PARTISAN IN STATE AND NATIONAL AFFAIRS
The campaign of 1838 did not differ materially from that of previous
years. A colleague of Lincoln says that they called at nearly every
home; that it was customary to keep some whiskey in the house, for
private use and to treat guests; that the subject was always mentioned
as a matter of etiquette, but with the remark to Lincoln that though he
never drank, his friend might like to take a little. Lincoln often told
his associates that he never drank and had no desire for drink, nor the
companionship of drinking men.
Some light is thrown on the nature of the conduct of office seekers by
the following incident: During this campaign, Douglas and Stuart,
candidates for Congress, "fought like tigers in Herndon's grocery, over
a floor that was drenched with slops, and gave up the struggle only when
both were exhausted. Then, as a further entertainment to the populace,
Mr. Stuart ordered a 'barrel of whiskey and wine.'"[130]
[130] Lamon, 230.
Joshua Speed states that some of the Whigs contributed a purse of two
hundred dollars to enable Lincoln to pay his personal expense in the
canvass. After the election, the candidate handed Speed $199.25, with
the request that he return it to the subscribers. "I did not need the
money," said he, "I made the canvass on my own horse; my entertainment
being at the houses of friends, cost me nothing; and my only outlay was
seventy-five cents for a barrel of cider, which some farm hands
insisted I should treat them to."[131]
[131] Nicolay & Hay, 1, 158.
On one occasion, Col. Taylor, a demagogue of the Democratic party, was
hypocritically appealing to his "horny handed neighbors" in language of
feigned adulation. Lincoln knew his man. He deftly removed the vest of
the orator and revealed to his astonished hearers "a ruffled shirt front
glittering with watch chain, seals and other golden jewels." The speaker
stood confused. The audience roared with laughter. When it came
Lincoln's turn to answer, he retorted. "While Colonel Taylor was making
these charges against the Whigs over the country, riding in fine
carriages, wearing ruffled shirts, kid gloves, massive gold watch chains
with large gold seals, and flourishing a heavy gold-headed cane, I was a
poor boy, hired on a flat-boat at eight dollars a month, and had only
one pair of breeches to my back, and they were buckskin. Now if you know
the nature of buckskin when wet and dried by the sun, it will shrink;
and my breeches kept shrinking until they left several inches of my legs
bare between the tops of my socks and the lower part of my breeches; and
whilst I was growing taller they were growing shorter, and so much
tighter that they left a blue streak around my legs that can be seen to
this day. If you call this aristocracy I plead guilty to the
charge."[132]
[132] Herndon, 1, 186.
When the Legislature convened in 1838, Lincoln was a candidate of his
party for speaker. His opponent was chosen by a plurality of one vote.
Lamon declares that this distinction was a barren honor, and known to be
such at the time, but cites no reason for his statement.[133] At least
the humble representative of Sangamon County continued to rise in the
esteem of his associates. His activity was crowned with the approval of
those with whom he fought side by side in the turmoil and debate of
controversy. It is a significant indication of his diplomacy. He had so
won the confidence of his companions that even differences on that
slavery issue did not cause him the loss of their esteem and favor. The
recipient of such an honor is likely to be the possessor of amiable
personal qualities that call forth devotion, even more than the sturdy
qualities of talent and ability.[134] In matters of political
expediency, Lincoln did not run athwart the sentiments of the majority.
Despite the mutterings of discontent in some quarters, despite a growing
feeling that the internal improvement policy was likely to involve the
State in disaster, the finance committee, of which Lincoln was a
prominent member, advised even further indulgence in the fatal policy.
Finally, the fearful financial condition of the State stared the people
and their representatives in the face. The supporters of the internal
improvement system stubbornly began to yield to the policy of
retrenchment. Still, in the Special Session of 1839, assembled to
deliberate over the momentous state of affairs, Lincoln with peculiar
logic urged they were so far advanced in a general system of internal
improvements that they could not retreat from it without disgrace and
great loss, and that the conclusion was that they must advance.[135]
[133] Lamon, 212.
[134] Lamon, 212.
[135] From Lincoln's Report for Finance Committee on Expediency of
Purchasing all Unsold Lands of United States in Illinois, Jan. 23, 1839,
223.
Lincoln was one of thirty-three members to vote for laying the bill
repealing improvements on the table, while sixty opposed this action;
and he was one of thirty-five who voted against the repeal of the
internal improvement policy, while thirty-seven voted for it.[136] Thus,
to the very end, Lincoln persisted in the disastrous policy that clouded
the history and prosperity of Illinois for many years.
[136] House Journal of 1839, 265.
Lincoln basked in political events. He was alive to the details in
political strategy. In November, 1839, he wrote to Stuart, his partner,
in regard to a voter: "Evan Butler is jealous that you never send your
compliments to him. You must not neglect him next time."[137]
[137] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 41.
From the very beginning, he concerned himself with the candidacy of
General Harrison. Recognizing its elemental political strength, he
watched its growth with increasing interest. Harrison had never
distinguished himself as a public citizen. Lincoln looked at the
political side of the picture alone, little dreaming that the day was to
come when his election was to depend, in some measure, on the same
emotions that promoted the triumph of Harrison. In both campaigns the
log cabin played a dominant part.
Speed's store in Springfield was the retreat of Lincoln, Douglas and
Baker, and other political leaders of the dominant parties. However,
partisanship was about to triumph, and common meeting places were soon
to become unknown. In December, 1839, just as the campaign of 1840 was
looming up, a political discussion between the leaders grew violent in
the grocery over the national issue. During the angry debate, Douglas,
with his imperial manner, flung forth the taunt: "Gentlemen, this is no
place to talk politics; we will discuss the question publicly with
you."[138]
[138] Lamon, 232.
Lincoln, who had schooled himself in logical dissertation, loved a
political contest. He had met the champions of the Legislature without
dismay, and was more feared than fearing. Shortly afterward Lincoln
presented a resolution to accept the flaunting challenge of Douglas.
Logan, Baker, Browning and Lincoln were the chosen disputants of the
Whig cause. The Democrats put forth Douglas, Calhoun, Lambourn and
Thomas as their champions. Each speaker was allowed an evening for his
address. This controversy was long known as "the great debate."[139]
[139] Lamon, 232.
That Lincoln was climbing to eminence slowly, that he was marvelously
free from egoism and the aggressiveness of the common political orator
is manifest from the first paragraph of his address: "It is peculiarly
embarrassing to me to attempt a continuance of the discussion, on this
evening, which has been conducted in this hall on several preceding
ones. It is so because on each of these evenings there was a much fuller
attendance than now, without any reason for its being so, except the
greater interest the community feel in the speakers who addressed them
than they do in him who is to do so now. I am, indeed, apprehensive that
the few who have attended have done so more to spare my mortification
than in the hope of being interested in anything I may be able to say.
This circumstance casts a damp upon my spirits, which I am sure I shall
be unable to overcome during the evening."[140]
[140] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 21.
His manner of holding an opponent to the point at issue, his directness
of speech are strikingly displayed: "I now ask the audience, when Mr.
Calhoun shall answer me, to hold him to the questions. Permit him not to
escape them. Require him either to show that the subtreasury would not
injuriously affect the currency, or that we should in some way receive
an equivalent for that injurious effect. Require him either to show that
the subtreasury would not be more expensive as a fiscal agent than a
bank, or that we would in some way be compensated for the additional
expense."[141]
[141] _Ibid._, 29-30.
Although of limited experience in public controversy, the least known of
the Whig debaters, diffident of his own capacity, yet he sought the most
brilliant and distinguished debater in the Democratic party--Douglas.
Free from sham, he was merciless in exposing it in others, as the
following attack on his elusive antagonist indicates: "Those who heard
Mr. Douglas recollect that he indulged himself in a contemptuous
expression of pity for me. 'Now, he's got me,' thought I. But when he
went on to say that five millions of the expenditure of 1838 were
payments of the French indemnities, which I knew to be untrue; that five
millions had been for the Postoffice, which I knew to be untrue; that
ten millions had been for the Maine boundary war, which I not only knew
to be untrue, but supremely ridiculous also; and when I saw that he was
stupid enough to hope that I would permit such groundless and audacious
assertions to be unexposed,--I readily consented that, on the score both
of veracity and sagacity, the audience would judge whether he or I were
the more deserving of the world's contempt."[142]
[142] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 35.
Sober in the main as the speeches of Webster, on the currency issue
Lincoln only once let loose his rollicking and suffusing sense of humor:
"The Democrats are vulnerable in the heel--I admit is not merely
figuratively, but literally true. Who that looks but for a moment at
their Swartwouts, their Prices, their Harringtons, and their hundreds of
others, scampering away with the public money to Texas, to Europe, and
to every spot of the earth where a villain may hope to find refuge from
justice, can at all doubt that they are most distressingly affected in
their heels with a species of 'running itch.' It seems that this malady
of their heels operates on these sound-headed and honest-hearted
creatures very much like the cork leg in the comic song did on its
owner: which, when he had once got started on it, the more he tried to
stop it, the more it would run away."[143]
[143] _Ibid._, 35-36.
That he was still subject to the fashion of pioneer exuberant
expression; that he was somewhat entangled in the growing partisanship
of the time, is thoroughly evident from his stormy peroration: "Many
free countries have lost their liberty, and ours may lose hers; but if
she shall, let it be my proudest plume, not that I was the last to
desert, but that I never deserted her. I know that the great volcano at
Washington, aroused and directed by the evil spirit that reigns there,
is belching forth the lava of political corruption in a current broad
and deep, which is sweeping with frightful velocity over the whole
length and breadth of the land, bidding fair to leave unscathed no green
spot or living thing; while on its bosom are riding, like demons on the
waves of hell, the imps of that evil spirit, and fiendishly taunting all
those who dare resist its destroying course with the helplessness of
their effort; and, knowing this, I cannot deny that all may be swept
away. Broken by it I, too, may be; bow to it I never will. The
probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from
the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter
me."[144]
[144] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 36.
This fulsome conclusion more than his sustained logical argument swept
over his audience and made it a popular success, so that admiring
friends promoted its publication in the Sangamon _Journal_. Lamon,
however, curtly makes this dampening comment on his eloquent diction:
"Considering that the times were extremely peaceful, and that the
speaker saw no bloodshed except what flowed from the noses of
belligerents in the groceries about Springfield, the speech seems to
have been unnecessarily defiant."[145]
[145] Lamon, 236.
The Committee of Whigs in charge of Harrison's political campaign in
Illinois issued a circular urging the organization of the whole State
for the Presidential contest. Lincoln was a prominent member of this
body and his style shows through this appeal. It was a combination of
skillful play to party spirit, and a thorough knowledge of the mode of
conducting a successful campaign. "To overthrow the trained bands that
are opposed to us, whose salaried officers are ever on the watch, and
whose misguided followers are ever ready to obey their smallest
commands, every Whig must not only know his duty, but must firmly
resolve, whatever of time and labor it may cost, boldly and faithfully
to do it. Our intention is to organize the whole State, so that every
Whig can be brought to the polls in the coming presidential contest. We
cannot do this, however, without your cooperation; and as we do our
duty, so we shall expect you to do yours."[146]
[146] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 38.
The circular then proposed a new method of bringing out the full Whig
vote, in essence the same that is now employed by every successful
political organization. The following was the plan of organization:--
(1) To divide every county into small districts, and to appoint in each
a subcommittee, with the duty to make a perfect list of all the voters,
and to ascertain their choice with certainty, all doubtful voters to be
designated in separate lines.
(2) To keep a constant watch on the doubtful voters, and from time to
time have them talked to by those they trusted, and to place in their
hands convincing documents.
(3) To report, at least once a month, and on election days see that
every Whig was brought to the polls.[147]
[147] _Ibid._
Lincoln was brought up in a practical school where votes are a matter of
calculation, where the things done on the stage were plotted and planned
behind the stage. Few men were more thoroughly trained in the methods of
securing results. He eagerly wrote to Stuart for copies of the "Life of
Harrison," and also requested "The Senate Journal of New York" of
September, 1814. "I have a newspaper article which says that that
document proves that Van Buren voted against raising troops in the last
war. And in general send me everything you think will be a good
'war-club.'"[148] He was learning that political battles are won and
lost, not alone on discussion of principles, but on appeals to the
emotions of men.
[148] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 39.
As a politician, his judgment prevailed over his sentiment. He was not
carried away by the enthusiasm of the hour, but looked beneath the
surface for events that suggested public sentiment. So he noted with
discernment "A great many of the grocery sort of Van Buren men, as
formerly, are out for Harrison. Our Irish blacksmith, Gregory, is for
Harrison. I believe I may say that all our friends think the chances of
carrying the State very good."[149]
[149] _Ibid._, 40.
For the first time in years, the Whigs conducted a campaign more
aggressive than that of their opponents. General Harrison represented no
definite political policy. The log cabin, the coon skin cap, the
political songs, the enthusiasm of even the children, all this was more
potent than the solid and sober discussion of such issues as the
currency, executive power, American labor, protection and internal
improvements.
The sober thinking and dignified leaders of the Whig party were somewhat
shocked by the uncouth campaign of 1840. It was not in keeping with the
dignity of its traditions. Leaders like Webster brooked with impatience
a campaign in which judgment was fairly forgotten.
The whole campaign was one of luxuriant freedom, of intense excitement,
of exaggerated discourse. A resolution adopted at Springfield during
March, indicates the language that was abroad: "Resolved, that the
election of Harrison and Tyler would emancipate the land from the
Catilines who infest it; would restore it to prosperity and peace, and
bring back the time when good measures, good principles and good men
would control the administration of our government."[150]
[150] History of Sangamon County, 252.
Lincoln was foremost in the emotional fight of 1840. With all the zeal
of eager youth, he rushed into the contest. As a presidential elector,
he traversed a large portion of the State. Thus a newspaper of the day
says: "He is going it with a perfect rush. Thus far the Locofocos have
not been able to start a man that can hold a candle to him in political
debate. All of their crack nags that have entered the list against him
have come off the field crippled or broke down. He is now wending his
way north."[151]
[151] Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, 8, 224.
An incident little known, but of vast importance in illumining the kind
of orator Lincoln was in 1840, is found in an almost forgotten book.
Therein we find the impression that gaunt Lincoln made upon a cultured
resident and distinguished lawyer of St. Louis, who says that at a
gathering of Whigs in April, 1840, at Belleville, Mr. Lincoln was the
first speaker to an immense crowd. "He rang all the changes upon 'coon
skins,' 'hard cider,' 'log cabins,' etc., and among other things he
launched forth in true Lincoln style and manner and said he had been
'raised over _thar_ on Irish potatoes and buttermilk and mauling
rails.'... I went to Col. Edward Baker, I think it was, and told him for
goodness sake to try and get Lincoln down from the stand; that he was
doing us more harm than good ... when Lincoln goes to weaving his
buttermilk, etc., it would seem as if we were verging rather too near
onto the ridiculous. We succeeded very soon in getting Lincoln down
from the stand and got up another speaker who seemed to have more
judgment in managing the canvass."[152]
[152] Darbey, 447.
This statement should not be neglected. It is the judgment of a
civilization different from that of pioneer Illinois. Events had hardly
sobered the style and the manner of the sensitive politician of Sangamon
County. Later on he grew to a more reserved and severe exposition of
political discussion, grew to appeal to the judgment rather than the
sentiments of men, grew to lift the debate of the hour above the clash
of partisan controversy.
During this campaign, he once failed to come up to the requirements of
the occasion in a debate with Douglas. A friend describes his distress
at his failure: "He begged to be permitted to try it again, and was
reluctantly indulged; and in the next effort he transcended our highest
expectations. I never heard and never expect to hear such a triumphant
vindication as he then gave of Whig measures or policy. He never after,
to my knowledge, fell below himself."[153]
[153] Herndon, 1, 190.
The debates of this campaign were a product of the excited and heated
condition of the public mind. Thus, Gen. John Ewing, of Indiana,
challenged the whole Democratic party and threatened to annihilate it.
Douglas was pitted against him. There was no formality at the meetings.
Each was to speak an hour alternately. The debate was to begin at eight
and adjourn at twelve; meet at two and continue to sundown each day
until the contest would be ended. At the end of the fifth day, Ewing
"threw up the sponge," and a vigorous shout was given by the Democrats.
"E. D. Baker, notified of Ewing's defeat, mounted a butcher block and
began to address us. They protested that the game of 'two pluck one'
could not be tolerated. He persisted and at once the cry was raised
'pull him down.' At length he yielded, otherwise it would have ended
with a number of broken heads."[154]
[154] History of Sangamon County, 205.
Another incident still further discloses the character of the
controversy that prevailed at that period. Arnold says that Baker was
speaking in a room under Lincoln's office, and communicating with it by
a trap door. Lincoln in his office, listened. Baker, becoming excited,
abused the Democrats. A cry was raised, "Pull him off the stand!"
Lincoln, knowing a general fight was imminent, descended through the
opening of the trap door, and springing to the side of Baker, said:
"Gentlemen, let us not disgrace the age and country in which we live.
This is a land where freedom of speech is guaranteed. Baker has a right
to speak, and a right to be permitted to do so. I am here to protect
him, and no man shall take him from this stand if I can prevent it."
Baker finished without further interruption.[155]
[155] Arnold, 67-68.
Lincoln and Douglas often met in debate in this campaign. Lamon states
that Lincoln in the course of one speech imputed to Van Buren the great
sin of having voted in the New York State Convention for negro suffrage
with a property qualification. Douglas denied the fact, and Lincoln
attempted to prove his statement by reading a certain passage from
Holland's Life of Van Buren, whereupon Douglas got mad, snatched up the
book, and, tossing it into the crowd, remarked sententiously, "Damn such
a book!"[156]
[156] Lamon, 236.
The above encounter shows Lincoln's method of attack. He followed his
brilliant antagonist with facts that all his ingenuity could not evade.
From that day, Lincoln loved nothing better than a fray with the feared
champion of Democracy. No other Whig orator could fret Douglas as
Lincoln did. They were as different in mental and moral outlook as they
were in appearance. Lincoln saw through his skillful opponent. He knew
his strength and he knew his weakness. He was prepared for his
chameleon-like attacks and onslaughts. While contemporaries hardly saw
in Lincoln the future rival of the growing Douglas, still Lincoln was
gaining strength in the technic of debate that was later to be of
inestimable service to him in controversies of national import.
In the 1840-1 Legislature, Lincoln was again the candidate of his party
for speaker. As leader of the minority, he doubtless deemed it an
obligation on his part to provide some plan to pay the State debt and
save its honor. He no longer cherished the illusion of gaining fame as
the DeWitt Clinton of Illinois. There were some in the Legislature who
boldly favored repudiation of the whole State debt. Others advocated
payment of such part of it as the State actually received an equivalent
for. Only a few dared to demand adequate taxation for the payment of the
interest on the bonds. That was an unpopular expedient.
Lincoln walked the middle way. He was not a friend of repudiation and
still he did not court a loss of public esteem by proposing substantial
direct taxation. His bill provided that the Governor should issue
interest bonds as might be absolutely necessary for the payment of the
interest upon the lawful debt of the State. He declared that he
submitted the proposition with great diffidence; that he felt his share
of the responsibility in the crisis; and, that after revolving in his
mind every scheme which seemed to afford the least prospect of relief,
he submitted this as the result of his own deliberations; that it might
be objected that the bonds would not be salable; that he was no
financier, but that he believed the bonds would be equal to the best in
the market, and that as to the impropriety of borrowing money to pay
interest on borrowed money,--he would reply, that if it were a fact that
our population and wealth were increasing in a ratio greater than the
increased interest hereby incurred, then it was not a good
objection.[157]
[157] Lamon, 214.
He concluded with characteristic modesty that, "he had no pride in its
success as a measure of his own, but submitted it to the wisdom of the
House, with the hope, that, if there was anything objectionable in it,
it would be pointed out and amended."[158]
[158] _Ibid._, 215.
Lamon calls it a loose document, as the Governor was to determine the
"amount of bonds necessary," and the sums for which they should be
issued, and interest was to be paid only upon the "lawful" debt; and the
Governor was to determine what part of it was lawful and what was
unlawful.[159] Still in essence, Lincoln's plan of leaving the
determination of the lawfulness of the debt to an authority not the
legislative, was finally adopted.[160]
[159] _Ibid._, 213-214.
[160] _Ibid._, 215.
The shameless interference with the judicial system of Illinois about
1840 luridly illustrates the enslaving partisanship of that time. Under
the provision of the State Constitution permitting every white male
adult to vote, aliens had known the right of suffrage for years.
Nine-tenths of the aliens allied themselves with the Democratic
organization so that their support was essential to its success. As the
Presidential contest grew in intensity there sprang up a controversy
about these unnaturalized voters. Each party arrayed itself on the side
of its own interest. The Whigs maintained that the Federal Constitution
had provided against the participation of aliens in the affairs of
government. A test case was brought to the Illinois Supreme Court which
consisted of three Whigs and one Democrat. The latter informed Douglas,
in advance, that the majority had agreed upon a decision unfavorable to
the alien vote, but that there was a technical error in the record. This
knowledge became serviceable to the Democrats. The case, by reason of
the imperfection, was put over to the December term, and 10,000 alien
votes saved the State for another Democratic administration.
The attitude of the Whig judges was made a pretext to reorganize the
judiciary by increasing their number, thus enabling the political
complexion of that tribunal to represent the party in power. Early in
the winter, however, the Supreme Court rendered a decision that affirmed
the contention of Douglas and his party. Still, the advocates for
reorganization were not stayed in their purpose, and they moved forward
in what they termed a reformation of the judiciary.
This action of making the judiciary dependent on the Legislature was
extremely pernicious in immediate results. It also started political
impulses malignant and enduring, little appreciated by those who
wantonly inaugurated the change. The participation of Douglas in this
enterprise was effectively utilized by Lincoln in the debate of 1858. It
is not surprising that Lincoln and other Whigs in the Legislature were
unwilling witnesses of this degradation. They framed protests, declaring
that the immutable principles of justice were to make way for party
interests, and the bonds of social order were to be rent in twain, in
order that a desperate faction might be sustained at the expense of the
people; that the independence of the judiciary had been destroyed; that
hereafter the courts would be independent of the people, and entirely
dependent upon the Legislature; that rights of property and liberty of
conscience could no longer be regarded as safe from the encroachments
of unconstitutional legislation.[161]
[161] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 47.
This strong statement from the Whigs represented the conscience of the
State. The protesting element is generally alert in awakening public
sentiment or responding to it on the issues of the day, thus affording a
wholesome check upon the dominant organization in making inroads upon
righteous government. In this way, it becomes the selfish interest of at
least one political party to be on the side of honest statesmanship.
At no time was Lincoln more active in legislative affairs than during
the early part of the 1840-41 session. In the internal improvement
system, bank discussions, the attack upon the Sangamon delegation and in
almost every legislative proceeding he was ready to bear his share of
the fight.
But during the session, an event occurred that shadowed his political
career. Lincoln, the democrat, the man of humility, of common ancestry,
was attracted to Mary Todd, a Southern aristocrat, a woman of beauty and
ambition. Lamon finds the source of this in selfishness, saying: "Born
in the humblest circumstances, uneducated, poor, acquainted with
flatboats and groceries, but a stranger to the drawing-room, it was
natural that he should seek in a matrimonial alliance those social
advantages which he felt were necessary to his political
advancement."[162]
[162] Lamon, 237-8.
This biographer overlooks the fact that it is not an uncommon event for
a homely, humble man to be diverted from the common highway as Lincoln
was. It is very hard to read in this story anything of designing
selfishness. At one time severing his engagement to Miss Todd, the same
despondency that crushed him upon the death of Ann Rutledge again became
his master. His own words describe his condition: "I am now the most
miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the
whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth.
Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell; I awfully forebode I
shall not. To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better, it
appears to me."[163]
[163] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 45.
He was absent from the Legislature for nearly three weeks. A visit to
his friend Speed in Kentucky recalled him to his better nature.[164] The
injustice he had done Miss Todd rankled until a reconciliation followed.
Out of this there arose events that culminated in a duel. Though this
event was soon hushed, yet its echoes lingered, for he said in 1858, "If
all the good things I have done are remembered as long and as well as my
scrape with Shields, it is plain I shall not soon be forgotten."[165]
[164] Herndon, 1, 202.
[165] _Ibid._, 217.
The panic of 1837 and the disintegration of the internal improvement
system were holding their requiem over the finances of the State. Money
was a furtive visitor. The currency of the State banks, fairly
worthless, was nearly the only circulating medium. During the summer of
1841, the Administration invalidated the use of State Bank notes for the
payment of taxes but the salary of lawmakers was still payable in
currency. The Whigs hastened to charge the state officers with adding to
the burdens of the people that they might be assured of their salaries.
The Auditor of the State was James Shields. Rather vain and aggressive,
he was not inclined "to beware of an entrance into a quarrel."
It was at this time that Lincoln was having stolen conferences with Miss
Todd. The restless spirit of the latter sought the political field for
adventure. A daughter of leisure, she had no rival in sarcasm in
Springfield. Hunting for material, she found a subject in the
pretentious Auditor, and enjoyed worrying the sensitive official. Under
such influences, Lincoln aided or sanctioned the composition of an
article ridiculing Shields. Like many similar productions, it professed
to come from a back-woods settlement, and affected a homely if not a
vulgar form of speech. The paragraph that follows is a sample of the
effusion:--
"I looked in at the window, and there was this same fellow Shields
floatin' about on the air, without heft or earthly substance, just like
a lock of cat-fur where cats have been fightin'.
"He was paying his money to this one, and that one, and t'other one, and
sufferin' great loss because it wasn't silver instead of State paper;
and the sweet distress he seemed to be in,--his very features, in the
ecstatic agony of his soul, spoke audibly and distinctly, 'Dear girls,
_it is distressing_, but I cannot marry you all. Too well I know how
much you suffer; but do, do remember, it is not my fault that I am _so_
handsome and _so_ interesting.'"[166]
[166] Lamon, 255, 256.
The production appeared in the Sangamon _Journal_, and at once aroused
the wrath of Shields. A demand for the identity of the author followed.
Doubtless to save Miss Todd from entanglement, Lincoln announced himself
as the writer. Thereupon, Shields demanded a full retraction of all
offensive allusions. Strangely enough, Lincoln did not welcome this
solution of the situation. He took advantage of the rather ardent demand
for an apology and held his ground with these words: "Now, sir, there is
in this so much assumption of facts and so much of menace as to
consequences, that I cannot submit to answer that note any further than
I have, and to add that the consequences to which I suppose you allude
would be matter of as great regret to me as it possibly could to
you."[167]
[167] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 69.
With such a start, a duel for a time seemed inevitable. At the last
moment, common friends conveniently, and doubtless to the great
satisfaction of the contestants, calmed the affair without a real
encounter.
Duelling was the rage of the hour.[168] Lincoln was too sensitive to the
good opinion of the community to fly in the face of popular sentiment.
So he violated the law of the State to engage in a transaction
unsanctioned by his judgment, not ready to defy the general taste in a
matter where the standard was still that of the pioneer community. It is
not therefore surprising that in later years, Lincoln was abashed by his
part in this fight. This was his last personal quarrel, and marks a
decisive epoch in his career.[169] Thereafter, he became a champion of
principles and was prepared to play a part in debates of world-wide
moment.
[168] _Ibid._, 71.
[169] Nicolay & Hay, 1, 211.
A dramatic contest ran through this session on the part of the banks to
obtain further condonation in the suspension of specie payments. The
Whigs were friendly, calling them, "the institutions of the country,"
branding opposition unpatriotic. The Democrats, however, were on the
whole hostile to the banks. They called them "rag barons, rags, printed
lies, bank vassals, ragocracy, and the 'British-bought bank, bluelight,
Federal, Whig party.'"[170]
[170] Lamon, 217.
The contest was rendered closer by "opportune loans to Democrats." The
fight grew in intensity as if the wealth, the industry and the very
happiness of the people were at stake. The Democrats, in order to kill
the banks, were bent on a _sine die_ adjournment of the special term.
The Whigs in their zeal to save them invented what was a novel
expedient at that time in parliamentary tactics. The Whigs absented
themselves to prevent a quorum, leaving Lincoln and Gillespie to call
the ayes and noes. The Democrats discovered the game, and the
sergeant-at-arms was sent out. There was great excitement in the House,
which was then held in a church at Springfield. Soon several Whigs were
caught and brought in and the plan was spoiled. Then Lincoln and his
accomplice determined to leave the hall. Going to the door, and finding
it locked, they raised a window and jumped out, but not until the
Democrats had succeeded in adjourning. Mr. Gillespie remarked that
"Lincoln always regretted that he entered into that arrangement, as he
deprecated every thing that savored of the revolutionary."[171]
[171] Lamon, 217.
This incident discloses Lincoln the politician, Lincoln the student of
methods engaging in practices that his judgment subsequently
disapproved. He was thoroughly schooled in securing results. The student
of Lincoln should not hurry over this incident, nor minimize its
significance. He mingled in common, sordid, political events.
Though Lincoln engaged freely in the political machinations of his day,
he did not sanction corruption. He stood out as a champion of an
untainted franchise. He did not still his conscience with the soothing
medicine that corruption was the common practice. He moved at this
session that the part of the Governor's message relating to fraudulent
voting be referred to the Committee on elections, with instructions to
prepare and report a bill for such an act as might afford the greatest
possible protection of the elective franchise against all frauds.[172]
[172] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 42.
Bred in the school of partisanship, where the doctrine that spoils is
the fruit of victory, was almost a creed, Lincoln never enslaved himself
by the acceptance of that dogma, either in practice or theory. Early in
life he had reasoned out the principle that public office is a trust. He
dared to assert its integrity at a time when it met little favor. He
wrote in 1840 that he was opposed to removal of public officials to make
places for friends.[173] Still, the malevolent conduct of an office
holder stirred his resentment. In the same letter he said there was no
question as to the propriety of removing the postmaster at Carlinville,
that the latter boldly refused to deliver during the canvass all
documents franked by Whig members of Congress.[174]
[173] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 43.
[174] _Ibid._, 43-44.
By his tact and service, Lincoln stood well with the party leaders, so
that in 1841 he was widely mentioned as a worthy candidate for Governor.
A formal protest from his hand and that of his close friends against
such a movement was put in the Sangamon _Journal_: "His talents and
services endear him to the Whig party; but we do not believe he desires
the nomination. He has already made great sacrifices in maintaining his
party principles, and before his political friends ask him to make
additional sacrifices, the subject should be well considered. The office
of Governor, which would of necessity interfere with the practice of his
profession, would poorly compensate him for the loss of four of the best
years of his life." Whether he could have attained the nomination is not
known. Lincoln was not accustomed to put aside political honors. It is
significant that the young legislator readily availed himself of a mode
of self-glorifying declination popular with politicians to this
day.[175]
[175] Nicolay & Hay, 1, 217-8.
With this session, Lincoln concluded his duties as the representative of
the people. In 1832, he entered Vandalia, a son of poverty, timid of his
ability, ungifted in appearance. In eight years, he plowed his way to
the very front as the champion of his associates, a skillful leader of
his party. Still it is amazing how faint a trace Lincoln left on the
history of Illinois, hewing out no legislative enactment endearing his
memory to the people of the State. Ford only notes him as a Congressman
who in the State Legislature followed the glitter of a false finance,
and a destructive plan of public improvement. Had his career ended here,
no one would have ventured to rescue his name from oblivion. One act
only, overtops the events submerged by time, an event that sober history
passed by, little knowing that it was the one fact, richer than all
others, in the annals, under its scrutiny. For in the light of later
events, the protest of 1837 showed an enkindled soul that in the
goodness of time thrilled the land with a second edition of the
Declaration of Independence.