A fresh opportunity opened up for Lincoln when Logan decided to give up traveling and asked his junior partner to represent the firm on the Eighth Judicial Circuit. By 1843, the Eighth Judicial Circuit in cluded fourteen counties in central Illinois. Lincoln, on occasion, traveled beyond the circuit, all the way to Clark County, near the Indiana line, and into Madison County, on the Missouri border, to partic.i.p.ate in cases. The firm was becoming one of the most prominent in the state.
Logan grew to appreciate his young partner"s distinctive skills. "I have seen him get a case and seem to be bewildered at first, but he would go at it and after a while he would master it. He was very tenacious in his grasp of a thing that he once got hold of."
After three successful years, Lincoln"s partnership with Logan came to an end in 1844. Logan informed Lincoln that he wished to take his son David as a partner. This was understandable, and the partners parted and remained friends.
Logan and Lincoln handled approximately 850 cases together. Lincoln learned self-discipline and the art of case preparation from Logan, who had served previously as a circuit judge and had taught Lincoln to see cases from every possible point of view. Having learned much about the law and the courts, Lincoln was eager to start his own firm and began to search for a partner.
IN DECEMBER 1844, Lincoln selected an unlikely candidate, one that got Springfield"s tongues wagging. William Herndon, an intellectually curious but opinionated and garrulous young man, was born in Greens-burg, Kentucky, on December 25, 1818; his father, Archer Herndon, had moved his family to Illinois in 1820. After struggling with farming, they relocated in Springfield in 1825. Archer started the Indian Queen Tavern and Hotel, the first hotel of any prominence in Springfield, located at Second and Jefferson. Seven-year-old Billy had helped his father serve drinks and stable horses. Archer served in the Illinois Senate for eight years and had been one of the "Long Nine" who joined Lincoln"s effort to move the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield.
Archer Herndon possessed no formal education, but he was determined his children should receive what he was denied. After paying for his son to attend the Springfield schools, he sent Billy to the preparatory department of Illinois College in Jacksonville in the fall of 1836.
During his year there, Billy enhanced his budding interest in philosophy, borrowing from the library the school"s allotment of one large book or two small books for each student each week. He also got into more than his allotment of trouble with school officials for his clowning around and practical jokes.
Illinois College had grown from the dream of John M. Ellis, a Presbyterian missionary, who embraced the need for education in the West in 1829. Edward Beecher left his pulpit at the renowned Park Street Church in Boston to become the first president of the college in 1830. President Beecher and faculty members Jonathan B. Turner and Julian M. Sturtevant all brought their antislavery convictions with them from New England. They believed that immediate conversion should put people on the road to immediate abolition, the urgent goal of American moral reform. Beecher played a major role in the founding of the first antislavery society in Illinois in 1837.
Archer Herndon, a Jackson Democrat and pro-slavery man, had sent his son off to college, not expecting he would return as a convinced Whig and an antislavery man. When Billy came home to Springfield he argued with his father over his new antislavery convictions and moved out of his father"s house. He ended up working in Speed"s general store and was invited to stay in the room above the store with Speed and Lincoln.
Lincoln had encouraged Herndon to read law in the office of Logan and Lincoln in 1841. Herndon was admitted to the bar on December 9, 1844. When Lincoln invited Billy to join his practice, he was twenty-six, nine years younger than Lincoln.
Lincoln and Herndon rented an office in the new Tinsley Building on the public square in Springfield. A shingle with the names "Lincoln & Herndon" hung from hinges at the foot of the stairway.
From the beginning, Lincoln called Herndon "Billy," while the junior partner addressed him as "Mr. Lincoln." In their partnership, Lincoln decided he would travel the circuit while young Herndon would manage the firm and look after the books, a task Lincoln never liked. But Herndon proved no more adept at fiscal accountability than Lincoln; much of the time the books went neglected. As Logan"s junior partner, Lincoln had received only one-third of the firm"s proceeds. Although he was now the senior partner, Lincoln split all fees evenly with his new younger colleague.
EVEN AS LINCOLN was changing law partners, he became deeply involved in the political campaigns of 1844. The presidential contest pitted Henry Clay of Kentucky, leader of the Whigs, against James K. Polk of Tennessee, who as Speaker of the House had been President Andrew Jackson"s chief lieutenant in the bank war. James G. Birney of Michigan, a former Whig, was the standard-bearer of the antislavery Liberty Party. Throughout the campaign, Lincoln received many invitations to speak on behalf of Clay and various Whig candidates, which reflected his growing stature as a rising Whig politician. was changing law partners, he became deeply involved in the political campaigns of 1844. The presidential contest pitted Henry Clay of Kentucky, leader of the Whigs, against James K. Polk of Tennessee, who as Speaker of the House had been President Andrew Jackson"s chief lieutenant in the bank war. James G. Birney of Michigan, a former Whig, was the standard-bearer of the antislavery Liberty Party. Throughout the campaign, Lincoln received many invitations to speak on behalf of Clay and various Whig candidates, which reflected his growing stature as a rising Whig politician.
He was invited to speak in southern Indiana and looked forward to returning to his boyhood home for the first time in fifteen years. On Thursday morning, October 24, 1844, Lincoln left Springfield by horseback. Journeying from the prairies of Illinois east to Indiana he met the changing colors of fall in the maple, oak, beech, hickory, and walnut forests of southern Indiana.
While speaking about a protective tariff at Rockport on October 30, 1844, a man about Lincoln"s age entered the courthouse. In the middle of his speech, Lincoln exclaimed, "There is Nat." Lincoln had recognized his old schoolmate Nathaniel Grigsby. He stopped, "walked over the benches," and joyfully greeted his boyhood friend.
The next day, Lincoln traveled to Gentryville where he visited more old friends. His visit to his boyhood haunts in the Pigeon Creek area stirred mixed memories. "I went into the neighborhood in that State in which I was raised, where my mother and only sister were buried," he told an acquaintance later.
A year and a half later, in letters to Andrew Johnston, a lawyer in Quincy, Lincoln wrote of the "poetizing mood" triggered by the emotional experience of returning to his boyhood home. Lincoln included a poem about his feelings of visiting Indiana again.
My childhood"s home I see again,And sadden with the view;And still, as memory crowds my brain,There"s pleasure in it too.
Lincoln confessed he was not sure "whether my expression of those feelings is poetry." Even so, he needed to articulate such deep emotions.
Near twenty years have pa.s.sed awaySince here I bid farewellTo woods and fields, and scenes of play,And playmates loved so well.
He concluded with a sense of death and loss.
I range the field with pensive tread,And pace the hollow rooms,And feel (companion of the dead)I"m living in the tombs.
Lincoln told Johnston that he could publish these words, anonymously, if he wished, in the Quincy Whig, Quincy Whig, which Johnston did two and a half years later. which Johnston did two and a half years later.
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF November 1844 disappointed Lincoln and the Whigs. James K. Polk, a rather colorless Democrat, out-polled Clay, with Birney, the antislavery candidate of the Liberty Party, a distant third. The contest turned on just a few counties in several states. Clay, a slaveholder, was nonetheless the infinitely better candidate than Polk, who had promised the annexation of Texas, which meant the possibility of the extension of slavery into a new state. Lincoln, deeply disappointed, believed if Birney had not been in the race, Clay would have won. November 1844 disappointed Lincoln and the Whigs. James K. Polk, a rather colorless Democrat, out-polled Clay, with Birney, the antislavery candidate of the Liberty Party, a distant third. The contest turned on just a few counties in several states. Clay, a slaveholder, was nonetheless the infinitely better candidate than Polk, who had promised the annexation of Texas, which meant the possibility of the extension of slavery into a new state. Lincoln, deeply disappointed, believed if Birney had not been in the race, Clay would have won.
The defeat taught Lincoln that abolitionists and other extreme anti-slavery men would rather be right-what he called "righteous"-than win. That the election result continued to gnaw at him was evident in correspondence eleven months later with Williamson Durley of Hen-nepin, who called himself an abolitionist and a "Liberty man." Lincoln told Durley, "If the whig abolitionists of New York had voted with us last fall, Mr. Clay would now be president, whig principles in the ascendant, and Texas not annexed."
Lincoln recounted to Durley that he had met another Liberty man who said his religious principles forbade him to vote for Clay, a slaveholder. "We are not to do evil evil that that good good may come," the man had said. Lincoln, quite exercised, offered both his own religion and logic in response. "This general, proposition is doubtless correct; but did it apply? If by your votes you could have prevented the may come," the man had said. Lincoln, quite exercised, offered both his own religion and logic in response. "This general, proposition is doubtless correct; but did it apply? If by your votes you could have prevented the extention, extention, &c. of slavery, would it not have been &c. of slavery, would it not have been good good and not and not evil evil to have used your votes even though it involved the casting of them for a slaveholder?" Using biblical imagery, Lincoln stated, "By to have used your votes even though it involved the casting of them for a slaveholder?" Using biblical imagery, Lincoln stated, "By the fruit the fruit the tree is to be known. An the tree is to be known. An evil evil tree can not bring forth tree can not bring forth good good fruit. If the fruit of electing Mr. Clay would have been to prevent the extension of slavery, could the act of electing have been fruit. If the fruit of electing Mr. Clay would have been to prevent the extension of slavery, could the act of electing have been evil?" evil?" Sensitive to the misuse of religion, Lincoln would never forget this political lesson. Sensitive to the misuse of religion, Lincoln would never forget this political lesson.
IN THE FALL OF 1845, Lincoln began his campaign to win the Whig nomination for Congress, even though the Whig district convention was eight months away. He had met with Baker, who had succeeded Hardin, and received a.s.surances that he would not run for a second term. In September, Lincoln traveled to Jacksonville to meet with Hardin. Two months later, he wrote Henry E. Dummer, Stuart"s former law partner, "I strongly suspect, that Genl. Hardin wishes to run again." Lincoln knew he needed to make sure that Hardin would not be in a favorable position to seek another nomination.
He decided to put in place a comprehensive strategy. He wrote letters to prospective delegates, appealing to their sense of fairness. In his letter to Dummer, Lincoln reminded him of the agreement in 1843 between Hardin, Baker, and himself. "I know of no argument to give me a preference over him, unless it be "Turn about is fair play." " Lincoln was careful not to disparage Hardin. To Dr. Robert Boal of Lacon, he wrote, "That Hardin is talented, energetic, usually generous and magnanimous, I have, before this, affirmed to you, and do not now deny. You know that my only argument is that "turn about is fair play." This he, practically at least, denies." On January 8, 1846, Congressman Baker published in the Sangamo Journal Sangamo Journal his declaration of withdrawal, the timing of his announcement coordinated between him and Lincoln. Three days later Boal wrote to Hardin, "I do not well see how we can avoid adopting the maxim that "turn about is fair play," whether right or wrong, this is my only reason for favoring the pretensions of Mr. Lincoln." his declaration of withdrawal, the timing of his announcement coordinated between him and Lincoln. Three days later Boal wrote to Hardin, "I do not well see how we can avoid adopting the maxim that "turn about is fair play," whether right or wrong, this is my only reason for favoring the pretensions of Mr. Lincoln."
Lincoln began courting newspaper editors. His new law partner, William Herndon, observed, "He never overlooked a newspaper man who had it in his power to say a good or bad thing of him." Lincoln understood the power of the press to influence public opinion. He wrote four letters to Benjamin F. James, editor of the Tazewell Whig, Tazewell Whig, in December 1845 and January 1846, discussing the campaign and asking him about the likely positions of other editors and newspapers. Lincoln told James he needed seventeen votes to win the nomination over Hardin at the Whig convention and then listed where they were likely to come from in each county. He concluded by counseling the editor, "In doing this, let nothing be said against Hardin ... nothing deserves to be said against him. Let the pith of the whole argument be "Turn about is fair play." " in December 1845 and January 1846, discussing the campaign and asking him about the likely positions of other editors and newspapers. Lincoln told James he needed seventeen votes to win the nomination over Hardin at the Whig convention and then listed where they were likely to come from in each county. He concluded by counseling the editor, "In doing this, let nothing be said against Hardin ... nothing deserves to be said against him. Let the pith of the whole argument be "Turn about is fair play." "
Lincoln had become practiced in the politics of personal persuasion. He decided to visit as many delegates, or persons influential with delegates, as he could. "It is my intention to take a quiet trip through the towns and neighbourhoods of Logan county, Delevan, Tremont, and on to & through the upper counties." At the same time, Lincoln did not want to take anything for granted. He told editor James, "Don"t speak of this, or let it relax any of your vigilance."
Lincoln believed that he was poised to win the nomination at the district convention. Hardin received this same message, even from his friends. One of Hardin"s ardent supporters wrote him that Lincoln "spins a good yarn, is what we call a clever fellow, has mixed much with our citizens, and has done much in sustaining Whig principles in Illinois. ... Our people think that it is Abraham"s turn now."
Still, Hardin pursued his goal of returning to Congress. He and his supporters proposed Lincoln for governor, but he was not interested. Next, Hardin put forward a plan to cancel the district convention and instead have a district primary in each county, stipulating that each candidate and his friends could not campaign outside their own county.
Behind these public maneuvers, a private correspondence was taking place between the two political opponents. Hardin wrote Lincoln on January 16, 1846, about his new rules for electing candidates. He argued that the convention system, which Lincoln had labored to put in place, was undemocratic because it limited those who could run for office. Lincoln replied on January 19, "I am entirely satisfied with the old system under which you and Baker were successively nominated and elected to congress." Hardin replied to Lincoln in a second letter. The contents of that letter, not preserved, can be inferred, for Lincoln returned a lengthy letter, answering Hardin point by point. Lincoln, who had every reason to be irritated by Hardin, wrote with conciliation. "I believe you do not mean to be unjust or ungenerous; and I, therefore am slow to believe that you will not yet think better better and think and think differently differently of this matter." Hardin was not yet ready to accept Lincoln"s reasoning, for he sent his complete twelve-step proposal to the of this matter." Hardin was not yet ready to accept Lincoln"s reasoning, for he sent his complete twelve-step proposal to the Sangamo Journal Sangamo Journal on February 16. on February 16.
Within days of receiving Hardin"s proposals, however, the Sangamo Journal Sangamo Journal and other Whig newspapers printed an announcement that Hardin was withdrawing from the contest. and other Whig newspapers printed an announcement that Hardin was withdrawing from the contest.
The Whigs of the Seventh Congressional District convened in the Menard County Courthouse in Petersburg on Friday, May 1, 1846. The Committee on Nominations put forward Abraham Lincoln"s name, which was unanimously adopted. Starting with the May 7, 1846, issue, the Sangamo Journal Sangamo Journal carried as its masthead: carried as its masthead: AUGUST ELECTIONS.
For CongressABRAHAM LINCOLN of Sangamon County WITHIN TWO WEEKS of Lincoln"s nomination, distant dramatic events began that would have unforeseen implications for Lincoln"s political career. Military skirmishes between U.S. and Mexican forces in a disputed borderland prompted President Polk to declare war against Mexico on May 11, 1846. Though there were questions about who had initiated the hostilities, when Congress concurred with the president on May 13, war fever swept the country. Large cities and small hamlets alike rallied around the flag in patriotic rallies. of Lincoln"s nomination, distant dramatic events began that would have unforeseen implications for Lincoln"s political career. Military skirmishes between U.S. and Mexican forces in a disputed borderland prompted President Polk to declare war against Mexico on May 11, 1846. Though there were questions about who had initiated the hostilities, when Congress concurred with the president on May 13, war fever swept the country. Large cities and small hamlets alike rallied around the flag in patriotic rallies.
Springfield held a ma.s.s rally on May 30, 1846. John Hardin, a brigadier general in the Illinois militia, volunteered to organize the First Illinois Regiment of Volunteers, and seventy men signed up. Edward Baker, in Washington, announced he would soon lead the Fourth Illinois Regiment. Addresses offered by a number of leaders, including Lincoln and Governor Thomas Ford, called for "prompt and united action to support the Mexican War."
Some influential Whigs saw Polk"s war declaration as a thinly disguised attempt to gain more territory for slavery. But these Whigs were immediately caught in the dilemma of how they could simultaneously resist the president, support the troops, and not appear to be unpatriotic.
TWO DAYS BEFORE the Springfield rally, the Democrats announced Lincoln"s opponent in the election for Congress: Peter Cartwright, one of the most colorful figures on the frontier. Cartwright, famous as a revivalist, had traveled by horseback through Methodist circuits in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. A preacher and a re former, he became an avowed enemy of both slavery and whiskey. the Springfield rally, the Democrats announced Lincoln"s opponent in the election for Congress: Peter Cartwright, one of the most colorful figures on the frontier. Cartwright, famous as a revivalist, had traveled by horseback through Methodist circuits in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. A preacher and a re former, he became an avowed enemy of both slavery and whiskey.
Twenty-four years older than Lincoln, Cartwright was born on September 1, 1785, in Amherst County, Virginia. As a young child, he moved with his family to Logan County, Kentucky, near the Tennessee border. At the turn of the century, a series of camp meetings in the region ignited what was called "the Great Revival." In 1801, in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, upward of twenty thousand people camped for days in a festival atmosphere in order to hear protracted preaching. The fifteen-year-old Cartwright was converted at one of those camp meetings. He joined the Methodist Church and quickly began his vocation as a revival preacher.
Cartwright settled in Sangamon County in 1824 because, as he would state in his autobiography, "I would get entirely clear of the evil of slavery." Cartwright hated slavery, but he also despised abolitionism because he believed the rhetoric and tactics of abolitionists made it more difficult to speak with slave owners about changing their ways.
After four years in Illinois, Cartwright turned his religious convictions into political action by running for state office; he was elected to the Illinois General a.s.sembly in 1828. Defeated in 1830, he ran again in 1832, this time coming in ahead of a young Abraham Lincoln from New Salem, defeated in his first run for political office.
Now, fourteen years later, Lincoln and Cartwright squared off to become the representative of the Illinois Seventh Congressional District. A rugged man, about five feet ten inches tall, Cartwright bore his nearly two hundred pounds on a medium frame. His resolute personality exuded from a face with high cheekbones, a firm jaw, and piercing black eyes. Cartwright"s Methodist district overlay some of the same territory as the Seventh District, but the Democrats knew they faced an uphill battle in the one supposedly safe Whig district in the state.
The trail of the campaign for Congress in 1846 has left few tracks. Lincoln and Cartwright never appeared together at any point in the contest. No debates took place.
In the latter days of the campaign, Whig friends informed Lincoln that "Mr. Cartwright was whispering the charge of [religious] infidelity against me" in some northern counties in the Seventh District. Lincoln was unsure of what to do. In a letter to Allen Ford, editor of the Illinois Gazette Illinois Gazette in Lacon, he stated that "Cartwright, never heard me utter a word in any way indicating my opinion on religious matters, in his life." Lincoln thought that "nine out of ten have not heard the charge at all," and to answer it might only lift up questions about his religious beliefs his opponent intended to raise. Lincoln finally decided to publish a handbill answering the charges, sent it to selected counties, and left it to the discretion of his friends as to whether it would help or harm. in Lacon, he stated that "Cartwright, never heard me utter a word in any way indicating my opinion on religious matters, in his life." Lincoln thought that "nine out of ten have not heard the charge at all," and to answer it might only lift up questions about his religious beliefs his opponent intended to raise. Lincoln finally decided to publish a handbill answering the charges, sent it to selected counties, and left it to the discretion of his friends as to whether it would help or harm.
In the handbill, Lincoln acknowledged that Cartwright had charged him to be "an open scoffer at Christianity." In response he declared, "That I am not a member of any Christian Church, is true; but I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or of any denomination of Christians in particular." He admitted that "in early life," he had believed in the "Doctrine of Necessity," which he defined as "the human mind is impelled to action, or held in rest by some power, over which he has no control." He quickly added, "The habit of arguing thus however, I have, entirely left off for more than five years." Finally, Lincoln declared, "I do not think I could myself, be brought to support a man for office, whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion." Though distributed as a handbill, the statement was not published in newspapers until after the election.
Cartwright might have been a popular preacher and revivalist, but he was a poor campaigner. Some voters, including Democrats, did not believe a preacher should be involved in politics. By the time the voting took place, the result was a foregone conclusion. In the election, held on August 3, 1846, Lincoln received 6,340 votes to Cartwright"s 4,829. Lincoln won the most decisive victory so far in the Seventh District, running ahead of the winning margins of both his predecessors, Baker and Hardin.
"BEING ELECTED TO CONGRESS, though I am very grateful to our friends, for having done it, has not pleased me as much as I expected," wrote Lincoln to Speed, two months after his election. Perhaps the lack of elation was in part due to the fact that in the political calendar of those years, it would be sixteen months before Lincoln would take up his seat in Washington in December 1847.
During this long interval, Lincoln decided to attend the great Rivers and Harbors Convention in the summer of 1847. He traveled by stagecoach for four days on his first visit to Chicago, joining more than ten thousand people in the mud-flat town on July 4, 1847. The first national convention ever held in this rising city of sixteen thousand drew businessmen and farmers, politicians and the press, eager to encourage navigation and business on rivers and lakes.
President Polk"s veto of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Bill in August 1846 was the impetus for the convention. Polk called the effort at internal improvements unconst.i.tutional, arguing that many of its appropriations were not federal in scope but limited to a single state. The Whigs, who had long championed internal improvements, seized a strategic opportunity to present their case. The decision to hold the convention "at the terminus of lake navigation," recognized not simply the large number of rivers and lakes affected, but the huge migration of people to the West.
On the morning of July 6, 1847, David Dudley Field, a prominent New York lawyer, spoke in defense of the position of the Polk administration. He rejected the obligation of the federal government to help develop the navigation of the Illinois River, which traversed a solitary state.
Lincoln stood to offer a reply, speaking for the first time before a national audience. His full remarks were not recorded, but Field"s remarks brought out the best of Lincoln"s satire. Lincoln, who as usual had done his homework, learned that Field favored a federal appropriation for the Hudson River in New York. Lincoln asked "how many States the lordly Hudson ran through."
Lincoln"s remarks made an indelible impression on a leading New York newspaper editor. Horace Greeley, a reformer and politician at heart, and founding editor of the New York Tribune, New York Tribune, always had a nose for the up-and-coming. He thought he spied it in the tall congressman-elect. The next day, Greeley wrote in appreciation, "Hon. Abraham Lincoln, a tall specimen of an Illinoian, just elected to Congress from the only Whig District in the state, spoke briefly and happily in reply to Mr. Field." always had a nose for the up-and-coming. He thought he spied it in the tall congressman-elect. The next day, Greeley wrote in appreciation, "Hon. Abraham Lincoln, a tall specimen of an Illinoian, just elected to Congress from the only Whig District in the state, spoke briefly and happily in reply to Mr. Field."
CONGRESSMAN-ELECT ABRAHAM LINCOLN posed for his first photograph, a daguerreotype, sometime in the last half of 1846, perhaps shortly after his election to Congress. The daguerreotype was a process that created an extremely detailed image on a sheet of copper plate without the use of a negative. posed for his first photograph, a daguerreotype, sometime in the last half of 1846, perhaps shortly after his election to Congress. The daguerreotype was a process that created an extremely detailed image on a sheet of copper plate without the use of a negative.
Lincoln was the perfect candidate for early daguerreotypists, who sought out political figures to photograph so they could place their finished products in the front of their studios to attract other customers. By 1850, there were more than seventy daguerreotype studios in New York City. Even in the small city of Springfield there were as many as four photographers by the late 1840s.
Nicholas H. Shepherd opened his Daguerreotype Miniature Gallery above the drugstore of J. Brookie at the northwest corner of the square in Springfield. He first advertised his photographic services in the Sangamo Journal Sangamo Journal on October 30, 1845, and probably approached Lincoln as a rising political figure to pose for a photograph. He offered to take a separate daguerreotype of Mary. Robert Lincoln remembered that these photographs of his parents hung on the wall in a prominent place in their Springfield home. on October 30, 1845, and probably approached Lincoln as a rising political figure to pose for a photograph. He offered to take a separate daguerreotype of Mary. Robert Lincoln remembered that these photographs of his parents hung on the wall in a prominent place in their Springfield home.
Photography in 1846 was subject to the limitations of a craft and technology still in its infancy. Abraham and Mary had to sit still for up to fifteen minutes, which meant that their facial expressions appear direct and unsmiling. In his first photograph, Abraham Lincoln, at thirty-seven, wears the clothes of a successful lawyer and politician. His slicked-down hair is not the tousled mop familiar to Lincoln"s friends; it was surely arranged by the photographer or his a.s.sistant in an effort to reflect Lincoln"s station. His large, muscular hands are a striking feature that could not be rearranged. His eyes reflect a man determined to make his mark in Congress.
Lincoln admired three legislators for their oratory. Henry Clay of Kentucky, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, and Daniel Webster of Ma.s.sachusetts became known as "the Great Triumvirate."
CHAPTER 9.
My Best Impression of the Truth 184749 AS YOU ARE ALL SO ANXIOUS FOR ME TO DISTINGUISH MYSELF, I I HAVE CONCLUDED TO DO SO, BEFORE LONG. HAVE CONCLUDED TO DO SO, BEFORE LONG.
ABRAHAM L LINCOLN to W to WILLIAM H. H H. HERNDON, December 13, 1847 -BRAHAM AND MARY LINCOLN PREPARED TO LEAVE SPRINGFIELD for Washington on October 25, 1847, cheered on by Springfield"s for Washington on October 25, 1847, cheered on by Springfield"s Illinois State Journal. Illinois State Journal. "Success to our talented member of Congress! He will find many men in Congress who possess twice the good looks, and not half the good sense, of our own representative." "Success to our talented member of Congress! He will find many men in Congress who possess twice the good looks, and not half the good sense, of our own representative."
Two days before departing, Lincoln leased their family home at Eighth and Jackson to Cornelius Ludlum, a brick contractor from Jacksonville, for ninety dollars a year. As the Lincolns embarked on their six-week journey, they looked forward to visiting Mary"s family in Lexington. It was her first visit home since 1839. Her father, Robert S. Todd, had visited Springfield, but her stepmother, Elizabeth, and stepbrothers and -sisters, had never met her husband.
The Lincolns traveled from Springfield by stage to Alton, where they boarded a packet steamboat to take them down the muddy waters of the Mississippi past St. Louis. At Cairo, the southernmost tip of Illinois, they transferred to a river steamer to journey up the clearer waters of the Ohio River. As the steamboat plowed north, with autumn colors in view on both the Indiana and Kentucky sh.o.r.es, Lincoln may have remembered his first trip on the Ohio thirty-one years before. He pa.s.sed Thompson"s Landing where, as a nine-year-old boy, he and his family disembarked in 1816 and began the trek to their new home at Pigeon Creek. The four Lincolns continued by boat on the Kentucky River to Frankfort, Kentucky, where they boarded the Lexington and Ohio train, which consisted of a small steam locomotive and a solitary coach car, for the b.u.mpy thirty-mile ride to Lexington. On November 2, 1847, a raw, windy day, the whole Todd family stood near the front of the brick mansion on West Main Street to greet them. Mary walked in first with little Eddie in her arms, followed by Abraham carrying four-year-old Bob.
The three-week sojourn in Lexington gave Lincoln plenty of opportunity to observe slavery once again. Every day he encountered it in the Todd household. Slave auctions were held at Cheapside in the center of Lexington most weeks. Lincoln also confronted the issue every time he picked up a Lexington newspaper. On November 3, 1847, the Lexington Observer and Reporter Lexington Observer and Reporter printed a notice: printed a notice: NEGROES FOR SALE.35 negroes in lots to suit purchasers or the whole, consisting of field hands, house servants, a good carriage-driver, hostlers, a blacksmith, and women & children of all descriptions.James H. Farish Lincoln would also have seen plenty of advertis.e.m.e.nts about runaway slaves. A reward of five hundred dollars was offered for the arrest of a forty-year-old slave named Joshua, "who is slow of speech, with a slight choking when agitated and who professes to be a preacher."
While in Lexington, Lincoln was afforded the singular opportunity to attend a political meeting organized by Mary"s father featuring an address by Henry Clay. Lincoln had long admired Clay, but they had never met. His political vision had long been indebted to Clay"s "American System" of economic advancement through internal improvements and fiscal accountability. How fortuitous to hear Clay, his political hero, discuss the vexing subjects of the war with Mexico and American slavery just weeks before Lincoln would take his seat in the Thirtieth Congress.
At age seventy, Clay evoked strongly mixed emotions among his political friends and foes. Some labeled him the "Star of the West," a courageous, brilliant, eloquent politician who had devoted his life to the n.o.ble cause of the Union. Others found Clay ambitious, ruthless, and a demagogue, whose silver voice was not to be believed, and who was taking power away from the states and giving it to the federal government. Despite his age and the counsel of friends, Clay was testing the waters for a fourth run for the presidency.
Lincoln, stopping in Lexington, Kentucky, on his way to Washington, heard Clay deliver a fiery speech declaring his opposition to war with Mexico.
Clay began his speech by telling his Lexington audience that the day was "dark and gloomy, unsettled and uncertain," because of the "unnatural" war with Mexico. Clay"s son, Henry, Jr., had been killed at the battle of Buena Vista the previous February. By the summer of 1847, the Mexican War had become a partisan issue, with most Whigs opposing it, and Democrats, appealing to a sense of Manifest Destiny and seeing it as an opportunity to extend slavery, supporting it. In vivid detail, Clay recounted the blunders and lies that had led to the "perils and dangers" the United States now faced.
He contrasted the war with Mexico with what he called "the British War" of 1812, arguing that the earlier war was defensive and "just," while the present engagement with Mexico was "no war of defense, but one unnecessary and of offensive aggression." Clay laid the blame at the feet of President Polk. The Kentucky senator rose to the height of his oratory in declaring that although Congress may have initially acquiesced in supporting the president"s request to raise fifty thousand troops, "no earthly consideration would have ever tempted or provoked me to vote for a bill, with a palpable falsehood stamped on its face." He invoked the Const.i.tution in urging the Congress to stand up and now resolve the proper purposes of the war.
In concluding, Clay asked his audience to join with him "to disavow, in the most positive manner, any desire, on our part, to acquire any foreign territory whatever, for the purpose of introducing slavery into it." He reiterated his "well known" beliefs about slavery. "I have ever regarded slavery as a great evil," but the slaves were here, and their future should be finally resolved "with a due consideration of all the circ.u.mstances affecting the security, safety, and happiness of both races."
THE LINCOLNS PREPARED TO LEAVE Lexington on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1847. In the morning they attended services in the new sanctuary of the Second Presbyterian Church. The guest preacher was Robert J. Breckenridge, a well-known Presbyterian minister and politician, "noted for his hostility to slavery." Breckenridge"s opinions were printed regularly in the Lexington on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1847. In the morning they attended services in the new sanctuary of the Second Presbyterian Church. The guest preacher was Robert J. Breckenridge, a well-known Presbyterian minister and politician, "noted for his hostility to slavery." Breckenridge"s opinions were printed regularly in the Lexington Observer and Reporter, Lexington Observer and Reporter, but the words of the sermon that Lincoln heard on his final day in Lexington were not preserved. but the words of the sermon that Lincoln heard on his final day in Lexington were not preserved.
In the afternoon, the Lincolns began their trip by stage, boat, and finally by train to Washington. They arrived in the nation"s capital six days later on the evening of December 2, 1847. They went directly to Brown"s Indian Queen Hotel, a marble-fronted moderately priced hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. Lincoln registered his family as "A. Lincoln & Lady 2 children, Illinois."
They did not stay long at Brown"s, soon moving into rooms at a boardinghouse operated by Ann Sprigg, a widow from Virginia. The boardinghouse was the fourth in a row of houses known as Carroll Row on East First Street between A and East Capitol streets, located where the Library of Congress stands today.
LINCOLN ARRIVED EAGER TO EXPLORE Washington, which had a population of more than thirty-five thousand, including nearly eight thousand slaves and two thousand free Negroes. It was only the thirteenth largest city in the nation. Many members of Congress lived in one of the new hotels in the downtown area, such as the United States and the National. In 1847, shortly before the Lincolns arrived, the City Hotel, at the northwest corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Fourteenth Street, had been remodeled by the brothers Edwin D. and Henry A. Willard. The new Willard Hotel quickly achieved the reputation as the finest hotel in Washington. Washington, which had a population of more than thirty-five thousand, including nearly eight thousand slaves and two thousand free Negroes. It was only the thirteenth largest city in the nation. Many members of Congress lived in one of the new hotels in the downtown area, such as the United States and the National. In 1847, shortly before the Lincolns arrived, the City Hotel, at the northwest corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Fourteenth Street, had been remodeled by the brothers Edwin D. and Henry A. Willard. The new Willard Hotel quickly achieved the reputation as the finest hotel in Washington.
The national capital, not quite five decades old, remained an almost-city. Carriages rattled over the rough cobblestones of Pennsylvania Avenue, the main thoroughfare. Charles d.i.c.kens, visiting the United States five years earlier, had described Washington as "the City of Magnificent Intentions," with "s.p.a.cious avenues, that begin in nothing, and lead nowhere; streets, mile-long, that only want houses, roads, and inhabitants; public buildings that need but a public to be complete." Pennsylvania Avenue was the lone street lit by oil lamps, and only when Congress was in session.
"Washington may be called the headquarters of tobacco tinctured saliva," wrote d.i.c.kens, appalled by the manners, especially the pervasiveness of chewing tobacco, of his American cousins. He described a scene where "several gentlemen called upon me who, in the course of the conversation, frequently missed the spittoon at five paces." More seriously, d.i.c.kens expressed his disgust at the slave pens and slave auctions in the nation"s capital.
THE THIRTIETH CONGRESS of the United States convened on December 6, 1847, the customary first Monday of December. The Capitol was located directly across the street from Ann Sprigg"s boardinghouse. Each day, Lincoln pa.s.sed the colossal statue of George Washington by American sculptor Horatio Greenough in the eastern Capitol gardens. The controversial neocla.s.sical statue, commissioned for the Capitol in 1832, had proved to be too heavy for its floor. of the United States convened on December 6, 1847, the customary first Monday of December. The Capitol was located directly across the street from Ann Sprigg"s boardinghouse. Each day, Lincoln pa.s.sed the colossal statue of George Washington by American sculptor Horatio Greenough in the eastern Capitol gardens. The controversial neocla.s.sical statue, commissioned for the Capitol in 1832, had proved to be too heavy for its floor.
The House of Representatives met in a s.p.a.ce south of the Rotunda that would become today"s National Statuary Hall. The original chamber, burned by the British in 1814, had been rebuilt and reopened in 1819. A statue of Clio, the muse of history, stood above the entrance. The Hall appeared like an ancient Greek theater, with a richly draped Speaker"s chair at the front. For all of its architectural beauty, the Hall, like the older chamber, was an acoustical nightmare. Not only was it hard to hear, but the lofty arched ceiling redirected speeches and conversations.
The Thirtieth Congress comprised 232 members, or only a little more than half of the 435 members of today"s House of Representatives. The national legislature represented a cross-section of a rapidly changing nation. Over half the members were, like Lincoln, serving their first term. Only two members in the whole House were over sixty-two.
Abraham Lincoln arrived in Washington in December 1847, to be greeted by this view of the Capitol located directly across from Ann Spriggs boardinghouse, where he and Mary lived.
On their second day in session, the representatives drew their seat locations by lot. The seats were arranged in six semicircular rows. Lincoln drew seat 191, placing him in the back row on the left, or Whig, side. Lincoln received appointments to two committees: Post Offices and Post Roads and the Expenditures of the War Department.
The House membership of the Thirtieth Congress included a few men who would play significant roles in the country"s future political struggles. Joshua R. Giddings, a strapping six-foot-two-inch Whig from the Western Reserve of Ohio, led the radical antislavery forces in the House and would become a prominent abolitionist in the years before the Civil War. Democrat Andrew Johnson, six weeks older than Lincoln and his future vice president, represented Tennessee. Johnson voted against almost every government appropriation, including the painting of portraits of presidents, paving Washington"s streets, and establishing the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, as well as all antislavery activity.
From the day he arrived, Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, New York Tribune, began trying to reform the House, especially its penchant for waste and greed. The mileage paid to members for their travel to and from Congress was supposed to be computed according to the most direct route. Determined to take on the "mileage-elongators," Greeley published in the began trying to reform the House, especially its penchant for waste and greed. The mileage paid to members for their travel to and from Congress was supposed to be computed according to the most direct route. Determined to take on the "mileage-elongators," Greeley published in the Tribune Tribune the monies received by each member. For just one session of Congress, Greeley calculated an excess of $47,223.80. Greeley"s list revealed that Lincoln was one of the chief culprits. Congressman-elect Lincoln understood that he would be reimbursed for this trip to Washington at the amount of forty cents per mile. The shortest route from Springfield to Washington was 840 miles. Lincoln sent in a bill for 1,626 miles, almost twice the shortest route, and thereby collected $1,300.80 in reimburs.e.m.e.nt. Greeley published, for all to see, $676.80 as the excess amount received by Lincoln. the monies received by each member. For just one session of Congress, Greeley calculated an excess of $47,223.80. Greeley"s list revealed that Lincoln was one of the chief culprits. Congressman-elect Lincoln understood that he would be reimbursed for this trip to Washington at the amount of forty cents per mile. The shortest route from Springfield to Washington was 840 miles. Lincoln sent in a bill for 1,626 miles, almost twice the shortest route, and thereby collected $1,300.80 in reimburs.e.m.e.nt. Greeley published, for all to see, $676.80 as the excess amount received by Lincoln.
One Southerner especially caught Lincoln"s eye and ear. Alexander H. Stephens, a Whig congressman from Georgia, introduced a resolution arguing against seizing Mexican territory. The war was "a wanton outrage upon the Const.i.tution." In a blistering one-hour speech, Stephens attacked President Polk"s policies as "dishonorable," "reckless," and "disgraceful." Young Charles Lanman, the future historian of Congress, was present in the House gallery for the first time and was captivated by the "wonderful earnestness" of Stephens"s speech. But Lanman also said to a friend seated with him that he did not think the gaunt speaker "would live to finish his speech."
Lincoln was impressed with Alexander Stephens, a small Whig congressman from Georgia, after hearing him deliver a speech criticizing the war with Mexico.
Lincoln, too, found himself deeply impressed with Stephens"s speech. He wrote to "Billie," "Mr. Stephens of Georgia, a little slim, pale-faced, consumptive man, with a voice like Logan"s, has just concluded the very best speech, of an hour"s length, I ever heard." Lincoln, who always appreciated splendid oratory, concluded, "My old, withered, dry eyes, are full of tears yet."
Lincoln was eager to see the oldest and most distinguished member of Congress. John Quincy Adams was eighty when the Thirtieth Congress convened. Adams, son of the nation"s second president, John Adams, was the only person to be elected to the House of Representatives after serving as president. He had defended the slave mutineers of the Amistad Amistad in 1839. In 1844, he finally achieved the removal of the "gag rule" that had long prevented the introduction of antislavery pet.i.tions. Adams had been feeble since a stroke in 1846, and Lincoln immediately sensed an aura of greatness about the ancient New England patriarch who would die shortly after Lincoln"s arrival. in 1839. In 1844, he finally achieved the removal of the "gag rule" that had long prevented the introduction of antislavery pet.i.tions. Adams had been feeble since a stroke in 1846, and Lincoln immediately sensed an aura of greatness about the ancient New England patriarch who would die shortly after Lincoln"s arrival.
Although diligent in his attendance in the House, Lincoln sometimes crossed over to sit in the Senate gallery and listen to the speeches. He had heard Henry Clay, not presently in the Senate, in Lexington. Now he wanted to hear the other two giants of "the Great Triumvirate."
Lincoln was eager to see John Quincy Adams, former president and a member of the Thirtieth Congress.
The first, Daniel Webster, born in 1782, had risen to fame in New England as a lawyer and a politician. Friends said he looked like a lion, a large man with a great head-"G.o.dlike Daniel" some called him-with black hair and black eyes. He spoke with an eloquent voice that often prompted tears in his audience, as when he spoke in 1820 at the two hundredth anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. Steeped in the Bible, Shakespeare, and Milton, Webster became a spokesman for the collective aspirations of first New England and then the Union. Lincoln was thoroughly familiar with Webster"s 1830 Senate debate with South Carolina"s Robert Hayne over states" rights and slavery: Webster had defended the Union with these famous words, "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable."
The third member of the triumvirate, John C. Calhoun, was born two months after Webster, on March 18, 1782, on a flourishing farm in the red hills of South Carolina"s up-country. He traveled eight hundred miles north to study at Yale College, graduating in 1804. Calhoun was an angular figure, whose age accentuated his pale face and submerged eyes; his graying hair stood straight up on his head. For the past four decades Calhoun had served in both the House and Senate, as secretary of war and secretary of state, and as vice president of the United States under Presidents John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Calhoun had earned a reputation as a "metaphysical" politician who approached issues theoretically. In the final session of the Twenty-ninth Congress, he presented a series of resolutions on slavery, and Lincoln may well have heard Calhoun speak of them during the Thirtieth Congress. Calhoun argued that Congress did not have the power to legislate on the presence of slavery in the new territories. To prevent citizens of Southern states to enter any of the territories with their property-slaves-would discriminate against the equality of the citizens of those states.
On December 12, 1847, Lincoln wrote Herndon telling him, "As soon as the Congressional Globe and Appendix [the official record of the proceedings of Congress], begins to issue, I shall send you a copy of it regularly." He asked his law partner "to preserve all the numbers so that we can have a complete file of it." The new congressman may have only been on the job one week, but he was already thinking of building his political files for the future.
Lincoln also took advantage of the free mailing privileges for members of Congress by sending to his const.i.tuents copies of many speeches. He sent out 7,080 copies of his own speeches, as well as 5,560 copies of speeches by other members, including Daniel Webster.
JOSHUA GIDDINGS, THE CONGRESSMAN FROM OHIO, used Ann Sprigg"s boardinghouse as a place to bring antislavery congressmen together. In addition to Lincoln, eight other Whigs boarded there, including several leading abolitionists. Their presence guaranteed that slavery was a regular topic of conversation at meals. Lincoln had never before been around so many able politicians with such deep and earnest moral convictions about slavery.
Samuel C. Busey, a young medical doctor who took his meals at the boardinghouse, found himself intrigued with Lincoln"s manner in conversations. Busey said that Lincoln would often interrupt tense conversations with an anecdote that had a healing effect on everyone, including the disputants. "When about to tell an anecdote during a meal he would lay down his knife and fork, place his elbows upon the table, rest his face between his hands, and begin with the words, "that reminds me." " As Lincoln began, "everybody prepared for the explosions sure to follow." Lincoln had the ability to influence "the tenor of the discussion" so that the parties engaged would either separate in good humor or continue the conversation free of discord. Dr. Busey recalled that Lincoln"s "amicable disposition made him very popular with the household."
SPEECHES REMAINED AT the heart of the daily working of the House of Representatives in this sixth decade after the nation"s founding. Both the House and Senate still retained a parliamentary ethos that would entirely disappear in the next century. Modern-day tourists, on their first visit to Congress, might be shocked to learn that a speaker often speaks to an empty chamber. In Lincoln"s time, visitors lined up to hear such celebrated speakers as the Great Triumvirate orate grandly on the leading issues of the day. The best legislators were by common agreement the best speakers, persons who could persuade their colleagues in long, well-attended speeches. the heart of the daily working of the House of Representatives in this sixth decade after the nation"s founding. Both the House and Senate still retained a parliamentary ethos that would entirely disappear in the next century. Modern-day tourists, on their first visit to Congress, might be shocked to learn that a speaker often speaks to an empty chamber. In Lincoln"s time, visitors lined up to hear such celebrated speakers as the Great Triumvirate orate grandly on the leading issues of the day. The best legislators were by common agreement the best speakers, persons who could persuade their colleagues in long, well-attended speeches.
Most congressmen and senators prepared their speeches carefully, spending hours and sometimes days writing and rewriting. But they never read their speeches. A contemporary observer reported, "They would have been laughed out of the House had they come into the hall with, and attempted to read read a written speech." This was not a possibility. "These men met each other face to face," speaking with eloquence and pa.s.sion. a written speech." This was not a possibility. "These men met each other face to face," speaking with eloquence and pa.s.sion.