Author * » o Title £ 4-5 7 L5L Imprint ABRAHAM LINCOLN. JOHN G. NICOLAY. BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, & CO. 1882. Copyright, 1882, By John G. Nicolay ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), sixteenth president of the United States of America, was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, on February 12, 1809. His father, Thomas Lincoln, and his mother, Nancy Hanks, were both natives of Virginia, as was also his paternal grand- father, whose ancestors came from Berks County, Penn- sylvania. When Lincoln was eight years of age his father moved to Indiana, in what is now Spencer County. The region was still a wilderness, and the boy grew up in pioneer life, dwelling in a rude log-cabin, and knowing but the primitive manners, conversation, and ambitions of sparsely settled backwood neighborhoods. Schools were rare, and teachers only qualified to impart the merest rudiments of instruction. " Of course when I came of age I did not know much," wrote the future president ; " still somehow I could read, write, and ci- pher to the rule of three, but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity." In 1818 his mother died, and his father a year afterwards mar- ried again. When nineteen years of age Lincoln made a journey as a hired hand on a flatboat to New Or- leans. In 1830 his father emigrated to Macon County, Illinois, and Lincoln aided in building the cabin, clear- ing a field, and splitting rails to fence it. The locality proved unhealthy, and general sickness made them resolve to abandon it. Being now twenty-one years of 4 \i:i: aiiam LINCOl n. age, Lincoln hired himself to one Ofratt, in Sangamon County, assisting him to build a flatboat and float it down the Sangamon, Illinois, and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. Afterwards Offutl made him clerk of his country store al New Salein. This gave him mo- ments of leisure to begin self-education. He borrowed a grammar and other books, and soughl explanations from the village schoolmaster. Next year the Black Hawk Indian War broke out; Lincoln volunteered in one of the Sangamon County companies, and was elected captain. He was already a candidate for the Illinois legislature when this occurred ; his printed address " To the people of Sangamon County" bears date March 9, 1832, and betokens talent and' education far beyond mere ability to " read, write, and cipher." The Black Hawk campaign lasted about three months; Lincoln shared the hardships of camp and march, but was in no battle. He was defeated for the legislature that sum- mer, being yet a comparative Btranger in the county, but received a flattering majority in his own election precinct, where also, a little later, local friendship, dis- regarding politics, procured his appointment as post- master of New Salem. The purchase and failure of :i small country store having burdened him with debt, the county surveyor of Sangamon opportunely offered to make him one of his deputies. He qualified himself by study in all haste, and entered upon the practical duties of surveying farm lines, roads, and town sites. "This," to use his own words, "procured bread, and kept body and soul together." The year 1884 had now arrived, and Lincoln was chosen one of the members of the Illinois legislature, lie was re-elected successively in ls:!l'>, 1 s:-JS, ami 1M<>, after which he declined further nomination. At the two latter terms he received the complimentary vote of his part) friends for Speaker, they being in the minority. During the canvass of 1884 his political friend and Colleague, John T. Stuart, a lawyer in full practice, strongly encouraged him to study law, and lenl him text-books to begin his reading. Lincoln followed his ABRAHAM LINCOLN. advice, and, working diligently, was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1836. On April 15, 1837, he quitted New Salem and removed to Springfield, which was then the county seat, but soon after became the capital of the State, to begin practice in partnership with his friend Stuart. His legislative experience was still farther enlarged by his service of one term as representative to the Congress of the United States, to which he was elected in August, 1846. He had become an eloquent and influential public speaker, and in sev- eral campaigns was on his party ticket as Whig can- didate for presidential elector. Though to some extent still mingling in polities, Lincoln now for a period of about five years devoted himself more exclusively to the study and practice of law, his repeated successes drawing him into the most important cases. In 1854 began the great slavery agitation by the re- peal of the slavery prohibition of 18'20, called the Mis- souri Compromise. Aroused to new activity by what he regarded as a gross breach of political faith, Lincoln entered upon public discussions with an earnestness and force that by common consent gave him leadership of the opposition in Illinois, which that year elected a majority of the legislature. This would have secured his election to the United States Senate, in the winter of 1854, to succeed Shields, a Democrat; but four op- position members, of Democratic antecedents, refused to vote for Lincoln, who was yet called a Whig, and by their persistence compelled the election of Trumbull. The Republican party of Illinois was formally organized in 1856; the campaign resulted substantially in a drawn battle, the Democrats gaining a majority in the State for president, while the Republicans elected the gover- nor and State officers. In 1858 the senatorial term of Douglas, author of the repeal of the Missouri Compro- mise, was expiring, and he sought re-election. Lincoln, who had four years before successfully met him in public debate, was now by unanimous resolution of the Republican State Convention designated as his rival and opponent. Yielding to the wish of his party friends, t; Al'.KAli \M LINCOLN. Lincoln challenged I touglas to a joint public discussion. The antagonists mel in debate a1 seven designated points in the State, while they also separately addressed audiences in nearly every one of the hundred counties. At the November election the Republicans received a majority in the popular vote, but the Democrats, through a favorable apportionment of representative districts, secured a majority of the legislature, which re-elected I touglas. This remarkable campaign excited the closest attention from every part of the Union. Lincoln, ad- dressing the convention which nominated him, June Hi. 1858, opened the discussion with the following bold prophecy: — ■■ A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it. and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction ; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, — old as well as new, North as well as South." Lincoln's speeches in this campaign won him a na- tional fame, which was greatly increased by several made in Ohio the following year, ami especially by his Cooper Institute address in New Fork City, February -~, i860. .More than any contemporary statesman he had, in the long six years* agitation, insisted that, tran- scending tin- technical point of constitutional authority, or tin' problem of public policy, the deeper question of human right and wrong lay at tin- bottom of the slavery controversy. The Republican National Convention, which made "No Extension of Slavery" its principal tenet, met at Chicago, May Hi. i860. Seward was the leading can- didate; hut tin- more conservative delegates opposed him as being too radical, and. uniting their forces, Domi- nated Lincoln, who was elected president of the United States after an unusually animated political campaign, ABRAHAM LINCOLN. I November 6, I860, 1 and inaugurated at Washington, March 4, 1861. Meanwhile a formidable movement, begun by South Carolina a month before the November election, and based on the slavery agitation, had carried the Slave States South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas into seces- sion. A provisional government under the designation " The Confederate States of America," with Jefferson Davis as president, was organized by the seceding States, who seized by force nearly all the forts, arsenals, and public buildings within their limits. Great divi- sion of sentiment existed in the North, whether in this emergency acquiescence or coercion was the preferable policy. Lincoln's inaugural address declared the Union perpetual and acts of secession void, and announced the determination of the Government to defend its autho- rity, and to hold the forts and places yet in its possession. On the other hand he disclaimed any intention to in- vade, subjugate, or oppress the seceding States. " You can have no conflict," he said, " without being your- selves the aggressors." Fort Sumpter in Charleston Harbor had been besieged by the secessionists since January ; and it being now on the point of surrender through starvation, Lincoln sent the besiegers official notice on April 8 that a fleet was on its way to carry provisions to the fort, but that he would not attempt to reinforce it unless this effort were resisted. The Con- federates, however, immediately ordered its reduction, and after a thirty-four hours' bombardment the garrison capitulated, April 13, 1861. With civil war thus provoked, Lincoln, on April 15, by proclamation called 75,000 three months' militia under arms, and on May 4 ordered the further en- listment of 64,748 soldiers and 18,000 seamen for three years' service. He instituted a blockade of the Southern 1 The popular vote cast for electors stood: Lincoln, 1,866, 462; Douglas, 1,375,157; Breckinridge, 847,953 ; Bell, 590,631. The official vote cast by the electors on December 5, 1860, and counted and declared by Congress on February 13, 1861, was : Lin- coln, 180 ; Breckinridge, 72 ; Bed, 39 ; Douglas, 12] 8 ABB \11AM I. IN' "I.N. ports, took effective steps to extemporize a navy, con- vened Congress in special session, and asked for legis- lation and authority to make the war " short, sharp, and . 1 1 - < i >- i \ t - . " The country responded with enthusiasm to his summons and suggestions; and the South on its side was aot less active. The Sumter bombardment rapidly developed and increased the limits of insur- rection. Four additional Slave States drifted into ssion; the Unionists maintained ascendancy in Ma- ryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, and succeeded in divid- ing Virginia. Minor engagements soon took place between the opposing forces; and on July 21, 1801, the first important battle was fought at Bull Run, and resulted in the defeat and panic of the Unionists. The slavery question presented vexatious difficulties in conducting the war. .Acute observers could not fail to note that its gigantic agencies were beginning to work in the direction of practical abolition. Congress in August, 1861, passed an Act confiscating rights of slave-owners to slaves employed in hostile service against the Union. On August 31 General Fremont by military order declared martial law and confiscation against active enemies, with freedom to their slaves in the State of Missouri. Believing that under existing conditions such a step was both detrimental in pr< policy and unauthorized in law, Presidenl Lincoln di- rected him to modify the order to make it conform t<> the Confiscation Act of Congress. Strong political fac- tions were instantly formed for and against military emancipation, and the Government was hotly beset by antagonistic counsel. The Unionists of the Border Slave States were greatly alarmed, but Lincoln by his moderate conservatism held them to the military sup- port of the Government. .Meanwhile he sagaciously prepared the way for the supreme act of statesmanship which the gathering national crisis already dimly fore- shadowed. <>n March 6, 1862, he sent a special message I., Congress recommending the passage of a resolution offering pecuniary aid fr the general government to in. luce States to adopl gradual abolishment ot slavery. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 9 Promptly passed by Congress, the resolution produced no immediate result except in its influence on public opinion. A practical step, however, soon followed. In April Congress passed and the President approved an Act emancipating slaves in the District of Columbia, with compensation to owners — a measure which Lin- coln had proposed when in Congress in 1849. Mean- while slaves of loyal masters were constantly escaping to military camps. Some commanders excluded them altogether; others surrendered them on demand; while still others sheltered and protected them against their owners. Lincoln tolerated this latitude as falling prop- erly within the military discretion pertaining to local army operations. A new case, however, soon demanded his official interference. On the 9th of May, 1862, General Hunter, commanding in the limited areas gained along the southern coast, issued a short order declaring his department under martial law, and add- ing : " Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible. The persons in these three States — Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina — here- tofore held as slaves, are, therefore declared for ever free." As soon as this order, by the slow method of communication by sea, reached the newspapers, Lincoln, May 19, published a proclamation declaring it void ; adding further : " Whether it be competent for me, as commander-in-chief of the army and navy, to declare the slaves of any State or States free, and whether at any time or in any case it shall have become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the Government to exercise such supposed power, are questions which un- der my responsibility I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified in leaving to the decision of com- manders in the field. These are totally different questions from those of police regulations in armies or camps." But in the same proclamation Lincoln recalled to the public his own proposal, and the assent of Congress, to compensate States which would adopt voluntary and gradual abolishment. "To the people of these States now," he added, " I most earnestly ap- I" ABRAHAM LINCOLN. peal. I do not argue, — I beseech you to make the argument for yourselves. You cannot, if you would, be blind to the signs of the times." Meanwhile, the antislavery sentiment of the North constantly in- creased. During June, Congress, by express Act, pro- hibited the existence of slavery in all territories outside of States. On July 12 the President called the rep- resentatives of the Border Slave States to the executive mansion, and once more urged upon them his proposal of compensated emancipation. "If the war continues long," he said, "as it must if the object be not sooner attained, the institution in your States will be extin- guished by mere friction and al>rasi, an informal conference of four hours' duration was held. Private reports of the interview agree substantially in the statement that the Confederates proposed a ces- sation of the Civil War, and postponement of its issues for future adjustment; while for the present t he belli- ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 17 gerents should unite in a campaign to expel the French from Mexico, and to enforce the Monroe Doctrine. President Lincoln, however, declined the ensnaring al- liance and adhered to the instructions he had given Seward before deciding to personally accompany him. These formulated three indispensable conditions to ad- justment: first, the restoration of the national authority throughout all the States ; second, no receding by the executive of the United States on the slavery question ; third, no cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war and the disbanding of all forces hostile to the Government. These terms the commissioners were not authorized to accept, and the interview ended without result. As Lincoln's first presidential term of four years neared its end, the Democratic party gathered itself for a supreme effort to regain the ascendancy lost in 1860. The slow progress of the war, the severe sacrifice of life in campaign and battle, the enormous accumulation of public debt, arbitrary arrests and suspension of ha- beas corpus, the rigor of the draft, and the proclamation of military emancipation furnished ample subjects of bitter and vindictive campaign oratory. A partisan coterie which surrounded M'Clellan loudly charged the failure of his Richmond campaign to official inter- ference in his plans. Vallandigham had returned to his home in defiance of his banishment beyond military lines, and was leniently suffered to remain. The ag- gressive spirit of the party, however, pushed it to a fatal extreme. The Democratic National Convention adopted, August 29, 1864, a resolution declaring the war a failure, and demanding a cessation of hostilities. It nominated M'Clellan for president, and instead of adjourning sine die, as usual, remained organized, and subject to be convened at any time and place by the executive national committee. This threatening atti- tude, in conjunction with alarming indications of a conspiracy to resist the draft, had the effect to thor- oughly consolidate the war party, which had on June 8 unanimously renominated Lincoln. At the election held 1 s LBBAB \M 1 IN' .'IN. November B, L864, Lincoln received 2,216,076 of the popular votes, and M'Clellan but L,808,725; while of the presidential electors 2i2 voted for Line. .In and '21 for M'Clellan. Lincoln's second term of office began March -I. L865. While this political contesl was going on, the Civil War was being broughl to a decisive close. Grant, at the head of the army of the Potomac, followed Lee from before Washington to Richmond and Petersburg, and held him in siege to within :i few days of final sur- render. Sherman, commanding the bulk oi the Onion forces in the Mississippi Valley, swept in a victorious march through the heart of the Confederacy, to Savannah ■ in the coast, and thence northward to North Carolina. ■ racuated Richmond April -J, and was overtaken by Granl and compelled to surrender his entire army April 9, L865. Sherman pushed Johnston to a surren- der April 26. This ended the war, the submission of scattering detachments following soon after. Lincoln being at the time on a visit to the army, en- tered Richmond the day after its surrender. Returning to Washington, he made his last public address on the evening of April 11, devote. 1 mainly to the question of reconstructing loyal governments in the conquered States. On the evening of April 14 he attended Ford's Theatre in Washington. While seated with his family and friends, absorbed in the play, John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who with others had prepared a plot to as- sassinate the several heads of Government, went into the little corridor leading to the upper stage-box, and secured it against ingress by a wooden bar. Then, stealthily entering the box, he discharged a pistol at the head of the President from behind, the ball penetrat- ing the brain. Brandishing a huge knife, with which be wounded Colonel Rathbone who attempted to hold him, the asxi our duty as we understand it." The Emancipation Proclamation once issued, he reiterated bis purpose never to retract or modify it. "There have been men base enough," he said, '-to propose to me to return to slavery our hlaek warriors of Tort Hudson and Olustee, and thus win the respecl of the masters they fought. Should J do so. I should deserve to be damned in time and eternity. Come what will, I will keep my faith with friend and foe." Benevolence and forgiveness were the very hasis of his character: his world-wide humanity i> aptly embodied in a phrase of bis second inaugural: "with malice toward none, with charity for all." His nature was deeply religious, but he belonged to no denomination; he had faith in the i ternal justice and boundless mercy of Providence, and made the Golden Rule of Christ his practical creed. Historj musl accord him a rare sagacity in guiding a ureal people through the perils of a mighty revolution, an admirable singleness of aim. a skilful discernment and COUrageOUS seizure of the golden moment to \'vvr ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 21 his nation from the incubus of slavery, faithful adher- ence to law, and conscientious moderation in the use of power, a shining personal example of honesty and pu- rity, and finally the possession of that subtle and indefinable magnetism by which he subordinated and directed dangerously disturbed and perverted moral and political forces to the restoration of peace and con- stitutional authority to his country, and the gift of liberty to four millions of human beings. Architect of his own fortunes, rising with every opportunity, mas- tering every emergency, fulfilling every duty, he not only proved himself pre-eminently the man for the hour, but the signal benefactor of posterity. As states- man, ruler, and liberator, civilization will hold his name in perpetual honor.