Lincoln’s Appearance--His First Public Speech--Again at New
Orleans--Mechanical Genius--Clerk in a Country Store--Elected
Captain--The Black Hawk War--Is a successful Candidate for
the Legislature--Becomes a Storekeeper, Land-Surveyor, and
Postmaster--His First Love--The “Long Nine”--First Step towards
Emancipation.
In 1830, Thomas Lincoln had again tired of his home, and resolved to
move Westward. This time he did not change without good reason: an
epidemic had appeared in his Indiana neighbourhood, which was besides
generally unhealthy. Therefore, in the spring, he and Abraham, with
Dennis Hanks and Levi Hall, who had married one of Mrs. Lincoln’s
daughters by her first husband, with their families, thirteen in all,
having packed their furniture on a waggon, drawn by four oxen, took
the road for Illinois. After journeying 200 miles in fifteen days,
Thomas Lincoln settled in Moron County, on the Sangamon River, about
ten miles west of Decatur. Here they built a cabin of hewn timber, with
a smoke-house for drying meat, and a stable, and broke up and fenced
fifteen acres of land.
Abraham Lincoln was now twenty-one, and his father had been a hard
master, taking all his wages. He therefore, after doing his best
to settle the family in their new home, went forth to work for
himself among the farmers. One George Cluse, who worked with Abraham
during the first year in Illinois, says that at that time he was
“the roughest-looking person he ever saw: he was tall, angular, and
ungainly, and wore trousers of flax and tow, cut tight at the ankle
and out at the knees. He was very poor, and made a bargain with Mrs.
Nancy Miller to split 400 rails for every yard of brown jean, dyed with
walnut bark, that would be required to make him a pair of trousers.”
Thomas Lincoln found, in less than a year, that his new home was the
most unhealthy of all he had tried. So he went Westward again, moving
to three new places until he settled at Goose Nest Prairie, in Coles
County, where he died at the age of seventy-three, “as usual, in debt.”
From the time of his death, and as he advanced in prosperity, Abraham
aided his stepmother in many ways besides sending her money. It was
at Decatur that he made his first public speech, standing on a keg.
It was on the navigation of the Sangamon River, and was delivered
extemporaneously in reply to one by a candidate for the Legislature,
named Posey.
During the winter of 1831, a trader, named Denton Offutt, proposed to
John Hanks, Abraham Lincoln, and John D. Johnston, his stepmother’s
son, to take a flat-boat to New Orleans. The wages offered were very
high--fifty cents a day to each man, and sixty dollars to be divided
among them at the end of the trip. After some delay, the boat, loaded
with corn, pigs, and pork, sailed, but just below New Salem, on the
Sangamon, it stuck on a dam, but was saved by the great ingenuity of
Lincoln, who invented a novel apparatus for getting it over. This seems
to have turned his mind to the subject of overcoming such difficulties
of navigation, and in 1849 he obtained a patent for “an improved method
of lifting vessels over shoals.” The design is a bellows attached to
each side of the hull, below the water-line, to be pumped full of air
when it is desired to lift the craft over a shoal. The model, which is
eighteen or twenty inches long, and which is now in the Patent Office
at Washington, appears to have been cut with a knife from a shingle
and a cigar-box.[12] John Hanks, apparently a most trustworthy and
excellent man, declared that it was during this trip, while at New
Orleans, Lincoln first saw negroes chained, maltreated, and whipped.
It made a deep impression on his humane mind, and, years after, he
often declared that witnessing this cruelty first induced him to think
slavery wrong. At New Orleans the flat-boat discharged its cargo, and
was sold for its timber. Lincoln returned on a steamboat to St. Louis,
and thence walked home. He had hardly returned, before he received a
challenge from a famous wrestler, named Daniel Needham. There was a
great assembly at Wabash Point, to witness the match, where Needham was
thrown with so much ease that his pride was more hurt than his body.
In July, 1831, Abraham again engaged himself to Mr. Offutt, to take
charge of a country store at New Salem. While awaiting his employer,
an election was held, and a clerk was wanted at the polls. The
stranger, Abraham, being asked whether he was competent to fill the
post, said, “I will try,” and performed the duties well. This was the
first public official act of his life; and as soon as Offutt’s goods
arrived, Lincoln, from a day-labourer, became a clerk, or rather
salesman, in which capacity he remained for one year, or until the
spring of 1832, when his employer failed. Many incidents are narrated
of Lincoln’s honesty towards customers during this clerkship--of his
strict integrity in trifles--his bravery when women were annoyed by
bullies--and of his prowess against a gang of ruffians who infested and
ruled the town. He is said to have more than once walked several miles
after business hours to return six cents, or some equally trifling
sum, when he had been overpaid. It is very evident that he managed
all matters with so much tact as to make fast friends of everybody,
and was specially a favourite of the men with whom he fought. It was
now that he began to cultivate popularity, quietly, but with the same
determination which he had shown in acquiring knowledge. To his credit
be it said, that he effected this neither by flattery nor servility,
but by making the most of his good qualities, and by inducing respect
for his honesty, intelligence, and bravery. It is certain that, during
a year, Mr. Offutt was continually stimulating his ambition, and
insisting that he knew more than any man in the United States, and
would some day be President. Lincoln himself knew very well by this
time of what stuff many of the men were made who rose in politics, and
that, with a little luck and perseverance, he could hold his own with
them. When out of the “store,” he was always busy, as of old, in the
pursuit of knowledge. He mastered the English grammar, remarking that,
“if that was what they called a science, he thought he could subdue
another.” A Mr. Green, who became his fellow-clerk, declares that his
talk now showed that he was beginning to think of “a great life and
a great destiny.” He busied himself very much with debating clubs,
walking many miles to attend them, and for years continued to take the
“Louisville Journal,” famous for the lively wit of its editor, George
D. Prentice, and for this newspaper he paid regularly when he had
not the means to buy decent clothing. From this time his life rapidly
increases in interest. It is certain that, from early youth, he had
quietly determined to become great, and that he thoroughly tested his
own talents and acquirements before entering upon politics as a career.
His chief and indeed his almost only talent was resolute perseverance,
and by means of it he passed in the race of life thousands who were his
superiors in genius. Among all the biographies of the great and wise
and good among mankind, there is not one so full of encouragement to
poor young men as that of Abraham Lincoln, since there is not one which
so illustrates not only how mere personal success may be attained, but
how, by strong will and self-culture, the tremendous task of guiding
a vast country through the trials of a civil war may be successfully
achieved.
In the spring of 1832, Mr. Offutt failed, and Lincoln had nothing to
do. For some time past, an Indian rebellion, led by the famous Black
Hawk, Chief of the Sac tribe, had caused the greatest alarm in the
Western States. About the beginning of this century (1804-5), the Sacs
had been removed west of the Mississippi; but Black Hawk, believing
that his people had been unjustly exiled, organised a conspiracy
which for a while embraced nine of the most powerful tribes of the
North-West, and announced his intention of returning and settling in
the old hunting-grounds of his people on the Rock River. He was a man
of great courage and shrewdness, skilled as an orator, and dreaded
as one gifted with supernatural power, combining in his person the
war-chief and prophet. But the returning Indians, by committing great
barbarities on the way, caused such irritation and alarm among the
white settlers, that when Governor Reynolds of Illinois, issued a
call for volunteers, several regiments of hardy frontiersmen were at
once formed. Black Hawk’s allies, with the exception of the tribe of
the Foxes, at once fell away, but their desperate leader kept on in
his course. Among the companies which volunteered was one from Menard
County, embracing many men from New Salem. The captain was chosen by
vote, and the choice fell on Lincoln. He was accustomed to say, when
President, that nothing in his life had ever gratified him so much as
this promotion; and this may well have been, since, to a very ambitious
man, the first practical proofs of popularity are like the first
instalment of a great fortune paid to one who is poor.
Though he was never in an actual engagement during this campaign,
Lincoln underwent much hunger and hardship while it lasted, and at
times had great trouble with his men, who were not only mere raw
militia, but also unusually rough and rebellious. One incident of the
war, however, as narrated by Lamon, not only indicates that Abraham
Lincoln was sometimes in danger, but was well qualified to grapple with
it.
“One day, during these many marches and countermarches, an old Indian,
weary, hungry, and helpless, found his way into the camp. He professed
to be a friend of the whites; and, although it was an exceedingly
perilous experiment for one of his colour, he ventured to throw himself
upon the mercy of the soldiers. But the men first murmured, and then
broke out into fierce cries for his blood. “We have come out to fight
Indians,” they said, “and we intend to do it.” The poor Indian, now
in the extremity of his distress and peril, did what he should have
done before--he threw down before his assailants a soiled and crumpled
paper, which he implored them to read before taking his life. It was
a letter of character and safe conduct from General Cass, pronouncing
him a faithful man, who had done good service in the cause for which
this army was enlisted. But it was too late; the men refused to read
it, or thought it a forgery, and were rushing with fury upon the
defenceless old savage, when Captain Lincoln bounded between them and
their appointed victim. “Men,” said he, and his voice for a moment
stilled the agitation around him, “this must not be done--he must not
be shot and killed by us.” “But,” said some of them, “the Indian is a
spy.” Lincoln knew that his own life was now in only less danger than
that of the poor creature that crouched behind him. During this scene,
the towering form and the passion and resolution in Lincoln’s face
produced an effect upon the furious mob. They paused, listened, fell
back, and then sullenly obeyed what seemed to be the voice of reason as
well as authority. But there were still some murmurs of disappointed
rage, and half-suppressed exclamations which looked towards vengeance
of some kind. At length one of the men, a little bolder than the rest,
but evidently feeling that he spoke for the whole, cried out--“This
is cowardly on your part, Lincoln!” “If any man think I am a coward,
let him test it,” was the reply. “Lincoln,” responded a new voice,
“you are larger and heavier than we are.” “This you can guard against;
choose your weapons,” returned the Captain. Whatever may be said
of Mr. Lincoln’s choice of means for the preservation of military
discipline, it was certainly very effectual in this case. There was no
more disaffection in his camp, and the word “coward” was never coupled
with his name again. Mr. Lincoln understood his men better than those
who would be disposed to criticise his conduct. He has often declared
himself that “his life and character were both at stake, and would
probably have been lost, had he not at that supremely critical moment
forgotten the officer and asserted the man.” The soldiers, in fact,
could not have been arrested, tried, or punished; they were merely
wild backwoodsmen, “acting entirely by their own will, and any effort
to court-martial them would simply have failed in its object, and made
their Captain seem afraid of them.”
During this campaign, Lincoln made the acquaintance of a lawyer--then
captain--the Hon. T. Stuart, who had subsequently a great influence
on his career. When the company was mustered out in May, Lincoln at
once re-enlisted as a private in a volunteer spy company, where he
remained for a month, until the Battle of Bad Axe, which resulted in
the capture of Black Hawk, put an end to hostilities. This war was not
a remarkable affair, says J. G. Holland, but it was remarkable that the
two simplest, homeliest, and truest men engaged in it afterwards became
Presidents of the United States--namely, General, then Colonel, Zachary
Taylor and Abraham Lincoln.
It has always been usual in the United States to urge to the utmost
the slightest military services rendered by candidates for office.
The absurd degree to which this was carried often awoke the satire of
Lincoln, even when it was at his own expense. Many years after, he
referred thus humorously to his military services[13]:--
“By the way, Mr. Speaker, did you know I was a military hero? Yes,
sir, in the days of the Black Hawk war I fought, bled, and came away.
Speaking of General Cass’s career reminds me of my own. I was not at
Sullivan’s defeat, but I was about as near to it as Cass was to Hull’s
surrender, and, like him, I saw the place soon after. It is quite
certain that I did not break my sword, for I had none to break;[14] but
I bent my musket pretty badly on one occasion. If Cass broke his sword,
the idea is he broke it in desperation. I bent the musket by accident.
If General Cass went in advance of me in picking whortleberries, I
guess I surpassed him in charges upon the wild onions. If he saw any
live fighting Indians, it was more than I did; but I had a great many
bloody struggles with the mosquitoes, and, although I never fainted
from loss of blood, I certainly can say I was often very hungry.”
The soldiers from Sangamon County arrived home just ten days before the
State election, and Lincoln was immediately applied to for permission
to place his name among the candidates for the Legislature.[15] He
canvassed the district, but was defeated, though he received the
almost unanimous vote of his own precinct. The young man had, however,
made a great advance even by defeat, since he became known by it as
one whose sterling honesty had deserved a better reward. Lincoln’s
integrity was, in this election, strikingly evinced by his adherence
to his political principles; had he been less scrupulous, he would not
have lost the election. At this time there were two great political
parties--the Democratic, headed by Andrew Jackson, elected President
in 1832, and that which had been the Federalist, but which was rapidly
being called Whig. The Democratic party warred against a national bank,
paper money, “monopolies” or privileged and chartered institutions,
a protective tariff, and internal improvements, and was, in short,
jealous of all public expenditure which could tend to greatly enrich
individuals. Its leader, Jackson, was a man of inflexible determination
and unquestionable bravery, which he had shown not only in battle, but
by subduing the incipient rebellion in South Carolina, when that state
had threatened to nullify or secede from the Union. Lincoln’s heart
was with Jackson; he had unbounded admiration for the man, but he
knew that the country needed internal improvements, and in matters of
political economy inclined to the Whigs.
After returning from the army, he went to live in the house of W. H.
Herndon, a most estimable man, to whose researches the world owes
nearly all that is known of Lincoln’s early life and family, and who
was subsequently his law-partner. At this time the late Captain thought
of becoming a blacksmith, but as an opportunity occurred of buying a
store in New Salem on credit, he became, in company with a man named
Berry, a country merchant, or trader.
He showed little wisdom in associating himself with Berry, who proved
a drunkard, and ruined the business, after a year of anxiety, leaving
Lincoln in debt, which he struggled to pay off through many years of
trouble. It was not until 1849 that the last note was discharged. His
creditors were, however, considerate and kind. While living with Mr.
Herndon, Lincoln began to study law seriously. He had previously read
Blackstone, and by one who has really mastered this grand compendium
of English law the profession is already half-acquired. He was still
very poor, and appears to have lived by helping a Mr. Ellis in his
shop, and to have received much willing aid from friends, especially
John T. Stuart, who always cheerfully supplied his wants, and lent him
law-books.
About this time, Lincoln attracted the attention of a noted Democrat,
John Calhoun, the surveyor of Sangamon County, who afterwards became
famous as President of the Lecompton Council in Kansas, during the
disturbances between the friends and opponents of slavery prior to the
admission of the state. He liked Lincoln, and, wanting a really honest
assistant, recommended him to learn surveying, lending him a book for
the purpose. In six weeks he had qualified himself, and soon acquired a
small private business.
On the 7th May, 1833, Lincoln was appointed postmaster at New Salem.
As the mail arrived but once a-week, neither the duties nor emoluments
of the office were such as to greatly disturb or delight him. He is
said, indeed, to have kept the letters in his hat, being at once, in
his own person, both office and officer. The advantages which he gained
were opportunities to read the newspapers, which he did aloud to the
assembled inhabitants, and to decipher letters for all who could not
read. All of this was conducive, in a creditable way, to notoriety
and popularity, and he improved it as such. In the autumn of 1834, a
great trouble occurred. His scanty property, consisting of the horse,
saddle, bridle, and surveyor’s instruments by which he lived, were
seized under a judgment on one of the notes which he had given for “the
store.” But two good friends, named Short and Bowlin Greene, bought
them in for 245 dollars, which Lincoln faithfully repaid in due time.
It is said that he was an accurate surveyor, and remarkable for his
truthfulness. He never speculated in lands, nor availed himself of
endless opportunities to profit, by aiding the speculations of others.
Miserably poor and badly clad, Lincoln, though very fond of the society
of women, was sensitive and shy when they were strangers. Mr. Ellis,
the storekeeper for whom he often worked, states that, when he lived
with him at the tavern, there came a lady from Virginia with three
stylish daughters, who remained a few weeks. “During their stay, I
do not remember Mr. Lincoln ever eating at the same table where they
did. I thought it was on account of his awkward appearance and wearing
apparel.” There are many anecdotes recorded of this kind, showing at
this period his poverty, his popularity, and his kindness of heart.
He was referee, umpire, and unquestioned judge in all disputes,
horse-races, or wagers. One who knew him in this capacity said of
him--“He is the fairest man I ever had to deal with.”
In 1834, Lincoln again became a successful candidate for the
Legislature of Illinois, receiving a larger majority than any other
candidate on the ticket. A friend, Colonel Smoot, lent him 200 dollars
to make a decent appearance, and he went to the seat of government
properly dressed, for, perhaps, the first time in his life. During the
session, he said very little, but worked hard and learned much. He was
on the Committee for Public Accounts and Expenditures, and when the
session was at an end, quietly walked back to his work.
Lamon relates, at full length, that at this time Lincoln was in love
with a young lady, who died of a broken heart in 1835, not, however,
for Lincoln, but for another young man who had been engaged to, and
abandoned her. At her death, Lincoln seemed for some weeks nearly
insane, and was never the same man again. From this time he lost
his youth, and became subject to frequent attacks of intense mental
depression, resulting in that settled melancholy which never left him.
In 1836, he was again elected to the Legislature. Political excitement
at this time ran high. The country was being settled rapidly, and
people’s minds were wild with speculation in lands and public works,
from which every man hoped for wealth, and which were to be developed
by the legislators. Lincoln’s colleagues were in an unusual degree
able men, and the session was a busy one. It was during the canvass of
1836 that he made his first really great speech. He had by this time
fairly joined the new Whig party, and it was in reply to a Democrat,
Dr. Early, that he spoke. From that day he was recognised as one of the
most powerful orators in the state.
The principal object of this session, in accordance with the popular
mania, was internal improvements, and to this subject Lincoln had been
devoted for years. The representatives from Sangamon County consisted
of nine men of great influence, every one at least six feet in height,
whence they were known as the Long Nine. The friends of the adoption of
a general system of internal improvements wished to secure the aid of
the Long Nine, but the latter refused to aid them unless the removal of
the capital of the state from Vandalia to Springfield should be made
a part of the measure. The result was that both the Bill for removal
and that for internal improvements, involving the indebtedness of the
state for many millions of dollars, passed the same day. Lincoln was
the leader in these improvements, and “was a most laborious member,
instant in season and out of season for the great measures of the Whig
party.”[16] At the present day, though grave doubts may exist as to
the expediency of such reckless and radical legislation, there can be
none as to the integrity or good faith of Abraham Lincoln. He did not
enrich himself by it, though it is not impossible that, in legislation
as in land-surveying, others swindled on his honesty.
It was during this session that Lincoln first beheld Stephen Douglas,
who was destined to become, for twenty years, his most formidable
opponent. Douglas, from his diminutive stature and great mind, was
afterwards popularly known as the Little Giant. Lincoln merely recorded
his first impressions of Douglas by saying he was the least man he ever
saw. This legislation of 1836-37 was indeed of a nature to attract
speculators, whether in finance or politics. Within a few days, it
passed two loans amounting to 12,000,000 dollars, and chartered 1,300
miles of railway, with canals, bridges, and river improvements in full
proportion. The capital stock of two banks was increased by nearly
5,000,000 dollars, which the State took, leaving it to the banks to
manage the railroad and canal funds. Everything was undertaken on a
colossal and daring scale by the legislators, who were principally
managed by the Long Nine, who were in their turn chiefly directed by
Lincoln. The previous session had been to him only as the green-room
in which to prepare himself for the stage. When he made this his first
appearance in the political _ballet_, it was certainly with such a
leap as had never before been witnessed in any beginner. The internal
improvement scheme involved not only great boldness and promptness in
its execution, but also a vast amount of that practical business talent
in which most “Western men” and Yankees are instinctively proficient.
With all this, there was incessant hard work and great excitement.
Through the turmoil, Lincoln passed like one in his true element. He
had at last got into the life to which he had aspired for years, and
was probably as happy as his constitutional infirmity of melancholy
would permit. He was, it is true, no man of business in the ordinary
sense, but he understood the general principles of business, and was
skilled in availing himself in others of talents which he did not
possess.
During this session, he put on record his first anti-slavery protest.
It was, in the words of Lamon, “a very mild beginning,” but it required
uncommon courage, and is interesting as indicating the principle
upon which his theory of Emancipation was afterwards carried out. At
this time the whole country, North as well as South, was becoming
excited concerning the doctrines and practices of the small but very
rapidly-growing body of Abolitionists, who were attacking slavery
with fiery zeal, and provoking in return the most deadly hatred. The
Abolitionist, carrying the Republican theory to its logical extreme,
insisted that all men, white or black, were entitled to the same
political and social rights; the slave-owners honestly believed that
society should consist of strata, the lowest of which should be
bondmen. The Abolitionist did not recognise that slavery in America,
like serfdom in Russia, had developed into culture a country which
would, without it, have remained a wilderness; nor did the slave
theorists recognise that a time must infallibly come when both systems
of enforced labour must yield to new forms of industrial development.
The Abolitionists, taking their impressions from the early English
and Quaker philanthropists, thought principally of the personal wrong
inflicted on the negro; while the majority of Americans declared, with
equal conviction, that the black’s sufferings were not of so much
account that white men should be made to suffer much more for them,
and the whole country be possibly overwhelmed in civil war. Even at
this early period of the dispute, there were, however, in the old
Whig party, a few men who thought that the growing strife was not
to be stopped simply by crushing the Abolitionists. But while they
would gladly have seen the latter abate their furious zeal, they also
thought that slavery might, with propriety, be at least checked in
its progress, since they had observed, with grave misgiving, that
wherever it was planted, only an aristocracy flourished, while the poor
white men became utterly degraded. Such were the views of Abraham
Lincoln--views which, in after years, led, during the sharp and bitter
need of the war, to the formation of the theory of Emancipation for the
sake of the Country, as opposed to mere Abolition for the sake of the
Negro, which had had its turn and fulfilled its mission.
The feeling against the Abolitionists was very bitter in Illinois.
Many other states had passed severe resolutions, recommending
that anti-slavery agitation be made an indictable offence, or a
misdemeanour; and in May, 1836, Congress declared that all future
“abolition petitions” should be laid on the table without discussion.
But when the Legislature of Illinois took its turn in the fashion, and
passed resolutions of the same kind, Abraham Lincoln presented to the
House a protest which he could get but one man, Dan Stone, to sign.
Perhaps he did not want any more signatures, for he was one of those
who foresaw to what this cloud, no larger than a man’s hand, would
in future years extend, and was willing to be alone as a prophet. The
protest was as follows:--
_March 3, 1837._
The following protest was presented to the House, which was
read and ordered to be spread on the journals, to wit:--
Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery having passed
both branches of the General Assembly at its present session,
the undersigned hereby protest against the passage of the same.
They believe that the institution of slavery is founded on
both injustice and bad policy; but that the promulgation of
Abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its
evils.
They believe that the Congress of the United States has no
power under the Constitution to interfere with the institution
of slavery in the different states.
They believe that the Congress of the United States has the
power, under the Constitution, to abolish slavery in the
district of Columbia; but that the power ought not to be
exercised, unless at the request of the people of the district.
The difference between these opinions and those contained in
the said resolutions is their reason for entering this protest.
(Signed) DAN STONE.
A. LINCOLN.
_Representatives from the County of Sangamon._
This was indeed a very mild protest, but it was the beginning of that
which, in after years, grew to be the real Emancipation of the negro.
Never in history was so fine an end of the wedge succeeded by such a
wide cleaving bulk. Much as Lincoln afterwards accomplished for the
abolition of slavery, he never, says Holland, became more extreme
in his views than the words of this protest intimate. It was during
this session also that he first put himself in direct opposition
to Douglas by another protest. The Democrats, in order to enable the
_aliens_--virtually the Irishmen--in their state to vote on six months’
residence, passed a Bill known as the Douglas Bill, remodelling the
judiciary in such a way as to secure judges who would aid them. Against
this, Lincoln, E. D. Baker, and others protested vigorously, but
without avail. Both of these protests, though failures at the time,
were in reality the beginnings of the two great principles which led to
Lincoln’s great success, and the realisation of his utmost ambition.
During his life, defeat was always a step to victory.