97*.7t6^ 
 8*HRle 
 
 Houser, V. 1* 
 
 The education of Abraham 
 l> nco! n 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
bs<$MCCitio+i 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/educationofabrahOOhous 
 
THE EDUCATION 
 
 of 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 By 
 M. L. Houser 
 
 J&perial £btttmt 
 
 for 
 
 iCtnruht Jftinuorial Hutlirrstiu 
 
 4riarrotf,ate, (Trim. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 LESTER O. SCHRIVER 
 
 PEORIA, ILLINOIS 
 
 1938 
 
Copyricht, 1938. 
 
 by m. l. houser, 
 
 Peoria, III. 
 
 DESIGNED AND PRINTED 
 BY 
 
 Edward J. Smith. 
 
 PEORIA, ILL. 
 
B3 WzIjl- 
 
 Lincoln Memorial University 
 
 A Living Memorial Sustained by a Grateful Ptoplt 
 NEAR CUMBERLAND CAP 
 
 HARROGATE, TENNESSEE 
 
 OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 
 
 S««w.n W MrO.ll.s* 
 
 To the Reader: 
 
 February 12, 1938, 
 
 If Abraham Lincoln had received a formal edu- 
 cation during his Kentucky and Indiana years, we 
 might today institute into our University curricu- 
 lums certain phases of study which influenced him 
 during the formative period of his youth. 
 
 However, Lincoln's education was not formal -- 
 he attended school less than a year, the periods 
 of his attendance were spasmodic, and his five 
 schoolmasters were little versed in educational 
 training as we measure pedagogy today. 
 
 Lincoln was a product of the library. If we 
 are to understand his character, his mental back- 
 ground, his style of composition, and his cultural 
 interests, we must know something of the books that 
 he read, studied and mastered. 
 
 In the entire field of Lincolniana I can think 
 of no more important historical research than that 
 pertaining to Lincoln's education and the books 
 that Lincoln read. 
 
 Dr. Houser has approached his subject with the 
 reverence which is lacking in so many scholars, but 
 also with a keen discrimination which makes the 
 present volume a valuable one for the Lincoln stu- 
 dent. Lincoln Memorial University is deeply indebt- 
 ed to Dr. Houser, Mr. Lytle, and Mr. Schriver, for 
 making this volume possible. 
 
 ^"Stewart W. McClelland, 
 
 President. 
 3WM/m. 
 
A GROUP OF STUDENTS 
 
The Education of 
 
 Abraham Lincoln 
 
 M 
 
 (P%JD 
 
 ,R. Lincoln once said: "There are no accidents in my philosophy, 
 every effect must have its cause." 1 His own rise from obscurity to eminence 
 seems to have been the resultant of his natural endowments, fortuitous circum- 
 stances, and an unusual capacity for sustained effort. 
 
 Endowed by nature with a passion for learning, and encouraged by an 
 ambitious mother, young Lincoln became an insatiable student while he was 
 a child in Kentucky. The tutoring which he received from his competent moth- 
 er was supplemented by two short terms at school; and he progressed so rap- 
 idly that he could read the Bible with understanding, and he had become the 
 neighborhood scribe, before he was eight years of age. 2 
 
 Each of their neighbors had at least a few books that he could borrow 
 and study. On an adjoining farm was a good private library, brought from 
 Virginia by one of his teachers. Practically any book he might want could be 
 bought at one of the four county seats where Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's 
 father, often attended court; or could be ordered from Lexington, then called 
 "The Athens of the West." 3 During these first years in Kentucky, the boy 
 probably acquired the equivalent of a modern common-school education. 
 
 REMOVE TO INDIANA 
 
 In the fall of 1816, the Lincolns removed to Indiana, and settled on a 
 quarter section of land in what is now called Spencer County. The second 
 autumn after they arrived at their new home, Nancy Lincoln, Abraham's 
 mother, died of a disease which the settlers called "milk sick." 
 
 A year later, Thomas returned to Kentucky, and married Sarah Johnson, 
 a widow with three children. Sarah was a competent, kind, and comforting 
 wife and stepmother. Although she and her children were illiterate, she was 
 proud of Abraham's attainments, encouraged him in his studies, and helped 
 him to prosecute them. 4 
 
 In his stepchildren, however, Thomas was not so fortunate. When his 
 stepdaughters married, but remained in his home, one addition to the family 
 followed another until there were thirteen people living wholly or partly upon 
 his bounty. 5 
 
 With so many mouths to feed in the Lincoln family, it was necessary 
 that some of its members secure outside employment; and Abraham was hired 
 out to work for the neighbors whenever possible. Work was plentiful because 
 
 [7] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 a tremendous influx of settlers had begun to arrive in the neighborhood; and 
 these newcomers, while building and furnishing their cabins, and while clear- 
 ing their land, often needed additional help. 6 
 
 Abraham's work among the neighbors gave him an opportunity to find 
 out what books they had. He read some of these books while employed, and 
 borrowed others when he went home. 
 
 These former employers, from whom Mr. Lincoln's early biographers se- 
 cured most of their material about his early life, told with almost tiresome 
 reiteration about his constant reading and studying; how he kept with him, 
 even when working in the field, some book to read during periods of rest; how 
 all his leisure time was spent in earnest study; and how he often read far into 
 the night, while others slept. They also mentioned that he now began his life- 
 long habit of extracting from each person he met the information which that 
 individual was most competent to give. 
 
 Living close to the Lincoln home was William Wood, whom Abraham 
 affectionately called "Uncle Wood/' He took an interest in the boy's studies, 
 lent him books and newspapers, and encouraged him to write essays. Wood 
 also secured helpful friends for his protege by showing Abraham's compositions 
 to prominent people at the county seat. 
 
 David Turnham, afterwards sheriff of the county, was the constable at 
 Gentryville, a small inland village near the Lincoln farm. At his home, the boy 
 found a school reader, Scott's Lessons in Elocution, one whole section of which 
 was devoted to passages from Shakespeare. In Turnham's little library, too, 
 was a copy of The Revised Statutes of Indiana (1824). Besides the laws, this 
 work contained the Declaration of Independence, the Ordinance of 1787, and 
 the Constitution of the United States. Turnham also had a copy of Arabian 
 Rights; and Abraham found it so entertaining that he sometimes shared it with 
 his family and their guests, by reading aloud from it on winter nights. 7 
 
 Josiah Crawford, another neighbor for whom he worked, had a small, 
 well-selected collection of books. It included The Kentucky Perceptor, made 
 up of choice extracts from English literature; and Ramsey's Life of Washing- 
 ton, the book that got damaged by rain after Abraham had taken it to his 
 home, and for which he paid by topping corn for two days. 8 
 
 The boy seems to have been a favorite, also, with James Gentry and 
 William Jones, the merchants at Gentryville. He was certainly their prize cus- 
 tomer for borrowable books, likewise the newspapers they received. It was from 
 Jones he got Grimshaw's History of the United States, so good a work that it 
 has been used as a source-book by many later historians. 9 
 
 It was not necessary, however, for one to be either the boy's employer or 
 a merchant to get his patronage for books which he wished to borrow. He once 
 told Leonard Swett that, while he was a boy in Indiana, he borrowed and read 
 every book he could hear of for fifty miles around. 10 That statement was prob- 
 ably an exaggeration, but it indicates that he did make good use of all available 
 resources. 
 
 [8] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 Abraham seems to have learned early in his career that the best way for 
 him to secure a friend was to get someone to do him a favor; and his belief, 
 all his life, in the aphorism that "the meek shall inherit the earth" caused him, 
 at times, to show almost an excess of humility. 
 
 As he grew older, his horizon broadened; and he became a regular attend- 
 ant at sessions of court which were held twice each year at Rockport and 
 Booneville. At these places, he could listen to contests between learned and 
 eloquent attorneys from all the nine counties that formed the Fourth Judicial 
 District of Indiana; he could watch their efforts as they sought to gain advan- 
 tages for their clients; and he could speculate on how the juries would react 
 to their strategy and tactics. Then, too, in those democratic days, he could 
 sometimes meet these leaders, and glean from them the information which he 
 needed most at that particular time. 11 
 
 Judge John Pitcher, the leading attorney of the county, was attracted to 
 him, advised him regarding his studies, and lent him books. It is said that he 
 sometimes visited at the home of Judge John A. Brackenridge, and that he read 
 in the Judge's 4 50- volume library both works on law and the poetry of 
 Shakespeare, Burns, and Byron. 12 
 
 Abraham had few social graces, but he drew to himself all gradations of 
 society from the coarse river roisterer to the judge on the bench. Practically 
 every student of Lincoln's boyhood has marveled at the universal appeal of his 
 personality. Perhaps a distinguished preacher gave us a clew to the reason 
 when he suggested that an attractive personality results from one's feeling a 
 prodigious interest in something. Maybe "all the world loves a lover" because 
 he is so unreservedly in earnest. Possibly the primary cause of young Lincoln's 
 widespread attraction was his extraordinary interest in acquiring knowledge. 
 
 In Kentucky and Indiana, he attended five sessions of school, the average 
 duration of which was two months. It seems probable that during part of these 
 periods, perhaps during most of them, he was unable to find classes sufficiently 
 advanced to suit his purposes. Under such conditions, even many years later, 
 it was customary in country schools to let the pupil select special studies, pursue 
 them in his own way, and advance as rapidly as possible. He would not recite 
 often, but was privileged to call on the teacher for any help that he might 
 need; and such a special student often made as much progress in two or three 
 months as the average class did in a whole year. 
 
 His first teacher, Zacariah Riney, came from Maryland, wrote a good 
 hand, adhered to the Catholic faith, and lived to be ninety-six years of age. 1:; 
 
 Caleb Hazel, his second teacher, was a close neighbor of the Lincolns in 
 Kentucky, and he had married into the Hanks family. Both tradition and the 
 records show him to have been a neat penman; a better than usual grammarian; 
 and, generally, an outstanding scholar for that time and place. And he had a 
 good library. 14 
 
 [9] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 Fortunately for the boy, his last teacher, Azel W. Dorsey, whose school 
 he attended when he was seventeen, was the most competent of all. Dorsey 
 went to Illinois two years before the Lincolns did, and continued to follow his 
 profession. At a school which he kept in Schuyler County during the winter 
 of 1828-9, Dorsey sometimes talked about his prise pupil of the previous win- 
 ter; and he prophesied that if Abraham lived, he would some day become 
 famous. 15 
 
 Lincoln's early biographers secured much valuable information about the 
 daily life of their subject as it related to his unlettered, immediate neighbors. 
 No one of them, however, seems to have heard anything about what were 
 probably two of the most important factors in his intellectual development 
 while he lived in Indiana — the English Colony and the New Harmony Social 
 Experiment. 
 
 The English Colony was formed by 100 families from the British Isles 
 that settled between Evansville and the Lincoln farm. These colonists were 
 educated, moral, and friendly. Some of them had brought along their libraries. 
 Lincoln could meet them at Booneville, also at two mills; and it is confidently 
 believed that he secured from them the use of books that had not previously- 
 been available to him. 16 
 
 The colony at New Harmony contained for a time the greatest coterie 
 of scientists and educators that had yet been assembled in America. It opened 
 up to young Lincoln a whole world of science, and the most advanced ideas in 
 education, social ethics, and government. 17 
 
 Fourteen years of earnest study in so favorable an environment could 
 have but one effect on such a personality; and it was, therefore, a very prom- 
 ising young giant who left Indiana, with his family, in the spring of 1830, for 
 the Sangamo Country of Illinois. It has been noted that in whatever company 
 he found himself thereafter, he soon became a leader. 
 
 LIFE AT NEW SALEM 
 
 Abraham helped the family to get established in their new home, and then 
 started out for himself. He worked for their neighbors; and went on a trading 
 voyage to New Orleans; after which, he settled at New Salem; and he re- 
 mained there about six years. 
 
 During his first year in Illinois, he continued to read such new books as 
 he found. This is indicated by his study of The Revised Code of Laws of Illi- 
 nois (1829) at the home of Major William Warnick, and by the well-estab- 
 lished tradition that he read a Life of K[apoleon and other books which be- 
 longed to Warnick's son-in-law. 18 
 
 This family afterwards intimated that, when Abraham first came to 
 Illinois, he looked with covetous eyes on Miss Polly Warnick; but the affair 
 was probably not very serious, since she married, that same summer, a wealthier 
 
 [10] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 and a handsomer man — as the daughters of Eve have been in the habit of 
 doing ever since she took the advice of a snake in the Garden of Eden. 
 
 The chance selection of New Salem as a place of residence was fortunate 
 for the young man. Its water mill made it, for a short time, the principal trad- 
 ing-point for a large section of surrounding country; and its location on the 
 river gave high hopes that it would soon become the metropolis of that whole 
 region. These apparent advantages attracted to it some superior people from 
 widely separated places. 19 
 
 The most important resident from the student's point of view was the 
 schoolmaster, Mentor Graham. He had come from Kentucky, was a conscien- 
 tious student, and he loved to instruct young people who were serious and 
 ambitious. At his home, a mile southwest of the village, he maintained a library 
 of about fifty volumes. He kept school in the Baptist meeting-house. 20 
 
 Graham saw that Lincoln's wide reading had given his pupil a vast fund 
 of unorganised information, but he also noted that the young man's education 
 was ragged and unsymmetrical. He suggested that the gaps be filled by a syste- 
 matic study of advanced text-books, starting with grammar. Abraham adopted 
 the suggestion; and after his study of grammar, he took up mathematics, his- 
 tory, chemistry, astronomy, and philosophy. 21 It was under Graham's tutorage 
 that he mastered advanced grammar in three weeks, and surveying in six. 
 Sometimes, as when studying surveying, he lived at the Graham home; and he 
 often worked with his instructor far into the night. 22 In later years, Graham 
 said that young Lincoln studied more diligently, and acquired knowledge with 
 more facility, than any other of the 5,000 pupils whom he had taught. 23 
 
 It was through Graham that the young man met the Rogers family. They 
 lived at a nearby village bearing their name, now called Athens. Colonel Mat- 
 thew Rogers had come from Cooperstown, New York, and had brought with 
 him his library, including the text-books which the family had accumulated. 
 Two of his sons attended a medical college at Cincinnati through the winter 
 months, and studied under the direction of a Springfield physician during the 
 summer. 24 This was an ideal situation for one of Lincoln's disposition and 
 needs. He could borrow the text-books he wanted, discuss obscure points with 
 students who had studied under trained instructors, and he could exchange the 
 ideas he had gained through wide reading for the technical information he 
 needed most at that moment. 
 
 Dr. Jason Duncan, Dr. John Allen, and Jack Kelso were important factors 
 in young Lincoln's development at New Salem. The first, whose writings show 
 him to have been a cultured man, fostered the movement which made Lincoln 
 postmaster at the village; and he watched Lincoln's progress, as he later said, 
 with kW a curious but cordial interest." 25 Dr. Allen, a graduate of Dartmouth 
 College, took a very special interest in the young man; and when Lincoln lost 
 his sweetheart, while himself ill with chills and fever, he found that Allen 
 could minister to a troubled spirit as well as to an enquiring mind or an ailing 
 body. 26 Kelso gave him an advanced course in the poetry of Shakespeare and 
 
 [11 ] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 Burns. 27 A visitor at New Salem, even today, may have pointed out to him 
 a secluded ravine where Kelso and Lincoln would occasionally repair while the 
 former recited their favorite poems "by the hour/ 128 
 
 Some time before, there had come from Kentucky, with the Clary- Arm- 
 strong clan, one Bowling Green — a fat, shrewd, jolly individual — who was 
 now a Justice of the Peace. He had a number of law books, all of which he 
 permitted Lincoln to study. He also encouraged the young man to practice in 
 his court, thoroughly enjoying both Abraham's keen logic and his sallies of 
 spicy wit. Possibly Green's greatest contribution to the young man's education 
 was teaching him that Law should be the servant of Equity, and that both of 
 these should wait upon Common Sense. 29 
 
 Thomas J. Nance is typical of those men from whom young Lincoln drew 
 both knowledge and inspiration, but who were unknown to Lincoln's early 
 biographers. Documents and old papers in the possession of his grand-niece and 
 biographer, Fern Nance Pond, disclose that Nance secured a good education, 
 and collected a library, while a youth in Kentucky; that he settled in the New 
 Salem neighborhood about the same time that Lincoln did; and that he taught 
 subscription schools for three years in the New Salem community. His "Pros- 
 pectus for Subscription School" states that he was qualified to give instruction 
 in spelling; reading; writing; arithmetic; grammar; geography, sacred and mod- 
 ern; history, ancient and modern; rhetoric; logic; philosophy, natural and 
 moral; geometry; astronomy, with the use of globes; chemistry; and definition 
 and composition. 30 His sister, Parthena Nance Hill, and her husband, Samuel 
 Hill, were among Lincoln's most intimate friends; and we may be sure that 
 "the inquiring and insatiable Lincoln" did not fail to make the best possible 
 use of both Nance and his library. 
 
 At New Salem, as in Indiana, young Lincoln came into intimate contact 
 with all classes of society; and they ranged from the erudite Nance and his 
 kind to that unlettered resident who admonished the preacher to be very care- 
 ful while baptizing his wife in the river, because, as he said, he wouldn't trade 
 her for the best cow in the whole neighborhood. 
 
 In an apparently definitive work, Lincoln s T^ew Salem, Benjamin P. 
 Thomas points out rather significantly that while Lincoln lived at New Salem, 
 five of his companions attended Illinois College at Jacksonville; and Dr. 
 Thomas no doubt had in mind how much help they could afford the young 
 man. 31 
 
 James M. Rutledge, one of the founders of New Salem, converted his 
 home into a tavern; and Lincoln boarded there for a time. That gave him ready 
 access to the books Rutledge owned, said to number about thirty volumes; and 
 he could discuss their contents with the older man. Rutledge advised him to 
 try for election to the General Assembly of the State; suggesting that even if 
 he were not elected the first time he ran, he could gain practice in public speak- 
 ing, and make friends who would be useful to him when he tried again with 
 
 [ 12] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 better prospects of succeeding. 32 This was good advice. The speeches Lincoln 
 made in his unsuccessful campaign of 1832 gained for him many new friends 
 among the voters, besides bringing him to the favorable notice of influential 
 men at Springfield; and most of these new friends remained devoted to his 
 interests throughout his whole subsequent career. In the next campaign, he 
 was an easy victor. 
 
 It was, however, probably Major John T. Stuart who gave Lincoln the 
 most important help during the latter's life at New Salem. After graduating 
 from college in 1828, Stuart went to Springfield, Illinois, and began the prac- 
 tice of law. Handsome, talented, urbane, and ingratiating, he added to those 
 qualities a political shrewdness, and a gift for manipulation, that earned for 
 him the sobriquet of "Jerry Sly." His acquaintance with Lincoln grew into 
 friendship during the Black Hawk War, while Lincoln was a Captain in 
 Stuart's battalion; and his admiration was increased by the speeches Lincoln 
 made in what was left of the 1832 canvass after their return. In the next cam- 
 paign, they worked out their strategy together; and both were elected. At Van- 
 dalia, then the capital of the State, they occupied the same room; and Lincoln 
 had an opportunity to be coached, in both literature and politics, by a man 
 who was, at the same time, a scholar and the leader of their party in the State. 
 He proved so apt a pupil in politics that, next session, when Stuart ran for 
 Congress, Lincoln was selected to take Stuart's place as leader of the Sanga- 
 mon delegation, and, also, as floor leader for the Whigs. Stuart continued to 
 spend considerable time at Vandalia, as a lobbyist for Springfield in its efforts 
 to become the capital of the State; so remained available for advice and assis- 
 tance. He induced Lincoln to adopt law as a profession; lent him the necessary 
 books; coached him in their study; and, when Lincoln was admitted to the bar, 
 took him as a partner. 
 
 At Vandalia, Lincoln came into intimate contact with many of the lead- 
 ing men of the State; men like the learned Chief Justice Wilson and Samuel 
 D. Lockwood, the aristocratic Ninian and Cyrus Edwards, the courtly Orville 
 H. Browning, the gracious John J. Hardin, and the ambitious Stephen A. 
 Douglas, besides many others almost equally capable and accomplished. 33 The 
 importance of this lies in Mr. Lincoln's custom, already mentioned, of levying 
 tribute on each individual he met for such information and ideas as that person 
 was most competent to give. 
 
 HIS SPRINGFIELD ENVIRONMENT 
 
 In the spring of 1837, Mr. Lincoln left New Salem, and went to Spring- 
 field to begin the practice of law. He found lodging with Joshua Speed, in a 
 large room above Speed's store, and board at the home of William Butler. 
 
 He now had access to the State Library, a book store, and to the private 
 libraries of a large number of educated and cultured men. 34 
 
 In 1839, the State offices were removed from Vandalia to Springfield, 
 and the latter became the capital of the commonwealth. Thereafter, leading 
 
 [13] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 attorneys and politicians from all over the State went to Springfield to attend 
 sessions of the Illinois Supreme Court, the United States Circuit Court, and 
 the General Assembly. Poor traveling facilities compelled most of them to re- 
 main there until the close of each session. With much spare time on their 
 hands, both visitors and the local citizens sought intellectual entertainment. On 
 many evenings, Speed's store became a forum where men — not a few of 
 whom eventually became famous — foregathered to discuss a wide range of 
 subjects, politics predominating. 35 Diller's Drug Store later became a similar 
 place of meeting. During business hours, the Supreme Court Library, in the 
 capitol building, afforded a convenient rendezvous. 
 
 About two years after Mr. Lincoln went to Springfield, Mary Todd came 
 there to live with her sister. She had been educated in the best schools of Lex- 
 ington, Kentucky, and was a proficient student in both English and French lit- 
 erature. 36 She and Lincoln met at a cotillion party. Charmed by her beauty 
 and vivacity, he said, "Miss Todd, I should like to dance with you the worst 
 way"; and that, as she later admitted, was exactly what he did. They fell in 
 love with each other; and, after making those adjustments which are probably 
 indispensable between two people of such widely divergent antecedents, they 
 were married. Each had qualities which helped the other; and the books they 
 read together in the home were probably an important factor in Mr. Lincoln's 
 intellectual growth. 37 
 
 In the autumn of 1844, Mr. Lincoln invited William H. Herndon to join 
 him in forming a new law partnership to be known as Lincoln and Herndon. 
 Both had previously studied and practiced under the direction of Stephen T. 
 Logan, who was a tireless worker, had a brilliant mind, and was considered at 
 that time the leader of the Illinois bar. 38 
 
 Lincoln's new partner was also an omnivorous reader of instructive lit- 
 erature. Rankin says that at one time — besides using the State Library — 
 Herndon bought and read more new books in history, pedagogy, theology, and 
 general literature, than all the teachers, doctors, and other lawyers in Spring- 
 field put together; and he continued, throughout all the sixteen years of the 
 partnership, this practice of promptly securing all the important new books as 
 they were issued. 39 He called many of these works to Mr. Lincoln's attention; 
 and, sometimes, when Lincoln lacked the time or inclination to read a book 
 which Herndon thought important, the latter would give him a summary of it. 
 
 In addition to all this, they subscribed for many of the leading political and 
 literary papers from various sections of the country, thereby keeping in touch 
 with all shades of thought and opinion. 40 
 
 The lecture platform was then in the heydey of its popularity and useful- 
 ness. At that time, be it remembered, a lecture was no twenty-minute skit, but 
 a serious two- or three-hour rhetorical analysis of the subject under discussion. 
 During early days, the local ministers and doctors, and professors from Illinois 
 College, gave frequent and well-attended lectures on a wide variety of sub- 
 
 [ 14] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 jccts. After the coming of railroads made access to Springfield easier, men like 
 Ralph W. Emerson, Bayard Taylor, Henry Ward Beecher, Horace Greeley, 
 and Theodore Parker, occasionally spoke there. 41 
 
 Mr. Lincoln himself made many political speeches; and he essayed several 
 times, with varying success, to deliver popular lectures. Herndon says that on 
 one occasion, when Lincoln was advertised to speak at Springfield, there were 
 hut two persons in his audience. 42 Angle has shown this story to be apocryphal; 
 but we can forgive Herndon his error, because it serves to recall a similar in- 
 cident in the career of Eli Perkins. On one occasion, as that humorist relates, 
 he ploughed through a raging blizzard to a hall where he was to lecture, only 
 to find that but one other man had ventured out. He said : "My friend, to show 
 my appreciation for your coming to hear me on such a night, Fm going to 
 give my lecture in full, word for word, just as I would have given it if the 
 hall had been filled with people. " "Well, all right," said his lone auditor; "but 
 I wish you would speak as rapidly as possible; Fm the janitor, and Fm anxious 
 to get home." 
 
 ON THE CIRCUIT 
 
 The new law firm of Lincoln 6? Herndon practiced in both the Springfield 
 courts and at all the county seats of the Eighth Judicial District of Illinois. 
 Herndon usually remained at the Springfield office while Mr. Lincoln did the 
 itinerant work over the district. 
 
 Twice each year, the presiding judge traveled over the circuit, holding 
 court at each county seat in turn until the cases there had either been adjudi- 
 cated or continued until another term. Many attorneys practiced in their own 
 counties and in a greater or lesser number of those adjoining. Lincoln, alone, 
 accompanied the judge over the entire circuit, each trip requiring about three 
 months. 43 
 
 During evenings, when not otherwise engaged; over Week-ends, often 
 practically alone; and on days when he had no cases in court, Mr. Lincoln 
 had considerable spare time; and he seems to have spent much of it in study. 
 He himself has told of mastering the Elements of Euclid; Arnold mentions his 
 carrying about with him a copy of Shakespeare's Worlds; Whitney and Swett 
 tell of his study of advanced scientific text-books; another writer has told of 
 the absorbing interest with which he read Homer's Iliad and Odyssey while 
 stopping at a hotel. 44 
 
 The first circuit judge whom Lincoln accompanied over the circuit was 
 Samuel H. Treat. He went to Springfield from New York in 1834, and pre- 
 sided on the Eighth Circuit from 1839 to 1848. Treat was well educated, a 
 good lawyer, and an earnest student; and he had accumulated a library of 
 2,400 volumes. 45 
 
 During the first years that Judge Treat and Mr. Lincoln traveled over 
 the circuit, they were accompanied by Josiah Lamborn, who was the Prosecut- 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 ing Attorney for the Eighth District. Linder said of him: "Intellectually, I 
 know of no man of his day who was his superior." 46 Stringer tells of a case 
 in which Lamborn was prosecuting, and Stephen T. Logan was defending, a 
 man accused of stealing hogs. In his plea for his client, Logan spoke of him as 
 "an old man with one foot in the grave." Lamborn replied: "We are willing 
 to admit that the defendant has 'one foot in the grave 1 ; the difficulty is that 
 he doesn't keep the other one out of his neighbor's pigpen." 47 
 
 CONGRESSIONAL TERM 
 
 In 1846, Mr. Lincoln was the only Whig elected to the National House 
 of Representatives from Illinois. 48 The Speaker of the House was Robert C. 
 Winthrop. Of a historic family, and a Harvard graduate of distinguished abil- 
 ity, Winthrop was a polished speaker; and he thoroughly understood the value 
 and charm of moderation in statement. 49 On a number of occasions while a 
 member of the House, Mr. Lincoln listened to addresses by Winthrop and 
 others in which earnest argument was coupled with restrained and studied 
 diction; and which, therefore, brought that conviction which often escaped 
 speakers using the more popular style of oratory. Perhaps that accounts in 
 some measure for the change which the next few years brought in Lincoln's 
 own style; and the difference between his earlier and later speeches was so 
 great, as Beveridge remarks, that they seem to have been written by two dif- 
 ferent persons. 50 
 
 The Library of Congress at Washington gave Mr. Lincoln an opportu- 
 nity to read practically any book he might wish; and it became his custom to 
 withdraw several books at a time, wrap them in a bandana handkerchief, and 
 carry them home swung on a cane that rested on his shoulder. 
 
 While he was a member of Congress, Mr. Lincoln came under two influ- 
 ences, each of which was the direct antithesis of the other. One of these influ- 
 ences was best typified by Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio; the other by Alexander 
 H. Stephens, of Georgia. 
 
 Giddings was one of Mr. Lincoln's messmates at Mrs. Spriggs' boarding 
 house. An Abolitionist, he was, for twenty years, the arch foe of slavery in 
 the House, and the despair of its pro-slavery members. 51 In 1853, Giddings 
 published his Speeches in Congress. How carefully Mr. Lincoln studied that 
 work will be patent to anyone who reads both this book and Lincoln's later 
 addresses. 
 
 Stephens was a leader, perhaps the principal leader, of the Whig party. 
 That he had a sense of humor, and was ready in retort, is shown by an inci- 
 dent that happened early in his career. During a joint debate between him 
 and Judge Colquitt, then considered the best stump speaker in Georgia, Col- 
 quitt referred contemptuously to the insignificant appearance of Stephens, and 
 remarked that he could eat his opponent and never know the difference. "If 
 you did," Stephens retorted, "you would have more brains in your stomach 
 
 [ 16] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 than you have ever had in your head," a reply that delighted his audience. On 
 another occasion, Stephens did not fare so well. He challenged Benjamin H. 
 Hill to a duel. Hill refused. When Stephens demanded an explanation, Hill 
 said: "I have a family to support and a soul to save, while you have neither." 52 
 Writing to Herndon from Washington, on February 2, 1848, Lincoln 
 said: 
 
 Mr. Stephens of Georgia . . . has just concluded the very best speech 
 of an hour's length I ever heard. 53 
 After Mr. Lincoln's death, Stephens wrote: 
 
 I knew Mr. Lincoln well and intimately, and we were both ardent 
 supporters of General Taylor for President in 1848. Mr. Lincoln, Toombs, 
 Preston, myself, and others, formed the first Congressional Taylor Club, 
 known as "Young Indians," and organized the Taylor movement which 
 resulted in his nomination. 54 
 
 With the exception of Lincoln and one other man, all the members of 
 the "Young Indians" were from the South — with the principles, beliefs, and 
 prejudices of that section. Several of them, only a few years later, occupied 
 high positions under the Confederate government. During his months of inti- 
 macy with these talented and cultured Southerners, Lincoln secured an under- 
 standing of them that was invaluable to him, and to the country, in the con- 
 test which followed. No doubt, too, the appreciation which he gained of their 
 sincerity helped him to feel, even after four years of angry strife, that they 
 should be welcomed back into the Union "with malice toward none, with 
 charity for all." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's opposition to the Mexican War while in Washington was 
 very unpopular in his district. Logan, running as his successor, was decisively 
 defeated by a "war hero"; and in making political appointments, the new 
 Taylor administration gave Lincoln scant consideration. He now learned that 
 in the political arena, at least, the cynic was right who defined gratitude as "a 
 lively appreciation for benefits expected"; and he also learned that a defeated 
 candidate is water that has already gone over the dam — in the estimation of 
 practical politicians. He returned to Springfield and the circuit a discouraged 
 and thoroughly chastened man. 
 
 LATER YEARS ON THE CIRCUIT 
 
 During his subsequent years on the circuit, Mr. Lincoln was especially 
 intimate with David Davis, then the presiding judge, and Leonard Swett, who 
 attended court in more counties of the Eighth District than any other practic- 
 ing attorney except Lincoln. Whitney says that when he first knew them, 
 Davis, Lincoln, and Swett were "the great triumvirate" of the Eighth Circuit. 55 
 
 Another of Mr. Lincoln's valued circuit friends was Jesse W. Fell, a 
 lawyer and educator. He founded the town of Normal and secured the estab- 
 lishment there of a training school for teachers. It is hoped that his contribu- 
 
 [17] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 tions to Lincoln's culture, extending over many years, will some day receive 
 the recognition which they deserve. 56 
 
 While out on the circuit, Mr. Lincoln associated, day after day, with 
 such men as McDougal, Baker, Walker, Douglas, and Vorhees, all of whom 
 eventually became United States Senators; Linder, at one time Attorney Gen- 
 eral of Illinois; Yates, afterwards the war-time Governor of the commonwealth; 
 Logan, Stuart, Benedict, Gridley, and many other learned lawyers. We are 
 told that their serious evening discussions embraced "philosophy, politics, po- 
 litical economy, metaphysics, and men," that they "ranged through the uni- 
 verse of thought and experience." 57 
 
 But however important to Mr. Lincoln's education and intellectual devel- 
 opment this consorting with his more distinguished friends on the circuit may 
 have been, many philosophers believe that just as important, both to himself 
 and to the country, was the understanding he acquired of the great mass of 
 ordinary men who form that intangible but determinative thing called public 
 opinion. He learned just how Bill Jones, at Harker Corners, and Josh Perkins, 
 at Podunk Center, reacted, and would react, to a given set of circumstances. 
 Later while he was President, there were periods when Mr. Lincoln seemed 
 to be without friends among the leaders. At one time, Arnold thought that he 
 was the only friend Lincoln had left in Congress. Occasionally, nearly half of 
 the press of the country declared that Lincoln was dilatory and indecisive; 
 most of the other half asserting, at the same time, that he was rushing the 
 country into destruction. As a matter of fact, he was advancing just as fast 
 as he felt he would be sustained by the masses of the people; and when the 
 votes were counted in 1864, it was found that the Bill Joneses and Josh Per- 
 kinses, at all the Harker Corners and Podunk Centers, had given him 212 
 electoral votes to only 24 for General McClellan. Horace Greeley, who lam- 
 basted Lincoln for four years as weak, vacillating, tyrannical, and a Simple 
 Susan, said that in retrospect he could plainly see that Lincoln was "the one 
 providential leader of the great drama — faithfully reflecting, even in his 
 hesitations, the sentiments of the masses." 58 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LAW 
 
 The years Mr. Lincoln spent on the circuit and in the courts gave him an 
 excellent preparation for that comprehensive study of Constitutional and Inter- 
 national law which his election to the Presidency at the beginning of a civil 
 war made imperative. No other President has ever had to meet so many grave 
 constitutional problems with no precedents to guide him. Woldman says that, 
 in this crisis, Lincoln displayed a broad understanding, a legal conscience, and 
 a comprehensive reasoning power, which have led leading jurists in England 
 to rank him among the greatest lawyers of history. 51 ' 
 
 Disregarding academic legal decisions, the acceptance of which he believed 
 would result in defeat and disunion, Mr. Lincoln formulated an interpretation 
 
 [18] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 of the Constitution by which he could both save the Union and, at the close 
 of the conflict, leave the peace-time liberties of the people unimpaired. 
 
 Zane believes that the correctness of Lincoln's formula, in the Interna- 
 tional field, is first proved by the fact that, although some foreign governments 
 were unsympathetic almost to the point of hostility, not one of them ever 
 received a minister from, or sent one to, the Confederacy. 60 
 
 POLITICS AND STATESMANSHIP 
 Mr. Lincoln's rise from a local politician, principally interested in his own 
 success and that of his party, to the broad statesmanship of his later years was 
 the result of a continual growth extending over a long period of time. After 
 acting as floor leader for his party in the General Assembly, he was one of a 
 little coterie at Springfield who guided and controlled the destinies of their 
 party throughout the State. 61 By the middle of the 1850s, he was the acknowl- 
 edged leader. 
 
 The State of Illinois extends from the latitude of Boston on the north to 
 that of Petersburg, Virginia on the south. Its northern part was settled largely 
 by Abolitionists from New England; the central portion contained many who 
 were opposed to both slavery and the Abolitionists; the southern part was set- 
 tled largely by people from the Slave States. The experience Lincoln gained 
 in Illinois when welding and holding together such widely different elements 
 was most useful to him at Washington when, during the war, it was necessary 
 for him to retain the support of New England without losing that of the slave- 
 holding Border States. In his commonwealth in 1856, he united the most di- 
 verse elements upon opposition to Slavery Extension; in the nation during the 
 war, he united equally diverse elements upon Union. 
 
 His intense study of all shades of political opinion during the 1850s gave 
 him such a broad and comprehensive understanding of the problems then con- 
 fronting the country that, soon after his induction into the Presidency, Seward 
 felt compelled to say, "The President is the best of us." 62 
 
 MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE 
 
 In the spring of 1832, soon after Lincoln settled at New Salem, Governor 
 Reynolds issued a call for volunteers to serve in the Black Hawk War. A com- 
 pany was raised at New Salem, and Lincoln was elected its Captain. He now 
 doubtless made a serious study of General Winfield Scott's Abstract of Infan- 
 try Tactics, a work published by the government for the use of the militia. 
 While his services in this campaign were negligible so far as the Indians were 
 concerned, their effect upon Lincoln himself was probably important. He 
 learned the elements of soldiering and thereby laid the foundation for the ex- 
 tensive study of military art and science which he later made while Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the Union armies; and that later study was so profound 
 and comprehensive that an English military expert wrote a book in support of 
 
 [19] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 his thesis that Lincoln was the outstanding military genius developed by our 
 Civil War. 63 It has been noted, too, that the plan of campaign adopted by 
 Grant when he took Richmond was the same one that Lincoln had urged upon 
 previous commanders from the beginning of the conflict. 
 
 RELIGION 
 
 Dr. William E. Barton opines that while Lincoln lived in Kentucky and 
 Indiana, and possibly while at New Salem, he never listened to a Baptist 
 by the great number of theological books that he studied, and by his life-long 
 habit of reading the Bible. 65 Dr. Lyman Abbott once said he had found no 
 evidence that Lincoln either wrought out a system of theology for himself or 
 accepted any that had been wrought out by others, but that Lincoln's life illus- 
 trates both how a reverent agnostic can be deeply religious and how a life of 
 self-sacrifice and service leads through doubt to faith. 66 
 
 LITERARY STYLE 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's final literary style was the result of conscious effort and 
 much reflection. When discussing in advance the first paragraph of his house- 
 divided speech, he said: 
 
 I want to use some universally known figure, expressed in simple 
 
 language . . . that will strike home to the minds of men. 67 
 
 From the crude literary efforts of his earlier years, there can be traced 
 
 that gradual improvement which finally culminated in his Gettysburg Speech 
 
 and his Second Inaugural Address, literary gems which, like Lincoln himself, 
 
 belong to the ages. 
 
 * £ * * ik ~ 
 
 A good inheritance, a fortunate environment, and favorable circum- 
 stances, were important factors in Mr. Lincoln's education; but the determi- 
 native element appears to have been his unusual capacity for sustained effort. 
 Year after year, he continued the earnest study which gives wisdom, and the 
 deep reflection that brings understanding; and, during his later years, at least, 
 he was constantly striving for that simplicity and conciseness of expression 
 which he finally attained. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was ambitious to achieve commendable objectives and a 
 praiseworthy character, he was willing to utilise to the uttermost such resources 
 as were available to him, and he continued his efforts toward self improvement 
 throughout his entire life. These characteristics probably enabled him to attain 
 the approximation of his capabilities. His character and accomplishments have 
 intrigued the imagination of the world; and it is believed that, so long as his 
 memory endures, he will remain, especially for youth, a continuous source of 
 inspiration. 
 
 [20] 
 
References and Notes 
 
 (i) 
 
 Angle, Herndons Life of Lincoln, p. 354. 
 
 (2) 
 Scripps, Life of Abraham Lincoln (Jacob Edition), p. 10; Browne (R. H.), 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, pp. 64, 70, 83. 
 
 The 1860 campaign biography of Lincoln by John L. Scripps was made 
 up largely from material furnished by its subject, and the present writer be- 
 lieves that it was revised by Lincoln before publication. In it, we are told that 
 before he went to Indiana, in his eighth year, it had been his mother's custom 
 on the Sabbath, when there was no religious worship in the neighborhood, to 
 read a portion of the Scripture aloud to her family; that after Abraham and 
 his sister learned to read, they shared by turns in this Sunday reading; that 
 this practice continued faithfully throughout a series of years; that when they 
 arrived in Indiana, Abraham wrote the letters which they sent back to the 
 friends left behind; that from that time onward, he continued the family cor- 
 respondence; and that ever afterwards, as long as they remained in Indiana, 
 he acted as a letter writer for the neighborhood. 
 
 Robert H. Browne, while a soldier during the Civil War, spent consider- 
 able time in the community where the Lincolns had lived in Kentucky, gather- 
 ing recollections and traditions. He was told that Abraham's mother "had 
 taught him to read the Bible when only five years old," and that "it did set 
 everybody a-wonderin 1 to see how much he knowed, and him not morn seven." 
 
 Such prodigies are not unusual. It is claimed that Horace Greeley could 
 spell all the words in a small dictionary at five; and that Fisher Ames, whom 
 Lincoln admired tremendously, studied Latin when only six. 
 
 0) 
 
 Warren, Lincoln s Parentage and Childhood, pp. 195-219. 
 
 (4) 
 
 Warren, Sarah Bush Lincoln, "Transactions," 111. Sta. His. Soc, 1926, p. 87; 
 Angle, Herndons Life of Lincoln, p. 33. 
 
 (5) 
 
 Barton, Life of Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, p. 139; Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, 
 vol. i, p. 103 (note). 
 
 (6) 
 Hulbert, The Ohio River: A Course of Empire. 
 
 "In almost a moment's time, the population of the Ohio Basin sprang from 
 three-quarters of a million to over three and one-half million souls." 
 
 (7) 
 Lamon, Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 37; Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, 
 p. 74; Weik, The Real Lincoln, p. 23. 
 
 [21] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 David Turnham, from whom young Lincoln secured his first law book, 
 was only a few years older than Abraham, but was an influential member of 
 the church to which Thomas belonged. He went to Spencer County from Ten- 
 nessee in 1818. Turnham and his descendants took a very creditable part in 
 the upbuilding of Southwestern Indiana. 
 
 (8) 
 Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, pp. 75-76; Tarbell, In the Footsteps of the 
 Lincolns, pp. 132-133; Scripps, Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 14. 
 
 Josiah Crawford, best remembered for having lent Abraham a copy of 
 Ramsey's Life of Washington, was an unusually versatile young man. Besides 
 being a farmer, he was something of a wheelwright, a dentist, and a doctor. 
 An Abolitionist, he had come from Kentucky partly to escape slavery. He was 
 a good influence. He paid Abraham fair wages, but insisted that they be earned. 
 He lent Abraham books, and taught him a borrower's duty when in possession 
 of another's property. When Mr. Lincoln returned to Gentryville during the 
 campaign of 1840, he was entertained at the Crawford home. It is claimed by 
 Crawford's family that he followed Lincoln's career with an absorbing interest; 
 and that he, while ill, was so shocked by Mr. Lincoln's assassination that he 
 succumbed within a month, although only sixty-three years of age. 
 
 (9) 
 
 Murr, Lincoln in Indiana, "Indiana Magazine of History," March, 1918, p. 47; 
 Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, 73. 
 
 (10) 
 Swett in Rice, Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln (1889), p. 459. 
 
 (ii) 
 
 Vannest, Lincoln, the Hoosier, pp. 99-123; Iglehart, The Environment of 
 Abraham Lincoln in Indiana, Ind. His. Soc. "Publications," vol. 8, No. 3, 
 pp. 147-170. 
 
 (12) 
 Tarbell, The Early Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 72; Ehrmann, The Lincoln 
 Inquiry. "Indiana Magazine of History," March, 1925, p. 8; Iglehart, The 
 Environment of Lincoln in Indiana, Ind. His. Soc. "Publications," vol. 8, 
 No. 3, pp. 163-164; Murr, Lincoln in Indiana, "Indiana Magazine of His- 
 tory," June, 1918, pp. 159-160; Raleigh, The Brac\enridge Family, "Bul- 
 letin No. 16," S. W. Ind. His. Soc; Tarbell, In the Footsteps of the Lin- 
 colns, p. 150. 
 
 Judge John Pitcher went to Indiana from Connecticut, where he had 
 studied law in the office of Judge Reeves, a noted author and compiler of law 
 books. It is said that "he had the best education possible for a man of his time," 
 and that "he was the ablest man in public life who lived in Spencer County in 
 Lincoln's day." He was an anti-slavery, Henry Clay Whig. Many years later, 
 Pitcher's family said that when Pitcher was a young man he had a good library 
 
 [ 22 ] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 of standard works and law books, that he was attracted to Abraham, advised 
 him regarding his studies, and lent him books. It is claimed that there is extant 
 a copy of Blackstone's Commentaries which once belonged to Pitcher and which 
 contains Abraham's autograph. 
 
 Of all the attorneys to whom he listened while a boy in Indiana, Abraham 
 gave first place as an orator to Judge John A. Brackenridge. Of Scottish des- 
 preacher who would admit that the earth is round. 64 Under those circum- 
 stances, it is not surprising that the young man got the reputation of being 
 something of a skeptic. That he was essentially religious, however, is shown 
 cent, Brackenridge received his education at Princeton University, then went 
 to Indiana. In 1853, he removed to Texas. When Texas seceded, Brackenridge 
 and one son, George, adhered to the Union; three other sons favored the Con- 
 federacy. During the war, Brackenridge ran a store, trading merchandise for 
 cotton, but refusing to take Confederate currency. He became immensely 
 wealthy. George went to Washington, and Mr. Lincoln gave him a place in 
 the Treasury Department, later sending him to New Orleans to take charge 
 of commissary stores. It was probably while on a visit to his son at Washington 
 that the elder Brackenridge called on the President, who immediately recalled 
 how much, as a boy, he had admired the way Brackenridge defended a client 
 accused of murder. 
 
 Ratcliff Boone, a relative of the Lincolns, was their Congressman during 
 most of the time while they lived in Indiana. His home was only twenty miles 
 away; and he, no doubt, often made political speeches at Gentry ville, visiting 
 his kinspeople while there. This town was at a crossing of two main-traveled 
 roads, one of which ran east and west from Corydon to Evansville, the other 
 north and south; and this made it an ideal place for political gatherings. The 
 boy probably received from Boone much information, besides sundry and 
 divers public documents. 
 
 (13) 
 
 Warren, Abraham Lincoln s First School Teacher, ''Lincoln Lore," No. 52. 
 
 (14) 
 
 Warren, Caleb Hazel, Lincoln s 7<[eighbor and Teacher, "Lincoln Lore," No. 
 
 56; "Lincoln Lore," Nos. 59, 63, 283. 
 
 Little is known regarding Lincoln's first Indiana teacher, Andrew Craw- 
 ford, except that Crawford was a Justice of the Peace, kept school in his own 
 cabin, and tried to instill into his pupils some of the social graces. It was prob- 
 ably he who started the Indiana tradition, mentioned by Murr, that Abraham 
 was a good reader when only eight years of age. 
 
 In later years, Mr. Lincoln was unable to recall the first name of his 
 fourth teacher, although he did remember that his last name was Swaney. Such 
 information as we have indicates that this teacher could not have been a very 
 
 [23] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 valuable instructor for Abraham at fourteen; and Mr. Lincoln probably had 
 James Swaney in mind when he said, in 1860, that some of the pioneer teachers 
 could not take their arithmetic classes farther than the Rule of Three. 
 
 Hon. Gordon A. Block, of Philadelphia, has a copy of Goldsmith's Mis- 
 cellaneous Wor\s which once belonged to Mr. Lincoln and contains his auto- 
 graph. Anyone knowing Lincoln's love of humor, and his knowledge of all 
 kinds of pioneer teachers, will readily guess how he enjoyed the poet's satirical 
 description of "the village teacher," which concludes: 
 
 The village all declared how much he knew; 
 'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too; 
 Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage, 
 And e'en the story ran that he could gauge. 
 In arguing, too, the parson owned his skill, 
 For e'en though vanquished, he could argue still; 
 While words of learned length and thundering sound, 
 Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around, 
 And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew 
 That one small head could carry all he knew. 
 
 (15) 
 Oakleaf, Azel W. Dorsey, "Journal," 111. Sta. His. Soc, October, 1929, pp. 
 447-450; Warren, "Lincoln Lore," No. 65. 
 
 (16) 
 Iglehart, Coming of the English to Indiana, "Indiana Magazine of History," 
 
 June, 1919, pp. 89478; Tarbell, In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, p. 150. 
 
 In the second decade of the Nineteenth Century, after numerous wars, 
 agriculture in Great Britain was much depressed, rents and taxes were onerous, 
 political conditions unsatisfactory, and religious persecutions rife. A great 
 many well-to-do farmers migrated to the United States, often forming colonies. 
 Those who established the Spencer County colony had intended to join the 
 Flower settlement in Illinois; but, dissatisfied with the location of the land 
 which was assigned to them, they decided to start a new settlement in Indiana. 
 The Evansville Gazette, which Abraham probably read, told much about these 
 colonists, and discussed their activities and plans. 
 
 (17) 
 Lockwood, The J^ew Harmony Communities, pp. 22-273; Atkinson, The Boy- 
 hood of Lincoln, pp. 29-32; Iglehart, Coming of the English to Indiana, 
 "Indiana Magazine of History," June, 1919, pp. 139-143. 
 In 1804, George Rapp, the founder of a German religious sect known as 
 Rappites, established a colony in Pennsylvania. In 1815, this colony was moved 
 to a new location, on the Indiana side of the Wabash River, about fifty miles 
 from its mouth. This settlement was called New Harmony. German thrift, in- 
 dustry, and good management, made a success of the experiment; and the com- 
 munity prospered. They decided, however, to return to Pennsylvania. In 1824, 
 
 [24] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 Rapp requested Richard Flower, then on his way from Illinois to Europe, to 
 find a buyer for their 20,000 acres of Indiana land, their factories, and their 
 houses. Flower gained the interest of Robert Owen, a wealthy manufacturer 
 and philanthropist of New Lanark, Scotland. The sale was completed in the 
 spring of 1825. 
 
 In his scheme of founding a Utopian community, Owen secured the co- 
 operation of William Maclure, a wealthy Scotch scientist of Philadelphia. 
 Maclure had already completed a geological survey of the United States, there- 
 by gaining the title of "Father of American Geology." He invested $150,000 
 in the society, and took charge of its educational features. In pursuance of his 
 resolution to make New Harmony the "Center of American Education," he 
 brought there from Europe and America the greatest coterie of scientists and 
 educators that had yet been assembled in this country. 
 
 Among the noted scientists and educators brought, or attracted, to New 
 Harmony were: William Maclure, himself, for twenty-three years President 
 of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences; Thomas Say, the father of 
 American Zoology; Charles Alexander Rafinewqur, the first teacher of natural 
 history in the West; Dr. Gerard Troost, a Holland geologist; Joseph Neff, who 
 introduced a new system of education in this country; Francis Wright, the 
 first American advocate of woman's suffrage; and the four sons of Robert 
 Owen, all internationally educated. 
 
 A school was founded, a library established, and a newspaper started. 
 Through the agents of this society, talks with travelers who had visited New 
 Harmony, and by reading the discussions about this project which appeared in 
 the New Harmony Gazette, the Terre Haute Register, the Corydon Sentinel, 
 the Louisville Public Advertiser, and the Evansville Gazette, all of which cir- 
 culated in his community, young Lincoln could keep in close touch with their 
 activities and teachings. Dennis Hanks afterwards said that for a time scarcely 
 anything else was talked about in the Lincoln neighborhood, and that Abraham 
 longed for an opportunity to attend the New Harmony school. 
 
 As a communistic experiment, this colony soon proved a failure; but its 
 influence, and that of its founders, may still be traced in our free public-school 
 system, and in our equal-suffrage and divorce laws. 
 
 (18) 
 Barton, The Women Lincoln Loved, pp. 165-166; Davis, Lincoln and Macon 
 County, "Journal," 111. Sta. His. Soc, April-July, 1932, p. 91. 
 
 (19) 
 Thomas, Lincoln's ~}<[ew Salem, pp. 5-38; Hurie, Early Mills in Illinois, "Jour- 
 nal," 111. Sta. His. Soc, vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 593-600; Tarbell, In the Foot- 
 steps of the Lincolns, p. 172. 
 
 (20) 
 Thomas, Lincoln's Js[ew Salem, pp. 29-49; Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, 
 p. 134. 
 
 [25] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 (21) 
 Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, p. 133 (note); Thomas, Lincoln s T^jsw 
 Salem, p. 48. 
 
 (22) 
 Reep, Lincoln and 'Hew Salem, p. 59; Tarbell, In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, 
 p. 177; Angle, Herndons Life of Lincoln, p. 99. 
 
 (23) 
 Thomas, Lincolns T^etu Salem, p. 97; Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, 
 p. 133. 
 
 (24) 
 Rankin, Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 62-68. 
 
 One of Matthew Rogers 1 daughters became the mother of Henry B. Ran- 
 kin, whose books were valuable contributions to our knowledge of Lincoln's 
 life and character. 
 
 (25) 
 Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, pp. 112, 131, 300; Angle, Herndons Life 
 
 of Lincoln, p. 114; Warren, "Lincoln Lore," No. 417. 
 
 It was Dr. Duncan, at New Salem, who first called Lincoln's attention to 
 the poem "Mortality," by William Knox. Duncan found the poem printed 
 anonymously in a newspaper. He cut it out and gave it to Lincoln, who 
 adopted it as his favorite poem, and frequently repeated it. Encouraged by 
 Duncan and Kelso, Lincoln devoted so much time to the poets while living at 
 New Salem that when he went to Springfield, he "could quote more poetry 
 than any man in town." His continued love for rhythm is clearly discernible 
 in many of his later prose writings. 
 
 (26) 
 Thomas, Lincolns T^ew Salem, pp. 6, 29; Tarbell, In the Footsteps of the 
 Lincolns, p. 220. 
 
 (27) 
 Reep, Lincoln and 7^{ew Salem, pp. 54-5 5; Thomas, Lincolns T^ew Salem, 
 pp. 29, 48. 
 
 (28) 
 At the suggestion of Fern Nance Pond, Official Historian of New Salem, 
 this ravine has been named "Kelso Hollow." 
 
 (29) 
 Reep, Lincoln and l^ew Salem, pp. 5 3-54, 76, 77; Thomas, Lincolns J^ew 
 
 Salem, pp. 75, 77. 
 
 Many stories have come down to us regarding the intensity with which 
 Lincoln studied law while living at New Salem. At one time, his friends 
 feared for his health. He seems, however, to have varied strenuous study with 
 easier reading in history, biography, religion, and politics; and periods of work 
 
 [ 26 1 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 for others, surveying trips, story-telling bouts, and social visits, appear to have 
 afforded him sufficient change and recreation. 
 
 (30) 
 The information about Thomas J. Nance was obtained from records in 
 the possession of his biographer, Fern Nance Pond, Petersburg, Illinois, whose 
 kindness is hereby acknowledged. 
 
 (31) 
 
 Thomas, Lincoln s 7s[eto Salem, p. 29; Pond, Intellectual 7<[ew Salem in Lin- 
 coln's Day, pp. 6-11. 
 Mr. Lincoln's companions at New Salem who attended Illinois College 
 
 at Jacksonville were: David Rutledge, William F. Berry, William G. Greene, 
 
 L. M. Greene, and Harvey Ross. 
 
 (32) 
 
 Thomas, Lincoln's l^lew Salem, pp. 4, 5, 7, 29; Reep, Lincoln and ~h[ew Salem, 
 p. 34; Lamon, Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 122. 
 
 (33) 
 
 Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, pp. 176-182; Linder, Reminiscences, pp. 
 
 55-120. 
 
 At Vandalia, Lincoln found an exclusive bookstore. It carried a wide vari- 
 ety of literature, advertising in the local paper that it sold novels; magazines; 
 and medical, historical, and miscellaneous standard works. One can easily imag- 
 ine how Lincoln would revel during spare time at such a literary feast, making 
 himself welcome by shrewd comments and humorous stories, with the occa- 
 sional purchase of a book. A friend of his once said that Lincoln bought more 
 books than is generally supposed, but that he took no pride in the possession 
 of a library and cared little for a book after he had absorbed its contents. 
 
 (34) 
 Angle, Here I Have Lived, pp. 81, 93. See, also: Bateman & Selby, Historical 
 
 Encyclopedia of Illinois; Power, Early Settlers of Sangamon County; and 
 
 Linder, Reminiscences. 
 
 Ninian W. Edwards, son of the Hon. Ninian Edwards who was at one 
 time the Governor of Illinois, graduated from the law department of Transyl- 
 vania University, and immediately began to practice. He married Elizabeth 
 Todd, a sister of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, and they lived in the finest home in 
 Springfield. 
 
 Benjamin S. Edwards, brother of Ninian W. Edwards, after graduating 
 from Yale, began the practice of law. He served as Circuit Judge, and was at 
 one time the President of the Illinois Bar Association. He was a good lawyer, 
 a learned man, loved books, and owned a carefully-selected library. 
 
 John T. Stuart, Mrs. Lincoln's cousin, and Mr. Lincoln's first law partner, 
 was fond of history, philosophy, and poetry. 
 
 [ 27 ] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 Stephen T. Logan, at one time probably the most brilliant lawyer in the 
 State, was for a time both Mr. Lincoln's partner and mentor. 
 
 Samuel H. Treat was splendidly educated for that day, and he had an 
 unusually large library. Mr. Lincoln once carried over the circuit a book which 
 Judge Treat had given him. 
 
 Simeon Francis, educated in Connecticut, was the editor of "The Sanga- 
 mo Journal" at Springfield. He and Lincoln were warm friends for years, and 
 Lincoln was frequently in his home. 
 
 These men, among others, lived at Springfield when Lincoln went there. 
 They were his friends and associates, and their libraries were open to him. 
 
 (35) 
 Angle, Herndons Life of Lincoln, p. 150; Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, 
 
 p. 209; Angle, Here I Have Lived, pp. 83-84; Speed, Reminiscences, p. 23. 
 
 Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, James H. Matheney, Milton Hay, Newton 
 Francis, John Calhoun, Josiah Lamborn, Jesse Thomas, Stephen T. Logan, Ed- 
 ward D. Baker, O. H. Browning, Speed himself, and William H. Herndon, 
 were among those who informally discussed issues at Speed's store. 
 
 (36) 
 
 Sandburg, Mary Lincoln, pp. 29-33; Helm, Mary, Wife of Lincoln, pp. 45, 53; 
 Townsend, Lincoln and His Wife's Home Town, pp. 57-62. 
 
 (37) 
 Rankin, Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, p. 122; Helm, Mary, 
 
 Wife of Lincoln, pp. 74, 76, 113. 
 
 (38) 
 Woldman, Lawyer Lincoln, pp. 36-44. See, also: Memorials of the Life and 
 
 Character of Stephen T. Logan. 
 
 Stephen T. Logan was born in Kentucky in 1800. He received a good 
 education, and was admitted to the bar before attaining his majority. After 
 serving as Commonwealth Attorney in his native State for ten years, he went 
 to Illinois, locating at Springfield in 1833. Two years later, he became Circuit 
 Judge, but resigned in 1839 to resume practice. His subsequent leadership of 
 the local bar has never been questioned. At one time, he was on one side or 
 the other of nearly every important case tried in the courts in which he prac- 
 ticed. Judge David Davis thought Logan the ablest lawyer he had ever met; 
 Linder and Cullom concurred in this opinion. Logan was industrious, methodi- 
 cal, orderly, careful of detail, and painstaking, in the preparation of his cases. 
 He was an adept at recognizing and developing promising young men. Of the 
 distinguished lawyers who graduated from his office, one became President of 
 the United States, three were governors of States, and four afterwards served 
 as United States Senators. 
 
 (39) 
 Rankin, Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 120-124; Newton, 
 
 Lincoln and Herndon, p. 106; Angle, Herndons Life of Lincoln, p. 293. 
 
 [28] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 (40) 
 Angle, Herndons Life of Lincoln, p. 293; Warren, "Lincoln Lore," No. 279. 
 The list of papers for which Lincoln and Herndon subscribed, included 
 journals as widely separated in origin, opinion, and purpose as the New York 
 Tribune, Western Citizen, Chicago Press & Tribune, Richmond Inquirer, 
 Garrison's Liberator, Charleston Mercury, Anti-Slavery Standard, Southern 
 Literary Messenger, and Rational Era. Both Lincoln and Herndon wrote arti- 
 cles and editorials for a local paper, and they made abundant use of its ex- 
 change files. 
 
 (41) 
 Angle, Here I Have Lived, pp. 102, 188. 
 
 While searching old records and newspaper files to secure data for his 
 informatory and classically-written "History of Lincoln's Springfield" — Here 
 I Have Lived, Paul M. Angle was impressed by the large number of lectures 
 reported on subjects which indicate "a lively intellectual curiosity/ 1 
 
 (42) 
 Angle, Herndons Life of Lincoln, pp. 314-315. 
 
 (43) 
 Hill, Lincoln, the Lawyer, p. 167; Woldman, Lawyer Lincoln, pp. 80-82: 
 Moores, Abraham Lincoln, Lawyer, Ind. Sta. His. Soc. "Publications," 
 vol. 7. No. 10, p. 503. 
 
 (44) 
 Nicolay & Hay, Abraham Lincoln: Complete Wor\s, (2 vols.), vol. i, p. 640: 
 Arnold, Life of Lincoln, p. 444; Whitney, Life on the Circuit with Lin- 
 coln, p. 49; Swett in Rice, Reminiscences, p. 467; Williams, Lincoln, the 
 Reader, in "Review of Reviews," Feb., 1920, pp. 193-196. 
 
 (45) 
 Stringer, History of Logan County, vol. i, pp. 314-318; Thomas, Lincoln and 
 the Courts, Abraham Lincoln Association "Papers," 1933, p. 82. 
 
 (46) 
 Linder, Reminiscences, p. 258. 
 
 (47) 
 Stringer, History of Logan County, vol. i, p. 316. 
 
 (48) 
 Angle, Herndons Life of Lincoln, p. 219; Townsend, Lincoln and His Wife's 
 Home Town, pp. 137-161; Barton, Life of Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, p. 
 284. 
 
 In the fall of 1847, on their way to Washington, Mr. Lincoln and his 
 family made a three-weeks visit at the home of Robert Todd, Mrs. Lincoln's 
 father, at Lexington, Kentucky. 
 
 [29] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 While in Lexington, Lincoln heard his political idol, Henry Clay, make 
 two speeches. One was in opposition to the Mexican War; and some of the 
 ideas which Mr. Clay advanced crept into the speeches Lincoln later made in 
 Congress. 
 
 One of the noted attorneys whom he met at Lexington was Judge George 
 Robertson. In 1855, Robertson gave Lincoln a copy of his Scrap Boo\ of Law 
 and Politics, Men and Times, a collection of the Judge's own speeches, briefs, 
 and writings, made over a long period of years. In it, Mr. Lincoln was sur- 
 prised to find that the Douglas doctrine of Popular Sovereignty had been ad- 
 vocated by Judge Robertson in Congress as early as in 1819. In a letter of 
 thanks for the book, Lincoln wrote out for the first time the substance of his 
 famous house-divided pronunciation. 
 
 Robert Todd had a well-stocked library, and Mr. Lincoln spent many 
 hours browsing through its contents. His favorite work seems to have been 
 Elegant Extracts, a collection of poems and prose extracts, by many authors; 
 and out of it he memorized Bryant's "Thanatopsis." 
 
 (49) 
 
 Seitz, Lincoln, the Politician, p. 63; Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, pp. 
 
 406, 408, 455; "Bulletin," Abraham Lincoln Assoc, March, 1937, pp. 3-6. 
 
 Robert C. Winthrop delivered the address at the laying of the corner 
 stone of the Washington Monument on July 4, 1848. This speech has been 
 called "a model of eloquence — restrained, clear, simple, lofty." 
 
 Among the distinguished orators in the Senate during Lincoln's term in 
 Congress were, Webster, Calhoun, Cass, Benton, Douglas, Crittenden, Cam- 
 eron, Johnson, Bell, Hunter, Hale, and Atchison. In the House were John 
 Quincy Adams, Giddings, Stephens, Toombs, Ashmun, and other distinguished 
 orators and statesmen. Logan Hay believes that Lincoln gained much through 
 his association at Washington with Amos Tuck. 
 
 (50) 
 Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, vol. ii, p. 244. 
 
 (51) 
 See: Julian, Life of foshua R. Giddings; Buel, Joshua R. Giddings. 
 
 Because of the poverty of his people, Joshua R. Giddings received even 
 less formal schooling than Lincoln. Equally earnest in his efforts to secure an 
 education through home study, Giddings gained admission to the bar, and soon 
 had a good practice. He was elected to the National House of Representatives 
 in 1838. His cold, incisive logic, and a total absence of emotionalism or cau- 
 tion, when he was speaking, maddened the Southerners. On one occasion, he 
 exhibited only mild surprise and an amused curiosity when they gathered 
 around him with pistols and Bowie knives while he was delivering a Philippic 
 against slavery. After Lincoln returned home, he and Giddings kept up a cor- 
 respondence until Lincoln's nomination for the Presidency; and they held a 
 
 [30] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 long conference at Springfield during the campaign. By that time, Giddings 
 had become incapacitated for Congressional duties, because of advanced age 
 and failing health. In 1861, Mr. Lincoln appointed him Consul General of 
 Canada for the United States, a position which entailed so few duties that 
 Giddings had plenty of leisure in which to produce a book which he wished to 
 write. This book, The History of the Rebellion: Its Authors and Causes, was 
 published in 1864. 
 
 (52) 
 Pendleton, Alexander H. Stephens, pp. 45, 87. 
 
 (53) 
 Nicolay & Hay, Abraham Lincoln: Complete Wor\s (2 vols.), vol. i, p. 111. 
 
 (54) 
 Barton, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, p. 281. 
 
 (55) 
 
 Whitney, Life on the Circuit with Lincoln, pp. 55-71; Thomas, Lincoln and 
 the Courts, Abraham Lincoln Association "Papers,'" 1933, pp. 67-68, 
 
 71-72. 
 
 From 1848 until 1862, Judge David Davis presided in the courts of the 
 Eighth Judicial District of Illinois. Davis was a native of Maryland. He gradu- 
 ated from Kenyon College, studied law in the office of a Massachusetts judge, 
 and completed his legal education at Yale Law School. Going to Illinois in 
 1835, he first settled in Tazewell County, then went to Bloomington. Through 
 good business judgment, and lucky speculations and investments in land, he 
 became very wealthy. Once when he was unable to collect $800 for an Eastern 
 client, he accepted in settlement a quarter section of land near Chicago. His 
 client objected to the arrangement, so Davis paid the claim and took the land. 
 Eventually, it brought him over a million dollars. 
 
 Lincoln soon became a great favorite with Judge Davis, both in the court 
 room, where he sometimes presided in the absence of Davis, and at social gath- 
 erings in the Judge's room at night. Davis maintained a beautiful home near 
 the edge of Bloomington, where he had collected a splendid library; and Lin- 
 coln was frequently his guest. 
 
 Leonard Swett, also of Bloomington, was probably the attorney, outside 
 of Springfield, with whom Mr. Lincoln had the closest association. Swett began 
 practice at Clinton, Illinois, but soon removed to Bloomington. He had a good 
 education and he loved literature, his pet ambition being to acquire enough 
 money to retire, buy the library of his dreams, and have time to enjoy it. Dur- 
 ing their years on the Circuit, Lincoln seems to have been more confidential 
 with Swett than with any other associate, to have trusted him implicitly, and 
 to have placed a high value on his judgment — in literature, law, and politics. 
 
 C 31 ] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 (56) 
 Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, vol. ii, p. 294-95; Lamon, The Life of Abraham 
 
 Lincoln, p. 491. 
 
 Jesse W. Fell, a Pennsylvania lawyer and educator, went to Illinois at an 
 early day. He and Lincoln first met at Vandalia, and he soon became one of 
 Lincoln's most valued personal and political friends. Their discussions for years 
 must have covered a wide range. It was he who called Mr. Lincoln's attention 
 to the writings of William E. Channing, and he presented Lincoln with a six- 
 volume set of Dr. Channing's Wor^s. Fell is noted in history for being one of 
 the first to propose Lincoln for the Presidency; for securing, in 1859, the fa- 
 mous short Lincoln autobiography; and for his signal success in promoting 
 Lincoln's candidacy in the East; but more should have been said about the 
 educational value to Mr. Lincoln of their earlier association. 
 
 (57) 
 Whitney, Life on the Circuit with Lincoln, p. 45; Richards, Lincoln, the Law- 
 yer-Statesman, pp. 84-85; Thomas, Lincoln and the Courts, Abraham 
 Lincoln Association "Tapers," 1933, p. 77; Stringer, History of Logan 
 County, vol. i, pp. 319-320. 
 
 A large number of the attorneys with whom Mr. Lincoln came in contact 
 were college graduates. Among others, were O. H. Browning, Augusta Col- 
 lege; C. H. Constable, University of Virginia; B. S. Edwards, Yale University: 
 J. B. Thomas, Transylvania University; I. G. Wilson, Brown University; B. C. 
 Cook, Collegiate Institute; J. T. Stuart, Center College; and Leonard Swett, 
 Waterville College. Thomas says that of fifty of Lincoln's most prominent legal 
 associates, at least a dozen, perhaps a dozen and a half, had graduated from or 
 attended college. Many of the others had academic educations. 
 
 (58) 
 Benton, Greeley on Lincoln, p. 79. 
 
 (59) 
 
 Woldman, Lawyer Lincoln, p. vi 
 
 (60) 
 Zane, Lincoln, the Constitutional Lawyer, Abraham Lincoln Association "Pa- 
 pers," 1932, p. 91. 
 
 (61) 
 Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, vol. i, p. 302. 
 
 (62) 
 
 Rothschild, Lincoln, Master of Men, p. 148. 
 
 (63) 
 
 Ballard, The Military Genius of Abraham Lincoln; Dana, Recollections of the 
 Civil War, p. 181; Palmer, President Lincoln's War Problem, "Transac- 
 tions," 111. Sta. His. Soc, 1927, pp. 41-53. 
 
 [32] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 Charles A. Dana, an Assistant Secretary of War, says that a study of 
 available records will convince a student that the greatest general we had, 
 greater than Grant or Thomas, was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's comprehension 
 of the fundamentals of war convinced General Palmer that he had studied 
 Clausewitz's great work — "On War." General Maurice believed him a "model 
 war executive"; Lord Esher thought that Lincoln had a "supreme capacity for 
 the conduct of war." How Lincoln acquired his knowledge of military art and 
 science is shown by a letter that he wrote to General McClellan on May 9, 
 1862, in which he indicated that he had already studied practically "every 
 modern military book" then extant. 
 
 (64) 
 Barton, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, vol. ii, p. 459. 
 
 (65) 
 
 Barton, The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 156-187. 
 
 Besides his lifelong study of the Bible, we know that Mr. Lincoln read 
 theological and religious works by Volney, Paine, Baxter, Butler, Paley, Bailey, 
 Parker, Channing, Hitchcock, and Smith. 
 
 (66) 
 
 "The Outlook," November 17, 1906; Barton, The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, 
 p. 231. 
 
 (67) 
 Angle, Herndons Life of Lincoln, p. 325. 
 
 ^S£> 
 
 [33] 
 
Any catalog of boo\s that Mr. Lincoln studied or read 
 must be more or less provisional. Whether or not certain 
 wor\s should, or should not, be included is sometimes a 
 question. We shall not, therefore, be disposed to quarrel 
 with anyone who believes that certain titles in the follow- 
 ing list should have been omitted, or that others should 
 have been included. 
 
 T^o mention is made of many professional wor\s, mis- 
 cellaneous reference boo\s, almanacs, and similar wor\s, 
 which Lincoln is \nown to have used; nor have we listed 
 boo\s that were presented to him, but about his reading of 
 which we have no information. This list is intended to be 
 representative rather than inclusive. 
 
 He was familiar with many contemporary essayists, 
 poets, and statesmen, whose writings he found in newspa- 
 pers, magazines, "The Congressional Globe," and other 
 compilations, but whose collected wor\s, so far as we 
 \now, were not read by him. 
 
 We are indebted to many friends for information. 
 Special mention should be made of Miss Esther C. Cush- 
 man, Dr. Harry E. Pratt, Prof. R. Gerald McMurtry, and 
 Mr. Harry E. Bar\er. 
 
 Of the vast number of boo\s that Mr. Lincoln read, 
 we \now the titles of comparatively few; but even so in- 
 complete a list will give any student a good conception of 
 Lincoln s tastes and the sources of his culture. M. L. H. 
 
COHDEHSED TITLES OF 
 
 Books Lincoln Studied or Read 
 
 (A * preceding a title indicates that Mr. Lincoln's own copy is yet extant.) 
 
 Dilworth, T. 
 Webster, N. 
 
 Murray, L. 
 Scott, W. 
 Lowe, A. T. 
 Kirkham, S. 
 Blair, H. 
 
 Grimshaw 
 Hale, S. 
 Pike, N. 
 Day, J. 
 Olmsted, D. 
 Simson, R. 
 Flint, A. 
 
 Gibson, R. 
 Neilson, W. 
 
 W. 
 
 TEXTBOOKS 
 
 'New Guide to the English Tongue." Barton (d), 1, 120 
 
 "The American Spelling Book. 11 Herndon, 37. 
 
 "The Kentucky Preceptor/ 1 Lincoln Lore, No. 80. 
 
 "The English Reader." Dodge, 6. 
 
 "Lessons in Elocution." Beveridge, i, 75. 
 
 "The Columbian Class Book." Lincoln Lore, No. 167. 
 
 "English Grammar." Tarbell, i, 64-67. 
 
 "Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres." Lincoln Lore, 
 No. 167. 
 
 "History of the United States." Beveridge, i, 73. 
 
 "History of the United States." Lincoln Lore, No. 167. 
 
 "A New . . . System of Arithmetick." Herndon, 37. 
 
 "Introduction to Algebra." Whitney, 49. 
 
 "An Introduction to Astronomy." Beveridge, i, 519. 
 
 "The Elements of Euclid." Beveridge, i, 518. 
 
 "System of Geometry . . . with Treatise on Surveying/' 
 N. <^H. (b), i, 641. 
 
 "A Treatise on Practical Surveying." Ibid. 
 
 "Exercises on the Syntax of the Greek Language." Bar- 
 ton (c), 183-7. 
 
 BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Weems, M. L. ""Life of George Washington." X- & H. (b), i, 688. 
 
 Ramsey, D. ""Life of George Washington." Rothschild, 326. 
 
 Reed, A. C. *""Life of George Washington." Monitor, April 11, 1935. 
 
 Prentice, G. D. ""The Life of Henry Clay." Townsend, 1 56. 
 
 Franklin, B. '"Autobiography." Dodge, 6. 
 
 Weems, M. L. '"Life of Benjamin Franklin." Beveridge, i, 76-8. 
 
 Weems, M. L. "Life of General Francis Marion." Rothschild, 10. 
 
 Plutarch "Lives." Barton (a), 14. 
 
 Scott, Sir W. (?) "Life of Napoleon Bonaparte." Edwin Davis et al., Let- 
 
 ters. 
 ""American Military Biography." Beveridge, i, 13 5. 
 
 [35] 
 
THE 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 O F 
 
 ABRAHAM 
 
 LINCOLN 
 
 Burke, P. 
 
 Drake, B. 
 Flint, T. 
 
 Holland, W. M. 
 Wirt, W. 
 Marryat, Capt. F. 
 Massett, S. C. 
 Scripps, J. L. 
 Howells 6P Hayes 
 
 Thayer, W. M. 
 
 "Public and Domestic Life of . . . Edmund Burke." 
 Dodge, 7. 
 *"Life and Speeches of Henry Clay. ,, Lambert, 17. 
 *"Life of Black Hawk." Hill, 15. 
 
 *"The First White Man of the West." (Boone) Lincoln 
 Lore, No. 167. 
 "Life of Martin Van Buren." Wei\, 230. 
 "Sketches of the Life ... of Patrick Henry. Ibid. 
 "Diary in America." Beveridge, ii, 161. 
 "Drifting About." Tracy, 236. 
 "Life of Abraham Lincoln." Barton (c), 24. 
 *"Life & Speeches of Abraham Lincoln ..." Abraham 
 
 Lincoln Assoc. Bulletin, No. 35. 
 *"The Pioneer Boy." Barton (a), 31. 
 
 Riley, J. 
 
 Abbott,J.fe?J.S.C. 
 Rollin, C. 
 Worcester, J. 
 
 Hallam, H. 
 
 Gibbon, E. 
 
 Ford, T. 
 Dalrymple, Sir J. 
 
 Napier, W. F. P. 
 
 Young, A. W. 
 
 Livermore, G. 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 "Narrative of the Brig Commerce." Rothchild, 10. 
 "Biographical Histories." Robinson, 38. 
 "Ancient History." Beveridge, i, 135. 
 *"Elements of History, Ancient and Modern." Lincoln 
 
 Lore, No. 167. 
 *"View of . . . Europe during the Middle Ages." Lambert, 
 
 17. 
 ^"History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." 
 Herndon, 113. 
 "A History of Illinois." H- & H. (b), i, 299. 
 *"Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland." Union Art 
 
 Galleries Catalog No. 17. 
 "History of the War in the Penninsula." 111. Sta. His. 
 Soc. Journal, October, 1932, 166. 
 *" American Statesman: A Political History." Angle (b), 
 
 159. 
 *"Historical Research . . . Negroes as Slaves, as Citizens, 
 and as Soldiers." Lincoln Lore, No. 167. 
 
 /^Esop 
 
 Bunyan, J. 
 Defoe, D. 
 
 Cervantes, S. M. de 
 Cooper, J. F. 
 
 [36] 
 
 PROSE LITERATURE 
 
 "Fables." Herndon, 39. 
 
 "Arabian Nights." Rothschild, 10. 
 
 "The Pilgrim's Progress." Tarbell, i, 29. 
 
 "Robinson Crusoe." Ibid. 
 
 "History of Don Quixote." Angle (a), 101. 
 
 "The Last of the Mohicans." Rothschild, 10. 
 
THE 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 O F 
 
 ABRAHAM 
 
 LINCOLN 
 
 Cooper, J. F. "The Pioneers." Ibid. 
 
 Poe, E. A. *"Tales." The A. L. Association Bulletin, No. 35, p. 7. 
 
 Dickens, C. "The Pickwick Papers." Oldroyd, 347. 
 
 Hackett, J. H. "Notes and Comments on Shakespeare." McMurtry, 
 
 270-1. 
 
 Shakespeare, W. 
 Burns, R. 
 Bryon, G. N. G. 
 Knox, W. 
 Hood, T. 
 Young, E. 
 
 Cook, Elua 
 Homer 
 Homer 
 Milton, J. 
 Moore, T. 
 Whitman, W. 
 Holmes, O. W. 
 Goldsmith, O. 
 Longfellow, H. W. 
 Pope, A. 
 Whittier, J. G. 
 Bryant, W. C. 
 Poe, E. A. 
 
 Halleck, F. 
 Willis, N. P. 
 Knox, Rev. V. 
 Croker, C. 
 Dupuy 
 
 Wesley, J. tf C. 
 Watts, I. 
 Garden, A. D. 
 
 POETRY 
 
 "Dramatical Works." McMurtry, 265-77. 
 
 "Poetical Works." Dodge, 12. 
 
 "Poetical Works." Dodge, 10-11. 
 
 "Poems." Putnam's Magazine, February, 1909, 525. 
 
 "Poetical Works." Dodge, 15, 34. 
 
 "The Complaint; or Night-Thoughts." Lincoln Lore, No. 
 
 167. 
 "Complete Poems." Ibid. 
 
 "The Iliad." Review of Reviews, February, 1920, 196. 
 "The Odyssey." Ibid. 
 "Poetical Works." Beveridge, i, 300. 
 "Poetical Works." Dodge, 15. 
 "Leaves of Grass." Ran\in, 124-7. 
 "Poems." Dodge, 13. 
 
 "Miscellaneous Works." Gordon A. Bloc\, Letter. 
 "Poems." Robinson, 205. 
 "Poetical Works." Lincoln Lore, No. 167. 
 "Poems." Ran\in, 130. 
 "Poems." Robinson, 204. 
 "The Raven and Other Poems." Century, February, 
 
 1911, 597. 
 "Poetical Works." Tracy, 147. 
 "Poems." Carpenter, 115. 
 "Elegant Extracts." Townsend, 156-9. 
 "Popular Songs of Ireland." Chittenden, 309. 
 "Song Book." Beveridge, i, 72. 
 "Hymn Book." Curtis, 379. 
 "Hymn Book." Ibid. 
 "Missouri Harmony." (Song Book), Sandburg, 108. 
 
 SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY 
 
 Chambers, R. "Vestiges of Natural History of Creation." Barton (c) 
 
 166-171. 
 Wells, D. A. "Annual of Scientific Discovery." Bevendge, i, 519. 
 
 Bacon, F. "Essays." Whitney, 126. 
 
 [37] 
 
THE 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 O F 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 Burke, E. *"A Philosophical Inquiry into . . . the Sublime and Beau- 
 
 tiful." Lincoln Lore, No. 167. 
 Chandler, M. G. *"The Elements of Character." Sandburg, 477-8. 
 Emerson, R. W. "Essays." Lamon, 494. 
 
 Hume, D. "Essays." Ibid. 
 
 Mill, J. S. "On Liberty." Broc\ett, 719. 
 
 *"Wealth and Worth." Lincoln Lore, No. 167. 
 
 LAW 
 
 Blackstone, Sir W. "Commentaries." Herndon, 324. 
 Greenleaf, S. *"Treatise on the Law of Evidence." Ibid. 
 
 Chitty, J. *"Treatise on Pleading and Parties to Actions." Ibid. 
 
 Story, J. *" Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence." Ibid. 
 
 *"The Revised Laws of Indiana." (1824) Herndon, 45. 
 "The Revised Code of Laws of Illinois." (1829) Bever- 
 idge, i, 141. 
 *"Revised Statutes of the State of Illinois." (1841-3-5) 
 Hill, 15; Barrett, Letter. 
 Callan, J. F. "Military Laws of the United States." Lincoln Lore, No. 
 
 167. 
 Whiting, W. "War Powers of the President." Ibid. 
 
 Kirkland, C. P. "Letter to Benj. R. Curtis." 111. Sta. His. Soc. Journal, 
 
 October, 1932, 166. 
 
 Elliot, J. 
 
 Hickey, W. 
 
 Benton, T. H. 
 Sheppard, F. 
 
 Carroll, A. 
 
 Robertson, G. 
 
 Stowe, H. B. 
 Sumner, C. 
 Beecher, E. 
 Helper, H. R. 
 
 Lincoln & Douglas 
 Lincoln, A. 
 [38] 
 
 POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 "Journal and Debates of the Federal Convention." Hern- 
 don, 455. 
 *"Constitution of the United States." Oliver R. Barrett, 
 
 Letter. 
 *"Thirty Years' View." Dale Putnam, Letter. 
 *"The Constitutional Text-Book." Hertz, Abraham Lin- 
 coln, ii, 916. 
 "Relation of the National Government to the Revolted 
 
 Citizen." Rational Republic, November, 1934. 
 "Scrap Book on Law and Politics, Men and Times." 
 
 Townsend, 256-60. 
 "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Ran\in, 130. 
 *"The Republican Party." Hill, 15. 
 ^"Narrative of the Riots at Alton." Lincoln Lore, No. 167. 
 
 "The Impending Crisis of the South." Robinson, 85. 
 ^"Political Debates." Lincoln Lore, No. 167. 
 ^"Address ... at Cooper Institute." Tracy, 149-5 1. 
 
THE 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 O F 
 
 ABRAHAM 
 
 LINCOLN 
 
 Fitzhugh, G. 
 Parker, T. 
 
 Parker, T. 
 Ross, F. A. 
 Goodloe, D. R. 
 Fisher, S. G. 
 
 Bacon, L. 
 
 Giddings, Joshua 
 Stille, C. J. 
 
 Gilmore, J. R. 
 Ames, F. 
 French, J. 
 Williams, E. 
 
 Lincoln, A. 
 
 "Sociology for the South. " Herndon, 363. 
 *"The Relation of Slavery to a Republican Form of Gov- 
 ernment." R. Gerald McMurtry, Letter. 
 *"The Effect of Slavery on the American People." Ibid. 
 "Slavery as Ordained of God." H- & H. (b), 1, 413-14. 
 *"The Southern Platform." Harry E. Bar\er, Letter. 
 "The Laws of Race as Connected with Slavery." Angle 
 
 (a), 252; Letters. 
 "Slavery Discussed in Occasional Essays." Century Mag- 
 azine, March, 1883. 
 "Speeches in Congress." Herndon, 363. 
 "How a Free People Conduct a Long War." 111. Sta. His. 
 
 Soc. Journal, October, 1932, 166. 
 "Among the Pines." Gilmore, 78-9. 
 "Works." Ward, 75-6. 
 *"The True Republican." Lincoln Lore, No. 167. 
 "Statesman's Manual." Register, ii, of the Illinois State 
 
 Library. 
 "Congressional Globe." (Various Volumes) Sandburg, 
 
 435. 
 "Niles Register." (Various Volumes) 7s[. & H. (b), i, 
 
 103. 
 *"Negro Equality." (Scrap Book) Barton (a), 20. 
 
 MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE 
 
 Scott, W. "Abstract of Infantry Tactics." Angle (a), 101. 
 
 Halleck, H. W. "Military Art and Science." Morrow, ''Forever Free, 
 
 68. 
 
 REFERENCE BOOKS 
 
 Bailey, N. ^"Universal Etymological English Dictionary." Beveridge, 
 
 i, 73. 
 Webster, N. *"A Dictionary for Primary Schools." (1833) Hill, 15. 
 
 Webster, N. *"An American Dictionary" (1858) Lambert, 16. 
 
 Cruden, A. "Complete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures." ]ac\- 
 
 son, 8. 
 Blanchard, R. ^"Business Man's Assistant." In Burton Collection. 
 
 Oilman, C. *"The Illinois Conveyancer." Lambert, 16. 
 
 Lanman, C. *" Dictionary of the United States Congress." (1859) Ibid. 
 
 Illinois *"State Gazeteer and Directory." (1858-9) Angle (b). 
 
 210. 
 
 [39] 
 
THE 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 O F 
 
 ABRAHAM 
 
 LINCOLN 
 
 Quinn, J. 
 Miller, J. 
 Locke, D. R. 
 Baldwin, J. C. 
 Browne, C. F. 
 Halpine, C. G. 
 
 Mitchell, D. G. 
 Newell, R. H. 
 Thompson, M. M. 
 Smith, S. 
 Lowell, J. R. 
 
 Derby, G. H. 
 Lear, E. 
 
 HUMOR 
 
 "Quinn's Jests." Beveridge, i, 83. 
 
 "Joe Miller's Jest Book." Dodge, 16-17. 
 
 "The Nasby Papers." Barton (a), 18. 
 *"Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi." Dodge, 16 
 *"Artemus Ward: His Book." Whitney, 126. 
 
 "Life and Adventures ... of Private Miles O'Reilly 
 Broc\ett, 719. 
 *"Fudge Doings." Lincoln Lore, No. 167. 
 
 "The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers." Dodge, 16. 
 
 "Doesticks: What He Says." Bates, 28. 
 
 "Letters of Jack Downing." Lamon, 142. 
 
 "The Bigelow Papers." Dodge, 15. 
 
 "Yankee Notions." Ida M. barbell, Letter. 
 
 "Phoenixiana." Ibid. 
 
 "Book of Nonsense." Bates, 28-29. 
 
 Volney, C. F. D. de 
 Paine, T. 
 Baxter, R. 
 Butler, J. 
 Paley, W. 
 Bailey, W. 
 
 Parker, T. 
 
 Channing, W. E. 
 Hitchcock, E. 
 Smith, J. 
 
 THEOLOGY AND RELIGION 
 
 "Bible." Barton (c), 93-94. 
 
 "The Book of Psalms." Monitor, March 21, 1935. 
 
 "The Ruins ... of Empires." Herndon, 439. 
 
 "The Age of Reason." Beveridge, i, 138. 
 
 "The Saint's Everlasting Rest." Barton (c), 289. 
 
 "Analogy of Natural and Revealed Religion." Dodge, 17. 
 
 "Works." Lambert, 17. 
 
 "Unity of God . . . Character of Jesus Christ." In Bur' 
 
 ton Collection. 
 "Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons." Lamon, 
 
 491. 
 "Works." Ibid. 
 
 "Religious Truth Illustrated from Science." Hill, 15. 
 "The Christian's Defense." Barton (c), 156-65. 
 
 ^5£> 
 
 [40] 
 
AUTHORITIES 
 
 (for references made in foregoing list.) 
 
 Angle, P. M. 
 
 (a) 
 
 
 (b) 
 
 Barton, W. E. 
 
 (a) 
 
 
 (b) 
 
 
 (c) 
 
 
 (d) 
 
 Bates, H. 
 
 
 Beveridge, A. J. 
 
 
 Brockett, L. P. 
 
 
 Carpenter, F. B. 
 
 
 Chittenden, L. E. 
 
 
 Curtis, W. E. 
 
 
 Dodge, D. K. 
 
 
 Gilmore, J. R. 
 
 
 Herndon, W. H. 
 
 and 
 
 Weik, J. W. 
 
 
 Hill, F. T. 
 
 
 Jackson, H. T. 
 
 
 Lambert, W. H. 
 
 
 Lamon, W. H. 
 
 
 "Lincoln Lore" 
 
 
 "Monitor" 
 
 
 McMurtry, R. G. 
 
 
 T^lew Letters and Papers of Lincoln. Boston, 1930. 
 Lincoln Day bv Day, 1854-61. Springfield, 1933. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln and His Boo\s. Chicago, 1920. 
 Lincoln at Gettysburg. Indianapolis, 1930. 
 The Soul of Abraham Lincoln. New York, 1920. 
 Life of Abraham Lincoln. 2 vols. Indianapolis, 1925. 
 
 Lincoln Stories. New York, 1926. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln. 2 vols. Boston, 1928. 
 
 Life and Times of Abraham Lincoln. Philadelphia, 
 1865. 
 
 Six Months at the White House. New York, 1866. 
 
 Recollections of President Lincoln. New York, 1891. 
 
 The True Abraham Lincoln. Philadelphia, 1903. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln: The Evolution of His Literary 
 Style. Champaign, 1900. 
 
 Personal Recollections of Lincoln. Boston, 1898. 
 
 Herndon s Lincoln. 3 vols. Chicago, 1889. 
 
 Lincoln, the Lawyer. New York, 1913. 
 
 Lincoln's Use of the Bible. New York, 1909. 
 
 Library of . . . sold . . . 1914. Part 1. New York, 1914. 
 
 Life of Abraham Lincoln. Boston, 1872. 
 
 Published weekly at Fort Wayne, Indiana; Dr. Louis 
 A. Warren, Editor. 
 
 Published weekly at Grandview, Ind.; C. T. Baker, 
 Editor. 
 
 Lincoln Knew Sha\espeare. "Indiana Magazine of 
 History," December, 1935 
 
 [41] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 Nicolay & Hay 
 
 Oldroyd, O. H. 
 
 Rankin, H. B. 
 
 Robinson, L. E. 
 
 Rothschild, A. 
 Sandburg, C. 
 
 Tarbell, Ida M. 
 Townsend, W. H. 
 
 Tracy, G. A. 
 
 (a) Abraham Lincoln: A History. 10 vols., New York, 
 
 1890. 
 
 (b) Abraham Lincoln: Complete Wor\s. 2 vols., New 
 
 York, 1890. 
 
 Lincoln Memorial: Album Immortelles. Springfield, 
 1890. 
 
 Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln. New 
 York, 1916. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln as a Man of Letters, New York, 
 1918. 
 
 Honest Abe. Boston, 1917. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years. 1 vol. ed. New 
 York, 1926. 
 
 Life of Abraham Lincoln. 2 vols. New York, 1900. 
 
 Lincoln and His Wife's Home Town. Indianapolis, 
 1929. 
 
 Uncollected Letters of Abraham Lincoln. Boston, 
 1917. 
 
 Ward, W. H. (Editor) Abraham Lincoln . . . Tributes. New York, 1895. 
 Weik, Jesse W. The Real Lincoln: A Portrait. Boston, 1922. 
 
 Whitney, H. C. Life on the Circuit with Lincoln. Boston, 1892. 
 
 -C5£> 
 
 [42] 
 
He was a man, take him for all in all, 
 I shall not look upon his like again. 
 
 — Hamlet. 
 
 [43] 
 
Probably more that is unauthentic has been written 
 about Abraham Lincoln than about any other character in 
 history. Of the thousands of boo\s, pamphlets, and articles 
 which have been published concerning him, comparatively 
 few are useful to a serious student of Lincoln's life and 
 character. 
 
 In "Bulletins' J^os. 43 and 44 of the Abraham Lincoln 
 Association, Springfield, Illinois, Paul M. Angle, now Li- 
 brarian of the Illinois State Historical Society, whose tal- 
 ents and opportunities have made him a supreme authority 
 on most phases of Lincolniana, gives, under the title of 
 " Basic Lincolniana," a list of what he believes to be the 
 most informatory Lincoln boo\s; but Mr. Angle's list is, of 
 course, available only to members of the Abraham Lincoln 
 Association. 
 
 Mr. Harry J. Lytle, Davenport, Iowa, who is some- 
 thing of a genius in analyzing and evaulating boo\s, has 
 consented for us to publish his list of the one-hundred best 
 boo\s about Lincoln, even though our doing so will antici- 
 pate to some extent a definitive wor\ which he has in prep- 
 aration. 
 
 Mr. Lester O. Schriver, through whose generosity this 
 little boo\ is being printed, feels a special appreciation for 
 Mr. Lytle's \indness. M. L. H. 
 
A Selected List of Books 
 About Lincoln 
 
 By Harry J. Lytle 
 
 (Tk3 
 
 The succeeding titles which are preceded by "a" are suggested for a collec- 
 tion of twenty -five volumes; those by "V and "b" for a collection of fifty 
 volumes; those by "a," "b," and "c" for a collection of seventy-five volumes; 
 and the entire list for a collection of one hundred volumes. 
 
 1 . Barton, William E. 
 
 2. Herndon, William H. 
 
 3. Sandburg, Carl 
 
 4. Browne, Francis F. 
 
 5. Nicolay, John G. 
 
 6. Scnpps, John Locke 
 
 7. Weik, Jesse W. 
 
 8. Charnwood, Lord 
 
 9. Lamon, Ward H. 
 
 1 0. Howells and Hayes 
 
 11. Tarbell, Ida M. 
 
 12. Arnold, Isaac N. 
 
 BIOGRAPHY 
 
 (a) The Life of Abraham Lincoln. Indianapolis 
 (1925). 
 
 (a) Herndon s Life of Lincoln. Notes and intro- 
 duction by Paul M. Angle. New York 
 (1930). 
 
 (a) Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years. New 
 
 York (1926). 
 
 (b) The Every-Day Life of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 New York (1915). 
 (b) A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln. New 
 
 York, 1906. 
 (b) Life of Abraham Lincoln. Edward J. Jacob 
 
 edition. Annotated. (Peoria, 111., 1931). 
 
 (b) The Real Lincoln: A Portrait. Boston and 
 
 New York (1922). 
 
 (c) Abraham Lincoln. London, 1916. 
 
 (c) The Life of Abraham Lincoln. Boston, 1872. 
 
 (c) Lives and Speeches of Abraham Lincoln and 
 
 Hannibal Hamlin. Columbus, Ohio, 1860. 
 
 (c) The Life of Abraham Lincoln. New York, 
 
 1920. 
 
 (d) The Life of Abraham Lincoln. Chicago, 
 
 1885. 
 
 [45] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 ASSASSINATION 
 
 13. Garrett, R. B. (d) An Interesting Letter about the Death of 
 
 John Wil\es Booth. Peoria, Illinois, 1934. 
 
 14. Pitman, Benn (d) The Assassination of President Lincoln and 
 
 the Trial of the Conspirators. New York, 
 1865. 
 
 FICTION 
 
 15. Andrews, Mary R. S. (d) The Perfect Tribute. New York, 1908. 
 
 HOME LIFE 
 
 16. Keckley, Elizabeth (a) Behind the Scenes. New York (1868). 
 
 17. Sandburg, Carl, and (b) Mary Lincoln, Wife and Widow. New York 
 Angle, Paul M. (1932). 
 
 18. Townsend, William H. (b) Lincoln and His Wife's Home Town. Indi- 
 
 anapolis (1929). 
 
 HUMOR 
 
 19. Thomas, Benjamin P. (c) Lincoln s Humor: An Analysis. Springfield, 
 
 Illinois, 1936. 
 
 INTERPRETATION 
 
 20. Angle, Paul M. (a) Here I Have Lived. Springfield, Illinois, 1935. 
 
 21. Newton, Joseph Fort (a) Lincoln and Herndon. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 
 
 1910. 
 
 22. Nicolay, Helen (a) Personal Traits of Abraham Lincoln. New 
 
 York, 1913. 
 
 23. Rothschild, Alonzo (a) Lincoln, Master of Men. Boston and New 
 
 York, 1906. 
 
 24. Whitney, Henry C. (a) Life on the Circuit with Lincoln. Boston, 
 
 1892. 
 
 25. Barton, William E. (b) Lincoln at Gettysburg. Indianapolis (1930). 
 
 26. Bates, David Homer (b) Lincoln in the Telegraph Office. New York, 
 
 1907. 
 
 27. Carpenter, F. B. (b) Six Months at the White House with Abra- 
 
 ham Lincoln. New York, 1866. 
 
 28. Lamon, Ward Hill (b) Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847- 
 
 1865. Chicago, 1905. 
 
 29. Tarbell, Ida M. (b) In the Footsteps of the Lincolns. New York 
 
 (1924). 
 
 30. Shutes, Milton H. (c) Lincoln and the Doctors. New York, 1933. 
 
 [46] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 3 1 . Bateman, Newton (d) Abraham Lincoln: An Address. Galesburg, 
 
 111. (1899). 
 
 32. Browne, Robert H. (d) Abraham Lincoln and the Men of His Time. 
 
 New York (1901). 
 
 33. MacChesney, (d) Abraham Lincoln, the Tribute of a Century 
 
 Nathan W. (1809-1909). Chicago, 1910. 
 
 34. Townsend, William H. (d) Lincoln and Liquor. New York, 1934. 
 
 KENTUCKY 
 
 3 5. Warren, Louis A. (a) Lincoln s Parentage and Childhood. New 
 
 York (1926). 
 
 LAW 
 
 36. Woldman, Albert A. (a) Lawyer Lincoln. Boston and New York, 
 
 1936. 
 
 37. Zane, John M. (a) The Legal Lincoln. (An Address) Spring- 
 
 field, 111., 1932. 
 
 38. Angle, Paul M. (b) Where Lincoln Practiced Law. Springfield, 
 
 111., 1927. 
 
 39. Angle, Paul M. (b) Abraham Lincoln: Circuit Lawyer. Spring- 
 
 field, 111., 1928. 
 
 40. Thomas, Benjamin P. (b) Lincoln and the Courts, 1854-1861. Spring- 
 
 field, III, 1934. 
 
 41. Hill, Frederick Trevor (c) Lincoln, the Lawyer. New York, 1906. 
 
 42. Randall, James G. (c) Constitutional Problems Under Lincoln. New 
 
 York, 1926. 
 
 43. Richards, John T. (c) Abraham Lincoln, the Lawyer Statesman. 
 
 Boston and New York (1916). 
 
 44. Lincoln, Abraham (d) A Strange Affair. Edited by Roger W. Bar- 
 
 rett (1933). 
 
 4 5. Townsend, (d) Abraham Lincoln, Defendant. Boston and 
 
 William H. New York, 1923. 
 
 46. Townsend, (d) Lincoln, the Litigant. Boston and New York. 
 
 William H. 1925. 
 
 MILITARY 
 
 47. Ballard, Colin R. (a) The Military Genius of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 London, 1926. 
 
 48. Maurice, Sir Frederick (b) Statesmen and Soldiers of the Civil War. 
 
 Boston, 1926. 
 
 49. Palmer, John (d) Washington - Lincoln - Wilson, Three War 
 
 McAuley Statesmen. New York, 1930. 
 
 [47] 
 
THE 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 O F 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 NEW SALEM 
 
 50. Thomas, Benjamin P. (a) Lincoln s T^etu Salem. Springfield, 111., 1934. 
 
 51. Pond, Fern Nance (c) Intellectual J^ew Salem in Lincoln's Day. 
 
 (1938). 
 
 52. Reep, Thomas P. (c) Lincoln and A[eu; Salem. 1927. 
 
 53. Barton, William E. 
 
 54. Barton, William E. 
 
 55. Lincoln, Waldo 
 
 56. Lea & Hutchinson 
 
 57. Learned, Marion D. 
 
 LINEAGE 
 
 (a) The Lineage of Lincoln. Indianapolis (1929). 
 
 (b) The Paternity of Abraham Lincoln. New 
 
 York (1920). 
 
 (b) History of the Lincoln Family. Worcester, 
 
 1923. 
 
 (c) The Ancestry of Abraham Lincoln. Boston 
 
 and New York, 1909. 
 (c) Abraham Lincoln; an American Migration. 
 Philadelphia, 1909. 
 
 POETRY 
 
 58. Oldroyd, Osborn H. (d) The Poets Lincoln. Boston, 1915. 
 
 59. Sparks, Edwin Erie 
 
 60. Beveridge, Albert J. 
 
 61. Document No. 18 
 
 62. Shaw, Albert 
 
 63. Bryner, B. C. 
 
 64. Dennett, Tyler 
 
 65. Document No. 14 
 
 66. Lincoln, Abraham 
 
 67. Barringer, William 
 
 68. Gernon, Blaine B. 
 
 POLITICS 
 
 (a) The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858. 
 Springfield, Illinois, 1908. 
 
 (a) Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1858. Boston and 
 
 New York, 1928. 
 
 (b) Republican Opinions About Lincoln. (1864). 
 
 (b) Vol. I. Abraham Lincoln: His Path to the 
 
 Presidency. Vol. II. Abraham Lincoln: 
 The Tear of His Election. New York, 
 1929. 
 
 (c) Abraham Lincoln in Peoria, Illinois. Peoria, 
 
 111. (1926). 
 
 (c) Lincoln and the Campaign of 1864. Spring- 
 field, 111., 1936. 
 
 (c) Corruptions and Frauds of Lincoln's Admin- 
 istration. (1864). 
 
 (c) Abraham Lincoln: His Boo\. New York, 
 
 1901. 
 
 (d) Lincoln's Rise to Power. Boston, 1937. 
 
 (d) Lincoln in the Political Circus. Chicago, 
 1936. 
 
 [48] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 PRESIDENT 
 
 69. Nicolay and Hay (a) Abraham Lincoln: A History. New York, 
 
 1890. 
 
 70. Stephenson, Nathaniel (b) Lincoln. Indianapolis (1922). 
 
 71. McCarthy, Charles H. (c) Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction. New York 
 
 (1901). 
 
 72. Barton, William E. (d) President Lincoln. Indianapolis (1933). 
 
 73. McMaster, John Bach (d) A History of the People of the United States 
 
 during Lincoln's Administration. New 
 York, 1927. 
 
 74. Moores, Charles (d) Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Second 
 
 Inaugural. Boston and New York, 1927. 
 
 REFERENCE 
 
 75. Angle, Paul M. (b) Lincoln, 1854-1861: Being the Day by Day 
 
 Activities of Abraham Lincoln from Jan- 
 uary 1, 1854 to March 4, 1861. Springfield, 
 111. (1933). 
 
 76. Greeley, Horace (b) A Political Text-Boo\ for 1860. New York, 
 
 1860. 
 
 77. Thomas, Benjamin P. (b) Lincoln, 1847-1853: Being the Day by Day 
 
 Activities of Abraham Lincoln from Jan- 
 uary 1, 1847 to December 31, 1853. 
 Springfield, 111. (1936). 
 
 78. Halstead, M. (c) Caucuses of 1860: A History of the Rational 
 
 Political Conventions of the Current Pres- 
 idential Campaign. Columbus, Ohio, 1860. 
 
 79. Browning, Orville H. (d) The Diary of Orville Hic\man Browning. 
 
 Springfield, 111., 1925, 1933. 
 
 80. Welles, Gideon (d) Diary of Gideon Welles. Boston and New 
 
 York, 1911. 
 
 RELIGION 
 
 81. Barton, William E. (a) The Soul of Abraham Lincoln. New York 
 
 (1920). 
 
 ROMANCE 
 
 82. Herndon, William H. (c) Abraham Lincoln, Miss Ann Rutledge, J^ew 
 
 Salem, Pioneering, and the Poem. Spring- 
 field, 111., 1910. 
 
 83. Rennick, Percival G. (c) Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge. Peoria, 
 
 111. (1932). 
 
 [49] 
 
THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 84. Barton, William E. (d) The Women Lincoln Loved. Indianapolis 
 
 (1927). 
 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 85. Rice, Allen Thorndike (b) Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln by Dis- 
 
 tinguished Men of His Time. New York, 
 1886. 
 (c) Abraham Lincoln and Men of War Times. 
 Philadelphia, 1892. 
 
 (c) Abraham Lincoln by Some Men Who Knew 
 Him. Bloomington, 111. (1910). 
 
 (d) Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln. Louis- 
 ville, Ky., 1884. 
 
 (d) A Reporters Lincoln. Saint Louis, Mo., 
 1916. 
 
 (d) Abraham Lincoln: Tributes from His Associ- 
 ates. Boston (1895). 
 
 86. McClure, A. K. 
 
 87. Phillips, Isaac N. 
 
 88. Speed, Joshua 
 
 89. Stevens, Walter B 
 
 90. Ward, William H 
 
 STUDENT 
 
 91. Dodge, Daniel Kilham (a) Abraham Lincoln: The Evolution of His Lit- 
 
 erary Style. Champaign and Urhana, 111. 
 (1900). 
 
 92. Houser, M. L. (a) Abraham Lincoln, Student: His Boo\s. Peo- 
 
 ria, 111., 1932. 
 
 93. Robinson, Luther E. (a) Abraham Lincoln as a Man of Letters. Chi- 
 
 cago (1918). 
 
 94. Dodge, Daniel Kilham (b) Abraham Lincoln, Master of Words. New 
 
 York, 1924. 
 
 95. Angle, Paul M. (c) Lincoln's Power with Words. Springfield, 111., 
 
 1935. 
 
 96. Angle, Paul M. 
 
 97. Nicolay and Hay 
 
 98. Tracy, Gilbert A. 
 
 99. Wiley, Earl W. 
 100. Brown University 
 
 WORKS 
 
 (a) J^ew Letters and Papers of Lincoln. Boston 
 
 and New York, 1930. 
 (a) Complete Wor\s of Abraham Lincoln. (12 
 
 vols.) New York, 1905. 
 (a) Uncollected Letters of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 New York, 1917. 
 
 (c) Four Speeches by Abraham Lincoln. Colum- 
 
 bus, Ohio (1927). 
 
 (d) Lincoln Letters Hitherto Unpublished at the 
 
 Library of Brown University and Other 
 Providence Libraries. Providence, Rhode 
 Island, 1927. 
 
 [ 50 j 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 973.7L63B3H81E C001 
 
 THE EDUCATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN PEORIA 
 
 3 0112 031797050