50 “he wanted before”: Basler, ed., “James Quay Howard’s Notes on Lincoln,” ALQ 4 (Dec. 1947): 388.
50 were not onerous: The following paragraphs rely heavily on Benjamin P. Thomas’s excellent study, “Lincoln the Postmaster,” Bulletin of the Abraham Lincoln Association, no. 31 (June 1933), pp. 1–9.
50 $150 and $175: For information on this point I am indebted to Dr. Richard John, who has closely examined the Official Registers of the period. See also Pratt, Personal Finances, pp. 16–17.
51 “to ‘Frank’ it”: Thomas, “Lincoln the Postmaster,” p. 7. Marsh’s letter was written a few weeks after Ann Rutledge’s death, when Lincoln may have been more careless than usual in managing the post office.
51 “pay it again”: CW, 1:25.
51 receipts, $248.63: Thomas, Lincoln’s New Salem, pp. 98–99.
51 “went at it”: CW, 4:65.
51 to the field: Adin Baber, A. Lincoln with Compass and Chain (Kansas, Ill., 1968), is the authoritative treatment of Lincoln as surveyor.
51 “poore [sic] man’s lot”: Mrs. E. Abell to WHH, Feb. 15, 1867, HWC.
51 quarter section surveyed: Thomas, Lincoln’s New Salem, p. 103.
52 “the matter satisfactorily”: Robert L. Wilson to WHH, Feb. 10, 1866, HWC.
52 “in the Croud”: J.R. Herndon to WHH, May 28, 1865, HWC.
52 “other democratic candidates”: John G. Nicolay, notes on a conversation with S. T. Logan, July 6, 1875, Lincoln MSS, LC.
53 the Democrats’ support: Thomas, Lincoln’s New Salem, pp. 113–114.
53 “I ever saw”: Herndon’s Lincoln, l:181n.
53 “in good earnest”: CW, 4:65.
53 “in the legislature”: Coleman Smoot to WHH, May 7, 1866, HWC.
53 a memorable one: My account of Lincoln’s service in the legislature is drawn almost entirely from Paul Simon’s authoritative Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness, but I have also used William E. Baringer’s spirited Lincoln’s Vandalia.
53 their first term: Simon, Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness, p. 20.
54 Clayborn Elder Bell: Ibid., pp. 22, 27.
54 “troubling the legislature”: CW, 1:31.
54 his “national debt”: Basler, ed., “James Quay Howard’s Notes on Lincoln,” ALQ 4 (Dec. 1947): 398. For an informed discussion of Lincoln’s troubled finances, see Thomas F. Schwartz, “Lincoln’s National Debt” (unpublished paper, 1992), to which I am much indebted.
55 “he was reading”: Hidden Lincoln, p. 321.
55 “He studied with nobody”: CW, 4:65.
55 “would craze himself”: Henry McHenry to WHH, May 29, 1865, HWC.
55 returned it to him: James Short to WHH, July 7, 1865, HWC.
55 “and clothing bills”: CW, 4:65.
55 She was Ann Rutledge: The Ann Rutledge story is highly controversial. It derives almost exclusively from letters and statements that Herndon collected after Lincoln’s death. In a lecture delivered in November 1866, Herndon gave wide publicity to the Lincoln-Rutledge romance, going far beyond his evidence to argue that Ann Rutledge was the only woman Lincoln ever loved and that her death left Lincoln so desolated that “his mind wandered from its throne.” Later Herndon went on to speculate that Lincoln’s persisting infatuation for Ann explained the unhappiness in his marriage to Mary Todd Lincoln, whom he never loved. For an account of Herndon’s lecture and the sources on which it was based, see David Herbert Donald, Lincoln’s Herndon (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948), chap. 15. Widely echoed by romantic biographers, Herndon’s story came under close scrutiny from twentieth-century Lincoln scholars such as Paul M. Angle, and J. G. Randall made a devastating analysis of Herndon’s sources in “Sifting the Ann Rutledge Evidence,” in his Lincoln the President: Springfield to Gettysburg (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1945), 2:321–342. Much of Randall’s criticism was justified, for it is clear that Herndon’s inferences and speculations about the Lincoln-Rutledge romance were unwarranted. Moreover, Randall showed that the basic facts concerning the affair could not be proved in a court of law, where the firsthand testimony of two independent witnesses would be required. On the other hand, the court of history usually accepts a less rigorous standard of proof; indeed, if Randall’s criteria were applied, almost nothing could be unquestionably proved about the first thirty years of Lincoln’s life. With these problems in mind, scholars have recently undertaken a reexamination of the Ann Rutledge story. For their findings, from which I have learned a great deal, see John Y. Simon, “Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge,” Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 11 (1990): 13–33, and Douglas L. Wilson, “Abraham Lincoln, Ann Rutledge, and the Evidence of Herndon’s Informants,” Civil War History 36 (Dec. 1990): 301–324. For a more general attempt to restore faith in Herndon’s credibility, see Douglas L. Wilson, “William H. Herndon and His Lincoln Informants,” Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 14 (Winter 1993): 15–34. John Evangelist Walsh, The Shadows Rise: Abraham Lincoln and the Ann Rutledge Legend (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993), is a retelling of the Ann Rutledge story, largely on the basis of a reexamination of Herndon’s sources.
55 “Heavy set”: Mrs. Samuel Hill, statement to WHH, [1866], HWC.
56 “kindness—sympathy”: Henry McHenry, statement to WHH, undated, HWC; W. G. Greene to WHH, May 30, 1865, HWC.
56 “him beyond recovery”: Herndon’s Lincoln, 1:133.
56 to save them: There was, in fact, something odd about McNamar’s story, since his father died on Apr. 10, 1833. It is not clear why he was unable to return to New Salem until 1835. Simon, “Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge,” p. 23.
56 “an insurmountable bar[r]ier”: Jason Duncan to WHH, undated, HWC.
57 “engagement with McNamar”: R. B. Rutledge to WHH, Nov. 18, 1866, and Nov. 21, 1866, HWC; James M. Rutledge, statement to William H. Herndon, undated, HWC.
57 “on her Grave”: Mrs. E. Abell to WHH, Feb. 15, 1867, HWC.
58 “of her now”: Isaac Cogdal, statement to WHH, undated, HWC.
58 “the Democratic party”: Frank E. Stevens, “Life of Stephen Arnold Douglas,” JISHS 16 (Oct. 1923-Jan. 1924): 295. For the effort to achieve party regularity through a convention system, see Theodore C. Pease, The Frontier State, 1818–1848 (Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1918), chap. 13.
58 “of the people”: Simon, Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness, p. 34.
59 “interest on it”: CW, 1:48.
59 “means excluding females”: Ibid.
59 in the militia: Faragher, Sugar Creek (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986), p. 106.
60 “a good wringing”: CW, 8:429.
60 “an offended God”: Joshua F. Speed, Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln and Notes of a Visit to California: Two Lectures (Louisville, Ky.: John P. Morton & Co., 1884), pp. 17–18.
60 to vote for him: Mark E. Neely, Jr., “The Political Life of New Salem, Illinois,” LL, no. 1715 (Jan. 1981).
60 their floor leader: Once again, my account of Lincoln in this session of the legislature is drawn from Simon, Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness, with additional information from Baringer, Lincoln’s Vandalia.
61 something to everybody: For a full, disapproving account, see Pease, The Frontier State, chap. 10.
61 “of the United States”: Simon, Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness, pp. 84, 86.
61 total state revenues: Ibid., p. 52.
62 “seat of government”: Usher F. Linder, Reminiscences of the Early Bench and Bar of Illinois (Chicago: Chicago Legal News Co., 1879), pp. 62–63.
62 or a bribe: Simon, Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness, chap. 4, definitively explodes this myth. See also Gabor S. Boritt, Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream (Memphis: Memphis State University Press, 1978), pp. 8–11.
63 “hitherto found security”: CW, 1:61–69.
63 “the shot home”: Baringer, Lincoln’s Vandalia, p. 99.
64 “abate its evils”: CW, 1:75.
64 lobby dou
btful members: Robert L. Wilson to WHH, Feb. 10, 1866, HWC.
64 “Natures Noblemen”: Ibid.
64 the Supreme Court: Paul M. Angle, “Where Lincoln Practiced Law,” Lincoln Centennial Association Papers, 1927 (Springfield, III.: Lincoln Centennial Association, 1927), p. 19.
CHAPTER THREE: COLD, CALCULATING, UNIMPASSIONED REASON
Paul M. Angle, “Here I Have Lived”: A History of Lincoln’s Springfield, 1821–1865 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1950), is a superior social history. The three best books on Lincoln’s law practice are Albert A. Woldman, Lawyer Lincoln (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1936); John J. Duff, A. Lincoln: Prairie Lawyer (New York: Rinehart & Co., 1960); and John P. Frank, Lincoln as a Lawyer (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1961), but a reappraisal of this topic is needed in light of the vast amount of documentary sources collected by the Lincoln Legal Papers in Springfield. Gabor S. Boritt, Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream (Memphis: Memphis State University Press, 1978), is an important study of Lincoln’s Whig philosophy and of his role in the campaign of 1840. The standard works on Lincoln’s courtship and marriage are by Ruth Painter Randall: Mary Lincoln. Biography of a Marriage (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1953), and The Courtship of Mr. Lincoln (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1957).
66 “I am moved!”: Joshua F. Speed, Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln and Notes of a Visit to California: Two Lectures (Louisville, Ky.: John P. Morton & Co., 1884), pp. 21–22.
67 a frontier town: The following sketch of Springfield is drawn from Paul M. Angle, “Here I Have Lived” pp. 42–46, and Beveridge, 1:206–208.
67 “to marry her”: WHH, interview with Mentor Graham, April 1,1866, HWC; Beveridge, 1:155.
68 “of woman’s happiness”: Herndon’s Lincoln, 1:148; WHH, interview with Johnson G. Green, [1866], Lamon MSS.
68 “or forty years”: CW, 1:117–118. Lincoln was probably referring to his stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln, not to Nancy Hanks Lincoln, of whose appearance he could have had only a vague memory since she died when he was nine years old.
68 “so dry and stupid”: CW, 1:55.
69 “you now immagine”: CW, 1:78.
69 “to your happiness”: CW, 1:94–95.
69 “to have me”: CW, 1:118–119.
69 “in my life”: CW, 1:78.
69 his close companion: The only biography, which includes the Lincoln-Speed correspondence, is Robert L Kincaid. Joshua Fry Speed: Lincoln’s Most Intimate Friend (Harrogate, Tenn.: Lincoln Memorial University, 1943).
70 above Speed’s store: See the sensible comment on this point in Charles B. Strozier, Lincoln’s Quest for Union: Public and Private Meanings (New York: Basic Books, 1982), p. 43.
70 all other subjects: Herndon’s Lincoln, 1:187–189.
71 “for a desk”: Ibid., p. 148.
71 Justice Clemment’s hearing: Stuart & Lincoln Fee Book, ISHL.
71 over land and timber: Robert Davidson v. lsham Reavis, Morgan County Circuit Court, July 1836, photostat, Lincoln Legal Papers.
71 procedures of litigation: The following paragraphs lean heavily on an illuminating unpublished study, “The Common-Law Forms of Action and Rules of Pleading in Lincoln’s Illinois,” by Eric T. Freyfogle (1991). See also Abraham Caruthers, History of a Lawsuit; or a Treatise on the Practice in Suits and Proceedings of Every Description (Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1866).
72 “the said plaintiffs....”.: Atwood & Co. v. Shinn & Vittum, Fulton County Circuit Court, May 1838, photostat, Lincoln Legal Papers.
73 of the agreement: Rufus R. Wilson, ed., Uncollected Works of Abraham Lincoln (Elmira, N.Y.: Primavera Press, 1947), 1:147–148, 150–152.
73 also surpassed them: Beveridge, l:211–212n. For slightly different figures, see Duff, A. Lincoln: Prairie Lawyer, p. 46.
73 central Illinois counties: These and numerous other engagements are recorded in Day by Day, vol. I. See also Paul M. Angle, “Abraham Lincoln: Circuit Lawyer,” Lincoln Centennial Papers, 1928 (Springfield, III.: Lincoln Centennial Association, 1928), pp. 19–41.
73 a fee book: Stuart & Lincoln Fee Book, ISHL.
73 “hawk billed yankee”: CW, 1:158–159.
74 six hundred acres: Kent L. Walgren, “James Adams: Early Springfield Mormon and Freemason,” JISHS 75 (1982): 121–136, and Wayne C. Temple, “An Aftermath of ‘Sampson’s Ghost’: A New Lincoln Document,” LH 91 (Summer 1989): 42–48.
74 “Sampson’s Ghost”: For these letters, see Wilson, Uncollected Works, 1:153–161. The editors of the Collected Works excluded these letters because “internal evidence... does not determine Lincoln’s handiwork.” CW, 1:89n.
75 “all his slanderers”: CW, 1:105–106.
75 “nothing but lice”: CW, 1:244.
75 to a duel: Usher F. Linder, Reminiscences of the Early Bench and Bar of Illinois (Chicago: Chicago Legal News Co., 1879), pp. 62–63.
76 “not legally bound”: CW, 1:144. (The body of this quotation is italicized in the source.)
76 “to do so”: CW, 1:123.
76 “and great loss”: CW, 1:135.
76 “will be well”: CW, 1:135–136.
76 “would go down”: CW, 1:196.
76 “the present crisis”: CW, 1:216.
76 “carry the elections”: CW, 1:148.
76 “defraying its expense”: CW, 1:201.
76 “in a lump”: CW, 1:184.
77 “by country banks”: CW, 1:194.
77 “to resuscitate it”: CW, 1:159.
77 “that jumping scrape”: CW, 1:226.
77 “to the ground!”: The best account of this episode is in chap. 4 of Illinois’ Fifth Capitol: The House That Lincoln Built and Caused to Be Rebuilt (1837–1865) (Springfield, Ill.: Phillips Brothers Printers, 1988), by Sunderine Wilson Temple and Wayne C. Temple. See also Paul Simon, Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness: The Illinois Legislative Years (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1971), pp. 227–230.
78 “end the better”: Ibid., p. 264.
78 “shall be beaten”: CW, 1:120.
78 required six months: CW, 1:151.
78 “be verry authentic”: CW, 1:154.
78 “state, verry good”: CW, 1:184.
78 “driven into it”: CW, 1:205.
78 “coming presidential contest”: CW, 1:180–181, 201.
79 “our highest expectations”: Hidden Lincoln, p. 289.
79 “not that much”: CW, 1:159–179. (Quotations are from pp. 177 and 163.) For a careful appraisal of this speech and its political significance, see Boritt, Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream, chap. 6.
80 “Hero of Tippecanoe”: CW, 1:210.
80 “Our Political Institutions”: The text of the address is in CW, 1:108–115. For the circumstances in which it was delivered, see Thomas F. Schwartz, “The Springfield Lyceums and Lincoln’s 1838 Speech,” Illinois Historical Journal 83 (1990): 45–49. This address has attracted more scholarly attention than anything else Lincoln wrote before 1858. Edmund Wilson first suggested that Lincoln’s fiery warning against a future Caesar “seemed to derive as much from admiration as apprehension” and argued that Lincoln “projected himself into the role against which he is warning.” Wilson, Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1962), pp. 99–130. George B. Forgie’s Patricide in the House Divided: A Psychological Interpretation of Lincoln and His Age (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1979), chap. 2, essentially adopts the Wilson argument, noting, however, that Lincoln was unconsciously projecting himself as the towering genius who threatened republicanism. Dwight G. Anderson, in Abraham Lincoln: The Quest for Immortality (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982), carried Wilson’s argument even further, to depict Lincoln as a “demonic” man, who “acted from motives of revenge” to strike down the Founding Fathers. In Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1959), chap. 9, Harry V. Jaffa argue
d that in this address Lincoln was looking to the future, when the nation could be saved “by one who has all Caesar’s talent for domination, one who could, if he would, govern the people without their consent, but who prefers the people’s freedom to their domination” (p. 225). Other scholars, like George M. Fredrickson, “Lincoln and His Legend” (New York Review of Books, July 15, 1982, pp. 13–16), have suggested that these interpretations are exaggerated, and Richard O. Curry, “Conscious or Subconscious Caesarism?” (JISHS, Apr. 1984, p. 71) stresses that Lincoln, “a devout Whig, was utilizing standard Whig rhetoric—which continually employed the imagery of Caesarism in attacking ‘King Andrew I.’” For a critical review of this literature, see Mark Neely, “Lincoln’s Lyceum Speech and the Origins of a Modern Myth,” LL, nos. 1776–1777 (1987). The imagery Lincoln used was conventional. See Major L. Wilson, “Lincoln and Van Buren in the Steps of the Fathers: Another Look at the Lyceum Address,” Civil War History 29 (1983): 197–211.
Lincoln Page 95