“If this country cannot be saved without giving up the principle of
Liberty, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this
spot than surrender it.”
_From Mr. Lincoln’s Speech at Independence Hall, Philadelphia,
February 21, 1861._
“I believe this Government cannot endure permanently half slave and
half free.”
_Springfield, Illinois, June, 1858._
“I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and
the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with
the original idea for which the Revolution was made.”
_Trenton, New Jersey, February 21, 1861._
“Having thus chosen our course, without guile and with pure
purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear
and with manly hearts.”
_Message, July 5, 1861._
“In giving freedom to the slaves, we assure freedom to the free;
honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve.”
_Message, December 1, 1862._
“I hope peace will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to
be worth the keeping in all future time.”
_Springfield Letter, August 26, 1863._
“The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here;
but it can never forget what the brave men, living and dead, did
here.”
_Speech at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863._
“I shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation
Proclamation, nor shall I return to slavery any person who is
free by the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the Acts of
Congress.”
_Amnesty Proclamation, December 8, 1863._
“I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that
events have controlled me.”
_Letter to A. G. Hodges, April 4, 1864._
“With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in
the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to
finish the work we are in.”
_Last Inaugural, March 4, 1865._
[Illustration]
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
CONTAINING
HIS EARLY HISTORY AND POLITICAL CAREER; TOGETHER
WITH THE SPEECHES, MESSAGES, PROCLAMATIONS AND
OTHER OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF
HIS EVENTFUL ADMINISTRATION.
BY FRANK CROSBY,
MEMBER OF THE PHILADELPHIA BAR.
“LET ALL THE ENDS THOU AIM’ST AT BE THY COUNTRY’S,
THY GOD’S AND TRUTH’S; THEN IF THOU FALL’ST
THOU FALL’ST A BLESSED MARTYR.”
NEW YORK
INTERNATIONAL BOOK COMPANY
310-318 SIXTH AVENUE
DEDICATED
TO THE GOOD AND TRUE
OF THE NATION
REDEEMED--REGENERATED--DISENTHRALLED.
PREFACE.
An attempt has been made in the following pages to portray Abraham
Lincoln, mainly in his relations to the country at large during his
eventful administration.
With this view, it has not been deemed necessary to cumber the work
with the minute details of his life prior to that time. This period
has, therefore, been but glanced at, with a care to present enough to
make a connected whole. His Congressional career and his campaign with
Senator Douglas are presented in outline, yet so, it is believed, that
a clear idea of these incidents in his life can be obtained.
After the time of his election as President, however, a different
course of treatment has been pursued. Thenceforward, to the close of
his life, especial pains have been taken to present everything which
should show him as he was--the Statesman persistent, resolute, free
from boasting or ostentation, destitute of hate, never exultant,
guarded in his prophecies, threatening none at home or abroad,
indulging in no utopian dreams of a blissful future, moving quietly,
calmly, conscientiously, irresistibly on to the end he saw with
clearest vision.
Yet, even in what is presented as a complete record of his
administration, too much must not be expected. It is impossible, for
example, to thoroughly dissect the events of the great Rebellion in
a work like the present. Nothing of the kind has been attempted. The
prominent features only have been sketched; and that solely for the
purpose of bringing into the distinct foreground him whose life is
under consideration.
Various Speeches, Proclamations, and Letters, not vitally essential
to the unity of the main body of the work, yet valuable as affording
illustrations of the man--have been collected in the Appendix.
Imperfect as this portraiture must necessarily be, there is one
conciliatory thought. The subject needs no embellishment. It furnishes
its own setting. The acts of the man speak for themselves. Only such an
arrangement is needed as shall show the bearing of each upon the other,
the development of each, the processes of growth.
Those words of the lamented dead which nestle in our hearts so
tenderly--they call for no explanation. Potent, searching, taking hold
of our consciences, they will remain with us while reason lasts.
Nor will the people’s interest be but for the moment. The baptism of
blood to which the Nation has been called, cannot be forgotten for
generations. And while memories of him abide, there will inevitably be
associated with them the placid, quiet face, not devoid of mirth--its
patient, anxious, yet withal hopeful expression--the sure, elastic
step--the clearly cut, sharply defined speech of him, who, under
Providence, was to lead us through the trial and anguish of those
bitter days to the rest and refreshing of a peace, whose dawn only,
alas! he was to see.
Though this work may not rise to the height required, it is hoped that
it is not utterly unworthy of the subject. Such as it is--a labor of
love--it is offered to those who loved and labored with the patriot
and hero, with the earnest desire that it may not be regarded an
unwarrantable intrusion upon ground on which any might hesitate to
venture.
F. C.
_Philadelphia, June, 1865._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
BOYHOOD AND EARLY MANHOOD.
Preliminary--Birth of Abraham Lincoln--Removal from Kentucky--At
Work--Self Education--Personal Characteristics--Another Removal
--Trip to New Orleans--Becomes Clerk--Black Hawk War--Engages in
Politics--Successive Elections to the Legislature--Anti-Slavery
Protest--Commences Practice as a Lawyer--Traits of Character--
Marriage--Return to Politics--Election to Congress 13
CHAPTER II.
IN CONGRESS AND ON THE STUMP.
The Mexican War--Internal Improvements--Slavery in the
District of Columbia--Public Lands--Retires to Private Life--
Kansas-Nebraska Bill--Withdraws in Favor of Senator Trumbull--
Formation of Republican Party--Nominated for U. S. Senator--
Opening Speech of Mr. Lincoln--Douglas Campaign--The Canvass--
Tribute to the Declaration of Independence--Result of the Contest 19
CHAPTER III.
BEFORE THE NATION.
Speeches in Ohio--Extract from the Cincinnati Speech--Visits
the East--Celebrated Speech at the Cooper Institute, New
York--Interesting Incident 34
CHAPTER IV.
NOMINATED AND ELECTED PRESIDENT.
The Republican National Convention--Democratic Convention--
Constitutional Union Convention--Ballotings at Chicago--
The Result--Enthusiastic Reception--Visit to Springfield--
Address and Letter of Acceptance--The Campaign--Result
of the Election--South Carolina’s Movements--Buchanan’s
Pusillanimity--Secession of States--Confederate Constitution--
Peace Convention--Constitutional Amendments--Terms of the Rebels 60
CHAPTER V.
TO WASHINGTON.
The Departure--Farewell Remarks--Speech at Toledo--At
Indianapolis--At Cincinnati--At Columbus--At Steubenville--
At Pittsburgh--At Cleveland--At Buffalo--At Albany--At
Poughkeepsie--At New York--At Trenton--At Philadelphia--At
“Independence Hall”--Flag Raising--Speech at Harrisburg--
Secret Departure for Washington--Comments 67
CHAPTER VI.
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION.
Speeches at Washington--The Inaugural Address--Its Effect--
The Cabinet--Commissioners from Montgomery--Extracts from A.
H. Stephens’ Speech--Virginia Commissioners--Fall of Fort
Sumter 90
CHAPTER VII.
PREPARING FOR WAR.
Effects of Sumter’s Fall--President’s Call for Troops--
Response in the Loyal States--In the Border States--Baltimore
Riots--Maryland’s Position--President’s Letter to Maryland
Authorities--Blockade Proclamation--Additional Proclamation--
Comments Abroad--Second Call for Troops--Special Order for
Florida--Military Movements 108
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FIRST SESSION OF CONGRESS.
Opening of Congress--President’s First Message--Its Nature--
Action of Congress--Resolution Declaring the Object of the
War--Bull Run--Its Effect 117
CHAPTER IX.
CLOSE OF 1861.
Election of the Rebels--Davis’ Boast--McClellan appointed
Commander of Potomac Army--Proclamation of a National Fast--
Intercourse with Rebels Forbidden--Fugitive Slaves--Gen.
Butler’s Views--Gen. McClellan’s Letter from Secretary
Cameron--Act of August 6th, 1861--Gen. Fremont’s Order--
Letter of the President Modifying the Same--Instructions to
Gen. Sherman--Ball’s Bluff--Gen. Scott’s Retirement--Army of
the Potomac 137
CHAPTER X.
THE CONGRESS OF 1861-62.
The Military Situation--Seizure of Mason and Slidell--
Opposition to the Administration--President’s Message--
Financial Legislation--Committee on the Conduct of the War--
Confiscation Bill 148
CHAPTER XI.
THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
Situation of the President--His Policy--Gradual Emancipation--
Message--Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia--
Repudiation of Gen. Hunter’s Emancipation Order--Conference with
Congressmen from the Border Slave States--Address to the Same--
Military Order--Proclamation under the Conscription Act 171
CHAPTER XII.
THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN.
President’s War Order--Reason for the Same--Results in West
and South-west--Army of the Potomac--Presidential Orders--
Letter to McClellan--Order for Army Corps--The Issue of the
Campaign--Unfortunate Circumstances--President’s Speech
at Union Meeting--Comments--Operations in Virginia and
Maryland--In the West and South-west 181
CHAPTER XIII.
FREEDOM TO MILLIONS.
Tribune Editorial--Letter to Mr. Greeley--Announcement of the
Emancipation Proclamation--Suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_
in certain Cases--Order for Observance of the Sabbath--The
Emancipation Proclamation 190
CHAPTER XIV.
LAST SESSION OF THE THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS.
Situation of the Country--Opposition to the Administration--
President’s Message 199
CHAPTER XV.
THE TIDE TURNED.
Military Successes--Favorable Elections--Emancipation Policy--
Letter to Manchester (Eng.) Workingmen--Proclamation for a
National Fast--Letter to Erastus Corning--Letter to a Committee
on Recalling Vallandigham 226
CHAPTER XVI.
LETTERS AND SPEECHES.
Speech at Washington--Letter to Gen. Grant--Thanksgiving
Proclamation--Letter Concerning the Emancipation Proclamation--
Proclamation for Annual Thanksgiving--Dedicatory Speech at
Gettysburg 242
CHAPTER XVII.
THE THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS.
Organization of the House--Different Opinions as to
Reconstruction--Provisions for Pardon of Rebels--President’s
Proclamation of Pardon--Annual Message--Explanatory
Proclamation 263
CHAPTER XVIII.
PROGRESS.
President’s Speech at Washington--Speech to a New York
Committee--Speech in Baltimore--Letter to a Kentuckian--
Employment of Colored Troops--Davis’ Threat--General Order--
President’s Order on the Subject 275
CHAPTER XIX.
RENOMINATED.
Lieut. Gen. Grant--His Military Record--Continued Movements--
Correspondence with the President--Across the Rapidan--
Richmond Invested--President’s Letter to a Grant Meeting--
Meeting of Republican National Convention--The Platform--
The Nomination--Mr. Lincoln’s Reply to the Committee of
Notification--Remarks to Union League Committee--Speech at a
Serenade--Speech to Ohio Troops 285
CHAPTER XX.
RECONSTRUCTION.
President’s Speech at Philadelphia--Philadelphia Fair--
Correspondence with Committee of National Convention--
Proclamation of Martial Law in Kentucky--Question of
Reconstruction--President’s Proclamation on the Subject--
Congressional Plan 298
CHAPTER XXI.
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1864.
Proclamation for a Fast--Speech to Soldiers--Another Speech--
“To Whom it may Concern”--Chicago Convention--Opposition
Embarrassed--Resolution No. 2--McClellan’s Acceptance--
Capture of the Mobile Forts and Atlanta--Proclamation for
Thanksgiving--Remarks on Employment of Negro Soldiers--
Address to Loyal Marylanders 314
CHAPTER XXII.
RE-ELECTED
Presidential Campaign of 1864--Fremont’s Withdrawal--Wade
and Davis--Peace and War Democrats--Rebel Sympathizers--
October Election--Result of Presidential Election--Speech to
Pennsylvanians--Speech at a Serenade--Letter to a Soldier’s
Mother--Opening of Congress--Last Annual Message 325
CHAPTER XXIII.
TIGHTENING THE LINES.
Speech at a Serenade--Reply to a Presentation Address--Peace
Rumors--Rebel Commissioners--Instructions to Secretary
Seward--The Conference in Hampton Roads--Result--Extra
Session of the Senate--Military Situation--Sherman--
Charleston--Columbia--Wilmington--Fort Fisher--Sheridan--
Grant--Rebel Congress--Second Inauguration--Inaugural--
English Comment--Proclamation to Deserters 350
CHAPTER XXIV.
IN RICHMOND.
President Visits City Point--Lee’s Failure--Grant’s Movement--
Abraham Lincoln in Richmond--Lee’s Surrender--President’s
Impromptu Speech--Speech on Reconstruction--Proclamation Closing
Certain Ports--Proclamation Relative to Maritime Rights--
Supplementary Proclamation--Orders from the War Department--
The Traitor President 362
CHAPTER XXV.
THE LAST ACT.
Interview with Mr. Colfax--Cabinet Meeting--Incident--
Evening Conversation--Possibility of Assassination--Leaves
for the Theatre--In the Theatre--Precautions for the
Murder--The Pistol Shot--Escape of the Assassin--Death of
the President--Pledges Redeemed--Situation of the Country--
Effect of the Murder--Obsequies at Washington--Borne Home--
Grief of the People--At Rest 374
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE MAN.
Reasons for His Re-election--What was Accomplished--Leaning on
the People--State Papers--His Tenacity of Purpose--Washington
and Lincoln--As a Man--Favorite Poem--Autobiography--His Modesty
--A Christian--Conclusion 382
APPENDIX.
Mr. Lincoln’s Speeches in Congress and Elsewhere, Proclamations,
Letters, etc., not included in the Body of the Work.
Speech on the Mexican War, (In Congress, Jan. 12, 1848) 391
Speech on Internal Improvements, (In Congress, June 20, 1848)
403
Speech on the Presidency and General Politics, (In Congress,
July 27, 1848) 417
Speech in Reply to Mr. Douglas, on Kansas, the Dred Scott
Decision, and the Utah Question, (At Springfield, June 26,
1857) 431
Speech in Reply to Senator Douglas, (At Chicago, July 10, 1858) 442
Opening Passages of his Speech at Freeport 459
Letter to Gen. McClellan 464
Letter to Gen. Schofield Relative to the Removal of Gen. Curtis 466
Three Hundred Thousand Men Called For 466
Rev. Dr. McPheeters--President’s Reply to an Appeal for
Interference 468
An Election Ordered in the State of Arkansas 470
Letter to William Fishback on the Election in Arkansas 471
Call for Five Hundred Thousand Men 471
Letter to Mrs. Gurney 473
The Tennessee Test Oath 474
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
CHAPTER I.
BOYHOOD AND EARLY MANHOOD.
Preliminary--Birth of Abraham Lincoln--Removal from Kentucky--
At Work--Self Education--Personal Characteristics--Another
Removal--Trip to New Orleans--Becomes Clerk--Black Hawk War--
Engages in Politics--Successive Elections to the Legislature--
Anti-Slavery Protest--Commences Practice as a Lawyer--Traits of
Character--Marriage--Return to Politics--Election to Congress.
The leading incidents in the early life of the men who have most
decidedly influenced the destinies of our republic, present a striking
similarity. The details, indeed, differ; but the story, in outline, is
the same--“the short and simple annals of the poor.”
Of obscure parentage--accustomed to toil from their tender years--with
few facilities for the education of the school--the most struggled
on, independent, self-reliant, till by their own right hands they had
hewed their way to the positions for which their individual talents
and peculiarities stamped them as best fitted. Children of nature,
rather than of art, they have ever in their later years--amid scenes
and associations entirely dissimilar to those with which in youth and
early manhood, they were familiar--retained somewhat indicative of
their origin and training. In speech or in action--often in both--they
have smacked of their native soil. If they have lacked the grace of
the courtier, ample compensation has been afforded in the honesty of
the man. If their address was at times abrupt, it was at least frank
and unmistakable. Both friend and foe knew exactly where to find them.
Unskilled in the doublings of the mere politician or the trimmer, they
have borne themselves straight forward to the points whither their
judgment and conscience directed. Such men may have been deemed fit
subjects for the jests and sneers of more cultivated Europeans, but
they are none the less dear to us as Americans--will none the less take
their place among those whose names the good, throughout the world,
will not willingly let die.
Of this class, pre-eminently, was the statesman whose life and public
services the following pages are to exhibit.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Sixteenth President of the United States, son
of Thomas and Nancy Lincoln--the former a Kentuckian, the latter
a Virginian--was born February 12th, 1809, near Hodgenville, the
county-seat of what is now known as La Rue county, Kentucky. He had one
sister, two years his senior, who died, married, in early womanhood;
and his only brother, his junior by two years, died in childhood.
When nine years of age, he lost his mother, the family having, two
years previously, removed to what was then the territory of Indiana,
and settled in the southern part, near the Ohio river, about midway
between Louisville and Evansville. The thirteen years which the lad
spent here inured him to all the exposures and hardships of frontier
life. An active assistant in farm duties, he neglected no opportunity
of strengthening his mind, reading with avidity such instructive works
as he could procure--on winter evenings, oftentimes, by the light of
the blazing fire-place. As satisfaction for damage accidentally done to
a borrowed copy of Weems’ Life of Washington--the only one known to be
in the neighborhood--he pulled fodder for two days for the owner.
At twenty years of age, he had reached the height of nearly six feet
and four inches, with a comparatively slender yet uncommonly strong
muscular frame--a youthful giant among a race of giants. Morally, he
was proverbially honest, conscientious, and upright.
In 1830, his father again emigrated, halting for a year on the north
fork of the Sangamon river, Illinois, but afterwards pushing on to
Coles county, some seventy miles to the eastward, on the upper waters
of the Kaskaskia and Embarrass, where his adventurous life ended in
1851, he being in his seventy-third year. The first year in Illinois
the son spent with the father; the next he aided in constructing
a flat-boat, on which, with other hands, a successful trip to New
Orleans and back was made. This city--then the El Dorado of the Western
frontiersman--had been visited by the young man, in the same capacity,
when he was nineteen years of age.
Returning from this expedition, he acted for a year as clerk for
his former employer, who was engaged in a store and flouring mill
at New Salem, twenty miles below Springfield. While thus occupied,
tidings reached him of an Indian invasion on the western border of
the State--since known as the Black Hawk war, from an old Sac chief
of that name, who was the prominent mover in the matter. In New Salem
and vicinity, a company of volunteers was promptly raised, of which
young Lincoln was elected captain--his first promotion. The company,
however, having disbanded, he again enlisted as a private, and during
the three months’ service of this, his first short military campaign,
he faithfully discharged his duty to his country, persevering amid
peculiar hardships and against the influences of older men around him.
With characteristic humor and sarcasm, while commenting, in a
Congressional speech during the canvass of 1848, upon the efforts of
General Cass’s biographers to exalt their idol into a military hero, he
thus alluded to this episode in his life:
“By the way, Mr. Speaker, did you know I am 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 Stillman’s defeat, but I was about as near it as Cass to Hull’s
surrender; and like him, I saw the place very soon afterward. It is
quite certain I did not break my sword, for I had none to break; but I
bent a 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 good many
bloody struggles with the mosquitoes; and although I never fainted from
loss of blood, I can truly say I was often very hungry.
“Mr. Speaker, if I should ever conclude to doff whatever our Democratic
friends may suppose there is of black-cockade Federalism about me,
and, thereupon, they should take me up as their candidate for the
Presidency, I protest they shall not make fun of me as they have of
General Cass, by attempting to write me into a military hero.”
This bit of adventure over, Mr. Lincoln--who had determined to become a
lawyer, in common with most energetic, enterprising young men of that
period and section--embarked in politics, warmly espousing the cause
of Henry Clay, in a State at that time decidedly opposed to his great
leader, and received a gratifying evidence of his personal popularity
where he was best known, in securing an almost unanimous vote in his
own precinct in Sangamon county as a candidate for representative in
the State Legislature, although a little later in the same canvass
General Jackson, the Democratic candidate for the Presidency, led his
competitor, Clay, one hundred and fifty-five votes.
While pursuing his law studies, he engaged in land surveying as a
means of support. In 1834, not yet having been admitted to the bar--a
backwoodsman in manner, dress, and expression--tall, lank, and by no
means prepossessing--he was first elected to the Legislature of his
adopted State, being the youngest member, with a single exception.
During this session he rarely took the floor to speak, content to
play the part of an observer rather than of an actor. It was at this
period that he became acquainted with Stephen A. Douglas, then a recent
immigrant from Vermont, in connection with whom he was destined to
figure so prominently before the country.
In 1836, he was elected for a second term. During this session, he put
upon record, together with one of his colleagues, his views relative to
slavery, in the following protest, bearing date March 3d, 1837:--
“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 said district.”
In 1838 and 1840, he was again elected and received the vote of his
party for the speakership. First elected at twenty-five, he had
been continued so long as his inclination allowed, and until by his
kind manners, his ability, and unquestioned integrity, he had won a
position, when but a little past thirty, as the virtual leader of his
party in Illinois. His reputation as a close and logical debater had
been established; his native talent as an orator had been developed;
his earnest zeal for his party had brought around him troops of
friends; while his acknowledged goodness of heart had knit many to
him, who, upon purely political grounds, would have held themselves
aloof.
While a member of the Legislature, he had devoted himself, as best he
could--considering the necessity he was under of eking out a support
for himself, and the demands made upon his time by his political
associates--to mastering his chosen profession, and in 1836 was
admitted to practice. Securing at once a good amount of business, he
began to rise as a most effective jury advocate, who could readily
perceive, and promptly avail himself of, the turning points of a
case. A certain quaint humor, withal, which he was wont to employ
in illustration--combined with his sterling, practical sense, going
straight to the core of things--stamped him as an original. Disdaining
the tricks of the mere rhetorician, he spoke from the heart to the
heart, and was universally regarded by those with whom he came in
contact as every inch a man, in the best and broadest sense of that
term. His thoughts, his manner, his address were eminently his own.
Affecting none of the cant of the demagogue, the people trusted him,
revered him as one of the best, if not the best, among them. Their
sympathies were his--their weal his desire, their interests a common
stock with his own.
Having permanently located himself at Springfield, the seat of Sangamon
county--which ever after he called his home--he devoted himself to the
practice of his profession, and on the 4th of November, 1842, married
Mary Todd, daughter of the Hon. Robert S. Todd of Lexington, Kentucky,
a lady of accomplished manners and refined social tastes.
Although he had determined to retire from the political arena and taste
the sweets which a life with one’s own family can alone secure, his
earnest wishes were at length overruled by the as earnest demands of
that party with the success of which he firmly believed his country’s
best interests identified, and in 1844 he thoroughly canvassed his
State in behalf of Clay--afterward passing into Indiana, and daily
addressing immense gatherings until the day of election. Over the
defeat of the great Kentuckian he sorrowed as one almost without hope;
feeling it, indeed, far more keenly than his generous nature would have
done, had it been a merely personal discomfiture.
Two years later, in 1846, Mr. Lincoln was persuaded to accept the Whig
nomination for Congress in the Sangamon district, and was elected by
an unprecedently large majority. Texas had meanwhile been annexed; the
Mexican war was in progress; the Tariff of 1842 had been repealed.
With the opening of the Thirtieth Congress--December 6th, 1847--Mr.
Lincoln took his seat in the lower house of Congress, Stephen A.
Douglas also appearing for the first time as a member of the Senate.