bolters, had been turning from me to Trumbull until he had risen to 35
and I had been reduced to 15. These would never desert me except by my
direction; but I became satisfied that if we could prevent Matteson's
election one or two ballots more, we could possibly not do so a single
ballot after my friends should begin to return to me from Trumbull. So
I determined to strike at once; and accordingly advised my remaining
friends to go for him, which they did, and elected him on that, the
tenth ballot. Such is the way the thing was done. I think you would
have done the same under the circumstances, though Judge Davis, who
came down this morning, declares he never would have consented to the
47 (opposition) men being controlled by the 5. I regret my defeat
moderately, but am not nervous about it. Perhaps it is well for our
grand cause that Trumbull is elected."
And it turned out well for Lincoln, too, because if he had been elected
Senator at that time he would never have taken the part he did in the
organization of the Republican party, he would never have had the joint
debate with Senator Douglas, and in all probability would not have been
elected President. Lincoln resumed the practice of his profession,
but did not retire from politics again. He took an active interest in
every campaign, devoting much of his time to committee work and to
the preparation of political literature, extending his acquaintance
and increasing his popularity. In the winter of 1855 he attended a
meeting of Free-Soil editors at Decatur, who decided upon organizing a
Republican party in Illinois and called a convention of all who believed
in resisting the extension of slavery to meet at Bloomington in May.
Lincoln was present, made a remarkable speech, which is described in
Chapter III., was sent as a delegate to the First National Republican
Convention at Philadelphia, and, much to his surprise, received 110
votes for Vice-President on the ticket with Frémont. He was made an
elector, canvassed the State thoroughly, making more than fifty set
speeches during the campaign, and served as a member of the State
Committee.
Mr. Horace White, editor of the _New York Evening Post_, then connected
with the _Chicago Tribune_, gives his recollections of Lincoln in the
campaign: "I was Secretary of the Republican State Committee of Illinois
during some years when he was in active campaign work. He was often
present at meetings of the committee, and took part in the committee
work. His judgment was very much deferred to in such matters. He was one
of the shrewdest politicians in the State. Nobody had more experience
in that way, nobody knew better than he what was passing in the minds
of the people. Nobody knew better how to turn things to advantage
politically, and nobody was readier to take such advantage, provided
it did not involve dishonorable means. He could not cheat people out
of their votes any more than he could out of their money. Mr. Lincoln
never gave his assent, so far as my knowledge goes, to any plan or
project for getting votes that would not have borne the full light of
day.
"I never heard him express contempt for any man's honest errors,
although he would sometimes make a droll remark or tell a funny story
about them. Deference to other people's opinions was habitual to him.
There was no calculation, no politics in it. It was part and parcel of
his sense of equal rights. His democracy was of the unconscious kind--he
did not know anything different from it."
In the fall of 1858 there was an election of the Illinois Legislature
which would choose a successor to Senator Douglas, whose term of service
was to expire March 3, 1859. The Republican party at that time was
thoroughly organized and presented a united and enthusiastic front, with
encouraging prospects of victory, and Lincoln was again its candidate
for the United States Senate. The sympathy of his associates and the
people generally over his defeat three years before, their appreciation
of his services, their admiration for his ability, and their confidence
in his integrity and judgment made him the unanimous choice, and for
the first time in history the State Republican Convention passed a
resolution to that effect. Then followed the most extraordinary canvass
that has ever taken place in any of the States of the Union,--the
joint debate between Lincoln and Douglas which is described in Chapter
III., followed by Lincoln's second defeat for the Senate. Many of
Lincoln's friends believed that he might have been elected but for the
interference of Horace Greeley, Seward, Colfax, Burlingame, and other
earnest Republicans and antislavery men of national prominence, who
urged the people of Illinois to support Douglas because he had opposed
the Buchanan administration and had been denounced by the slave-holders
of the South. But, while Lincoln was deeply wounded by this betrayal
of what he considered a vital political principle, he realized that
the existing apportionment of the State made his election improbable
because it had been based upon the census of 1850 and gave the southern
and Democratic counties an excessive representation over the northern
Republican counties, which had more rapidly increased in population. The
Republican State officers were chosen by a considerable majority, but
the Democrats had eight majority in the Legislature, and Mr. Douglas was
elected.
Lincoln had passed through an intense canvass, equally trying to
his physical and mental endurance, and his strength as well as his
temper were sorely tried; but he was never more composed, patient,
and philosophical, and to his friends he wrote hopeful and cheerful
letters, taking greater satisfaction in the reputation he had made and
the results he had accomplished than he would have felt in a commission
as United States Senator. As he told many people, he was not trying to
defeat Douglas for Senator so much as to prevent his election to the
Presidency, and he succeeded in doing so. The attention of the entire
country had been drawn to the canvass in Illinois, Lincoln's name had
become known everywhere throughout the country, and, as a Chicago editor
wrote him, "You have at once sprung from the position of a capital
fellow and a leading lawyer of Illinois to a national reputation."
Another friend wrote him, "You have made a noble canvass, which, if
unavailing in this State, has earned you a national reputation and made
you friends everywhere."
Lincoln's own view of the case is expressed in a letter to a friend as
follows: "I wished, but I did not much expect, a better result.... I am
glad I made the late race. It gave me a hearing on the great and durable
question of the age, which I could have had in no other way; and though
I now sink out of view, and shall be forgotten, I believe I have made
some marks which will tell for the cause of civil liberty long after I
am gone."
The folly of the Eastern Republicans in encouraging the election of
Douglas was demonstrated immediately after the election, when that
gentleman started upon a tour through the South and made a series of
speeches in which he endeavored to convince the slave-holders that he
was their best friend and should be their candidate for the Presidency.
At the same time Lincoln was invited to speak in the Eastern States,
and, after his address in Cooper Institute, New York City, made a
tour through New England, creating great interest and making many
friends. He became a national character, and his advice was sought by
national leaders, to whom his sagacity was immediately apparent. He
spent a great deal of time and wrote many letters during the winter of
1858-59, harmonizing the Republican party, concentrating its efforts,
and reconciling local prejudices and preferences which conflicted
and imperilled its success at the next election. He seemed gifted
with foresight that was almost prophetic, for he pointed out with
extraordinary accuracy the probable policy which would be pursued by the
Democrats, and his suggestions as to the best means for the Republicans
to adopt were broad, wise, and statesmanlike. For example, referring
to a provision adopted by Massachusetts to restrict naturalization, he
wrote, "Massachusetts is a sovereign and independent State, and it is no
privilege of mine to scold her for what she does. Still, if from what
she has done an inference is sought to be drawn as to what I would do, I
may, without impropriety, speak out. I say, then, that, as I understand
the Massachusetts provision, I am against its adoption in Illinois, or
in any other place where I have a right to oppose it. Understanding the
spirit of our institutions to aid at the elevation of men, I am opposed
to whatever tends to degrade them. I have some little notoriety for
commiserating the oppressed condition of the negro; and I should be
strangely inconsistent if I could favor any project for curtailing the
existing rights of white men, even though born in different lands and
speaking different languages from myself."
He wrote from Springfield to Schuyler Colfax (afterwards Vice-President
of the United States), July 6, 1859, "Besides a strong desire to make
your personal acquaintance, I was anxious to speak with you on politics
a little more fully than I can well do in a letter. My main object in
such conversation would be to hedge against divisions in the Republican
ranks generally, and particularly for the contest of 1860. The point
of danger is the temptation in different localities to 'platform' for
something which will be popular just there, but which, nevertheless,
will be a firebrand elsewhere, and especially in a national convention.
As instances, the movement against foreigners in Massachusetts; in
New Hampshire, to make obedience to the fugitive-slave law punishable
as a crime; in Ohio, to repeal the fugitive-slave law; and squatter
sovereignty in Kansas. In these things there is explosive matter enough
to blow up half a dozen national conventions, if it gets into them; and
what gets very rife outside of conventions is very likely to find its
way into them."
The idea of making Lincoln a Presidential candidate seems to have
occurred to a great many people at about the same time, and shortly
after his inauguration a regiment might have been organized of the
friends who first named him. There are, however, some letters preserved
which show that the suggestion had been made to him early in 1859, long
before the Cooper Institute address; indeed, immediately after the close
of the Senatorial fight in 1858 an editorial friend in Illinois wrote
him as follows: "I would like to have a talk with you on political
matters, as to the policy of announcing your name for the Presidency,
while you are in our city. My partner and myself are about addressing
the Republican editors of the State on the subject of a simultaneous
announcement of your name for the Presidency."
To this Lincoln replied, "As to the other matter you kindly mention, I
must in candor say that I do not think myself fit for the Presidency. I
certainly am flattered and gratified that some partial friends think of
me in that connection; but I really think it best for our cause that no
concerted effort, such as you suggest, should be made."
It would seem from other remarks made at the time that he was planning
another fight with Douglas and had the patience to wait six years to
renew the contest. He wrote several friends that he intended to fight
in the ranks, and declined to be a candidate for the Senate against
Trumbull; but while he was writing those letters, about January 1, 1860,
there was a conference at Springfield of the Republican leaders of
the State, said to have been called by Mr. Norman B. Judd, at which a
serious and organized effort was begun to secure his nomination. One of
the gentlemen present says, "We asked him if his name might be used in
connection with the nomination. With characteristic modesty, he doubted
whether he could get the nomination even if he wished it, and asked
until the next morning to answer us whether his name might be announced.
The next day he authorized us, if we thought proper to do so, 'to place
him in the field.' In answer to a question whether he would accept a
nomination for Vice-President if he could not be put on the first place
on the ticket, he replied that if his name were used for the office of
President he would not permit it to be used for any other office, no
matter how honorable it might be."
From this time Lincoln exerted every proper means to secure success. He
did not repose idly in his Springfield office and allow his friends to
do the work, but was quite as active and vigilant in his own behalf
as any of his supporters, and managed the campaign himself. He had
no funds, however, no literary bureau, no head-quarters or personal
organization; nearly every letter he sent out on the subject was written
with his own hand, and he used plain and characteristic language asking
for the support of his friends in Illinois and other States. Whether
his intention was to disarm jealousy, or whether he actually believed
that his nomination was impossible, he intimated to several of his
correspondents that he desired to make a brave show at the Chicago
Convention because of the prestige it would give him in his future
fight for the Senate. And to another he wrote, "I am not in a position
where it would hurt much for me not to be nominated on the national
ticket, but I am where it would hurt some for me not to get the Illinois
delegates."
He even sent money from his own small means to pay the expenses of
friends who were working in his interest. On March 10, 1860, he wrote to
a gentleman in Kansas, "Allow me to say that I cannot enter the ring on
the money basis,--first, because in the main it is wrong; and secondly,
I have not and cannot get the money. I say in the main the use of money
is wrong, but for certain objects in a political contest is both right
and indispensable. With me, as with yourself, this long struggle has
been one of great pecuniary loss. I now distinctly say this; if you
shall be appointed a delegate to Chicago I will furnish one hundred
dollars to bear the expense of the trip."
Nevertheless, Kansas instructed her delegation for Seward, whereupon
Lincoln wrote a consoling letter to his friends and said, "Don't stir
them up to anger, but come along to the Convention and I will do as I
said about expenses." There is nothing to show whether the offer was
accepted, but, with his usual gratitude for favors received or intended,
he appointed his Kansas friend to a lucrative office within ten days
after his inauguration, and frequently consulted him about the patronage
in that State.
The Illinois State Convention gave Lincoln a hearty endorsement and sent
an enthusiastic delegation to Chicago composed of personal friends of
great ability, political experience, and personal influence, and by a
combination with Chase from Ohio, Cameron from Pennsylvania, Bates from
Missouri, and other anti-Seward candidates, he was nominated for the
office of President of the United States. The credit of his success was
claimed by many; several accounts of bargains have passed into history,
and other fictitious explanations for his nomination have been printed
from time to time, but we have the authority of David Davis, Norman B.
Judd, and other friends who were authorized to speak for him, as well
as his own testimony, that after the Convention adjourned he was free
from all obligations except the gratitude he was glad to offer to his
supporters.
[Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S HOUSE AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS
The tree in front of the house was planted by Lincoln]
The evening of the second day after the nomination brought to
Springfield a committee of notification composed of some of the most
distinguished men of that day and others who were destined to play a
conspicuous part in national affairs. George Ashmun, of Massachusetts,
was the chairman; Governor Boutwell, afterwards United States Senator
and Secretary of the Treasury; Samuel Bowles, editor of the _Springfield
Republican_; Carl Schurz, of Wisconsin; Gideon Welles, of Connecticut;
Amos Tuck, of New Hampshire; William M. Evarts and Governor Edwin D.
Morgan, of New York; "Pig-Iron" Kelley, of Pennsylvania; Francis P.
Blair, of Missouri; and others were of the party. Most of them were
disappointed at the result of the Convention and distrustful of the
strength and ability of the prairie lawyer as a candidate. He received
them, however, with simple dignity. They were invited to deliver their
message at his modest home, and appeared there a few moments after
their arrival in Springfield, to find him surrounded by his family and a
few intimate friends. They saw a man of unprepossessing appearance, with
long limbs, large hands and feet, stooping shoulders, coarse features,
and a shock of rebellious hair. He was the last man in the world,
perhaps, to judge by appearances, that this committee would have chosen
as a Presidential candidate; but when he began to speak in reply to Mr.
Ashmun, a change seemed to come over him. The rugged face and awkward
figure were transformed, and the members of the committee recognized at
once that they were in the presence of a man who was master of himself
and possessed a strength they had not suspected. And when they left
Springfield, almost without exception, they were convinced of the wisdom
of his nomination.
The opposing candidates prepared long letters of acceptance explanatory
of their views and defining their purposes, but Lincoln had already
recognized the wisdom of reticence, and the night of his nomination,
standing in his own doorway, he told his neighbors and friends who
called to congratulate him and demanded a speech that "the time comes
upon every man when it is best to keep his lips closed. That time has
come to me." Hence his letter of acceptance was the briefest ever
written by a Presidential candidate. After one formal introductory
phrase, it reads:
"The declaration of principles which accompanies your letter
meets my approval, and it shall be my care not to violate it
or disregard it in any way or part. Imploring the assistance
of Divine Providence, and with due regard for the views and
feelings of all who were represented in the Convention, to
the rights of all the States and Territories and people of
the nation, to the inviolability of the Constitution, and
the perpetual union of prosperity, and harmony of all, I am
most happy to co-operate for the practical success of the
principles declared by the convention. Your obliged friend and
fellow-citizen,
"A. LINCOLN."
This letter was not shown to any one of Lincoln's friends, with the
exception of Dr. Newton Bateman, State Superintendent of Education and
an intimate friend, to whom Lincoln said,--
"Mr. School-master, here is my letter of acceptance. And I wouldn't like
to have any mistakes in it. I am not very strong on grammar and I wish
you would see if it is all right."
Mr. Bateman suggested one change, so that it would read "it shall be my
care not to violate," instead of "it shall be my care to not violate."
"So you think I better put those two little fellows end to end, do you?"
replied Lincoln, taking his pen and making the change suggested.
Lincoln's nomination made very little difference in his daily life. He
turned his law practice over to his partner, employed John G. Nicolay, a
clerk in the office of the Secretary of State, as his private secretary,
was given the use of the Governor's room at the State-House for an
office, and devoted his entire time to the reception of visitors and
correspondence concerning the campaign. His door stood always open.
There was not even an usher. Everybody came and went as freely as when
he was a candidate for the Legislature or engaged in his practice.
He was the same Abraham Lincoln he had always been, except a little
more serious because of increasing responsibilities, and a little more
dignified because he was sensible of the honor that had been conferred
upon him; but his old friends detected no change in the man, and dropped
in to exchange gossip whenever they came to town. Distinguished visitors
came from a distance,--statesmen, politicians, wire-pullers, newspaper
correspondents, men with great purposes and ambitions, adventurers,
lion-hunters, and representatives of all classes and conditions, who
usually seek the acquaintance of influential and prominent men and
worship a rising sun. He told each a story and sent him away, pleased
with his person and impressed with his character. His correspondence had
increased enormously and every letter received a polite reply, but he
maintained his policy of reticence and gave no indication of his plans
or purposes.
One day, while a group of distinguished politicians from a distance were
sitting in the Governor's room, chatting with Lincoln, the door opened
and an old lady in a big sunbonnet and the garb of a farmer's wife came
in.
"I wanted to give you something to take to Washington, Mr. Lincoln,"
she said, "and these are all I had. I spun the yarn and knit them socks
myself." And with an air of pride she handed him a pair of blue woollen
stockings.
Lincoln thanked her cordially for her thoughtfulness, inquired after the
folks at home, and escorted her to the door as politely as if she had
been Queen of England. Then, when he returned to the room, he picked up
the socks, held them by the toes, one in each hand, and with a queer
smile upon his face remarked to the statesmen around him,--
"The old lady got my latitude and longitude about right, didn't she?"
Such incidents occurred nearly every day and were a source of great
pleasure to the President, who was never happier than when in the
company of "the plain people," as he called them.
No one man of honest intentions visited him without feeling the better
for it and being impressed with his ability, his courage, and his
confidence. From the beginning he never doubted his own success. He
realized that the Democratic party was hopelessly split and that, while
the factions, if combined, might embrace a majority of the voters of
the country, the Republicans would have a plurality, and his reasoning
was so plausible that he convinced his visitors of the truth of his
convictions. He never showed the slightest annoyance at the attacks that
were continually made upon his reputation and record, and demonstrated
his coolness, self-poise, and wisdom by declining to defend himself
or offer explanations. His theory was expressed to a friend who wrote
him with great concern about a charge that had been made against his
integrity.
"I have made this explanation to you as a friend," he wrote, "but I wish
no explanation made to our enemies. What they want is a squabble and a
fuss, and that they can have if we explain, and they cannot have it if
we don't."
The greater number of inquiries related to his position and intentions
towards slavery, and to every one he gave a similar answer, that he
had defined his position again and again in his speeches before his
nomination, and "Those who will not read or heed what I have already
publicly said would not read or heed a repetition of it. 'If they hear
not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one
rose from the dead.'"
He kept his finger upon the pulse of the country, and none of the
managers of either party was so well informed as to the situation and
sentiment in different sections as he. The Republican politicians soon
discovered this fact and came to him more and more for advice and
instruction. Even Thurlow Weed, who was supposed to be the shrewdest
politician in the country, recognized a master and sought counsel from
him regarding the management of the campaign in New York. Wherever he
detected a weak spot, he sent a word of warning and advice: wherever
there were local dissensions, he restored harmony with his tact and
good-nature. Thus was Lincoln the manager of his own campaign; more so,
perhaps, than any man who was ever elected President. But at the same
time he made one great mistake. He had heard the threat of secession so
long that he had grown indifferent to it, and he told everybody that
"The people of the South have too much sense to attempt the ruin of the
government."