Lincoln in the Legislature--Eight Consecutive Years of Service--His
Influence in the House--Leader of the Whig Party in Illinois--Takes
a Hand in National Politics--Presidential Election in 1840--A "Log
Cabin" Reminiscence--Some Memorable Political Encounters--A Tilt
with Douglas--Lincoln Facing a Mob--His Physical Courage--Lincoln
as a Duellist--The Affair with General Shields--An Eye-Witness'
Account of the Duel--Courtship and Marriage.
In 1838 Lincoln was for a third time a candidate for the State
Legislature. Mr. Wilson, one of his colleagues from Sangamon County,
states that a question of the division of the county was one of the
local issues. "Mr. Lincoln and myself," says Mr. Wilson, "among others
residing in the portion of the county which sought to be organized into
a new county, opposed the division; and it became necessary that I
should make a special canvass through the northwest part of the county,
then known as Sand Ridge. I made the canvass. Mr. Lincoln accompanied
me, and being personally acquainted with everyone we called at nearly
every house. At that time it was the universal custom to keep some
whiskey in the house for private use and to treat friends. The subject
was always mentioned as a matter of politeness, but with the usual
remark to Mr. Lincoln, 'We know you never drink, but maybe your friend
would like to take a little.' I never saw Mr. Lincoln drink. He often
told me he never drank; had no desire for drink, nor for the
companionship of drinking men."
The result of this canvass was that Lincoln was elected to the
Legislature for the session of 1838-39. The next year he was elected
for the session of 1840-41. This ended his legislative service, which
comprised eight consecutive years, from 1834 to 1841. In these later
sessions he was as active and prominent in the House as he had been in
the earlier times when a member from New Salem.
Lincoln's faculty for getting the better of an adversary by an apt
illustration or anecdote was seldom better shown than by an incident
which occurred during his last term in the Legislature. Hon. James C.
Conkling has given the following graphic description of the scene: "A
gentleman who had formerly been Attorney-General of the State was also a
member. Presuming upon his age, experience, and former official
position, he thought it incumbent upon himself to oppose Lincoln, who
was then one of the acknowledged leaders of his party. He at length
attracted the attention of Lincoln, who replied to his remarks, telling
one of his humorous anecdotes and making a personal application to his
opponent which placed the latter in such a ridiculous attitude that it
convulsed the whole House. All business was suspended. In vain the
Speaker rapped with his gavel. Members of all parties, without
distinction, were compelled to laugh. They not only laughed, they
screamed and yelled; they thumped upon the floor with their canes; they
clapped their hands and threw up their hats; they shouted and twisted
themselves into all sorts of contortions, until their sides ached and
the tears rolled down their cheeks. One paroxysm passed away, but was
speedily succeeded by another, and again they laughed and screamed and
yelled. Another lull occurred, and still another paroxysm, until they
seemed to be perfectly exhausted. The ambition of Lincoln's opponent was
abundantly gratified, and for the remainder of the session he lapsed
into profound obscurity."
In June, 1842, ex-President Van Buren was journeying through Illinois
with a company of friends. When near Springfield they were delayed by
bad roads, and were compelled to spend the night at Rochester, some
miles out. The accommodations at this place were very poor, and a few of
the ex-President's Springfield friends proposed to go out to meet him
and try to aid in entertaining him. Knowing Lincoln's ability as a
talker and story-teller, they begged him to go with them and aid in
making their guest at the country inn pass the evening as pleasantly as
possible. Lincoln, with his usual good nature, went with them, and
entertained the party for hours with graphic descriptions of Western
life, anecdotes and witty stories. Judge Peck, who was of the party, and
a warm friend of the ex-President, says that Lincoln was at his best.
There was a constant succession of brilliant anecdotes and funny
stories, accompanied by loud laughter in which Van Buren took his full
share. "He also," says the Judge, "gave us incidents and anecdotes of
Elisha Williams, and other leading members of the New York bar, going
back to the days of Hamilton and Burr. Altogether there was a right
merry time. Mr. Van Buren said the only drawback upon his enjoyment was
that his sides were sore from laughing at Lincoln's stories for a week
thereafter."
Lincoln's eight years of legislative service had given him considerable
reputation in politics, and he had become the acknowledged leader of the
Whig party in Illinois. In the exciting Presidential campaign of 1840,
known as the "Log Cabin" campaign, he took a very active part. He had
been nominated as Presidential Elector on the Harrison ticket, and
stumped a large portion of the State. A peculiarly interesting
reminiscence of Lincoln's appearance on one occasion during the "Log
Cabin" campaign is furnished by Mr. G.W. Harris, who says: "In the fall
of the year 1840 there came into the log school-house in a village in
Southern Illinois where I, a lad, was a pupil, a tall, awkward,
plain-looking young man dressed in a full suit of 'blue jean.'
Approaching the master, he gave his name, and, apologizing for the
intrusion, said, 'I am told you have a copy of Byron's works. I would
like to borrow it for a few hours.' The book was produced and loaned to
him. With his thanks and a 'Good-day' to the teacher, and a smile such
as I have never seen on any other man's face and a look that took in all
of us lads and lassies, the stranger passed out of the room. This was
during a Presidential canvass. Isaac Walker, candidate for Democratic
Elector, and Abraham Lincoln, candidate for Whig Elector, were by
appointment to discuss political matters in the afternoon of that day. I
asked for and got a half-holiday. I had given no thought to the matter
until the appearance of Lincoln (for he it was) in the school-room. But,
something in the man had aroused, not only in me but in others of the
scholars, a strong desire to see him again and to hear him speak. Isaac
Walker in his younger days had been a resident of the village. Lincoln
was aware of this, and shrewdly suspected that Walker in his remarks
would allude to the circumstance; so, having the opening speech, he
determined to 'take the wind out of his sails.' He did so--how
effectually, it is hardly necessary for me to say. He had borrowed
Byron's works to read the opening lines of 'Lara':
"He, their unhoped, but unforgotten lord,
The long self-exiled chieftain, is restored.
There be bright faces in the busy hall,
Bowls on the board, and banners on the wall;
* * * * *
"He comes at last in sudden loneliness,
And whence they know not, why they need not guess;
They more might marvel, when the greeting's o'er,
Not that he came, but came not long before."
During this period Lincoln continued to enjoy the hospitality of Mr.
Speed at Springfield. "After he made his home with me," says Mr. Speed,
"on every winter's night at my store, by a big wood fire, no matter how
inclement the weather, eight or ten choice spirits assembled, without
distinction of party. It was a sort of social club without organization.
They came there because they were sure to find Lincoln. His habit was to
engage in conversation upon any and all subjects except politics. But
one evening a political argument sprang up between Lincoln and Douglas,
which for a time ran high. Douglas sprang to his feet and said:
'Gentlemen, this is no place to talk politics; we will discuss the
questions publicly with you.'" A few days later the Whigs held a meeting
and challenged the Democrats to a joint debate. The challenge was
accepted. Douglas, Lamborn, Calhoun, and Jesse Thomas were deputed by
the Democrats to meet Logan, Baker, Browning, and Lincoln on the part of
the Whigs. The intellectual encounter between these noted champions is
still described by those who witnessed it as "the great debate." It took
place in the Second Presbyterian church at Springfield, and lasted eight
nights, each speaker occupying a night in turn. Mr. Speed speaks thus of
Lincoln's effort: "Lincoln delivered his speech without manuscript or
notes. He had a wonderful faculty in that way. He might be writing an
important document, be interrupted in the midst of a sentence, turn his
attention to other matters entirely foreign to the subject on which he
was engaged, and then take up his pen and begin where he left off
without reading the previous part of the sentence. He could grasp,
exhaust, and quit any subject with more facility than any man I have
ever seen or heard of." The subjoined paragraphs from the speech above
referred to show the impassioned feeling which Lincoln poured forth that
night. Those familiar with his admirable style in his later years would
scarcely recognize him in these florid and rather over-weighted periods:
Many free countries have lost their liberty, and ours may lose
hers; but if she shall, be it 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 the Evil Spirit, and fiendishly torturing and taunting
all those who dare resist its destroying course with the
hopelessness 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 which we deem to be
just. It shall not deter me. If I ever feel the soul within me
elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of its
Almighty architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my
country deserted by all the world beside, and I, standing up boldly
and alone, hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors. And here,
without contemplating consequences, before high Heaven and in the
face of the whole world, I swear eternal fidelity to the just
cause, as I deem it, of the land of my life, my liberty, and my
love. And who that thinks with me will not fearlessly adopt the
oath I take? Let none falter who thinks he is right, and we may
succeed. But if, after all, we shall fail, be it so. We shall have
the proud consolation of saying to our conscience and to the
departed shade of our country's freedom, that the cause approved by
our judgments and adored by our hearts in disaster, in chains, in
torture, and in death, we never failed in defending.
In this canvass Lincoln came again into collision with Douglas, the
adversary whom he had met two years before and with whom he was to
sustain an almost life-long political conflict. He also had occasion to
show his courage and presence of mind in rescuing from a mob his
distinguished friend, Col. E.D. Baker, afterwards a Senator of the
United States. "Baker was speaking in a large room," says Mr. Arnold,
"rented and used for the court sessions, and Lincoln's office was in an
apartment over the court-room, communicating with it by a trap-door.
Lincoln was in his office listening to Baker through the open trap-door,
when Baker, becoming excited, abused the Democrats, many of whom were
present. A cry was raised, 'Pull him off the stand!' The instant Lincoln
heard the cry, knowing a general fight was imminent, his athletic form
was seen descending from above through the opening of the trap-door,
and, springing to the side of Baker, and waving his hand for silence, he
said with dignity: '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. I am here to protect him, and no man shall
take him from this stand if I can prevent it.' Quiet was restored, and
Baker finished his speech without further interruption."
A similar occurrence, happening about the same period, is detailed by
General Linder: "On a later occasion, when Colonel Baker and myself were
both battling together in the Whig cause, at a convention held in
Springfield, I made a speech at the State House, which I think now,
looking back at it from this point, was the very best I ever made in my
life. While I was addressing the vast assembly some ruffian in the
galleries flung at me a gross personal insult accompanied with a threat.
Lincoln and Colonel Baker, who were both present and were warm personal
and political friends of mine, anticipating that I might be attacked
when I left the State House, came upon the stand a little while before I
concluded my speech and took their station on each side of me. When I
was through, and after my audience had greeted me with three hearty
cheers, each took one of my arms, and Lincoln said to me: 'Linder, Baker
and I are apprehensive that you may be attacked by some of those
ruffians who insulted you from the galleries, and we have come up to
escort you to your hotel. We both think we can do a little fighting, so
we want you to walk between us until we get you to your hotel. Your
quarrel is our quarrel and that of the great Whig party of this nation.
Your speech upon this occasion is the greatest that has been made by any
of us, for which we wish to honor and defend you.' This I consider no
ordinary compliment, coming from Lincoln, for he was no flatterer nor
disposed to bestow praise where it was undeserved. Colonel Baker
heartily concurred in all he said, and between those two glorious men I
left the stand and we marched out of the State House through our
friends, who trooped after us evidently anticipating what Lincoln and
Baker had suggested to me, accompanying us to my hotel."
That Lincoln had an abundance of physical courage, and was well able to
defend himself when necessity demanded, is clear from the incidents just
given. Mr. Herndon, his intimate friend, adds his testimony on this
point. As Lincoln was grand in his good nature, says Mr. Herndon, so he
was grand in his rage. "Once I saw him incensed at a judge for giving an
unfair decision. It was a terrible spectacle. At another time I saw two
men come to blows in his presence. He picked them up separately and
tossed them apart like a couple of kittens. He was the strongest man I
ever knew, and has been known to lift a man of his own weight and throw
him over a worm fence. Once in Springfield the Irish voters meditated
taking possession of the polls. News came down the street that they
would permit nobody to vote but those of their own party. Mr. Lincoln
seized an axe-handle from a hardware store and went alone to open a way
to the ballot-box. His appearance intimidated them, and we had neither
threats nor collisions all that day."
An unsuspected side of Lincoln's character was shown, at this period of
his life, in the affair with General Shields. With all his gentleness
and his scrupulous regard for the rights of others, Lincoln was not one
to submit to being bullied; while his physical courage had been proved
in many a rough--and--tumble encounter, often against heavy odds, with
the rude and boisterous spirits of his time. These encounters were
usually with nature's weapons; but in the Shields affair--duel, it was
sometimes called--he showed that he would not shrink from the use of
more deadly weapons if forced to do so. In judging this phase of his
character, account must be taken of his Kentucky birth and origin, and
of the customs and standards of his time. James Shields (afterwards a
distinguished Union General and U.S. Senator) was at this time (1842)
living at Springfield, holding the office of State Auditor. He is
described as "a gallant, hot-headed bachelor, from Tyrone County,
Ireland." He was something of a beau in society, and was the subject of
some satirical articles which, in a spirit of fun, Miss Mary Todd
(afterwards Mrs. Lincoln) had written and published in a local journal.
Shields was furious, and, demanding the name of the writer, Lincoln sent
him word that he would assume full responsibility in the matter. A
challenge to a duel followed, which Lincoln accepted and named
broadswords as the weapons. General Linder states that Lincoln said to
him that he did not want to kill Shields, and felt sure he could disarm
him if they fought with broadswords, while he felt sure Shields would
kill him if pistols were the weapons. It seems that Lincoln actually
took lessons in broadsword exercise from a Major Duncan; and at the
appointed time all parties proceeded to the chosen field, near Alton.
But friends appeared on the scene while the preliminaries were being
arranged, and succeeded in effecting a reconciliation. Major Lucas, of
Springfield, who was on the field, stated that he "had no doubt Lincoln
meant to fight. Lincoln was no coward, and he would unquestionably have
held his own against his antagonist, for he was a powerful man and well
skilled in the use of the broadsword. Lincoln said to me, after the
affair was all over, 'I could have split him in two.'" But there can be
little doubt that he was well pleased that the affair proved a
bloodless one.
The mention of Miss Mary Todd, in the preceding paragraph, brings us to
Lincoln's marriage with that lady, which occurred in 1842, he being then
in his thirty--fourth year. Miss Todd was the daughter of the Hon.
Robert T. Todd, of Lexington, Kentucky. She came to Springfield in 1839,
to live with her sister, Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards. "She was young," says
Mr. Lamon, "just twenty-one,--her family was of the best and her
connections in Illinois among the most refined and distinguished people.
Her mother having died when she was a little girl, she had been educated
under the care of a French lady. She was gifted with rare talents, had a
keen sense of the ridiculous, a ready insight into the weaknesses of
individual character, and a most fiery and ungovernable temper. Her
tongue and her pen were equally sharp. Highbred, proud, brilliant,
witty, and with a will that bent every one else to her purpose, she took
Lincoln captive. He was a rising politician, fresh from the people, and
possessed of great power among them. Miss Todd was of aristocratic and
distinguished family, able to lead through the awful portals of 'good
society' whomsoever they chose to countenance. It was thought that a
union between them could not fail of numerous benefits to both parties.
Mr. Edwards thought so; Mrs. Edwards thought so; and it was not long
before Mary Todd herself thought so. She was very ambitious, and even
before she left Kentucky announced her belief that she was destined to
be the wife of some future President. For a while she was courted by
Douglas as well as by Lincoln. Being asked which of them she intended to
have, she answered, 'The one that has the best chance of being
President.' She decided in favor of Lincoln; and in the opinion of some
of her husband's friends she aided to no small extent in the fulfilment
of the prophecy which the bestowal of her hand implied." Mrs. Edwards,
Miss Todd's sister, has related that "Lincoln was charmed with Mary's
wit and fascinated with her quick sagacity, her will, her nature and
culture. I have happened in the room," she says, "where they were
sitting, often and often, and Mary led the conversation. Lincoln would
listen, and gaze on her as if drawn by some superior power--irresistibly
so. He listened, but seldom said a word."
Preparations were made for the marriage between Lincoln and Miss Todd.
But they were interrupted by a painful occurrence--a sudden breaking out
of a fit of melancholy, or temporary insanity, such as had afflicted
Lincoln on a former occasion. This event has been made the subject of no
little gossip, into which it is not now necessary or desirable to go,
further than to mention that at about this time Lincoln seems to have
formed a strong attachment for Miss Matilda Edwards, a sister of Ninian
W. Edwards; and that the engagement with Miss Todd was for a time broken
off. In consequence of these complications, Lincoln's health was
seriously affected. He suffered from melancholy, which was so profound
that "his friends were alarmed for his life." His intimate companion,
Mr. Speed, endeavored to rescue him from the terrible depression, urging
that he would die unless he rallied. Lincoln replied, "I am not afraid
to die, and would be more than willing. But I have an irrepressible
desire to live till I can be assured that the world is a little better
for my having been in it."
Mr. Herndon gives as his opinion that Lincoln's insanity grew out of a
most extraordinary complication of feelings--aversion to the marriage
proposed, a counter--attachment to Miss Edwards, and a revival of his
tenderness for the memory of Anne Rutledge. At all events, his
derangement was nearly if not quite complete. "We had to remove razors
from his room," says Mr. Speed, "take away all knives, and other
dangerous things. It was terrible." Mr. Speed determined to do for him
what Bowlin Greene had done on a similar occasion at New Salem. Having
sold out his store on the first of January,
1841, he took Lincoln with him to his home in Kentucky and kept him
there during most of the summer and fall, or until he seemed
sufficiently restored to be given his liberty again, when he was brought
back to Springfield. His health was soon regained, and on the 4th of
November, 1842, the marriage between him and Miss Todd was celebrated
according to the rites of the Episcopal Church. After the marriage
Lincoln secured pleasant rooms for himself and wife at the Globe Tavern,
at a cost of four dollars a week. In 1844 he purchased of the Rev.
Nathan Dressar the plain dwelling which was his home for the ensuing
seventeen years, and which he left in 1861 to enter the White House.