Books: The Life of Abraham Lincoln

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Be it known that in all these transactions not a dollar in money
changed hands. Men bought with promissory notes and sold for the same
consideration. The mercantile venture was not successful. Berry was
drinking and loafing, and Lincoln, who did not work as faithfully for
himself as for another, was usually reading or telling stories. So when
a couple of strangers, Trent by name, offered to buy out the store, the
offer was accepted and more promissory notes changed hands. About the
time these last notes came due, the Trent brothers disappeared between
two days. Then Berry died.

The outcome of the whole series of transactions was that Lincoln was
left with an assortment of promissory notes bearing the names of the
Herndons, Radford, Greene, Rutledge, Berry, and the Trents. With one
exception, which will be duly narrated, his creditors told him to pay
when he was able. He promised to put all of his earnings, in excess of
modest living expenses, into the payment of these obligations. It was
the burden of many years and he always called it "the national debt."
But he kept his word, paying both principal and the high rate of
interest until 1848, or after fifteen years, when a member of congress,
he paid the last cent. He was still "honest Abe." This narrative ranks
the backwoodsman with Sir Walter Scott and Mark Twain, though no
dinners were tendered to him and no glowing eulogies were published
from ocean to ocean.

His only further experience in navigation was the piloting of a
Cincinnati steamboat, the _Talisman_, up the Sangamon River (during the
high water in spring time) to show that that stream was navigable.
Nothing came of it however, and Springfield was never made "the head of
navigation."

It was in the midst of the mercantile experiences above narrated that
the Black Hawk war broke out. Black Hawk was chief of the Sac Indians,
who, with some neighboring tribes, felt themselves wronged by the
whites. Some of them accordingly put on the paint, raised the whoop,
and entered the warpath in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.
The governor called for soldiers, and Lincoln volunteered with the
rest.

The election of captain of the company was according to an original
method. The two candidates were placed a short distance apart and the
men were invited to line up with one or the other according to their
preference. When this had been done it was seen that Lincoln had about
three quarters of the men. This testimony to his popularity was
gratifying. After he became president of the United States he declared
that no success that ever came to him gave him so much solid
satisfaction.

Lincoln saw almost nothing of the war. His only casualty came after its
close. He had been mustered out and his horse was stolen so that he was
compelled to walk most of the way home. After the expiration of his
term of enlistment he reenlisted as a private. As he saw no fighting
the war was to him almost literally a picnic. But in 1848, when he was
in congress, the friends of General Cass were trying to make political
capital out of his alleged military services. This brought from Lincoln
a speech which showed that he had not lost the power of satire which he
possessed while a lad in Indiana.

"Did you know, Mr. Speaker, I am a military hero? In the days of the
Black Hawk war I fought, bled, and--came away. I was not at Stillman's
defeat, but I was about as near it as General Cass was to Hull's
surrender; and, like him, I saw the place very soon afterwards. It is
quite certain I did not break my sword, for I had none to break, but I
bent my musket pretty bad on one occasion. If General Cass went in
advance of me picking whortleberries, I guess I surpassed him in
charges on 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. If ever I should conclude to doff
whatever our Democratic friends may suppose there is of black-cockade
Federalism about me, and thereupon they shall take me up as their
candidate for the Presidency, I protest that they shall not make fun of
me, as they have of General Cass, by attempting to write me into a
military hero."

In 1833 Lincoln was appointed postmaster at New Salem. To him the chief
advantage of this position was the fact that it gave him the means of
reading the papers. The principal one of these was the Louisville
_Journal_, an exceedingly able paper, for it was in charge of
George D. Prentice, one of the ablest editors this country has ever
produced. The duties of the post-office were few because the mail was
light. The occasional letters which came were usually carried around by
the postmaster in his hat. When one asked for his mail, he would
gravely remove his hat and search through the package of letters.

This office was discontinued in a short time, but no agent of the
government came to close up the accounts. Years afterwards, when
Lincoln was in Springfield, the officer suddenly appeared and demanded
the balance due to the United States, the amount being seventeen
dollars and a few cents. A friend who was by, knowing that Lincoln was
short of funds, in order to save him from embarrassment, offered to
lend him the needful sum. "Hold on a minute and let's see how we come
out," said he. He went to his room and returned with an old rag
containing money. This he counted out, being the exact sum to a cent.
It was all in small denominations of silver and copper, just as it had
been received. In all his emergencies of need he had never touched this
small fund which he held in trust. To him it was sacred. He was still
"honest Abe."

In the early thirties, when the state of Illinois was being settled
with great rapidity, the demand for surveyors was greater than the
supply. John Calhoun, surveyor for the government, was in urgent need
of a deputy, and Lincoln was named as a man likely to be able to fit
himself for the duties on short notice. He was appointed. He borrowed
the necessary book and went to work in dead earnest to learn the
science. Day and night he studied until his friends, noticing the
wearing effect on his health, became alarmed. But by the end of six
weeks, an almost incredibly brief period of time, he was ready for
work.

It is certain that his outfit was of the simplest description, and
there is a tradition that at first, instead of a surveyor's chain he
used a long, straight, wild-grape vine. Those who understand the
conditions and requirements of surveying in early days say that this is
not improbable. A more important fact is that Lincoln's surveys have
never been called in question, which is something that can be said of
few frontier surveyors. Though he learned the science in so short a
time, yet here, as always, he was thorough.

It was said in the earlier part of this chapter that to the holders of
Lincoln's notes who consented to await his ability to pay, there was
one exception. One man, when his note fell due, seized horse and
instruments, and put a temporary stop to his surveying. But a neighbor
bought these in and returned them to Lincoln. He never forgot the
kindness of this man, James Short by name, and thirty years later
appointed him Indian agent.

At this point may be mentioned an occurrence which took place a year or
two later. It was his first romance of love, his engagement to a
beautiful girl, Ann Rutledge, and his bereavement. Her untimely death
nearly unsettled his mind. He was afflicted with melancholy to such a
degree that his friends dared not leave him alone. For years afterwards
the thought of her would shake his whole frame with emotion, and he
would sit with his face buried in his hands while the tears trickled
through. A friend once begged him to try to forget his sorrow. "I
cannot," he said; "the thought of the rain and snow on her grave fills
me with indescribable grief."

Somehow, we know not how, the poem "Oh, why should the spirit of mortal
be proud?" was in his mind connected with Ann Rutledge. Possibly it may
have been a favorite with her. There was certainly some association,
and through his whole life he was fond of it and often repeated it. Nor
did he forget her. It was late in life that he said: "I really and
truly loved the girl and think often of her now." Then, after a pause,
"And I have loved the name of Rutledge to this day."

This bereavement took much from Lincoln. Did it give him nothing?
Patience, earnestness, tenderness, sympathy--these are sometimes the
gifts which are sent by the messenger Sorrow. We are justified in
believing that this sad event was one of the means of ripening the
character of this great man, and that to it was due a measure of his
usefulness in his mature years.

CHAPTER VII.

ENTERING POLITICS.

Lincoln's duties at New Salem, as clerk, storekeeper, and postmaster,
had resulted in an intimate acquaintance with the people of that
general locality. His duties as surveyor took him into the outlying
districts. His social instincts won for him friends wherever he was
known, while his sterling character gave him an influence unusual, both
in kind and in measure, for a young man of his years. He had always
possessed an interest in public, even national, questions, and his
fondness for debate and speech-making increased this interest. Moreover
he had lived month by month going from one job to another, and had not
yet found his permanent calling.

When this combination of facts is recalled, it is a foregone conclusion
that he would sooner or later enter politics. This he did at the age of
twenty-three, in 1832.

According to the custom of the day he announced in the spring his
candidacy. After this was done the Black Hawk war called him off the
ground and he did not get back until about ten days before the
election, so that he had almost no time to attend to the canvass. One
incident of this campaign is preserved which is interesting, partly
because it concerns the first known speech Lincoln ever made in his own
behalf, and chiefly because it was an exhibition of his character.

He was speaking at a place called Cappsville when two men in the
audience got into a scuffle.

Lincoln proceeded in his speech until it became evident that his friend
was getting the worst of the scuffle, when he descended from the
platform, seized the antagonist and threw him ten or twelve feet away
on the ground, and then remounted the platform and took up his speech
where he had left off without a break in the logic.

The methods of electioneering are given by Miss Tarbell in the
following words:

"Wherever he saw a crowd of men he joined them, and he never failed to
adapt himself to their point of view in asking for votes. If the degree
of physical strength was the test for a candidate, he was ready to lift
a weight, or wrestle with the countryside champion; if the amount of
grain a man could cut would recommend him, he seized the cradle and
showed the swath he could cut" (I. 109).

The ten days devoted to the canvass were not enough, and he was
defeated. The vote against him was chiefly in the outlying region where
he was little known. It must have been gratifying to him that in his
own precinct, where he was so well known, he received the almost
unanimous vote of all parties. Biographers differ as to the precise
number of votes in the New Salem precinct, but by Nicolay and Hay it is
given as 277 for, and three against. Of this election Lincoln himself
(speaking in the third person) said: "This was the only time Abraham
was ever defeated on the direct vote of the people."

His next political experience was a candidacy for the legislature 1834.
At this time, as before, he announced his own candidacy. But not as
before, he at this time made a diligent canvass of the district. When
the election came off he was not only successful but he ran ahead of
his ticket. He usually did run ahead of his ticket excepting when
running for the presidency, and then it was from the nature of the case
impossible. Though Lincoln probably did not realize it, this, his first
election, put an end forever to his drifting, desultory, frontier life.
Up to this point he was always looking for a job. From this time on he
was not passing from one thing to another. In this country politics and
law are closely allied. This two-fold pursuit, politics, for the sake
of law, and law for the sake of politics, constituted Lincoln's
vocation for the rest of his life.

The capital of Illinois was Vandalia, a village said to be named after
the Vandals by innocent citizens who were pleased with the euphony of
the word hut did not know who the Vandals were. Outwardly the village
was crude and forbidding, and many of the Solons were attired in coon-
skin caps and other startling apparel. The fashionable clothing, the
one which came to be generally adopted as men grew to be "genteel," was
blue jeans. Even "store clothes," as they came to be called, were as
yet comparatively unknown.

But one must not be misled by appearances in a frontier town. The
frontier life has a marvelous influence in developing brains. It is as
hard for some people in the centers of culture to believe in the
possible intelligence of the frontier, as it was in 1776 for the
cultured Englishmen to believe in the intelligence of the colonial
patriots. In that collection of men at Vandalia were more than a few
who afterwards came to have national influence and reputation.

Apart from Lincoln himself, the most prominent member of the
legislature was his lifelong antagonist, Stephen A. Douglas. Whatever
may be said of this man's political principles, there can be no
question as to the shrewdness of his political methods. It is the
opinion of the present writer that in the entire history of our
political system no man has ever surpassed him in astuteness. Even to-
day all parties are using the methods which he either devised or
introduced. The trouble with him was that he was on the wrong side. He
did not count sufficiently on the conscience of the nation.

Lincoln was re-elected to the legislature as often as he was willing to
be a candidate, and served continuously for eight years. One session is
much like another, and in this eight years of legislative experience
only two prominent facts will be narrated. One was the removal of the
capital to Springfield. To Lincoln was entrusted the difficult task--
difficult, because there were almost as many applications for the honor
of being the capital city as there were towns and villages in the
central part of the state. He was entirely successful, and
thenceforward he was inseparably connected with Springfield. It was his
home as long as he lived, and there his remains were buried.

The prophetic event of his legislative work was what is known as the
Lincoln-Stone protest. This looks to-day so harmless that it is not
easy to understand the situation in 1837. The pro-slavery feeling was
running high, an abolitionist was looked on as a monster and a menace
to national law and order. It was in that year that the Reverend Elijah
P. Lovejoy was murdered--martyred--at Alton, Ill. The legislature had
passed pro-slavery resolutions. There were many in the legislature who
did not approve of these, but in the condition of public feeling, it
was looked on as political suicide to express opposition openly. There
was no politic reason why Lincoln should protest. His protest could do
no practical good. To him it was solely a matter of conscience. Slavery
was wrong, the resolutions were wrong, and to him it became necessary
to enter the protest. He succeeded in getting but one man to join him,
and he did so because he was about to withdraw from politics and
therefore had nothing to lose. Here is the document as it was spread on
the journal:

"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 the District.

"The difference between these opinions and those contained in the above
resolutions is their reason for entering this protest."

(Signed)
DAN STONE,
A. LINCOLN,

"Representatives from the county of Sangamon."

In 1836 Lincoln made an electioneering speech which was fortunately
heard by Joshua Speed, and he has given an account of it. Be it
remembered that at that time lightning rods were rare and attracted an
unreasonable amount of attention. One Forquer, who was Lincoln's
opponent, had recently rodded his house--and every one knew it. This
man's speech consisted partly in ridiculing his opponent, his bigness,
his awkwardness, his dress, his youth. Lincoln heard him through
without interruption and then took the stand and said:

"The gentleman commenced his speech by saying that this young man would
have to be taken down, and he was sorry the task devolved upon him. I
am not so young in years as I am in the tricks and trades of a
politician; but live long or die young, I would rather die now than,
like the gentleman, change my politics and simultaneous with the change
receive an office worth three thousand dollars a year, and then have to
erect a lightning-rod over my house to protect a guilty conscience from
an offended God."

It need hardly be said that that speech clung to its victim like a
burr. Wherever he went, some one would be found to tell about the
guilty conscience and the lightning-rod. The house and its lightning-
rod were long a center of interest in Springfield. Visitors to the city
were taken to see the house and its lightning-rod, while the story was
told with great relish.

Having served eight terms in the legislature, Lincoln in 1842 aspired
to congress. He was, however, defeated at the primary. His neighbors
added insult to injury by making him one of the delegates to the
convention and instructing him to vote for his successful rival, Baker.
This did not interrupt the friendship which united the two for many
years, lasting, indeed, until the death of Colonel Baker on the field
of battle.

In 1846 he renewed his candidacy, and this time with flattering
success. His opponent was a traveling preacher, Peter Cartwright, who
was widely known in the state and had not a little persuasive power. In
this contest Cartwright's "arguments" were two: the first, that Lincoln
was an atheist, and the second that he was an aristocrat. These
"arguments" were not convincing, and Lincoln was elected by a handsome
majority, running far ahead of his ticket. This was, at the time, the
height of his ambition, yet he wrote to Mr. Speed: "Being elected to
congress, though I am grateful to our friends for having done it, has
not pleased me as much as I expected."

His one term in congress was uneventful. Twice his humor bubbled over.
Once was when he satirized the claims that Cass was a military hero, in
the speech already mentioned. The other time was his introducing the
resolutions known as the "spot resolutions." The president had sent to
congress an inflammatory, buncombe message, in which he insisted that
the war had been begun by Mexico, "by invading our territory and
shedding the blood of our citizens on our own soil." The resolutions
requested from the president the information:

"_First_. Whether the spot on which the blood of our citizens was shed,
as in his messages declared, was or was not within the territory of
Spain, at least after the treaty of 1819, until the Mexican
revolution."

"_Second_. Whether that spot is or is not within the territory which
was wrested from Spain by the revolutionary government of Mexico."

"_Third_. Whether the spot is or is not, etc., etc. It is the
recurrence of the word _spot_ which gave the name to the resolutions."

Lincoln had now served eight years in the legislature and one term in
congress. He had a good understanding of politics. He was never a time-
server, and he had done nothing unwise. He knew how to win votes and he
knew what to do with himself when the votes were won. He held the
confidence of his constituency. His was a constantly growing
popularity. He could do everything but one,--he could not dishonor his
conscience. His belief that "slavery was founded on injustice" was the
only reason for his protest. He never hesitated to protest against
injustice. The Golden Rule had a place in practical politics. The
Sermon on the Mount was not an iridescent dream.

CHAPTER VIII.

ENTERING THE LAW.

In treating of this topic, it will be necessary to recall certain
things already mentioned. One characteristic which distinguished
Lincoln all through his life was thoroughness. When he was President a
man called on him for a certain favor, and, when asked to state his
case, made a great mess of it, for he had not sufficiently prepared
himself. Then the President gave him some free advice. "What you need
is to be thorough," and he brought his hand down on the table with the
crash of a maul,--"to be thorough." It was his own method. After a
successful practise of twenty years he advised a young law student:
"Work, work, work is the main thing." He spoke out of his own
experience.

There is one remarkable passage in his life which is worth repeating
here, since it gives an insight into the thoroughness of this man. The
following is quoted from the Rev. J. P. Gulliver, then pastor of the
Congregational church in Norwich, Conn. It was a part of a conversation
which took place shortly after the Cooper Institute speech in 1860, and
was printed in _The Independent_ for September 1, 1864.

"Oh, yes! 'I read law,' as the phrase is; that is, I became a lawyer's
clerk in Springfield, and copied tedious documents, and picked up what
I could of law in the intervals of other work. But your question
reminds me of a bit of education I had, which I am bound in honesty to
mention."

"In the course of my law reading I constantly came upon the word
_demonstrate_. I thought, at first, that I understood its meaning, but
soon became satisfied that I did not. I said to myself, What do I do
when I _demonstrate_ more than when I _reason_ or _prove_? How does
_demonstration_ differ from any other proof? I consulted Webster's
Dictionary. They told of 'certain proof,' 'proof beyond the possibility
of doubt'; but I could form no idea of what sort of proof that was. I
thought a great many things were proved beyond the possibility of
doubt, without recourse to any such extraordinary process of reasoning
as I understood _demonstration_ to be. I consulted all the dictionaries
and books of reference I could find, but with no better results. You
might as well have defined _blue_ to a blind man. At last I
said,--Lincoln, you never can make a lawyer if you do not understand
what _demonstrate_ means; and I left my situation in Springfield, went
home to my father's house, and stayed there till I could give any
proposition in the six books of Euclid at sight. I then found out what
_demonstrate_ means, and went back to my law studies."

Was there ever a more thorough student?

* * * * *

He, like every one else, had his library within the library. Though he
read everything he could lay his hands on, yet there are five books to
be mentioned specifically, because from childhood they furnished his
intellectual nutriment. These were the Bible, Aesop's Fables and
Pilgrim's Progress, Burns, and Shakespeare. These were his mental
food. They entered into the very substance of his thought and
imagination. "Fear the man of one book." Lincoln had five books, and
so thoroughly were they his that he was truly formidable. These did
not exclude other reading and study; they made it a thousand times
more fruitful. And yet people ask, where did Lincoln get the majesty,
the classic simplicity and elegance of his Gettysburg address? The
answer is here.

While Lincoln was postmaster, he was a diligent reader of the
newspapers, of which the chief was the Louisville _Journal_. It was
edited by George D. Prentice, who was, and is, second to no other
editor in the entire history of American journalism. The ability of
this man to express his thoughts with such power was a mystery to this
reader. The editor's mastery of language aroused in Lincoln a burning
desire to obtain command of the English tongue. He applied for counsel
to a friend, a schoolmaster by the name of Mentor Graham. Graham
recommended him to study English grammar, and told him that a copy of
one was owned by a man who lived six miles away. Lincoln walked to the
house, borrowed the book--"collared" it, as he expressed it--and at the
end of six days had mastered it with his own thoroughness.

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