one of the Springfield papers gave my sentiments liberal quotation in its columns. I felt gloomy over the prospect, and cut out these newspaper slips and sent them to Lincoln. Accompanying these I wrote him a letter equally melancholy in tone, in which, among other things, I reflected severely on the stubbornness and bad judgment of the fossils in the party, who were constantly holding the young men back. This brought from him a letter, July 10, 1848, which is clearly Lincolnian and full of plain philosophy. Not the least singular of all is his allusion to himself as an old man, although he had scarcely passed his thirty-ninth year."

13 "Letter to John D. Johnston": Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died on October 5, 1818. In December, 1819, Thomas Lincoln married, in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Mrs. Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow whom he had known as a young girl. Mrs. Johnston had three children, the oldest of whom was John D. These children grew up with Abraham, and he always spoke of John Johnston as his brother. 16 "Repeal of the Missouri Compromise": The Missouri Compromise, passed in 1820, provided that Missouri might come in as a slave state if slavery was never allowed north of 36° 30′ north latitude. In 1853 Nebraska, which was north of the free line established by the Missouri Compromise, desired to be organized as a territory, and Stephen A. Douglas, a member from Illinois of the Senate of the United States, introduced a bill giving both Nebraska and Kansas the government they asked. Later he added to this bill an amendment repealing the Missouri Compromise and permitting settlers in the new territory to reject or establish slavery as they should see fit. This bill was passed. In October of 1854 Douglas came to Springfield to explain his bill to his Illinois constituents whom it had disturbed. Lincoln's answer to this speech made a profound impression and forced Douglas at once into a defense of his measure. Lincoln's chief argument was made in 1854 at Peoria, on October 16.

20 10 pro tanto: by so much, to that extent.

25" after the Defeat of 1856": In 1856 Lincoln publicly broke his connection with the Whig party and joined the Republican party, which had been organized that year in Illinois. He made some fifty speeches during the campaign for Frémont, who was the Republican candidate for the presidency. Frémont was defeated, though he had nearly one hundred thousand votes in Illinois, and the Republican candidate for governor of the state, Bissell, was elected.

26 18 The Dred Scott decision was pronounced by Chief Justice Taney on March 6, 1857. Nicolay and Hay, in their "Abraham Lincoln: A History" (Vol. II, p. 73), summarize its leading conclusions as follows: That the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States do not include or refer to negroes otherwise than as property; that they cannot become citizens of the United States or sue in the federal courts; that Dred Scott's claim to freedom by reason of his residence in Illinois was a Missouri question, which Missouri law had decided against him; that the Constitution of the United States recognizes slaves as property, and pledges the federal government to protect it; and that the Missouri Compromise act and like prohibitory laws are unconstitutional; that the circuit court of the United States had no jurisdiction in the case and could give no judgment in it, and must be directed to dismiss the suit."

28 19 The President to whom Lincoln here refers was James Buchanan; he had been questioned in a memorial signed by Professor Benjamin Silliman of Yale College, and other citizens of New England, concerning the Dred Scott decision, and he had replied in a public letter in which he said that slavery existed in Kansas under the Constitution of the United States; that this had been decided by the highest tribunal known to our laws; and he added, "How it could have ever been seriously doubted is a mystery."

28 25 In 1857 a convention was held at Lecompton, Kansas, to frame a constitution for the new territories. It included a clause permitting slavery; this clause, submitted apart from the rest of the constitution, was adopted in December, 1857. In January, 1858, the constitution as a whole was submitted and rejected.

31 5 The four workmen to whom Lincoln refers as "Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James" are Senator Stephen A. Douglas, author of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; Franklin Pierce, fourteenth president of the United States, who agreed to make the repeal of the Missouri Compromise a party measure; Roger B. Taney, chief justice of the United States, who pronounced the Dred Scott decision; and James Buchanan, fifteenth president of the United States, who defended that decision.

35 24 Francis Preston Blair, known as Frank Blair, was a Missouri politician and a prominent leader of Union sentiment in his state. Gratz Brown was also a Missouri Unionist. Both men were active supporters of the emancipation of the negro.

37 "Lincoln's Autobiography": One of the first Illinois politicians to conceive the idea that Lincoln might be an available candidate for the presidency in 1860 was Jesse W. Fell of Bloomington, Illinois. While the Lincoln and Douglas debates were going on, Fell was traveling in the East. He was surprised to find the people'generally interested in Lincoln's arguments. He frequently was questioned about Lincoln's personality. On his return Fell talked to him about the advisability of putting out a sketch that would satisfy the curiosity which had been awakened by the speeches. Lincoln refused to believe that Fell was right. It was not until December of 1859, a year after the suggestion was made, that he consented to write the little sketch of his life here printed. 37 19 Since Lincoln's death the effort to identify his family with the New England family of the same name has resulted in something more definite than the similarity of Christian names of which he speaks. A series of researches in official documents extending over fifty years has established beyond doubt that Abraham Lincoln was a direct descendant of Samuel Lincoln, who came to New England in 1637. The fullest and most authoritative account of his pedigree is to be found in the "Ancestry of Abraham Lincoln" by Lea and Hutchinson.

39 "Slavery as the Fathers viewed it": Cooper Union had been open but a few months when Lincoln spoke there. He had one of the most notable audiences which have ever gathered in New York. This was due largely to the impression his debates with Douglas had made. Many of his friends feared that he would not be able to hold the audience, but his success was pronounced. The speech was one of the most important and convincing Lincoln ever made.

53 9 A little over four months before the Cooper Union meeting, on October 16, 1859, John Brown and a small group of followers had seized the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. They hoped to arm a band of negroes and incite insurrection. The raid was unsuccessful. Brown was captured on October 18, tried by the commonwealth of Virginia, and was executed on December 2, 1859.

55 19 pari passu: proportionately.

75 15–21 As originally written this address closed with the words, "You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government," etc. On reaching Washington in February before his inauguration, Lincoln gave William H. Seward, Secretary of State, a copy of the address. Mr. Seward objected to his closing words and suggested the following paragraph:

I close. We are not, we must not be, aliens or enemies, but fellow countrymen and brethren. Although passion has strained our bonds of affection too hardly, they must not, I am sure they will not, be broken. The mystic chords which, proceeding from so many battlefields and so many patriotic graves, pass through all the hearts and all hearths in this broad continent of ours, will yet again harmonize in their ancient music when breathed upon by the guardian angel of the nation.

Mr. Lincoln rewrote the above suggestion of Mr. Seward, making of it the now famous paragraph here printed. The changes made, furnish an admirable study of the way in which Lincoln handled English.1

76 "Lincoln's Reply to Secretary Seward's Offer to become the Head of the Administration": Mr. Seward undoubtedly believed sincerely that Abraham Lincoln was unfit for the presidency, and that one of his secretaries would be obliged to assume the leadership. When he accepted the appointment of Secretary of State, it was with the idea that he would be obliged to assume the responsibilities of the administration, and all his early work was done under this conviction. On April 1, 1861, he sent Lincoln "Some Thoughts for the President's Consideration." Mr. Lincoln's reply shows the astonishing suggestions in these "thoughts," though it is so courteously worded that it does not fully reveal their nature. Mr. Lincoln never showed to any one but his private secretaries Seward's communication and his reply. It is only fair to say that when Mr. Seward finally realized Lincoln's ability, he was quick to acknowledge it.

79 "Message to Congress recommending Compensated Emancipation”: In connection with this message on compensated emancipation the reader's attention is called to the chapter on Lincoln and Emancipation in the second volume of Tarbell's "Life of Abraham Lincoln."

81 "Letter to Horace Greeley": The demand for the immediate emancipation of the negroes was strong in the North by the summer of 1862. The radicals brought heavy pressure to bear when Mr. Lincoln did not seem to sympathize with their program. On August 20 Horace Greeley printed in the New York Tribune a signed editorial entitled "The Prayer of 20,000,000," to which the letter here reprinted is a reply. As a matter of fact the President had in his desk at that time the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation.

1 The reader interested in the First Inaugural of Lincoln should not fail to read the admirable chapter on the subject in Vol. III of Nicolay and Hay's "Abraham Lincoln: A History," where Mr. Seward's criticisms are given in full.

856 Mr. Lincoln's calculations of the population which this country ought to have by 1900 have proved to be far wide of the mark. He calculated that in 1900 we ought to have a population of 103,208,415, and as a matter of fact we had but 76,303,387, — 374,485 less than he estimated we would have in 1890. The population of 1910 he fixed at 138,918,526. The recent census shows that we have about 92,000,000.

94 11 General Burnside had been given the command of the Army of the Potomac on November 10, 1862. He succeeded General McClellan. On December 13, 1862, Burnside fought the battle of Fredericksburg and was defeated. On January 25, 1863, Lincoln ordered General Hooker to relieve Burnside. The next day the President wrote Hooker the letter here printed. Noah Brooks heard General Hooker read the letter soon after its receipt, and as he folded it up say, "That is just such a letter as a father might write to his son."

97 "Letter stating his Position in regard to the War and to Emancipation”: In August, 1863, James C. Conkling of Illinois, a leading Republican, wrote Mr. Lincoln, requesting him to come to the state to speak at a mass meeting to be held in Springfield in favor of “law and order and constitutional government." Mr. Lincoln could not leave Washington, but he wrote a letter which he himself said was "rather a good letter," and which Nicolay and Hay, in their account of it, call his "last stump speech." The following extract from their "Abraham Lincoln: A History" shows what reception was given it.1

Nothing he ever uttered had a more instantaneous success. Mr. Sumner immediately wrote to him: "Thanks for your true and noble letter. It is a historical document. The case is admirably stated, so that all but the wicked must confess its force. It cannot be answered." Henry Wilson wrote to him: "God Almighty bless you for your noble, patriotic, and Christian letter. It will be on the lips and in the hearts of hundreds of thousands this day." Among the letters which the President most appreciated was one from the venerable Josiah Quincy, then ninety-one years of age, who wrote: "Old age has its privileges, which this letter will not exceed; but I cannot refrain from expressing to you my gratitude for your letter to the Illinois Convention,- happy, timely, conclusive, and effective. What you say concerning emancipation, and your course of proceeding in relation to it, was due to truth and to your own character, shamefully assailed as it has been. The development is an imperishable monument of wisdom and virtue." After discussing the question of emancipation he continued: "I write under the impression that the victory of the United States in this war is inevitable-compromise is impossible. Peace on any other basis would be the

1 Vol. VII, p. 385.