In October 1849, they met for the first time in front of the Greek Revival courthouse in Mount Pulaski. Immediately Swett, sixteen years younger, and Lincoln formed a friendship that would last sixteen years.
That fall, Lincoln, Davis, and Swett formed what the lawyers on the circuit would call "the great triumvirate," an homage to Calhoun, Clay, and Webster. Enjoying one another"s company, they traveled everywhere together and often stayed in the same hotel rooms. Other lawyers admired their abilities and chuckled at their invariable high jinks and humor. This triumvirate would not only become significant in the legal courts of central Illinois, but one day in political circles in Illinois and beyond.
WHILE THERE HAVE always been many lawyers who became politicians, Lincoln was one of the few politicians who later became a lawyer. Lincoln was a Whig in the statehouse before he became a Whig in the courthouse. He brought to the practice of the law a constellation of Whig ideas. always been many lawyers who became politicians, Lincoln was one of the few politicians who later became a lawyer. Lincoln was a Whig in the statehouse before he became a Whig in the courthouse. He brought to the practice of the law a constellation of Whig ideas.
As a first principle, Whigs believed in order. Lincoln thought that the nation could not modernize and expand so long as lawlessness and violence remained prevalent in society. As a Whig, Lincoln was convinced that laws could be used to build a political and social framework. Lincoln also embraced the Whig idea of government serving as a protector of community ideals and moral values.
Lincoln"s politics were not of the cut-flower variety, which bloomed only for the moment; rather, they grew from the deep soil of tradition. In the 1850s, he referred more and more in his speeches and writings to the ideas of the nation"s founders-especially George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison-citing them as precedents for the problems and possibilities of his own day.
Lincoln was also coming to believe that every generation needed to redefine America for its own time. Back in 1838, in his speech to the Young Men"s Lyceum in Springfield, he had declared that the role of his generation was quite limited-they were to "transmit" the ideas and inst.i.tutions of the founders to their own and future generations. But by the 1850s, Lincoln was beginning to arrive at a creative balance-often a creative tension-between past traditions and the new and different possibilities of the present and future.
AS LINCOLN TRAVELED THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT, he kept abreast of the political events in Washington. He applauded the efforts of Senator Henry Clay, who in January 1850 was busy cobbling together a series of measures to ease the growing tensions between the North and the South. The seventy-year-old Clay had introduced eight resolutions proposing "an amicable arrangement of all questions in controversy between the free and slave states, growing out of slavery." Clay hoped his resolutions, which would become known as the Compromise of 1850, would promote "a great national scheme of compromise and harmony."
Clay"s initiatives produced high drama. His two celebrated senior colleagues, John C. Calhoun and Daniel Webster, also at the end of their years of service, determined to respond.
On March 4, 1850, Calhoun, sixty-seven, sat at his Senate desk, too weak to speak, coughing incessantly, as the last major speech of his life was read by Virginia senator James M. Mason. In the speech, Calhoun asked, "How can the Union be preserved?" and then followed with a second question, "How has the Union been endangered?" He answered both questions by rehearsing how first the Northwest Ordinance and then the Missouri Compromise had kept Southern interests out of Western territories and states. Calhoun declared that the spiritual cords that bound the nation together had already been broken in the recent divisions of three leading Protestant denominations-Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian. He saw this separation as a dire trend and wondered whether the political cords would be severed also. He warned against further compromise.
Three days later, Calhoun returned to the Senate to hear Daniel Webster speak in favor of Clay"s resolutions. Expectations reverberated throughout Washington, and all the seats in the Senate chamber were filled, with people sitting in the aisles. Webster began, "I wish to speak to-day, not as a Ma.s.sachusetts man, nor as a northern man, but as an American." He declared, "I speak to-day for the preservation of the Union." He then surprised his audience by chastising abolitionists and declaring that he could never support the Wilmot Proviso, which would keep slavery out of any territory acquired from Mexico. In the end, he supported each of Clay"s proposals, including the strengthening of the fugitive slave law.
Even from afar, Lincoln understood that the Compromise of 1850 was only a temporary truce. Each of the Compromise"s planks had been acrimoniously debated. California would enter the Union as a free state. The territories of New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah would be organized without a declaration about slavery, leaving it to the citizens to decide. The slave trade, but not slavery, would be abolished in Washington and the District of Columbia. The Compromise settled a boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico. In the deepest bow to the South, which had not received another slave state in the deal, the Compromise amended the old Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 to require citizens to a.s.sist in recapturing runaway slaves and denying those slaves a jury trial.
Although it held the nation together, the Compromise of 1850 satisfied no one. Abolitionists only increased their efforts to end slavery once and for all. Conductors on the Underground Railroad stepped up their activities so that between 1850 and 1860 more than twenty thousand slaves traveled from farms to safe houses along the track from the United States to Canada. The new fugitive slave law inst.i.tuted a reign of terror with free blacks being detained and sent to the South without trial. Many Southerners were extremely dissatisfied as well, arguing that Clay, the Great Compromiser, had sold out his native South.
For three old actors-Clay, Calhoun, and Webster-the debate on the Compromise of 1850 would be their last curtain call in the Senate. Calhoun died on March 31, 1850, before the debate ended. Clay and Webster would both die in the next two years. The vexing issue of slavery, if temporarily defused, would be left to the will and wiles of America"s next generation to resolve. Far away from the Washington stage, Lincoln read reports of the Compromise of 1850 in the Congressional Globe Congressional Globe and in his regular diet of newspapers, but made no public comment. and in his regular diet of newspapers, but made no public comment.
IN THE SUMMER of 1850, Lincoln started taking notes for a lecture on the law and lawyers. Although there is no record of Lincoln ever delivering this lecture, the ideas expressed in the notes reveal his self-understanding of his profession. of 1850, Lincoln started taking notes for a lecture on the law and lawyers. Although there is no record of Lincoln ever delivering this lecture, the ideas expressed in the notes reveal his self-understanding of his profession.
"I am not an accomplished lawyer," Lincoln began with self-deprecation. He confessed, "I find quite as much material for a lecture in those points where I have failed, as in those wherein I have been moderately successful." Lincoln here gave voice to a principle-the willingness to both admit mistakes and learn from them-that was becoming a part of his moral character.
He believed "the leading rule" for any lawyer was "diligence." Lincoln counseled, "Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done today. ... Whatever piece of business you have in hand, before stopping, do all the labor pertaining to it which can then be done." He advised lawyers preparing a common-law suit to "write the declaration at once."
Lincoln also offered a brief on the utility of public speaking. "It is the lawyer"s avenue to the public. Extemporaneous speaking should be practiced and cultivated." Though he recognized that there were many qualities of a successful lawyer, he believed this one virtue trumped all others. "However able and faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow to bring him business if he cannot make a speech."
At the heart of his lecture was a definition of his understanding of the calling of a lawyer. "As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man." Here Lincoln offered his most practical advice: "Discourage litigation." Life in the frontier states was marked by disputes. Rural and townsfolk were ready to "go to law" over the least aggravation. Lincoln"s counsel: "Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often the real loser-in fees, expenses, and waste of time." At this point, Lincoln seems to antic.i.p.ate a question from his imagined audience: Is not litigation the very source of a lawyer"s business and fees? He answers, "There will still be business enough."
LINCOLN UNDERSTOOD HIS ROLE as a lawyer to be a mediator in the various small communities in which he practiced law. Abram Bale, who moved to the New Salem area from Kentucky in 1839, hired Lincoln in February 1850 to represent him in a dispute with the Hickox brothers over $1,000 of "good, merchantable, superfine flour." Lincoln, drawing upon both his farming and storekeeping experience, argued that the twenty barrels of flour were not fairly characterized; they were instead inferior in quality. He knew he had a good case, but in the midst of the proceedings he counseled his client to settle. "I sincerely hope you will settle it. I think you as a lawyer to be a mediator in the various small communities in which he practiced law. Abram Bale, who moved to the New Salem area from Kentucky in 1839, hired Lincoln in February 1850 to represent him in a dispute with the Hickox brothers over $1,000 of "good, merchantable, superfine flour." Lincoln, drawing upon both his farming and storekeeping experience, argued that the twenty barrels of flour were not fairly characterized; they were instead inferior in quality. He knew he had a good case, but in the midst of the proceedings he counseled his client to settle. "I sincerely hope you will settle it. I think you can can if you if you will, will, for I have always found Mr. Hickox a fair man in his dealings." Lincoln then told Bale, "I will charge nothing for what I have done, and thank you to boot." He further encouraged his client, "By settling, you will most likely get your money sooner; and with much less trouble and expense." for I have always found Mr. Hickox a fair man in his dealings." Lincoln then told Bale, "I will charge nothing for what I have done, and thank you to boot." He further encouraged his client, "By settling, you will most likely get your money sooner; and with much less trouble and expense."
Lincoln was a mediator more than a prosecutor. Just as in his speeches he was sensitive to the att.i.tudes and questions of his audiences, in the courtrooms of the Eighth Judicial Circuit he worked hard to understand the motives and att.i.tudes of clients, witnesses, and judges. He was responsive to the differing local contexts in which he practiced. He was often the only lawyer who stayed out on the circuit over the course of an entire fall and spring cycle. Lodging in homes, he shared folks" leisure time on the weekends and learned their concerns, struggles, and questions. In his understanding of the lawyer as mediator, Lincoln recognized that cases that at first glance seemed to be between two persons almost always involved the whole community in these small towns. His active presence in these communities gave Lincoln both a standing and sensitivity to local inst.i.tutions and sentiments. Even though justice was universal, Lincoln appreciated that in crucial ways law was local.
In the spring of 1850 the Illinois Citizen Illinois Citizen in Danville captured both Lincoln"s abilities and his growing reputation as a lawyer. in Danville captured both Lincoln"s abilities and his growing reputation as a lawyer.
In his examination of witnesses, he displays a masterly ingenuity ... that baffles concealment and defies deceit. And in addressing a jury, there is no false glitter, no sickly sentimental-ism to be discovered. In vain we look for rhetorical display. ... Seizing upon the minutest points, he weaves them into his argument with an ingenuity really astonishing. ... Bold, forcible and energetic, he forces conviction upon the mind, and, by his clearness and conciseness, stamps it there, not to be erased. ... Such are some of the qualities that place Mr. L. at the head of the profession in this State.
Lincoln practiced law as a peacemaker. His early cases concerned individuals, not companies or corporations. Whether about hogs, cooking stoves, land, or slander, they almost always involved persons who knew each other face-to-face and had got crossways.
The reason Lincoln urged so many of his clients to settle was that he knew these people needed to go on living next to one another in their small villages and towns after they had their day in court. The skills he was developing as a lawyer-especially the subtle art of mediation-would one day soon be put to use on a much larger circuit.
WITH LINCOLN SPENDING more and more time traveling, his life as a lawyer, a politician, and a family man teetered out of balance. Politics, for the moment, had diminished while his legal practice had become all consuming. Any hopes that Mary may have had that Abraham would be home more often now that he was back from Washington were soon dashed. In 1850, his first full year home, Lincoln was away from Springfield 175 days. more and more time traveling, his life as a lawyer, a politician, and a family man teetered out of balance. Politics, for the moment, had diminished while his legal practice had become all consuming. Any hopes that Mary may have had that Abraham would be home more often now that he was back from Washington were soon dashed. In 1850, his first full year home, Lincoln was away from Springfield 175 days.
Mary bore these absences as one who felt abandoned. At age six, she had lost her mother. One year later, her father had married a woman to whom Mary never grew close. For much of Mary"s childhood her father was absent, often away on business or politics.
She dealt with her sense of desertion and loss by focusing intently on her children. Whereas family manuals from this period advised nursing children for up to ten months, Mary nursed each of her boys for nearly two years. One of the boys always slept with her, whether or not Lincoln was home. With no nurse and no grandparents nearby, Mary raised her children almost as a single mother.
And then death tumbled in. In July 1849, just as the family was returning from Washington, Mary"s father, Robert Todd, died suddenly of cholera while campaigning for the Kentucky Senate. Five months later, little Eddie Lincoln, age three and a half, fell ill. Mary nursed the boy through December and January, but the medical practice of the day could do little to combat what was probably pulmonary tuberculosis. After fifty-two days of suffering, Eddie Lincoln died at 6 a.m. on February 1, 1850.
The death of Eddie brought tremendous sadness to both Abraham and Mary. The Lincoln home was filled with the sound of Mary weeping. She probably did not go to the cemetery, where she might break down, for the convention of the time dictated that women grieve in private. Everything we know about Mary suggests that Eddie"s death struck a tremendous blow to her sense of self and her stability.
How Lincoln responded to the death of his young son is more difficult to determine. Herndon reported that Lincoln sank deep into melancholy. A friend recalled Lincoln trying to comfort Mary by entreating her, "Eat, Mary, for we must live." Three weeks after Eddie"s death, Lincoln wrote, "We miss him very much."
IMMEDIATELY AFTER EDDIE"S DEATH, Abraham and Mary attempted to contact the man who had married them, Reverend Charles Dresser of St. Paul"s Episcopal Church, where Mary worshipped, to ask him to conduct the funeral service. Unfortunately, Dresser was out of town.
And so the Lincolns turned to the Reverend James Smith, the new minister at Springfield"s First Presbyterian Church. The funeral service was held at the Lincolns" home at 11 a.m. on February 2. Both before and after the funeral, Smith brought pastoral care and comfort to the grieving parents.
Less than two years later, Mary joined First Presbyterian, a congregation founded in 1828 that had first met in the home of her uncle John Todd. In joining First Presbyterian, Mary reconnected with the Presbyterian church she had attended as a girl in Lexington. She became a member on October 13, 1852, "by examination." The ruling elders of the congregation heard her narrative of faith, what they called in the session minutes "experimental religion." The Lincolns rented pew number twenty in the seventh row for an annual fee of fifty dollars.
Originally from Scotland, the Reverend James Smith immigrated to the United States as a young man who was a confirmed deist, having read Constantin Volney and Thomas Paine. He took pleasure in challenging the religious ideas of camp-meeting preachers near his home in southern Indiana. But upon listening to the preaching of a c.u.mberland Presbyterian Church minister, Smith was converted. He was licensed to preach in 1825.
Smith wrote The Christian"s Defence The Christian"s Defence in 1843. The book grew out of his debates with a popular freethinker, Charles G. Olmstead, over eighteen successive evenings in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1841. Smith defended the authority and truthfulness of the Old and New Testaments. In critiquing contemporary deviations from true faith, he was concerned that "the exercises of the understanding must be separated from the tendencies of the fancy, or of the heart," a reference to the emotional, revivalist faith from which he was just then emerging. in 1843. The book grew out of his debates with a popular freethinker, Charles G. Olmstead, over eighteen successive evenings in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1841. Smith defended the authority and truthfulness of the Old and New Testaments. In critiquing contemporary deviations from true faith, he was concerned that "the exercises of the understanding must be separated from the tendencies of the fancy, or of the heart," a reference to the emotional, revivalist faith from which he was just then emerging.
Smith"s increasing intention to embrace a more rational faith gradually led him to the Presbyterian Church in 1844. He was called to First Presbyterian Church in Springfield in the spring of 1849, less than one year before the death of Eddie Lincoln. In October 1849, after the death of Mary"s father, the Lincolns traveled to Lexington, Kentucky, to help settle her father"s estate. While browsing in the library at the Todd home, Lincoln came across Smith"s 650-page treatise.
When Lincoln met Smith in Springfield, around the time of Eddie"s death, he either asked for or was offered a copy of The Christian"s Defence. The Christian"s Defence. Robert Lincoln remembered that a copy of Smith"s book sat on the bookshelf in the Lincoln home at Eighth and Jackson. Smith"s logical presentation of the Christian faith must have appealed to Lincoln"s penchant for order and reason. Put off by the emotionalism of the revivalist religion of his youth, Lincoln would have likely agreed with Smith"s proposal that when pondering religion "the mind must be trained to the hardihood of abstract and unfeeling intelligence." Smith contended that in matters of faith "everything must be given up to the supremacy of argument." Robert Lincoln remembered that a copy of Smith"s book sat on the bookshelf in the Lincoln home at Eighth and Jackson. Smith"s logical presentation of the Christian faith must have appealed to Lincoln"s penchant for order and reason. Put off by the emotionalism of the revivalist religion of his youth, Lincoln would have likely agreed with Smith"s proposal that when pondering religion "the mind must be trained to the hardihood of abstract and unfeeling intelligence." Smith contended that in matters of faith "everything must be given up to the supremacy of argument."
In the early 1850s, Lincoln attended First Presbyterian Church infrequently. He was away traveling on the Eighth Circuit each fall and spring, in addition to other travels as a lawyer and politician. Nevertheless, in the spring of 1853, Lincoln accepted an invitation to be one of three lawyers to represent the church in a suit in the Sangamon Presbytery.
John Todd Stuart, Lincoln"s former law partner and a member of First Presbyterian, remembered that Lincoln began to attend church on a more regular basis in the late 1850s. Both Abraham and Mary appreciated Smith, "an intellectual, powerful man," who, in the words of Mary"s close cousin Lizzie Grimsley, "could thunder out the terrors of the law as well as proclaim the love of the Gospel." Lincoln, who had pushed away his father"s emotional expressions of faith when he moved to New Salem in the 1830s, began to take another look at religion.
LESS THAN A YEAR after Eddie"s death, Mary"s grief was relieved in part when she gave birth to William Wallace Lincoln on December 21, 1850. He was named after Mary"s brother-in-law Dr. William Wallace. The Lincolns" third son would grow to become the boy most like his father. after Eddie"s death, Mary"s grief was relieved in part when she gave birth to William Wallace Lincoln on December 21, 1850. He was named after Mary"s brother-in-law Dr. William Wallace. The Lincolns" third son would grow to become the boy most like his father.
A fourth son, Thomas Lincoln, was born on April 4, 1853, named after Abraham"s father. He quickly acquired the nickname "Tad," short for "Tadpole," the way he looked at birth. Tad grew to be a prankster in a family of boys who were mischief makers-with their father"s consent and often encouragement.
Tad Lincoln was baptized at First Presbyterian Church on April 4, 1855. Thomas was the only son born after Mary joined First Presbyte rian Church and seems to have been the only one of the Lincoln boys who was baptized. All the boys regularly attended Sunday school at the church. The Lincolns were becoming fond of Pastor James Smith and frequently invited him to their home. Lincoln discovered in Smith someone who had also doubted as a young man, had also read Volney and Paine, but had come to affirm both reason and faith.
LINCOLN, THOUGH NOT SEEKING PUBLIC OFFICE himself, continued to lobby for public offices for his friends. He wrote to President Taylor in January 1850, to recommend Stephen T. Logan for U.S. judge of the District Court of Illinois. In the spring of 1850, Lincoln"s name was put forward by a Whig newspaper for another term in Congress, but he quickly quashed the idea. himself, continued to lobby for public offices for his friends. He wrote to President Taylor in January 1850, to recommend Stephen T. Logan for U.S. judge of the District Court of Illinois. In the spring of 1850, Lincoln"s name was put forward by a Whig newspaper for another term in Congress, but he quickly quashed the idea.
In July 1850, while in Chicago to partic.i.p.ate in a case before the U.S. District Court, Lincoln learned that President Taylor, after partic.i.p.ating in patriotic ceremonies on a hot July 4, had contracted a stomach ailment and died five days later. In Chicago, two committees immediately planned an event to memorialize the dead president. Receiving word that Lincoln was in town, they invited him on July 22 to give a eulogy. Honored by the request but concerned that he had less than two days to prepare, Lincoln replied, "The want of time for preparation will make the task, for me, a very difficult one to perform, in any degree satisfactory to others or to myself."
Nevertheless, on July 24, 1850, Lincoln offered a eulogy at city hall. The address had all the marks of words prepared in a hurry. Lincoln took much of his eulogy from Taylor"s 1848 campaign biographies, some of which contained inaccurate information.
Lincoln did, however, use the occasion to offer his perspective on contemporary politics. "I fear the one great great question of the day, is not now so likely to be partially acquiesced in by the different sections of the Union, as it would have been, could Gen. Taylor have been spared to us." Lincoln, never as enamored of Taylor as he was of Henry Clay, nonetheless had hoped that the president, a slave owner, would be a mediating figure in the growing crisis over slavery. question of the day, is not now so likely to be partially acquiesced in by the different sections of the Union, as it would have been, could Gen. Taylor have been spared to us." Lincoln, never as enamored of Taylor as he was of Henry Clay, nonetheless had hoped that the president, a slave owner, would be a mediating figure in the growing crisis over slavery.
In Lincoln"s unusual conclusion, he reminded his audience "that we, we, too, must die." He concluded with six entire stanzas from the poem "Mortality" by Scottish poet William Knox, which he had discovered in a newspaper in 1846 and committed to memory. too, must die." He concluded with six entire stanzas from the poem "Mortality" by Scottish poet William Knox, which he had discovered in a newspaper in 1846 and committed to memory.
The eulogy said as much about Lincoln as it did about Taylor. Lincoln, through the poem, evoked his own struggles with the meaning of life and death.
Yea! Hope and despondency, pleasure and pain, Are mingled together in sun-shine and rain; And the smile and the tear, and the song and the dirge, Still follow each other, like surge upon surge.
Lincoln had known melancholy and despondency.
"tis the wink of an eye, "tis the draught of a breath, From the blossoms of health, to the paleness of death.
From the gilded saloon, to the bier and the shroud.
Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud!
The poem, with its summoning of eternal and unchanging rhythms of life, appealed to Lincoln in his quest for meaning and fulfillment.
SOON AFTER THE BIRTH of Willie, Lincoln received a letter from his stepbrother, John D. Johnston, telling him that his father was quite ill and might not recover. Thomas Lincoln and his second wife, Sara Bush Lincoln, had lived on a farm on Goosenest Prairie in Coles County in southeastern Illinois since 1840. Johnston reminded Lincoln that he had written two previous letters and wondered why he had received no reply. Lincoln, acknowledging the receipt of both letters, wrote, "it is no[t because] I have forgotten them, or been uninterested about them-but because it appeared to me I could write nothing which could do any good." Lincoln added, "You already know I desire that neither Father or Mother shall be in want of any comfort either in health or sickness while they live," and added that his stepbrother should use his name "to procure a doctor, or anything else for Father in his present sickness." Lincoln then asked his stepbrother to convey to his father a consolation of faith: "Tell him to remember to call upon, and confide in, our great and good, and merciful Maker, who will not turn away from him in any extremity. He notes the fall of a sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our heads; and He will not forget the dying man, who puts his trust in Him." of Willie, Lincoln received a letter from his stepbrother, John D. Johnston, telling him that his father was quite ill and might not recover. Thomas Lincoln and his second wife, Sara Bush Lincoln, had lived on a farm on Goosenest Prairie in Coles County in southeastern Illinois since 1840. Johnston reminded Lincoln that he had written two previous letters and wondered why he had received no reply. Lincoln, acknowledging the receipt of both letters, wrote, "it is no[t because] I have forgotten them, or been uninterested about them-but because it appeared to me I could write nothing which could do any good." Lincoln added, "You already know I desire that neither Father or Mother shall be in want of any comfort either in health or sickness while they live," and added that his stepbrother should use his name "to procure a doctor, or anything else for Father in his present sickness." Lincoln then asked his stepbrother to convey to his father a consolation of faith: "Tell him to remember to call upon, and confide in, our great and good, and merciful Maker, who will not turn away from him in any extremity. He notes the fall of a sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our heads; and He will not forget the dying man, who puts his trust in Him."
It has been suggested by some that Lincoln"s religious words were an unconvincing appeal to the language of the primitive Baptist faith adhered to by Lincoln"s parents. But it is more plausible that Lincoln offered heartfelt language that he himself had heard from the Reverend Smith eleven months earlier at the funeral of his son Eddie and now conveyed as a consolation to his own father.
In his conclusion, Lincoln wrote of the distance that had grown between son and father. "Say to him that if we could meet now, it is doubtful whether it would not be more painful than pleasant."
Thomas Lincoln died five days later on January 17, 1851. Lincoln did not attend the funeral. The distance could not be bridged.
AS SOLE HEIR, Lincoln inherited the eighty-acre farm on the Goosenest Prairie. He had no wish to benefit from the farm and sold it to his stepbrother for one dollar on August 12, 1851.
When, near the end of that year, he learned that Johnston was considering selling the land and moving to Missouri, Lincoln could not restrain his outrage. "I have been thinking of this ever since; and can not but think such a notion is utterly foolish." He peppered Johnston with questions. "What can you do in Missouri, better than here? Is the land richer? Can you there, any more than here, raise corn, & wheat & oats, without work? Will any body there, any more than here, do your work for you?" Lincoln did not mince words. "I feel it is my duty to have no hand in such a piece of foolery." He was particularly upset on "Mother"s "Mother"s account," that the lack of Johnston"s labor and income would leave his stepmother dest.i.tute. account," that the lack of Johnston"s labor and income would leave his stepmother dest.i.tute.
Lincoln, in reading over this strong letter, began his final paragraph, "Now do not misunderstand this letter, I do not write it in any unkind-ness." He told his stepbrother he wrote "to get you to face face the truth ... your thousand pretences for not getting along better are all non-sense-they deceive no body but yourself." Lincoln"s final sentence articulated not simply his hopes for his brother, but his own creed. the truth ... your thousand pretences for not getting along better are all non-sense-they deceive no body but yourself." Lincoln"s final sentence articulated not simply his hopes for his brother, but his own creed. "Go to work "Go to work is the only cure for your case." is the only cure for your case."
SENATOR HENRY CLAY died in Washington, D.C., on June 29, 1852. On July 6, Springfield suspended all city business in recognition of a day of national mourning. The citizens of Springfield held two memorial meetings, one at the Episcopal church led by the Reverend Charles Dresser, who read the "Service for the Dead" from the Book of Common Prayer, and the second at the state capitol with a eulogy delivered by Lincoln. What Jefferson had meant to Madison, Clay had meant to Lincoln. died in Washington, D.C., on June 29, 1852. On July 6, Springfield suspended all city business in recognition of a day of national mourning. The citizens of Springfield held two memorial meetings, one at the Episcopal church led by the Reverend Charles Dresser, who read the "Service for the Dead" from the Book of Common Prayer, and the second at the state capitol with a eulogy delivered by Lincoln. What Jefferson had meant to Madison, Clay had meant to Lincoln.
Lincoln began his speech by relating the birth of the nation to the birth of Clay. "The infant nation, and the infant child began the race of life together." Lincoln built his eulogy around the lessons that Clay"s life could still offer the country. Commenting on Clay"s "comparatively limited" education, Lincoln said that it "teaches at least one profitable lesson," that "one can scarcely be so poor, but that, if he will, will, he can acquire sufficient education to get through the world respectably." Lincoln may have exaggerated Clay"s lack of education, but in introducing this theme he offered his identification with the politician he idealized. he can acquire sufficient education to get through the world respectably." Lincoln may have exaggerated Clay"s lack of education, but in introducing this theme he offered his identification with the politician he idealized.
Unlike hundreds of other eulogies to Clay, Lincoln"s highlighted the Kentuckian"s vigorous engagement with slavery throughout his political life. He emphasized that Clay, from the beginning of his public career, "ever was, on principle and in feeling, opposed to slavery." Acknowledging the paradox that Clay was a slave owner, Lincoln declared that he had nonetheless been "in favor of gradual emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves in Kentucky." Lincoln admired Clay for opposing "both extremes" on slavery: those who would "shiver into fragments the Union" and those who would "tear to tatters the Const.i.tution" in their desire to overthrow slavery immediately. Lincoln was intent to "array his name, opinions, and influence," against "an increasing number of men" who, Lincoln feared, were beginning to a.s.sail "the declaration that "all men are created free and equal." "
Lincoln offered this tribute to Clay three years after he had last held public office. He had no future political office in sight. His eulogy memorialized his ideal politician, but it also enunciated the ideals that would bring Lincoln once again into public life, much sooner than he antic.i.p.ated.
This photograph from October 17, 1854, by Polycarp Von Schneidau in Chicago, captures an intellectual if not crafty, Lincoln in the year he reentered politics.
CHAPTER 11.
Let No One Be Deceived 185256 OUR REPUBLICAN ROBE IS SOILED, AND TRAILED IN THE DUST LET US REPURIFY IT LET US TURN AND WASH IT WHITE, IN THE SPIRIT, IF NOT THE BLOOD, OF THE REVOLUTION.
ABRAHAM LINCOLNSpeech at Peoria, Illinois, October 16, 1854 -E WERE THUNDERSTRUCK AND STUNNED; AND WE REELED AND FELL IN utter confusion." Abraham Lincoln spoke these words in one of his first responses to the pa.s.sage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. He found himself quickly caught up in the midst of a tempest, and his words revealed his keen awareness that he was not prepared for the political task before him. Yet, he would discover in the months ahead how to speak with new definition and clarity about the meaning of the promise of America in the national debate about slavery. The ways in which Lincoln responded to this storm would mark a significant turning point in his life. utter confusion." Abraham Lincoln spoke these words in one of his first responses to the pa.s.sage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. He found himself quickly caught up in the midst of a tempest, and his words revealed his keen awareness that he was not prepared for the political task before him. Yet, he would discover in the months ahead how to speak with new definition and clarity about the meaning of the promise of America in the national debate about slavery. The ways in which Lincoln responded to this storm would mark a significant turning point in his life.
ON JANUARY 4, 1854, Senator Stephen A. Douglas, chairman of the powerful Committee on Territories, brought to the Senate a bill to set up a government in the vast Nebraska Territory. The urgency grew from mounting pressure to organize this territory in the center of the old Louisiana Purchase. President Jefferson"s acquisition from France in 1803 of more than one million square miles had expanded the area of the United States all the way from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase, the United States consisted of seventeen states-nine free and eight slave-of almost equal population.
Political infighting over the organization of the sizable Nebraska Territory had broken out in earlier Congresses, and four previous bills had foundered over disagreements about the extension of slavery. Doug las now offered what he called a "compromise" measure, arguing that local control, what he called a long-held American "sacred" value, would finally mitigate the issue of slavery. In its final form the act provided for not one but two new territories, Nebraska and Kansas. The bill stated that "all questions pertaining to slavery in the territories were to be left to the decision of the people residing therein." The intent of Douglas"s bill was to transfer the power to decide whether or not slavery would be permitted from Congress to the people in the territory.
The storm began the moment the Kansas-Nebraska Act was introduced. Salmon P. Chase, elected to the Senate from Ohio in 1849 by a coalition of Free Soilers and Democrats, was chosen point man for the counterattack. Chase would be ably a.s.sisted by Charles Sumner, the new senator from Ma.s.sachusetts, also elected by Free Soilers and Democrats. The tall, handsome Chase questioned Douglas"s interpretation of American history and declared that the leaders of the revolutionary generation had abhorred slavery, had tolerated it as the price of gaining approval for the Const.i.tution, and, by restricting its future growth, had expected it to die out by the second or third generation of the new nation. In the course of his remarks, Chase charged that the Illinois senator had "out Southernized the South."
Douglas was surprised and angered by the intensity of the criticisms. A dramatic moment occurred when Senator Edward Everett of Ma.s.sachusetts brought to the Senate a 250-foot-long memorial against the bill signed by 3,050 New England ministers of various denominations. Douglas was furious at what he described as religious leaders inappropriately meddling in politics.
On March 2, 1854, the Senate began a final debate on the bill. Everyone wanted to speak, bickering ensued, and insults were exchanged. On March 3, exhaustion set in and liquor broke out. At dusk, the candles in the great chamber were lit so that the debate could continue. Douglas finally began his summation at eleven-thirty in the evening with the galleries still packed. He rested his case in his belief that popular sovereignty would in the long run "destroy all sectional parties and sectional agitations." After a nonstop session of more than seventeen hours, at five o"clock in the morning on March 4, the Senate pa.s.sed the Kansas-Nebraska Act by a vote of 37 to 14. The size of the majority belied the tensions within both the Democratic and Whig parties.
The bill faced greater opposition in the House. With the bill bottled up in committee, Lincoln"s friend from the Thirtieth Congress, Alexander Stephens of Georgia, played an experienced parliamentary hand to bring it to the floor for a vote. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was approved by the House on May 22, 1854, in a much tighter vote, 113 to 110. President Franklin Pierce, who lined up with Douglas"s intentions, signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act into law on May 30. The fight in Congress had been won, but the real battle was about to begin.
The debate over and pa.s.sage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act dramatically changed the political landscape of the country. The carefully constructed political compromises of 1820 and 1850 had been overturned; the fury of the antislavery advocates was intensified; but the legislative action fell short of mollifying many in the South. The Whig Party, which had elected a president only six years earlier, was now demoralized and in disarray; it struggled to respond. The Democratic Party, which Douglas hoped to bring together, suffered dissension between Northern and Southern members. American religious leaders, not united in their response to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, came together in pulpits and press to exhort their const.i.tuencies to raise their voices in protest. An "anti-Nebraska" movement grew quickly, enlisting disparate groups that cut across party lines.
With Clay, Calhoun, and Webster no longer present, new, younger leaders entered the political stage. The forty-year-old Douglas, serving in his second term in the Senate and ambitious to move to center stage, positioned himself as a leading actor in an unfolding national drama. Far offstage, Abraham Lincoln, at age forty-four, five years removed from his single term in Congress and traveling the dusty back roads of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, emerged from political exile to speak with new power in response to pa.s.sage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In the months of 1854 and beyond, Lincoln and Douglas would find themselves on a collision course.
AS THE BILL MOVED forward through Congress in the winter and spring of 1854, Lincoln read reports of the debate in the forward through Congress in the winter and spring of 1854, Lincoln read reports of the debate in the Congressional Globe. Congressional Globe. Herndon had long made it his business to show Lincoln important speeches, newspaper reports, and editorials about national issues. Three weeks after Douglas introduced his bill, Lincoln read in the Herndon had long made it his business to show Lincoln important speeches, newspaper reports, and editorials about national issues. Three weeks after Douglas introduced his bill, Lincoln read in the National Era National Era "An Appeal of Independent Democrats" over the names of six congressional leaders, including Senators Chase and Sumner, plus his friend from the Thirtieth Congress Joshua Giddings of Ohio. The "Appeal" was filled with inflammatory language. "We arraign this bill as a gross violation of a sacred pledge; as a criminal betrayal of precious rights; as part and parcel of an atrocious plot to exclude from a vast unoccupied region immigrants from the Old World and free laborers from our own States, and convert it into a dreary region of despotism, inhabited by masters and slaves." "An Appeal of Independent Democrats" over the names of six congressional leaders, including Senators Chase and Sumner, plus his friend from the Thirtieth Congress Joshua Giddings of Ohio. The "Appeal" was filled with inflammatory language. "We arraign this bill as a gross violation of a sacred pledge; as a criminal betrayal of precious rights; as part and parcel of an atrocious plot to exclude from a vast unoccupied region immigrants from the Old World and free laborers from our own States, and convert it into a dreary region of despotism, inhabited by masters and slaves."
The fact that Lincoln failed to speak out was not surprising. He did not hold political office, nor was he a candidate for office. He was, however, extremely busy with his general law practice. In January and February, he began work on an appeal before the Illinois Supreme Court of his first large case for the Illinois Central Railroad, Illinois Central v. McLean County. Illinois Central v. McLean County. He was continuously involved in court cases until the Sangamon Circuit Court adjourned in Springfield on June 15, 1854. And he continued to practice his regular intellectual discipline. His notes from the 1850s include reflections on law, government, slavery, sectionalism, Stephen A. Douglas, and the formation of the Republican Party. He was continuously involved in court cases until the Sangamon Circuit Court adjourned in Springfield on June 15, 1854. And he continued to practice his regular intellectual discipline. His notes from the 1850s include reflections on law, government, slavery, sectionalism, Stephen A. Douglas, and the formation of the Republican Party.
In the early months of 1854, the anti-Nebraska movement accelerated the disintegration of the Whigs, but Lincoln was, if anything, loyal. He remained faithful to the party of Clay and was not ready to abandon the Whig heritage or its future.
The artist places the blame on the Democrats for the violence against Free Staters in Kansas in the wake of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
And he did not know for sure which way the political winds were blowing. In the 1850s, the nation experienced its largest reordering of political parties in its history. The Liberty Party, abolitionists energized by an evangelical perfectionist theology, had experienced some success in the early 1840s, especially in New York, but its base was too radical and its ideology too focused to allow it to become a national party. The Free Soil Party showed promise of broader appeal in 1848, enticing both Whigs and Democrats in New England, New York, and across the northern tiers of the Midwestern states to join its ranks, but it had yet to achieve a wider appeal. Both parties developed from a groundswell of Northern antislavery and sectional sentiment.
In these same years, Lincoln was discouraged by the nativism sweeping the country. Immigration had surged in the 1840s, bringing newcomers fleeing revolutions in continental Europe and famine in Ireland. In response, an anti-immigration movement had sprung up. Various secret societies coalesced in the early 1850s into the American Party, popularly known as Know-Nothings, because members, when asked about their organization, steadfastly declared their ignorance of the party. The largest group of immigrants-the Irish-as well as many Germans, were Catholic and became the target of Protestant attacks. Many Americans viewed Catholic obedience to a conservative pope as a threat to the liberal American belief in religious liberty. Paradoxically, Know-Nothings and other nativist groups often attracted the same voters who were for temperance, hostile to the hard-drinking Irish Catholics, and against slavery. This appeal to nationalism united Whigs, Democrats, and Free Soilers into a Know-Nothing movement that experienced some spectacular election victories in 1854 and 1855. The New York Herald New York Herald even predicted the Know-Nothings would win the presidency in 1856. even predicted the Know-Nothings would win the presidency in 1856.
Lincoln became heartsick as he watched the Know-Nothings make inroads into the Whig Party. He wrote to Owen Lovejoy, abolitionist minister of the Congregational church in Princeton, Illinois, whose brother, Elijah, had been killed in 1837 for defending his printing press in Alton, "I do not perceive how any one professing to be sensitive to the wrongs of the negroes, can join in a league to degrade a cla.s.s of white men." He was more adamant in a letter to his old friend Joshua Speed. "I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be?" Lincoln then addressed the dizzying events unfolding across the nation.
Lincoln became dismayed by the nativist movement"s inroads into the Whig Party in the 1850s. "The Know Nothing Citizen" depicts a fair-haired young man meant to be the embodiment of the native-born citizen.Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that "all men are created equal. " "all men are created equal. " We now practically read it, "all men are created equal, We now practically read it, "all men are created equal, except negroes." except negroes." When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except negroes, When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics." and foreigners, and catholics." When it comes to this, I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty-Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, without the base alloy of hypocrisy. When it comes to this, I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty-Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, without the base alloy of hypocrisy.
LINCOLN WATCHED FROM A DISTANCE as another new party struggled to be born. Starting in 1852, a moderate antislavery movement began to attract disgruntled Whigs, Democrats, and Free Soilers. If the problem of slavery became a primary catalyst for this new movement, its first leaders also expressed long-held economic beliefs about protective tariffs, internal improvements, and the use of public lands in the West. The urgency to act now grew from their sense that their ideas were being blocked by a Southern oligarchy that for too long had exercised too much power in Washington. Opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act led to local meetings in Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as in Vermont, Maine, Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa. This new movement was called by different names, but the name "Republican"-probably first used in Ripon, Wisconsin, in February 1854-quickly became its calling card. Concerned about the future, these early Republican leaders saw themselves as heirs to the old Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans of the past. as another new party struggled to be born. Starting in 1852, a moderate antislavery movement began to attract disgruntled Whigs, Democrats, and Free Soilers. If the problem of slavery became a primary catalyst for this new movement, its first leaders also expressed long-held economic beliefs about protective tariffs, internal improvements, and the use of public lands in the West. The urgency to act now grew from their sense that their ideas were being blocked by a Southern oligarchy that for too long had exercised too much power in Washington. Opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act led to local meetings in Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as in Vermont, Maine, Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa. This new movement was called by different names, but the name "Republican"-probably first used in Ripon, Wisconsin, in February 1854-quickly became its calling card. Concerned about the future, these early Republican leaders saw themselves as heirs to the old Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans of the past.
IN 1854 OR 1855, Lincoln wrote two notes on slavery.
The first, perhaps referring to George Fitzhugh"s Sociology of Slavery, Sociology of Slavery, stated, "Although volume upon volume is written to prove slavery a good thing, we never hear of the man who wishes to take the good of it, stated, "Although volume upon volume is written to prove slavery a good thing, we never hear of the man who wishes to take the good of it, by being a slave himself." by being a slave himself." Fitzhugh, a Virginia lawyer and social theorist, had argued in his 1854 book that the slave was "but a grown up child" who needed the protections provided by Southern society, whereas free labor in the North could be easily exploited. Fitzhugh, a Virginia lawyer and social theorist, had argued in his 1854 book that the slave was "but a grown up child" who needed the protections provided by Southern society, whereas free labor in the North could be easily exploited.
Lincoln began his second note with a philosophical question. "If A. can prove, however conclusively, that he may, of right, enslave B.-why not B. s.n.a.t.c.h the same argument, and prove equally, that he may enslave A? ... You say A. is white, and B. is black. It is color, color, then; the lighter, having the right to enslave the darker?" He tried out the same argument with the characteristics of then; the lighter, having the right to enslave the darker?" He tried out the same argument with the characteristics of "intellectual "intellectual superiority" and superiority" and "interest." "interest." In each case, his response is, be careful, "you are to be slave to the first man you meet," with a color, intellect, or interest superior to yours. This fragment is a rare glimpse of a private Lincoln puzzling out the most public problem of the day. In each case, his response is, be careful, "you are to be slave to the first man you meet," with a color, intellect, or interest superior to yours. This fragment is a rare glimpse of a private Lincoln puzzling out the most public problem of the day.
Lincoln"s reading, contemplation, and writing was his means not simply to acquire more knowledge or to prepare for a future speech, but to forge his moral character. Always an astute observer of the character of others, he was keenly aware of his own moral development. Lincoln attempted to clarify his ethical ident.i.ty even as he prepared to speak with new clarity about the moral issues facing the nation.
Many of the ideas in these notes, and sometimes the exact language, would later find their way into his speeches. Although remembered as a grand spontaneous speaker, Lincoln increasingly preferred careful preparation before making a speech.
He also listened. On a warm July day in 1854, Ca.s.sius M. Clay, an antislavery editor from Kentucky, lectured in Springfield as part of his tour of Illinois. Denied the use of the rotunda of the statehouse because of his abolitionist views, Clay spoke in a grove of trees at the edge of town. Lincoln was present, "whittling sticks as he lay on the turf."
Clay aimed his rhetorical guns at Douglas and his Springfield mouthpiece, the Illinois State Register, Illinois State Register, edited by Douglas defender Charles H. Lamphier. Clay, born the son of a large Kentucky slaveholder, was a cousin of Henry Clay, Lincoln"s political hero. As a student at Yale, young Ca.s.sius became impressed with the dynamism of New England"s free white labor economy. On his return to Kentucky, he saw with fresh eyes the impoverishment of his own region, which he attributed to its reliance on black slave labor. The way that Clay connected free men with free labor struck a responsive chord in Lincoln. edited by Douglas defender Charles H. Lamphier. Clay, born the son of a large Kentucky slaveholder, was a cousin of Henry Clay, Lincoln"s political hero. As a student at Yale, young Ca.s.sius became impressed with the dynamism of New England"s free white labor economy. On his return to Kentucky, he saw with fresh eyes the impoverishment of his own region, which he attributed to its reliance on black slave labor. The way that Clay connected free men with free labor struck a responsive chord in Lincoln.
Clay centered his remarks in Springfield on fidelity to the Declaration of Independence as the key to the present debate on slavery. "The Declaration of Independence a.s.serted an immortal truth. It declared political equality as to personal, civil, and religious rights." When he turned his firepower on the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Clay took aim at the economic impact on the new states. "As men of commerce, mere men of the world, conscious that slavery leads back to barbarism, we cannot look with indifference upon the conversion of this vast region to slavery." Lincoln, imbued with a belief in everyone"s right to rise, was critical of slavery for denying that right.
LINCOLN FINALLY SPOKE out in late August 1854, three months after the pa.s.sage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He spoke in response to a request from Richard Yates to a.s.sist in his campaign for reelection to Congress in Lincoln"s home district. Yates was an early opponent of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, condemning it in March on the floor of the House of Representatives. On Friday, August 25, Lincoln traveled to Yates"s home in Jacksonville and stayed overnight; the two traveled together to the Scott County Whig Convention in Winchester. Lincoln"s speech focused on "the great wrong and injustice of the Missouri Compromise, and the extension of slavery into free territory." The local newspaper believed Lincoln offered "a masterful effort ... equal to any upon the same subject in Congress." out in late August 1854, three months after the pa.s.sage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He spoke in response to a request from Richard Yates to a.s.sist in his campaign for reelection to Congress in Lincoln"s home district. Yates was an early opponent of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, condemning it in March on the floor of the House of Representatives. On Friday, August 25, Lincoln traveled to Yates"s home in Jacksonville and stayed overnight; the two traveled together to the Scott County Whig Convention in Winchester. Lincoln"s speech focused on "the great wrong and injustice of the Missouri Compromise, and the extension of slavery into free territory." The local newspaper believed Lincoln offered "a masterful effort ... equal to any upon the same subject in Congress."
On September 12, 1854, Lincoln addressed a German anti-Nebraska gathering in Bloomington, Illinois. The German immigrants in Illinois, numbering more than thirty thousand by 1850, had been moving away from their initial support for the Democratic Party over the issue of slavery. In a season of increasingly incendiary rhetoric, Lincoln addressed the German audience in a decidedly different tone. He was inclusive rather than abusive. "He first declared that the Southern slaveholders were neither better, nor worse than we of the North," reported the Bloomington Pantagraph. Bloomington Pantagraph. He further stated, "If we were situated as they are, we should act and feel as they do; and if they were situated as we are, they should act and feel as we do. We never ought to lose sight of this fact in discussing the subject." Lincoln, who in his early political career had attacked opponents without mercy, began his remarks with a plea for understanding for the people of the South, who others just now joining the anti-Nebraska coalition delighted in vilifying. He further stated, "If we were situated as they are, we should act and feel as they do; and if they were situated as we are, they should act and feel as we do. We never ought to lose sight of this fact in discussing the subject." Lincoln, who in his early political career had attacked opponents without mercy, began his remarks with a plea for understanding for the people of the South, who others just now joining the anti-Nebraska coalition delighted in vilifying.
Lincoln"s speech was more a history lesson than a harangue. He recounted the story of the development of the Mississippi River valley after it was acquired from the French. He invoked the name and precedent of Thomas Jefferson, whom Lincoln identified as a Southerner-a Virginian-who had declared that "slavery should never be introduced into" the territories. Lincoln appealed to the precedent of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which declared that for all time the territories north of the 3630" lat.i.tude line, the southern boundary of Missouri, "should be free."