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speech won nationwide approval from moderates: Robert V. Remini, Daniel Webster: The Man and His Time (New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1997), pp. 674–75.
“How little they know…he thinks just”: FAS to LW, March 10, 1850, reel 119, Seward Papers.
Antislavery advocates had no need: Hendrick, Lincoln’s War Cabinet, p. 23.
He had talked at length…before Frances: FAS to WHS, July 8, 1850, reel 114, Seward Papers; Seward, An Autobiography, p. 703; Van Deusen, Thurlow Weed, p. 175.
description of Seward’s speaking style: Van Deusen, William Henry Seward, p. 122; Bancroft, The Life of William H. Seward, Vol. I, pp. 190–91.
he quoted Machiavelli: Pike, “Governor Seward’s Speech,” March 12, 1850, from the Boston Courier, in Pike, First Blows of the Civil War, p. 18.
Webster was riveted…“sat still”: Holman Hamilton, Zachary Taylor: Soldier in the White House, Vol. II (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1951; Norwalk, Conn.: Easton Press, 1989), p. 316.
content of Seward’s speech: WHS, “California, Union, and Freedom. Speech of William H. Seward, of New York, in the Senate, March 11, 1850,” Appendix to the Congressional Globe, 31st Cong., 1st sess., pp. 260–69 (quotes pp. 262, 263, and 265).
With this single speech: Van Deusen, William Henry Seward, p. 128.
Tens of thousands of copies: WHS to TW, March 22 and 31, 1850, in Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 129.
“live longer…of the Session”: NYTrib, March 19, 1850.
Chase prepares with Sumner: CS to SPC, February 19, March 22 and 23, 1850, reel 8, Chase Papers.
“I find no man…yourself”: SPC to CS, September 15, 1849, reel 8, Chase Papers.
“a tower of strength”: CS to SPC, February 7, 1849, reel 7, Chase Papers.
“confirm the irresolute…confound the trimmers”: CS to SPC, February 7, 1849, reel 7, Chase Papers.
“I cannot disguise…throughout the country”: CS to SPC, March 22, 1850, reel 8, Chase Papers.
Chase’s speech: SPC, “Union and Freedom, Without Compromise. Speech of Mr. Chase, of Ohio, in the Senate, March 26–27, 1850,” Appendix to the Congressional Globe, 31st Cong., 1st sess., pp. 468–80.
Chase’s speaking style: Blue, Salmon P. Chase, p. 102; Warden, Private Life and Public Services, p. 340.
“infinitely below…who expected much”: SPC to Sarah Bella Chase, March 27, 1850, reel 8, Chase Papers.
“You know…received not much”: SPC to Stanley Matthews, May 6, 1850, reel 8, Chase Papers.
Benton-Foote argument: William Nisbet Chambers, Old Bullion Benton, Senator from the New West: Thomas Hart Benton, 1782–1858 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1956), pp. 360–62; Henry S. Foote, Casket of Reminiscences (Washington, D.C.: Chronicle Publishing, 1874), pp. 338–39; March 26–27, April 2, and April 17, 1850, in Congressional Globe, 31st Cong., 1st sess., pp. 602–04, 609–10, 762–63.
“I disdain to carry…the assassin fire!”: Thomas Hart Benton, quoted in Congressional Globe, 31st Cong., 1st sess., p. 762.
Sumner’s praise…“Seward is with us”: CS to SPC, April 10, 1850, reel 8, Chase Papers.
“You mistake…Anti Slavery opinions”: SPC to CS, April 13, 1850, reel 8, Chase Papers.
“I have never been…a politician for me”: SPC to CS, December 14, 1850, reel 9, Chase Papers.
relationship between Chase and Seward: WHS to SPC, October 2 and 22, 1843; August 4, 1845; reels 5, 6, Chase Papers.
“I made this resolution…me to keep it”: Entry for April 29, 1831, Chase Papers, Vol. I, pp. 57–58.
reaction to Seward’s “Higher Law” speech: Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, pp. 128, 130; FAS to LW, March 19 and March 21, 1850, reel 119, Seward Papers; Van Deusen, William Henry Seward, pp. 124–27.
“Senator Seward is against…the South”: NYH, March 13, 1850.
Seward was initially untroubled: Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, pp. 120–21.
“spoken words…when I am dead”: WHS to TW, March 31, 1850, in ibid., p. 129.
When she looked at him: FAS to LW, undated letter, in ibid., p. 120.
“Your speech…relieved my apprehensions”: TW to WHS, March 14, 1850, reel 36, Seward Papers.
“despondency…shame”: WHS to TW, March 31, 1850, Weed Papers.
death of Taylor, succession of Fillmore: Hamilton, Zachary Taylor, Vol. II (1951 ed.), pp. 388–94.
Under the skillful leadership…omnibus bill was broken up: Potter, The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861, pp. 109–12; Johannsen, Stephen A. Douglas, pp. 294–96.
Douglas regarded…“drop the subject”: Stephen Douglas, quoted in Potter, The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861, p. 121.
Upon its passage: NYH, September 8, 9, and 10, 1850.
“The joy of everyone seemed unbounded”: NYTrib, September 10, 1850.
“The crisis is passed—the cloud is gone”: Lewis Cass quoted in NYH, September 10, 1850.
“The elements…but never overcome”: Columbus [Ga.] Sentinel, reprinted in Charleston [S.C.] Mercury, January 23, 1851.
“devotion to…inclined them”: AL, “Speech at Peoria, Illinois,” October 16, 1854, in CW, II, p. 253.
Rejecting Seward’s concept…: AL, “Endorsement on the Margin of the Missouri Democrat,” [May 17, 1860], in CW, IV, p. 50.
He relished the convivial life: Strozier, Lincoln’s Quest for Union, p. 144.
“The local belles…and eloquence”: Whitney, Life on the Circuit with Lincoln, p. 63.
“plenty of bedbugs”: David Davis to Sarah Davis, May 1, 1851, quoted in King, Lincoln’s Manager, p. 77.
“half an inch thick”: David Davis to Sarah Davis, April 24, 1851, David Davis Papers, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, Ill. [hereafter Davis Papers, ALPLM].
slept two to a bed…in a room: Whitney, Life on the Circuit with Lincoln, p. 62.
David Davis: See King, Lincoln’s Manager, esp. pp. 9–13, 17, 61.
“warm-hearted” nature: David Davis to Sarah Davis, November 3, 1851, Davis Papers, ALPLM.
“exceeding honesty & fairness”: David Davis to Sarah Davis, March 23, 1851, Davis Papers, ALPLM. 150 “too well to thwart her views”: David Davis, quoted in King, Lincoln’s Manager, p. 42.
the judge’s letters about Lincoln: David Davis to Sarah Davis, May 3 and October 20, 1851, Davis Papers, ALPLM.
“He arrogated…personal affection”: Unidentified lawyer, quoted in Tarbell, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. I, p. 247.
At mealtimes…prisoners out on bail: Whitney, Life on the Circuit with Lincoln, pp. 63, 72.
“such of us…those who have”: AL, “Temperance Address delivered before the Springfield Washington Temperance Society,” February 22, 1842, in CW, I, p. 278.
“in full laugh till near daylight”: WHH to “Mr. N.,” February 4, 1874, Grandview [Ind.] Monitor, March 15, 1934, quoted in Burlingame, The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln, p. 18 n67.
“eyes would sparkle…than his”: Jonathan Birch, “A Student Who Was Aided by Mr. Lincoln,” in Wilson, Intimate Memories of Lincoln, p. 105.
Ethan Allen/George Washington story: Abner Y. Ellis statement, January 23, 1866, in HI, p. 174.
“who had a great…‘than that dress’”: John Usher interview with George Alfred Townsend, December 25, 1878, scrapbook, Papers of George Alfred Townsend, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
“is the nature…is cradled”: Walter Benjamin, “The Storyteller,” in Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt, trans. Harry Zohn (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968; New York: Schocken Books, 1969), p. 91.
“Would we do…thought and experience”: Whitney, Life on the Circuit with Lincoln, p. 66.
“It makes human nature…is possible”: AL on George Washington, quoted in ibid., p. 67.
When the court closed…throughout the weekend: Jesse W. Weik, The Real Lincoln: A Portrait (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1923), p. 90.
“wondered at it…pleasant, inv
iting homes”: David Davis, quoted in Herndon and Weik, Herndon’s Life of Lincoln, p. 249.
“as happy as…no other place”: David Davis interview, September 20, 1866, in HI, p. 349.
“his home was Hell…Heaven”: WHH, A Letter from William H. Herndon to Isaac N. Arnold, n.p. 152 “Lincoln speaks very…children”: David Davis to Sarah Davis, November 3, 1851, quoted in King, Lincoln’s Manager, p. 85.
Davis described a letter…Tad was born: David Davis to Sarah Davis, May 17, 1852, and September 18, 1853, Davis Papers, ALPLM; King, Lincoln’s Manager, pp. 74, 84.
remedy the “want of education”: Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered, p. 71.
“nearly mastered…Euclid”: AL, “Scripps autobiography,” in CW, IV, p. 62.
“he read hard works…read generally”: John T. Stuart interview, December 20, 1866, in HI, p. 519.
“so deeply absorbed…point of exhaustion”: WHH, in Weik, The Real Lincoln, p. 240.
“Life was to him…came before him”: Swett, “Lincoln’s Story of His Own Life,” in Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Rice, p. 79.
“one of the greatest hardships”: Randall, Mary Lincoln, p. 79.
circuit life was invaluable: Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, p. 94; White, Abraham Lincoln in 1854, p. 20; Strozier, Lincoln’s Quest for Union, p. 144.
“If I muzzle not…the Whig party”: WHS to FAS, July 21, 1850, in Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 148.
Seward’s eulogies to Clay and Webster: WHS, “Henry Clay” and “Daniel Webster,” in Works of William H. Seward, Vol. III, pp. 104–16.
“They cannot see…of wrath!”: WHS to unidentified recipient [FAS?], 1852, in Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 194.
“I do not wish you…true to liberty”: FAS to WHS, June 13, [1852], reel 114, Seward Papers.
“worldly wisdom…current if necessary”: FAS to WHS, July 20, 1856, reel 114, Seward Papers.
“This fearless defense…righteous cause”: FAS to CS, September 18, 1852, reel 9, The Papers of Charles Sumner, Chadwyck-Healey microfilm edition [hereafter Sumner Papers].
“a Waterloo defeat”: Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 196.
she was tempted…“more harm than good”: FAS to LW, January 15, 1854, reel 119, Seward Papers.
“Would that I were…obligation and duty”: WHS to FAS, May 16, 1855, quoted in Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 251.
everywhere Seward went…join him: Johnson, “I Could Not be Well or Happy at Home,” URLB (1978), p. 48.
Frances’s health problems: FAS to LW, January 2, February 7, 1832; August 31, 1833, reel 118, Seward Papers; FAS, “Diary of Trip through Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland, 1835,” reel 197, and FAS, MSS Fragment on Illness, 1865, Seward Papers; entries for December 28, 1858, and March 16, 1859, FS diary, reel 198, Seward Papers; Johnson, “Sensitivity and Civil War,” pp. 23–27.
her “sanctuary”: WHS to FAS, February 12, 1837, in Seward, An Autobiography, p. 325.
Doctors could not pinpoint: Johnson, “I Could Not be Well or Happy at Home,” URLB (1978), pp. 46–47.
the “various…purpose in their life”: FAS, “Womans Mission, Westminster, 1850,” reel 197, Seward Papers.
“There you are…pleasures, except at intervals”: WHS to [FAS], June 13, 1847, in Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 51.
The Sewards’ relationship was sustained: Seward, An Autobiography, p. 162; Johnson, “I Could Not be Well or Happy at Home,” URLB (1978), p. 53.
“above every other thing in the world”: WHS to FAS, August 22, 1834, reel 112, Seward Papers.
whose “silver rays”…in the mail: WHS to FAS, January 27, 1831, in Seward, An Autobiography, p. 173.
played in the smoke from his cigar: WHS to FAS, January 15, 1831, in ibid., p. 168.
“Clouds and darkness…twelve months ago”: SPC to CS, September 8, 1850, reel 7, Sumner Papers.
isolated in the Senate…achieve his position: Niven, Salmon P. Chase, pp. 142, 146–47.
routine at Miss Haines’s School: Julia Newberry, Julia Newberry’s Diary, intro. Margaret Ayer Barnes and Janet Ayer Fairbank (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1933), pp. 35–36: Phelps, Kate Chase, Dominant Daughter, pp. 74–75; Alice Hunt Sokoloff, Kate Chase for the Defense (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1971), pp. 28–29.
“without…we could hardly breathe”: Newberry, Julia Newberry’s Diary, p. 36.
correspondence between Chase and Kate: Niven, Salmon P. Chase, p. 201. Examples of loving but critical letters to KCS: July 22, August 23, September 5, 1850; January 15, March 2, April 19, August 30, September 10, 1851; January 23, 1853; May 27, 1855; April 30, 1859.
“Your last letter…use your eyes, reflect”: SPC to KCS, January 15, 1851, reel 9, Chase Papers.
“I wish…into your letters”: SPC to KCS, January 22, 1851, reel 9, Chase Papers.
“Your nice letter…drowsy God”: SPC to KCS, June 21, 1855, reel 10, Chase Papers.
“It will be a…pleasurable sensation”: SPC to KCS, February 8, 1855, reel 10, Chase Papers.
“Remember…preparation for another!”: SPC to KCS, December 5, 1851, reel 9, Chase Papers.
“strong, robust…give you grace”: SPC to KCS, June 15, 1852, reel 9, Chase Papers.
“I am sorry…to you the reasons why”: SPC to KCS, August 10, 1852, reel 9, Chase Papers.
“you have it…by ill conduct”: SPC to KCS, January 23, 1853, reel 9, Chase Papers.
“To an affectionate father…delightful future”: SPC to KCS, March 27, 1855, reel 10, Chase Papers.
“be made President”: SPC to KCS, February 21, 1852, reel 9, Chase Papers.
“I knew Clay…and was a brilliant talker”: “Kate Chase in 1893,” undated newspaper clipping from the Star, “Sprague, Kate Chase” vertical file, Washingtoniana Division, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C. [hereafter KCS vertical file, DWP].
“You cannot think…hear you praised”: SPC to KCS, January 8, 1855, reel 10, Chase Papers.
“have visited…as they should be”: SPC to KCS, August 27, 1852, reel 9, Chase Papers.
“The sun shines…the chirp of insects”: SPC to KCS, June 15, 1852, reel 9, Chase Papers.
“I should like…a ramble together”: SPC to KCS, April 3, 1852, reel 9, Chase Papers.
Chase understood her desire: Hart, Salmon P. Chase, p. 419.
“Miss Lizzie…among gentlemen”: SPC to KCS, August 4, 1853, reel 9, Chase Papers.
the “African mania”: Bates diary, January 1, 1850.
“lovers of free…in the South”: Bates diary, January 1, 1850.
“a struggle among…sectional supremacy”: Bates diary, May 31, 1851.
radicals…personal ambition: Hendrick, Lincoln’s War Cabinet, p. 46.
“in Civil government…arbitrary designing knave”: Bates diary, July 4, 1851.
“the world’s best hope…so black”: Bates diary, March 6, 1850.
“if we stood aloof…insignificance”: Bates diary, November 27, 1850.
“A human being…crippling effect”: Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain, trans. John E. Woods (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), p. 31.
speech at Young Men’s Lyceum: AL, “Address Before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois,” January 27, 1838, in CW, I, pp. 108–15, esp. 108, 113–14.
A train of events…grant them territorial status: Henry V. Jaffa, Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), pp. 104–05; Fehrenbacher, The South and Three Sectional Crises, pp. 49, 56–57.
Kansas-Nebraska Act: See “Kansas-Nebraska Act,” in The Reader’s Companion to American History, ed. Foner and Garraty, p. 609.
Enforcement…in Boston and New York: Allan Nevins, Ordeal of the Union. Vol. I: Fruits of Manifest Destiny, 1847–1852 (New York and London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1947), pp. 387–88.
“I had never…aggressive and dangerou
s”: Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Fugitive Slave Law,” reprinted in The Portable Emerson, pp. 547–48.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin: See Thomas F. Gossett, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1985), pp. 164, 183–84.
“a flash…hosts of slavery”: Frederick Douglass, quoted in ibid., p. 172.
“in greater numbers…against invasion”: Fehrenbacher, Prelude to Greatness, p. 23.
“blood and treasure”: Fehrenbacher, “The Wilmot Proviso and the Mid-Century Crisis” in Fehrenbacher, The South and Three Sectional Crises, p. 35.
“The day may come…out of it!”: Thomas Bragg, quoted in Avery O. Craven, The Growth of Southern Nationalism, 1848–1861. Vol. VI: A History of the South (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1953; 1984), p. 204.
“a mighty subject…every five minutes”: WHS to [FAS?], February 12, 1854, in Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 219.
“essays against slavery…was the leader”: Stephen Douglas, quoted in Hart, Salmon P. Chase, p. 134.
“one of the most effective…ever produced”: Blue, Salmon P. Chase, p. 93 (quote); Gienapp, The Origins of the Republican Party, p. 72.
“We arraign…cause of God”: SPC, et al., Appeal of the Independent Democrats in Congress, to the People of the United States. Shall Slavery be Permitted in Nebraska? (Washington, D.C.: Towers’ Printers, 1854).
“Chase’s greatest…experience of his life”: Hart, Salmon P. Chase, p. 134.
“By far the most…of the Senate”: NYT, February 6, 1854.
“high pitch of wrath…a corrupt bargain”: Pike, “Night Scenes in the Passage of the Nebraska Bill,” March 4, 1854, from NYTrib, in Pike, First Blows of the Civil War, pp. 217–18 (quote p. 217).
“I said the man…I mean you”: NYTrib, March 6, 1854.
“this discussion…man, as man”: SPC, “Maintain Plighted Faith. Speech of Hon. S. P. Chase, of Ohio, in the Senate, February 3, 1854,” Appendix to the Congressional Globe, 33rd Cong., 1st sess., p. 140.
“Ah…‘negro’ with two gs”: NYTrib, March 7, 1854 (first quote); Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, Vol. I (4 vols., New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1939), p. 144 (second quote).
“Midnight passed…was taken”: Pike, “Night Scenes in the Passage of the Nebraska Bill,” March 4, 1854, from NYTrib, in Pike, First Blows of the Civil War, p. 216.