in the raising of the new American flag with thirty-four stars, the final star for Kansas, which had been admitted as a state on January 29, 1861. Lincoln told the huge crowd, "I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence."
Lincoln, bareheaded, raised the flag at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. F. DeBourg took this photograph just after sunrise on George Washington"s birthday, February 22, 1861.
He had offered this sentiment a number of times since his reemer-gence into politics in 1854, but Lincoln must have taken special delight in affirming his loyalty to the Declaration of Independence at the place where the sacred doc.u.ment was signed more than eighty-four years before. To underline his commitment to this principle, he told his audience, "I would rather be a.s.sa.s.sinated on the spot than to surrender it."
On the previous evening, Lincoln had been startled to learn of a plan to kill him before he could reach Washington. In his room at the Continental Hotel, Lincoln met Allan Pinkerton, a Chicago detective whose company worked for the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad. Pinkerton informed Lincoln that his detectives had uncovered a plot to a.s.sa.s.sinate him as his train car was pulled by horses through the streets of Baltimore in the middle of the day. Pinkerton insisted that no one in the presidential party be told of the plot and that Lincoln take a train for Washington that night. He refused. He insisted on keeping his date at Independence Hall.
Lincoln left Philadelphia at 9 a.m. for the 106-mile trip to Harris-burg, the state capital of Pennsylvania. Governor Andrew Curtin met Lincoln and took him to the state capitol, where he addressed the legislature in joint session.
At dusk, the plans for Lincoln"s secret trip to Washington were put into action. Instead of traveling with his usual stovepipe hat, Lincoln wore a soft Kossuth hat given to him in New York. At Philadelphia, Lincoln boarded a sleeping car, accompanied by only Pinkerton and Ward Hill Lamon, his Illinois lawyer friend and now bodyguard, but no one slept. Lincoln was so tall that he "could not lay straight in his berth." The train arrived in Baltimore at about 3:30 a.m., and Lincoln"s car was transferred to the Camden Street Station, where he boarded a Baltimore and Ohio train and waited in the dark for thirty minutes before departing at 4:15 a.m. for Washington. Lincoln arrived at the Baltimore and Ohio depot at New Jersey Avenue and C Street at six in the morning, almost ten hours ahead of his scheduled late-afternoon arrival and reception. He arrived in Washington virtually alone, unannounced and unrecognized.
Allan Pinkerton, a Chicago detective who uncovered a plot to a.s.sa.s.sinate Lincoln in Baltimore, accompanied the president-elect on a secretive night journey to Washington.
Lincoln, exhausted from his twelve-day train trip, went to Mathew Brady"s studio probably the day after his arrival in Washington. Alexander Gardner took five poses of a president-elect deep in thought.
CHAPTER 17.
We Must Not Be Enemies February 1861April 1861 THE MYSTIC CHORDS OF MEMORY, STRETCHING FROM EVERY BATTLEFIELD, AND PATRIOT GRAVE, TO EVERY LIVING HEART AND HEARTH-STONE, ALL OVER THIS BROAD LAND, WILL YET SWELL THE CHORUS OF THE UNION, WHEN AGAIN TOUCHED, AS SURELY THEY WILL BE, BY THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE.
ABRAHAM LINCOLNFirst inaugural address, March 4, 1861 -S THE SUN WAS ABOUT TO RISE OVER WASHINGTON ON S SAt.u.r.dAY morning, February 23, 1861, Abraham Lincoln, arriving incognito at the Baltimore and Ohio railway depot, was met by a party of one. Congressman Elihu B. Washburne stepped out from behind a pillar, "caught hold of Lincoln," and exclaimed, "Abe, you can"t play that on me." Allan Pinkerton, on Lincoln"s left, "hit the gentleman with a punch," causing Washburne to stagger back. The detective, worried that the plot to smuggle the president-elect through Baltimore in the middle of the night had been discovered, stepped toward what he a.s.sumed was an a.s.sailant, when Lincoln intervened. "Don"t strike him-that is my friend Washburne." morning, February 23, 1861, Abraham Lincoln, arriving incognito at the Baltimore and Ohio railway depot, was met by a party of one. Congressman Elihu B. Washburne stepped out from behind a pillar, "caught hold of Lincoln," and exclaimed, "Abe, you can"t play that on me." Allan Pinkerton, on Lincoln"s left, "hit the gentleman with a punch," causing Washburne to stagger back. The detective, worried that the plot to smuggle the president-elect through Baltimore in the middle of the night had been discovered, stepped toward what he a.s.sumed was an a.s.sailant, when Lincoln intervened. "Don"t strike him-that is my friend Washburne."
Indeed, Washburne, Lincoln"s Republican colleague from Galena, Illinois, had discovered Lincoln"s new schedule from William Seward"s son, Frederick. Seward had intended to meet Lincoln at the station, but overslept. With calm restored, Washburne arranged for a carriage to take Lincoln to the Willard Hotel at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Fourteenth Street. Because of his unexpected early arrival, the hotel gave Lincoln temporary quarters before lodging him later that day in Parlor Suite 6, consisting of two bedrooms and two parlors on the corner of the second floor overlooking the White House.
Lincoln joined Governor Seward, as he liked to be called, who had hurried to the hotel for breakfast. Seward"s appearance was both unusual, with his slender build and beaklike nose, and impressive, with his vigorous personality conveyed through his animated eyes. Lincoln had met Seward only twice, once in September 1848, when they both campaigned in New England on behalf of presidential candidate Zachary Taylor, and five months earlier, when Seward traveled through Springfield in the midst of a campaign tour in the West. Now Seward informed Lincoln of up-to-the-minute occurrences in the frenzied capital.
Lincoln"s secret arrival created a sensation. George Templeton Strong, reading the "Extras" published by noon in New York, recognized the problems the early morning arrival could create for the president-elect. He wrote in his diary, "This surrept.i.tious nocturnal dodging or sneaking of the President-elect into his capital city, under cloud of night, will be used to damage his moral position and throw ridicule on his Administration."
Frederick Dougla.s.s, capturing the poignancy of Lincoln"s arrival from the vantage point of black Americans, wrote, He reached the Capital as the poor, hunted fugitive slave reaches the North, in disguise, seeking concealment, evading persuers, by the underground railroad, between two days, not during the sunlight, but crawling and dodging under the sable wing of night. He changed his programme, took another route, started at another hour, traveled in other company, and arrived at another time in Washington.
In the end, Dougla.s.s declared, "We have no censure for the President at this point. He only did what braver men have done."
ON HIS FIRST MORNING IN WASHINGTON, Lincoln called on President Buchanan and his cabinet at the Executive Mansion. Buchanan"s manner suggested that he could not wait for the inauguration of the new president.
Lincoln requested that the Illinois delegation meet with him at the Willard at 4 p.m. He especially wanted to speak with Senator Stephen Douglas. Their relationship in recent years had been as opposing candidates for the Senate and for the presidency. Although attention has often focused on Lincoln reaching out to his Republican rivals, Lincoln"s rapprochement with Douglas, his Democratic rival, in whose shadow he had lived his whole political life, was even more remarkable. Lincoln was shocked at Douglas"s appearance. He did not look well. Lincoln surmised the strain of constant campaigning had taken its toll. He had heard that Douglas was drinking too much. On this afternoon, Lincoln expressed his delight to see his old Illinois compet.i.tor. The two men shared more in common than the casual observer might have thought. They both believed in the indivisibility of the Union. A newspaper correspondent reported a "peculiarly pleasant" meeting between the two leaders. Later in the day, Adele Douglas, "with graceful courtesy," called on Mary Lincoln.
Lincoln went to Seward"s home at 7 p.m. for a private dinner with Seward and Vice Presidentelect Hamlin. Seward, pleased with his initial day with Lincoln, wrote that evening to his wife, Frances, of his first impressions. "He is very cordial and kind toward me ... simple, natural, and agreeable."
The next day, Sunday, Lincoln joined Seward for worship at St. John"s Episcopal Church on Lafayette Square. Upon their return to his hotel, Lincoln asked Seward if he would read his inaugural address and suggest any changes. Lincoln had earlier asked David Davis and Orville Browning, longtime friends, for their suggestions. When Lincoln requested Seward to scrutinize his speech, he approached a new colleague: a former rival who was not yet a friend.
Lincoln must have been surprised when Seward responded with a seven-page letter containing forty-nine suggestions, as well as two options for a new final paragraph. Working with the final version printed in Springfield, Seward had carefully numbered every line on the seven pages as the template for his editorial effort. He told Lincoln, "Your case is quite like that of Jefferson." Thomas Jefferson won a contentious election not finally decided until thirty-six ballots were cast in the House of Representatives in February 1801. At Jefferson"s inauguration on March 4, 1801, the resentment of the defeated Federalists could be felt almost everywhere, especially in the visible absence of Federalist John Adams, defeated for a second term as president. Seward reminded Lincoln that Jefferson "sank the partisan in the patriot in his inaugural address, and propitiated his adversaries by declaring: "We are all Federalists, all Republicans." " Seward advised, "Be sure that while all your administrative conduct will be in harmony with Republican principles and policy, you cannot lose the Republican Party by practicing in your advent to office the magnanimity of a victor." Lincoln integrated, if sometimes recast, twenty-seven of Seward"s forty-nine suggestions.
THE NINE DAYS BETWEEN Lincoln"s arrival in Washington and his inauguration were both exhilarating and exhausting. On Monday afternoon, Seward, who had acquired the nickname "the premier" because of the lead role he hoped to play in the new administration, squired Lincoln to the Capitol. Lincoln walked into the Senate chamber and shook hands with senators from both sides of the aisle. In the House of Representatives, where he had served one term more than a decade before, he accepted congratulations from Republicans as well as a few-but not all-of the remaining Southern members. Finally, Lincoln called upon the Supreme Court, conversing with Chief Justice Roger Taney and the other justices responsible for the Dred Scott decision of 1857. Lincoln"s arrival in Washington and his inauguration were both exhilarating and exhausting. On Monday afternoon, Seward, who had acquired the nickname "the premier" because of the lead role he hoped to play in the new administration, squired Lincoln to the Capitol. Lincoln walked into the Senate chamber and shook hands with senators from both sides of the aisle. In the House of Representatives, where he had served one term more than a decade before, he accepted congratulations from Republicans as well as a few-but not all-of the remaining Southern members. Finally, Lincoln called upon the Supreme Court, conversing with Chief Justice Roger Taney and the other justices responsible for the Dred Scott decision of 1857.
One visitor immediately gained access to the president-elect. Francis Preston Blair, patriarch of a distinguished Kentucky Democratic family, had supported Edward Bates at the Republican convention, but he quickly offered his support and advice to Lincoln. Blair first came to Washington in 1830 when President Andrew Jackson asked him to become the founding editor of the Congressional Globe. Congressional Globe. Approaching his seventieth birthday, Blair, with his sons Montgomery and Francis, Jr., had become prominent in the politics of two critical border states, Maryland and Missouri. Approaching his seventieth birthday, Blair, with his sons Montgomery and Francis, Jr., had become prominent in the politics of two critical border states, Maryland and Missouri.
Blair had gained Lincoln"s confidence with a long, incisive letter in January wherein he offered useful evaluations of the various personalities in Washington. He warned Lincoln about the political efforts in Washington to compromise with the South. "You are about to a.s.sume a position of greater responsibility than Washington ever occupied." Why? Because the states had grown far more powerful than the colonies. However, Blair stated, there existed a crucial difference between then and now. "Washington had to a.s.sist him in administration the genius and virtue of Adams, Jefferson, and Hamilton," whereas Lincoln was surrounding himself with cabinet members, such as Seward and Simon Cameron, of "greedy & unscrupulous ambition that really rejoices in the principle that "every man has his price." " Blair counseled Lincoln that "neither you, nor they can change their natures." Blair did offer a word of encouragement. "You need not depend on clerks or Cabinets if your own sound & honest sense is known to preside in the administration."
Throughout the week, Lincoln found himself honored and feted at celebrations, dinners, and receptions. Gideon Welles, whom Lincoln had met in Connecticut after his Cooper Union address and would now appoint as secretary of the navy, reported, "A host of ravenous partisans from Maine to California" including "a large proportion of those Whigs long excluded from office," descended upon Washington and "besieged the White House." Lincoln told reporter Henry Villard, "It was bad enough in Springfield, but it was child"s play compared with this tussle here. I hardly have a chance to eat or sleep. I am fair game for that hungry lot."
IN THE MIDST OF innumerable requests for meetings, Lincoln worked to complete his cabinet-or so he thought. At each social gathering Lincoln found himself under immense pressure as Republican leaders pressed the credentials of their friends and colleagues. Newspaper editors, especially Horace Greeley of the innumerable requests for meetings, Lincoln worked to complete his cabinet-or so he thought. At each social gathering Lincoln found himself under immense pressure as Republican leaders pressed the credentials of their friends and colleagues. Newspaper editors, especially Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune New York Tribune and James Gordon Bennett of the and James Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald, New York Herald, were enjoying publishing continually shifting lists of who would or should join the cabinet. were enjoying publishing continually shifting lists of who would or should join the cabinet.
On Tuesday afternoon, February 26, 1861, Lincoln returned to the Senate to carry out a plan he had decided upon in Springfield. He requested to see each Republican senator in alphabetical order. He asked only one question: Who was their choice for secretary of the treasury? Lincoln did not ask what they thought of Cameron or Chase. Lincoln surprised the senators and cabinet watchers by his open posture.
Although seeking counsel from many persons, Lincoln carried with him in his right vest pocket the small piece of paper in which he first listed his choices for the cabinet. The final list would not differ much from the original list jotted down on the evening of his election. He did invite Senator Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania to join the cabinet. He met with Ohio senator Salmon Chase in Springfield, and again in his first days in Washington, but had not yet tendered him a formal invitation for a cabinet position. Lincoln had settled on the tall Marylander Montgomery Blair, son of Francis Preston Blair, for postmaster general, which allowed him to say he had included Southerners in his cabinet. Blair spoke of secessionists with disdain, which helped explain the growing dislike between Blair and Seward. Indiana believed it had been promised an appointment by David Davis. Lincoln had decided on fifty-two-year-old Caleb Smith, whom he knew from his term in Congress, when several from the Hoosier state suggested Schuyler Colfax, thirty-seven-year-old congressman from South Bend. In the end, Lincoln settled on the person he knew, the bland Smith, for the Interior Department. Lincoln, concerned that Colfax believed he was pa.s.sed over because of his alleged pro-Douglas activity in 1858, wrote to him, "When you were brought forward I said "Colfax is a young man-is already in position-is running a brilliant career, and is sure of a bright future in any event"-With Smith, it is now or never." " Lincoln concluded, "I now have to beg that you will not do me the injustice to suppose, for a moment, that I remember any thing against you in malice."
Just when everything seemed settled with the cabinet, Seward resigned on the eve of the inauguration in a terse letter. "Circ.u.mstances which have occurred since I expressed to you in December last my willingness to accept the office of Secretary of State seem to me to render it my duty to ask leave to withdraw that consent." What circ.u.mstances? Seward did not say, but Lincoln knew he had objected strenuously to the prospect of the appointment of Salmon P. Chase to the cabinet.
What could Lincoln do? On the morning of his inauguration, while the inaugural parade lined up in the street below, Lincoln wrote out a reply and gave it to John Nicolay to copy. He told his secretary, "I can"t afford to let Seward take the first trick." Having only a day to consider Seward"s request, Lincoln wrote that the reception of the note was extremely "painful" but "I feel constrained to beg that you will countermand the withdrawal." Lincoln had heard and seen that Seward had many opponents in Washington, but Lincoln had come to value his abilities. "The public interest, I think, demands that you should; and my personal feelings are deeply enlisted in the same direction." He asked Seward to answer by 9 a.m. on March 5, 1861, the first working day of the new administration. On the evening of March 4, Seward called on Lincoln at the Executive Mansion and the two "had a long and confidential talk." Seward withdrew his letter and agreed to "remain."
Lincoln"s absorption with completing his cabinet left him open to criticism. Charles Francis Adams believed that in Lincoln"s first weeks in Washington he seemed "more intent on the distribution of offices than on the gravity of the crisis" in the South. Gideon Welles, the new secretary of the navy, wrote that Lincoln "was accused of wasting his time in a great emergency on mere party appointments."
MARCH 4, 1861, dawned windy, cool, and overcast. A crowd of between twenty-five and thirty thousand, including a large number of "Western men," began arriving in the early hours to find places close enough to hear Lincoln"s address. Riflemen stationed themselves on the rooftops of buildings along Pennsylvania Avenue. Soldiers on horseback patrolled all the major crossroads. Sharpshooters kept the inaugural platform under close watch from windows in the Capitol.
Precisely at twelve o"clock, President-elect Lincoln came out a side door of the Willard. He wore a new black suit, a white shirt, and black boots. He had on a tall black hat and held in his hand an ebony cane with a gold head. While a band played "Hail to the Chief," Lincoln waved away a closed carriage and took his seat in an open four-seated carriage opposite President Buchanan, where he could be seen by the people. Buchanan "appeared pale and wearied." As the carriage bounced along the cobblestones of Pennsylvania Avenue, Buchanan said to Lincoln, "If you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland you are a happy man."
In Lincoln"s time, the inaugural parade preceded the inaugural address. One hundred marshals, dressed in blue, orange, and pink, guided their horses at the front of the parade. All along the parade route, between the White House and the Capitol, American flags soared in the breeze from open windows. Soldiers were grouped so closely around the open presidential carriage that it was difficult to see Lincoln. Ahead, rising over the nation"s capital, Lincoln could see the Capitol. The wooden dome that Lincoln saw when he arrived for his single term in Congress in 1847 had been taken down. A decision had been made in 1855 to build a new iron dome. All Lincoln could see on this inaugural day was the arm of a huge crane extending up from the unfinished dome.
No inaugural address had ever been presented in such turbulent times. Rumors raced through the capital of threats to Lincoln and of attacks on Washington. Hundreds of disgruntled Southerners remained in the capital on Inauguration Day.
Lincoln took his place in the front row on the ma.s.sive platform that had been constructed on the east front of the Capitol. Stephen Douglas sat nearby. Lincoln had asked silver-haired Senator Edward D. Baker of Oregon, who as a young legislator in Illinois had outshone Lincoln as a speaker, to introduce him. As Lincoln stood, he realized there was no place to put his top hat and cane. Douglas stepped forward and asked if he could hold them. Lincoln took out his steel-rimmed spectacles and stepped forward to the small speaker"s table.
Lincoln saw a very different Capitol when he returned to Washington in 1861. The old dome was removed in 1856, and at the time of his inauguration a crane can be seen sticking through the opening of what will become the new dome.
"Fellow citizens of the United States," he began. After an opening self-reference, Lincoln began a pattern of directing attention away from himself to the larger persona of American political bodies: "a Republican administration ... the Union ... the American people ... the national authority ... the Const.i.tution ... the people." He was determined to use nonpartisan language. At a time when the Northern press, and many politicians, were using inflammatory language, Lincoln stayed away from such volatile words as "enemy," "secessionists," or even "Confederacy." His initial rhetorical move was toward conciliation.
Lincoln"s instinct told him to move directly to the real source of tension in his audience: "Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are endangered." By the time of Lincoln"s inauguration, seven states had seceded, but by saying "Southern States," he affirmed that they were still part of the Union. He would not use the name "Confederate States of America."
He sought to allay their anxieties: "There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you."
Lincoln"s lawyerly reasoning governed the structure and content of most of the address. As a lawyer-politician, he referred the jury-audience to the precedent of his own speeches. He did not present himself as prepared to do something new, but rather to follow the ideas and practices that he had advocated since the middle of the 1850s.
This distant view by an unknown photographer captures the crowd gathering before the east front of the unfinished Capitol for Abraham Lincoln"s inauguration on March 4, 1861.
Lincoln bowed further toward conciliation when he announced he would continue to support the fugitive slave law. Why did he introduce a discussion of this controversial law so early in his address? He believed he had more to gain from those in favor of the law than to lose from those opposed to it. Introducing the fugitive slave law also offered Lincoln the opportunity to underline his larger point. In taking the oath as president, he intended to uphold the Const.i.tution in all matters. He hoped his language would send a signal that the South had nothing to fear in this new president from the West.
Horace Greeley, sitting behind Lincoln, recalled that as the audience listened quietly he almost expected to hear the crack of rifle fire. But the quiet was broken only by the noise of a spectator crashing down from his perch in the top of a tree.
Lincoln"s high-pitched voice and his Kentucky accent struck many Easterners in the audience as inelegant, but Lincoln"s ideas, to the sympathetic listener, were substantial. "I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Const.i.tution, the Union of these states is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to a.s.sert that no government proper, ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination."
Cheers greeted his words about the perpetuity of the Union. He had decided in Springfield to make the central theme of his address the indivisibility of the Union. Lincoln declared that states had the right to uphold their own domestic inst.i.tutions, not on the basis of state sovereignty, but because of their respective roles within the nation. He reminded his audience that "the Union is much older than the Const.i.tution."
But Lincoln knew he could not discuss the Const.i.tution for too long. He needed to speak about what was on the listeners" minds: the very real possibilities of "bloodshed and violence." He wanted to establish a baseline: Any violence would not come from his administration. He employed the phrase "national authority," contrasting his const.i.tutional legitimacy with all lesser authorities.