CHAPTER 4. Rendering Myself Worthy of Their Esteem: 1831-34
alongflatboat John Hanks reported that the flatboat was eighty feet long and eighteen feet wide. John Hanks to WHH (interview), June 13, 1865, HI, 44.
community of NewSalem first met Lhis story was remembered by many of the residents of New Salem. William G. Greene to WHH (interview), May 30, 1865, HI, 17.
“A stopped indefinitely” AL, “Autobiography,” CW, 4:64.
first farmers called The story of the early settlers on the prairies is told by John Mack Faragher, Sugar Creek: Life on the Illinois Prairie (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1986), 62—63.
“Camp meetings are all the rage” Charles James Fox Clarke to Mary Clarke, August 22, 1836, ALPLM.
“slept on the same cott” William G. Greene to WHH (interview), May 30, 1865, HI, 17-18.
into a contest he didn’t choose Douglas L. Wilson lias researched the conflicting tales of the wrestling match in his chapter, “Wrestling with the Evidence,” in Honor’s Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), 19-51.
“Frequently when Mr. L” James Short to WHH, July 7, 1865, HI, 73-74.
“I foxed his pants” Hannah Armstrong (WHH interview), [1866], HI, 525-526.
“blue round about coat” Robert Rutledge to WHH, November 1, 1865; HI, 382.
“I am well aware” Sangamo Journal, January 26, 1832.
“Springfield can no longer” Ibid.
FELLOW-CITIZENS Sangamo Journal, March 15, 1832.
Indians had left their settlements See prologue, The Black Hawk War, 1831—1832, ed. Ellen M. Whitney (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1970), 1:1-51.
Black Hawk See Roger L. Nichols, Black Hawk and the Warrior’s Path (Arlington Heights, 111.: Harlan Davidson, 1992).
Lincoln promptly volunteered Harry E. Pratt, “Lincoln in the Black Hawk War, “ Bulletin of the Abraham Lincoln Association 54 (December 1938): 4.
put forward Lincoln’s name William G. Greene to WHH (interview), May 30, 1865, HI, 18; William G. Green (WHH interview), October 9, 1865, HI, 368.
“to his own surprise” AL, Autobiography, CW, 4:64.
“a good and true man” William G. Greene to WHH (interview), HI, 18—19.
“This is cowardly” Royal Clary (WHH interview), [October 1866?], HI, 372.
“He says he has not” AL, “Autobiography,” CW, 4:64.
Fellow Citizens, I presume HL, 75.
“As he rose to speak” Robert B. Rutledge to WHH, [ca. November 1, 1866], HI, 384.
“After he was twenty-three “AL, “Autobiography,” CW, 4:62.
Kirkham’s Grammar Samuel Kirkham, English Grammar in Familiar Lectures (Rochester, N.Y.: Marshall and Dan, 1829), 8. A Kirkham grammar, one Lincoln owned and gave to Ann Rutledge, is now in the Library of Congress. Lhis copy was handed down through the family of Ann Rutledge, a young woman Lincoln courted in New Salem. Lhere is no evidence that this was the grammar Lincoln acquired from the farmer Vance.
“read by fire light” J. Rowan Herndon to WHH, July 3, 1865, HI, 69.
“His mind was full” Isaac Cogdal (WHH Interview), [1865-66], HI, 441.
“read some” Abner Y. Ellis (statement for WHH), January 23, 1866, HI, Mill.
while in prison Eric Foner, Tom Vaine ana Revolutionary America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976), 211.
“Burns helped Lincoln” James H. Matheny (WHH Interview), March 2, 1870, HI, 577.
a paper read one evening John Hill to WHH, June 27, 1865, Hi, 61.
“He studied” AL, “Autobiography,” CW, 4:65.
“Of course they did nothing” Ibid.
“The store winked out” Ibid.
“too insignificant” Ibid.
the mail came Benjamin P. Thomas, Abraham Lincoln: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952), 38.
As postmaster See Benjamin Thomas, “Lincoln the Postmaster,” Bulletin of the Abraham Lincoln Association 31 (June 1933): 3—9.
“generally Read forthe By Standers” J. Rowan Herndon to WHH, August 16, 1865, Hi, 92.
Lincoln began reading See Thomas, “Lincoln the Postmaster,” 7.
“His textbook” Mentor Graham to WHH (interview), May 29, 1865, HI, 10.
“[I] accepted” AL, “Autobiography,” CW, 4:65.
as his deputy Wilson, Honor’s Voice, 148.
he would not compromise John Moore Fisk (WHH interview), February 18, 1887, HI, 715.
knew nothing about surveying Adin Baber, A. Lincoln with Compass and Chain (Kansas, 111.: Privately printed, 1968), 11.
Godbey employed Lincoln “Certificate of Survey for Russell Godbey,” January 14, 1834, CW, 1:20-21.
“staid with me all night” Russell Godbey (WHH interview), [1865-66], HI, 449.
“This procured bread” AL, “Autobiography,” CW, 4:65.
“Everyone knew him” Robert L. Wilson to WHH, February 10, 1866, HI, 201.
build national party machinery Michael Holt, The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 35.
“theycould notvote”J. Rowan Herndon to WHH, May 28, 1865, HI, 8.
“I voted for Lincoln” Russell Godbey (WHH Interview), [1865-66], HI, 449.
CHAPTER 5. The Whole People of’sangamon: 1834-37
“Did you vote for me?” Coleman Smoot to WHH, May 7, 1866, HI, ISA.
a capital invented by politicians See William E. Baringer, Lincoln’s Vandalia: A Pioneer Portrait (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1949), 12—14.
Farmers constituted the largest group Ibid., 40.
writing for them Baringer, Ibid., 62—63.
a brief letter SangamoJournal, December 13, 1834; January 31, 1835; and February 7, 1835.
“There was no danger” AL, “Speech in Illinois Legislature Concerning the Surveyor of Schuyler County,” January 6, 1835, CW, 1:31.
“I always thought” Abner Y Ellis to WHH, December 6, 1866, HI, 500.
creditors pressed various judgments A fresh reading calls into question the traditional assumption that Lincoln spent his entire time boarding with families. When the village of New Salem was reconstructed in the 1930s, the planners used a plat from 1829 that did not show the additional homes and businesses built in the 1830s. Furthermore, the execution of judgment in March 1835 of Lincoln’s personal property lias always been read that Lincoln owned two horses, but new digital technology has shown the document actually reads a “horse” and a “house.” Recent historical and archaeological investigation suggests Lincoln was the owner of “the undivided half of lots 16 & 17 north of Main Street New Salem.” Lhese findings show that Lincoln, by 1835, was already a responsible property owner. See Lhomas Schwartz, “Finding the Missing Link: A Promissory Note and the Lost Lown of Pappsville,” Historical Bulletin Number 51 (Lhe Lincoln Fellowship of Wisconsin, 1996), pp. 10-11, and Robert Mazrim, “Magnificent Storehouse and Forgotten Lot Lines: New Light on Lincoln and Store keeping in New Salem.” Archival Studies Bulletin 4 (Sangamo Archaeological Center, 2005), pp. 11-12.
common for debtors Winkle, Young Eagle, 99.
Lincoln’s first employer J. Rowan Herndon, October 26, 1866, HI, 378.
earned a nickname On Lincoln’s nickname “Honest Abe,” see Donald, Lincoln, 149, 244.
tract of land “Document Drawn for James Eastep,” November 12, 1831, CW, 1:3-4.
“right and title” “Bill of Sale Drawn for John Ferguson,” January 25, 1832, CW, 1:4.
“as there [were] no Attorneys” Jason Duncan to WHH [late 1866—early 1867], HI, 540.
“he thought of trying” CW, 4:65.
Stuart was from Kentucky Paul M. Angle, One Hundred Years of Law: An Account of the Law Office Which John T. Stuart Founded in Springfield, Illinois, a Century Ago (Springfield, 111.: Brown, Hay and Stephens, 1928).
“Regular instruction” Josiah Quincy, “An Address Delivered at the D
edication of the Dane Law College in Harvard University, October 23, 1832,” in The Legal Mind in America: From Independence to the Civil War, ed. Perry Miller (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1962), 210-11.
“uncouth looking man” H. E. Dummer (WHH interview), [1865—66], HI, 442.
“seemed to have but little to say” Paul M. Angle, “Lhe Record of a Friendship—A Series of Letters from Lincoln to Henry E. Dummer,” JISHS 31 (June 1938): 125-27.
“went at it” AL, “Autobiography,” CW, 4:65.
“on a goods box” Henry McHenry to WHH (interview), May 29, 1865, HI, 14.
His favorite place of study William Dean Howe 11s, Lives and Speeches of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin (Columbus, Ohio: Follett, Foster and Company, 1860), 31.
“While acting as their representative” Sangamo Journal, June 13, 1836
Andrew Jackson … declined See Richard P. McCormick, “Was Lhere a ‘Whig Strategy’ in 1836?” Journal of Early Republic 4 (Spring 1984): 47—70; Glyndon G. Van Deusen, “Lhe Whig Party,” in Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., ed., History of U.S. Political Parties (New York: Chelsea House, 1973), 333-493.
“Ifalive” SangamoJournal, June 13, 1836.
nothing about presidential politics Winkle, Young Eagle, 118.
“Mr. Lincoln took” Robert L. Wilson to WHH, February 10, 1866, HI, 202-3.
“The present legislature” Sangamo Journal, January 6, 1837.
three future governors Paul Simon, Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness: The Illinois Legislative Years (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1971), 49—50.
a twenty-three-year-old attorney See Johannsen, Douglas, 24—25.
Politics became his passion Ibid., 24—25.
“It is now time” Sangamo Journal, November 19, 1836.
Lincoln was adamant Simon, Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness, 52.
“never for one moment” Robert L. Wilson to WHH, February 10, 1866, HI, 204.
“the unfortunate condition” House Journal, Tenth General Assembly, First Session, 243-44.
“They believe that” “Protest in Illinois Legislature on Slavery,” CW, 1:74—75.
called “cautious” Donald, Lincoln, 63.
paused to recall his protest AL, “Autobiography,” CW, 4:65.
CHAPTER 6. Without Contemplating Consequences: 1837-42
walked about the store with Lincoln Joshua F. Speed (statement for WHH), [by 1882], Hi, 590.
“J.T Stuart and A. Lincoln” Sangamo Journal, April 15, 1837.
“It is probably cheap” Speed, Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, 21—22.
“I never saw so gloomy” Joshua Speed (statement for WHH), [by 1882] HI, 590.
an unprepossessing town Paul Angle, “Here I Have Lived”: A History of Lincoln’s Springfield, 1821—1865 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1935), 45-46.
“The owner of real estate” Sangamo Journal, February 20, 1837.
his first criminal case Harry E. Pratt, “Abraham Lincoln’s First Murder Trial,” JISHS 37 (September 1944): 242-49; and John J. Duff, A. Lincoln: Prairie Lawyer (New York: Rinehart, 1960), 53—61.
entrusted with the closing argument Pratt, “Abraham Lincoln’s First Murder Trial,” 247. Criminal cases would represent only 5.6 percent of the cases in Lincoln’s law practice; of these, murder represented only 9 percent, LEGAL, 2:338-39.
“I have received five dollars” Fee Book of Stuart and Lincoln, ALPLM.
contest between Stuart and Douglas Johannsen, Douglas, 63—68.
“Commencement of Lincoln’s administration” Fee Book of Stuart and Lincoln, ALPLM.
“The rooms were generally crowded” James C. Conkling, “Recollections of the Bench and Bar of Central Illinois,” Fergus Historical Series 22 (Chicago: Fergus Printing Company, 1882), 51—53.
Speed was born Speed, Reminiscences, 3—4.
“almost without friends” Ibid., 23.
“I’ve never been” AL to Mary S. Owens, May 7, 1837, CW, 1:78.
“choice spirits,” Speed, Reminiscences, 4.
“We find ourselves” AL, “Address Before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois,” January 27, 1838, CW, 1:108. This speech has captivated historians in search of the ideas of the young Lincoln. See Thomas F. Schwartz, “The Springfield Lyceums and Lincoln’s 1838 Speech,” Illinois Historical Journal 83 (1990): 41—49; and Mark E. Neeley, Jr., “Lincoln’s Lyceum Speech and the Origins of a Modern Myth,” Lincoln Lore (1987), 1776 (February 1987), 1-3, 1777 (March 1987), 1.
“mobocratic spirit” AL, “Address Before the Young Men’s Lyceum,” 109, 111.
immediate occasion of the address See Paul Simon, Freedom’s Champion: Elijah Lovejoj (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1994).
“some transatlantic military giant” AL, “Address Before the Young Men’s Lyceum,” 109.
“his own course” “Remarks in Illinois Legislature Concerning Resolutions Asking Information on Railroad and Fund Commissioners,” December 8, 1838, CW, 1:122-23.
“We are now so far advanced” “Report and Resolutions Introduced in Illinois Legislature in Relation to Purchase of Public Lands,” January 17, 1839, CW, 1:135.
accused Lincoln Illinois State Register, November 23, 1839.
“He was conscious” Joseph Gillespie to WHH, January 31, 1866, HI, 181.
“peculiarly embarrassing” AL, “Speech on the Sub-Treasury,” December [26], 1839, CW, 1:159.
“Manyfree countries” Ibid., 178.
“fearlessly and eloquently exposing” Peoria Register, February 15, 1840.
“appoint one person” “Lincoln’s Plan of Campaign in 1840,” [ca. January 1840], CW, 1:180-81.
“Our intention is” “Campaign Circular from Whig Committee,” January [31?], 1840, CW, 1:201-3.
whirlwind speaking campaign Simon, Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness, 216—17.
extolled the Second Bank Alton Telegraph, April 11, 1840.
“have not been able” Quincy Whig, May 25, 1840.
“listened to” Illinois State Register, October 16, 1840.
“reviewed the political course” Sangamo Journal, May 15, 1840.
became antagonistic Wilson, Honor’s Voice, 206—9.
“He imitated Thomas” HL, 130.
“the skinning of Thomas” Ibid., 130.
the 1840 presidential election Richard P. McCormick, “New Perspectives on Jacksonian Politics,” American Historical Review 65 (1960), 288—301.
the most esteemed jurist Duff, A. Lincoln, 79.
95 had gone head-to-head Albert A. Woldman, Lawyer Lincoln (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1936), 39.
95 “justnow” AL, “Temperance Address,” February 22, 1842, CW, 1:271—72.
“But,” say some, Ibid., 275, 278.
CHAPTER 7. A Matter of Profound Wonder: 1831-42
“He was not very fond” Sarah Bush Lincoln (WHH interview), September 8, 1865, Hi, 108.
“did not go much” Anna Caroline Gentry (WHH interview), September 17, HI, 131.
“Lincoln loved my Mother” Elizabeth Herndon Bell (WHH interview), [March 1887?], Hi, 606.
“Abe’s son” Hannah Armstrong (WHH interview), [1865-66], HI, 527.
court the young Ann Rutledge In the first half of the twentieth century, several leading Lincoln scholars attacked the legitimacy of the Ann Rutledge story. For recent evaluations, see John Evangelist Walsh, The Shadows Rise: Abraham Lincoln and the Ann Rutledge Legend (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993); and Douglas L. Wilson, Lincoln Before Washington: New Perspectives on the Illinois Years (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997), 74—98.
“a young lady” William G. Greene to WHH (interview), May 30, 1865, HI, 21.
“My sister was” Robert B. Rutledge to WHH, [ca. November 1, 1866], HI, 383.
“became deeply in love” James McGrady Rutledge (WHH interview), [March 1887], Hi, 607-8.
“Had she lived” Fern Nance Pond, ed., “Lhe Memoirs of James McGrady Ru
tledge 1814-1899,” JISHS 29 (April 1936): 80-88.
“It was a great shock” Elizabeth Abell to WHH, February 15, 1867, HI, 556-57.
“The effect upon” Robert B. Rutledge to WHH, [ca. November 1, 1866], HI, 382.
“The other gentlemen” Mary Owens Vineyard to WHH, July 22, 1866, HI, 262.
“With otherthings” AL to Mary S. Owens, December 13, 1836, CW, 1:54.
“This thing of living” AL to Mary S. Owens, May 7, 1837, CW, 1:78.
“I want in all cases” AL to Mary S. Owens, August 16, 1837, CW, 1:94-95.
“for her skin” AL to Mrs. Orville H. Browning, April 1, 1838, CW, 1:117-19.
“deficient in those little links” Mary Owens Vineyard to WHH, May 23,
1866, Hi, 256.
had helped settle Stephen Berry, House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, a Family Divided by War (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007), 6—8.
Mary, their fourth child Catherine Clinton, Mrs. Lincoln: A Life, forthcoming.
her father married Ibid.
“Mary was far in advance” Katherine Helm, The True Story of Mary, Wife of Lincoln (New York: Harper, 1928), 21.
she spoke up Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, 60.
observed slave auctions Ibid., 68.
“her temper and tongue” Clinton, Mrs. Lincoln: A Life, forthcoming.
“the very creature” James C. Conkling to Mercy Ann Levering, September 21, 1840, ALPLM.
“Mary could make” Helm, True Story of Mary, Wife of Lincoln, 81.
Mary’s clearest friend Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, 80—82.
“a widower” Mary Todd to Mercy Ann Levering, December [15?], 1840, and June 1841, MTL, 20,26.
“And he certainly did” Helm, True Story of Mary, Wife of Lincoln, 74.
“Maryled” Elizabeth Todd Edwards (WHH interview), [1865-66], Hi, 443.
“This fall I became” Mary Todd to Mercy Ann Levering, December [15?], 1840, MTL, 13,21.
many young men of his time Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, puts Lincoln’s questions and doubts in the context of his time.
A. Lincoln Page 77