ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Biography
The election of a Republican President in 1860 provoked
the Southern states of the United States to secede from the Union and
led to four tragic years of civil war. In this time of grave crisis it
at first seemed unfortunate that the American people had not chosen a
more experienced leader. Yet the tall, awkward man from Illinois who took
the presidential oath proved equal to his enormous responsibilities. Gradually,
as the war progressed, Abraham Lincoln placed the mark of his greatness
upon American history. He guided the nation through the perils of war
to peace and reunion. He struck the fatal blow at slavery, and he reaffirmed
the dignity of free people in language of simple beauty. Death came to
him with dramatic violence before his work was done. But death only hastened
his elevation to a place beside George Washington in the memory and gratitude
of his country.
Early Years
In 1834 the 24-year-old Lincoln ran once more for the state legislature. His first attempt, in 1832 brought defeat, but Lincoln was encouraged by the fact that he had run eighth in a field of 13 candidates. This time he was successful, and Illinois voters would re-elect him for three more terms. It was also in 1834 that Lincoln began to study law. Here again, as in his childhood, he educated himself, reading borrowed law books in his spare time, and he passed the bar examination two years later. Soon after, he moved to Springfield, the new state capital, where he began his law practice.
For the next 24 years, with one brief interruption, Lincoln practiced law in Springfield. He did not grow wealthy but always earned a comfortable living. Fair and conscientious, he gave clients a feeling of confidence. Although never very learned in the law, he nevertheless knew the fundamentals well. His greatest asset in court was the ability to go directly to the heart of a matter. Long before the presidential election of 1860 he had become one of the most distinguished lawyers in Illinois.
Husband and Father
In Springfield, Lincoln met Mary Todd, daughter of a prominent Kentucky family. She was a popular girl in local society—attractive, high-spirited, and intelligent, but somewhat temperamental. Her short and rather plump figure contrasted sharply with Lincoln's lank frame when he acted as her escort. They became engaged in 1840, then broke apart when Lincoln went through a long period of doubt and melancholy. Reconciled after a time, they were married at last on November 4, 1842.
Mary Lincoln, although not always easy to live with, was a good and loyal wife who probably spurred her husband's ambition. Their marriage had its troubled moments, but on the whole they were happy together. In 1844, Lincoln bought a house, which still stands at Eighth and Jackson streets in Springfield. There the Lincolns lived until their departure for Washington in 1861. Four children, all boys, were born to them. Robert, the oldest, later became a corporation executive and secretary of war under two presidents. Edward died in his 4th year. William died in the White House when he was 11. Thomas, nicknamed Tad, survived his father but died in 1871 at the age of 18. Lincoln was a loving and indulgent parent, but his frequent absences from home on his law practice placed the upbringing of the boys largely in Mary's hands.
Congressman
In the Illinois legislature, Lincoln became a member of the Whig Party, whose most prominent national leaders were Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky and Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts. Lincoln's major interest at this time was the promotion of better transportation facilities for his state. He soon advanced to the front rank of Illinois Whigs and by 1842 had emerged as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. Two other men claimed the party's nomination, however, and Lincoln had to wait his turn. Finally, in 1846, he was elected to a seat in Congress.
Lincoln's congressional term began in December 1847, when the Mexican War was nearing its conclusion. Soon after taking his seat, he joined the Whig attack upon the war policy of President James K. Polk, a Democrat. Lincoln also introduced a bill for the gradual emancipation, or freeing, of slaves in the District of Columbia, but it got nowhere. He was careful and hardworking, but on the whole, his two years as a congressman were undistinguished.
Lincoln's criticism of the Mexican War was unpopular in Illinois, and he was not renominated for Congress. He then campaigned for Zachary Taylor, a fellow Whig, in his race for the presidency, helping Taylor win election in 1848. Offered the governorship of the Oregon Territory as a reward, Lincoln declined the appointment and resumed the practice of law. His political career had apparently reached a dead end.
The Republican Party
Several years went by, and then in 1854 came a decisive turn of events. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, one of the leaders of the Democratic Party, secured passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The measure created the two new federal territories of Kansas and Nebraska and left it up to the people there to decide whether to permit or exclude slavery, a doctrine known as popular sovereignty. The measure set aside the Missouri Compromise, which had limited the expansion of slavery.
Throughout the North there were angry protests against the Kansas-Nebraska Act from many Democrats and from most Whigs, including Lincoln. He had long considered slavery morally wrong, yet he respected the constitutional rights of slaveholders. If slavery could just be prevented from expanding, Lincoln reasoned, it might eventually die away in the Southern states. To such hopes the Kansas-Nebraska Act was a serious blow.
Those opposed to slavery's expansion began to form a political alliance. Lincoln became a leader of this “anti-Nebraska” movement in Illinois. In 1856, with the Whig Party breaking up, he helped organize the various anti-Nebraska groups into the Republican Party of Illinois. At the Republican National Convention in June 1856, Lincoln received strong support for the vice presidency. Although he did not win the nomination, he campaigned vigorously for the new party's presidential candidate, John C. Frémont, who was defeated by Democrat James Buchanan.
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
In 1858, Illinois Republicans nominated Lincoln to run for the U.S. Senate seat then held by Stephen Douglas. In accepting the nomination, Lincoln made his famous House Divided speech. “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” he said. “I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.”
The high points of the campaign were a series of debates between the candidates, held in seven Illinois cities and towns. Of the two men, Douglas was far better known at the time. He was a national figure, while Lincoln was little known outside his own state.
Underlying the debates was the momentous issue of slavery. Both men emphasized their basic principles. Lincoln's was that slavery was wrong because it denied to the slaves the rights stated in the Declaration of Independence. He stressed the point, however, that he did not intend to interfere with slavery in the states where it legally existed but that he opposed its expansion. Douglas’ position was that democratic self-government, as expressed in his policy of popular sovereignty, was more important than slavery itself.
Large crowds attended the debates, and newspapers all over the country reported on the campaign. The election itself was very close, but Douglas emerged as the winner. Lincoln's reaction was that, politically, he would now be forgotten. In this he was to be proved wrong.
The Presidential Campaign of 1860
In spite of his own feeling, the defeat did not hurt Lincoln politically. The debates with Douglas had brought him national attention, and before long he was being mentioned as a presidential prospect. During the next two years he gained further recognition by making speeches in many states. The climax of his efforts was an address delivered in February 1860, at Cooper Union in New York City. When the Republican National Convention met in Chicago in May 1860, Lincoln had more support than any other candidate except the favorite, William H. Seward of New York. Seward took the lead in the first round of balloting, but then Lincoln pulled almost even, and on the third ballot he was nominated for the presidency. (Lincoln would later appoint Seward to his Cabinet as secretary of state.)
Meanwhile, the Democrats were split over the slavery issue. The Northern Democrats nominated Douglas. The Southerners chose John C. Breckinridge. Still another candidate, John Bell, was put forward by a remnant of the Whigs called the Constitutional Union Party. Thus Lincoln had three opponents in the race. Following the custom of the time, he did no active campaigning himself but directed strategy quietly from Springfield. Out of the South came ominous warnings that his election would mean the end of the Union. At the polls on November 6, only about 40 percent of the ballots were cast for Lincoln. But since most of them were concentrated in the heavily populated free states, he won a clear majority of the Electoral votes. The Republican Party had elected its first president.