Later in the year Mr. Lincoln also spoke in Kansas, where he was
received with great enthusiasm, and in February of the following year
he made his great speech in Cooper Union, New York, to an immense
gathering, presided over by William Cullen Bryant, the poet, who was
then editor of the New York Evening Post. There was great curiosity to
see the Western rail-splitter who had so lately met the famous “Little
Giant” of the West in debate, and Mr. Lincoln’s speech was listened to
by many of the ablest men in the East.
This speech won for him many supporters in the Presidential campaign
that followed, for his hearers at once recognized his wonderful ability
to deal with the questions then uppermost in the public mind.