Part 7 (1/2)

Good speaking and good listening, however, did not always go together. Maria Horsford, the wife of New York Whig congressman Jerediah Horsford, in writing home to her children, described the high intensity and noise of the House chamber. ”The confusion and noise of the House of Representatives is wearying. ... I never saw a district school dismissed at noon so rude and noisy ... more like a hundred swarms of bees.” The noise was continually punctuated by cries of ”Speaker”-”Speaker”-”Speaker” in voices rising ”higher and higher.”

On the second day of the session, President Polk delivered his third annual message to Congress, the vast majority of it dealing with the war with Mexico. Calling the United States ”the aggrieved nation,” Polk claimed, ”History presents no parallel of so many glorious victories achieved by any nation within so short a period.” Indeed, by the time Lincoln heard Polks message, the fighting was all but over. General Zachary Taylor had won victories at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Monterrey, and fought off a Mexican attack at Buena Vista in February 1847. General Winfield Scott had led an expedition of ten thousand U.S. soldiers to capture Veracruz and then led an a.s.sault on the capital, Mexico City, securing the surrender of the Mexican defenders on September 14, 1847.

Polk came to Congress seeking ratification of his plan to demand that Mexico pay the United States an indemnity in a cession ”of a portion of her territory.” The president appealed to the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and the cession of Florida of 1819 as precedents. He rejected the attacks of critics who said that the United States should take the high moral ground of accepting no territory. Polk replied, ”The doctrine of no territory is the doctrine of no indemnity ... and if sanctioned would be a public acknowledgment that our country was wrong and that the war declared by Congress with extraordinary unanimity was unjust and should be abandoned-an admission unfounded in fact and degrading to the national character.”

Freshmen congressmen sometimes struggled to find their speaking voices in the new terrain of the nation's capital. But Lincoln, only one week after he took his seat in the Thirtieth Congress, wrote a third time to Herndon, declaring, ”As you are all so anxious for me to distinguish myself, I have concluded to do so, before long.”

Two weeks after Polk's annual message, on December 22, 1847, Lincoln rose to introduce a series of eight resolutions asking the president to inform the House about specific actions of the United States. Lincoln's speech began by using direct quotes from President Polk's message to Congress of May 11, 1846, and his annual message to Congress in December 1846 and 1847. Lincoln's purpose was to challenge the president's veracity. The burden of the first-term congressman's remarks was contained in his preface to the resolutions: ”This House desires to obtain a full knowledge of all the facts which to establish whether the particular spot of soil on which the blood of our citizens citizens was so shed, was, or was not, was so shed, was, or was not, our own soil, our own soil, at that time.” Lincoln was directly challenging the president's a.s.sertion that the Mexicans fired the first shot in the war. He used the word ”spot” again in the first resolution, as well as in the second and in the third, driving home his point that the spot was not on our soil but actually on the soil of Mexico, thus making the United States the initial aggressor. Lincoln's resolutions were not remarkable, offering a summary of objections that had been heard by other Whigs in the hallways of Was.h.i.+ngton and in newspapers throughout the country. But because of Lincoln's use of the innocuous word ”spot,” the challenges would become known as the ”spotty” resolutions. He was only getting started. at that time.” Lincoln was directly challenging the president's a.s.sertion that the Mexicans fired the first shot in the war. He used the word ”spot” again in the first resolution, as well as in the second and in the third, driving home his point that the spot was not on our soil but actually on the soil of Mexico, thus making the United States the initial aggressor. Lincoln's resolutions were not remarkable, offering a summary of objections that had been heard by other Whigs in the hallways of Was.h.i.+ngton and in newspapers throughout the country. But because of Lincoln's use of the innocuous word ”spot,” the challenges would become known as the ”spotty” resolutions. He was only getting started.

THE WHIGS' ATTACKS on ”Mr. Polk's War” resumed in the new year. On January 3, 1848, in the course of a debate on a resolution offering thanks to General Taylor, Congressman George Ashmun of Ma.s.sachusetts proposed an amendment stating that the war with Mexico had been ”unnecessarily and unconst.i.tutionally begun by the President of the United States.” The amendment received the votes of eighty-five Whigs, including Lincoln. on ”Mr. Polk's War” resumed in the new year. On January 3, 1848, in the course of a debate on a resolution offering thanks to General Taylor, Congressman George Ashmun of Ma.s.sachusetts proposed an amendment stating that the war with Mexico had been ”unnecessarily and unconst.i.tutionally begun by the President of the United States.” The amendment received the votes of eighty-five Whigs, including Lincoln.

Nine days later, Lincoln rose again, this time to speak to the broader implications of the war. In a thoroughly prepared speech, Lincoln articulated the difference between supporting the troops and supporting the president and his policies. He stated that back in May 1846, he believed that whatever concerns there might be about the const.i.tutionality or necessity of the war, ”as citizens and patriots,” persons should ”remain silent on that point, at least until the war had ended.” He said he continued to hold this view until he took his seat in Congress and heard President Polk ”argue every silent vote given for supplies, into an endors.e.m.e.nt of the justice and wisdom of his conduct.”

Lincoln challenged President Polk's a.s.sertion that Mexican troops fired the first shot in the war with Mexico. Lincoln demanded to know whether the particular ”spot of soil” where the blood was shed was in the United States.

Lincoln told the House that he had examined all of the president's messages to see if Polk's a.s.sertions about precedents measured up to the truth. ”Now I propose to show, that the whole of this,-issue and evidence-is, from the beginning to end, the sheerest deception.” After a.n.a.lyzing six propositions of the president's evidence, Lincoln offered his own precedent. ”Let him answer with facts, with facts, and not with arguments. Let him remember he sits where Was.h.i.+ngton sat, and so remembering, let him answer as Was.h.i.+ngton would answer.” In the heat of a present-day controversy, Lincoln found it useful to appeal to the founding fathers. and not with arguments. Let him remember he sits where Was.h.i.+ngton sat, and so remembering, let him answer as Was.h.i.+ngton would answer.” In the heat of a present-day controversy, Lincoln found it useful to appeal to the founding fathers.

In escalating rhetoric, Lincoln went on to question both Polk's motives and conscience. ”I more than suspect already, that he is deeply conscious of being in the wrong-that he feels the blood of this war, like the blood of Abel, is crying to Heaven against him.” Lincoln concluded with a final pummel. President Polk ”is a bewildered, confounded, and miserably perplexed man,” he said. Lincoln's strong words against the sitting president spread quickly beyond the nation's capital.

BACK IN ILLINOIS, Lincoln's forceful a.s.sault on President Polk took Lincoln's friends and foes by surprise. Yes, many Whigs were against the war, but after Lincoln's speech many people in his district came to believe his words bordered on treason. Illinoisans, proud of the effort of the American troops, resented what they said was Lincoln's failure to support them.

From so long a distance, Lincoln's votes were misrepresented by his local opponents and misunderstood by many of his friends. Lincoln went on to vote yes on all bills to fund the troops and their supplies. On January 12, 1848, he gave a speech meant to show that one could support the troops and not the president, a distinction difficult to communicate in a time of patriotic fever.

The Democratic Illinois State Register Illinois State Register in Springfield tore into Lincoln. ”Thank heaven, Illinois has eight representatives who will stand by the honor of the nation.” Recalling the military heroism of Illinois soldiers, the in Springfield tore into Lincoln. ”Thank heaven, Illinois has eight representatives who will stand by the honor of the nation.” Recalling the military heroism of Illinois soldiers, the Register Register said of Lincoln, ”He will have a fearful account to settle with them, should he lend his aid in an effort to neutralize their efforts and blast their fame.” The said of Lincoln, ”He will have a fearful account to settle with them, should he lend his aid in an effort to neutralize their efforts and blast their fame.” The Register Register printed what they hoped would be Lincoln's political epitaph: ”Died of Spotted Fever.” printed what they hoped would be Lincoln's political epitaph: ”Died of Spotted Fever.”

Even Billy Herndon expressed concern about his law partner's vote for the Ashmun Amendment, firing off a letter on January 19, 1848. Lincoln replied immediately, ”If you misunderstand, I fear other friends will also.” Lincoln told Herndon, ”I will stake my life, that if you had been in my place, you would have voted just as I did.” He asked Hern-don, ”Would you have voted what you felt you knew to be a lie?”

What really upset Lincoln was the way Polk and the Democrats shrewdly tried to conflate support for the war and voting to send supplies for the troops. ”I have always intended, and still intend, to vote supplies,” Lincoln told Herndon. The Democrats, he said, ”are untiring in their effort to make the impression that all who vote supplies ... of necessity, approve the President's conduct in the beginning of it.” The Whig position, as Lincoln explained, ”from the beginning, made and kept the distinction between the two.”

Herndon wrote a second letter and Lincoln replied again. It was obvious now that the partners did not agree on whether any president becomes the ”sole judge” in initiating war. Lincoln defended the ”provision of the Const.i.tution giving war-making power to Congress.” He told Herndon, ”Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever judge” in initiating war. Lincoln defended the ”provision of the Const.i.tution giving war-making power to Congress.” He told Herndon, ”Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so, shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so, whenever he may choose to say whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose-and you allow him to make war at pleasure.” he deems it necessary for such purpose-and you allow him to make war at pleasure.”

IN MARCH 1848, Lincoln's curiosity about his ancestors in America became jogged by correspondence from a long-lost relative named Solomon Lincoln. In replying to a letter of inquiry from Solomon Lincoln, Lincoln wrote, ”We have a vague tradition, that my greatgrand father, John Lincoln, went from Pennsylvania to Virginia; and that he was a quaker. Further back than that, I have never heard anything.” His curiosity aroused, Lincoln decided to ask James McDowell, the former governor of Virginia and now a colleague in the House, ”whether he knew persons of our name there.” McDowell replied he did know of a David Lincoln. Lincoln wrote a second letter to Solomon Lincoln three weeks later telling him of this new discovery.

Lincoln, ”much gratified,” received a letter from David Lincoln on March 30, 1848. He quickly replied, ”There is no longer any doubt that your uncle Abraham, and my grandfather was the same man.” Lincoln peppered David Lincoln with questions. ”Was he or not, a Quaker? About what time time did he emigrate from Berks count, Pa. to Virginia? Do you know any thing of your family (or rather I may now say, did he emigrate from Berks count, Pa. to Virginia? Do you know any thing of your family (or rather I may now say, our our family) farther back than your grandfather?” Far from being uninterested in his family background, Lincoln wanted to find out more. Ironically, Solomon Lincoln wrote to Abraham Lincoln from Hingham, Ma.s.sachusetts, where Lincoln's ancestors first settled in America-a fact that Abraham Lincoln would never know. family) farther back than your grandfather?” Far from being uninterested in his family background, Lincoln wanted to find out more. Ironically, Solomon Lincoln wrote to Abraham Lincoln from Hingham, Ma.s.sachusetts, where Lincoln's ancestors first settled in America-a fact that Abraham Lincoln would never know.

IN THE SPRING OF 1848, Mary Lincoln and their boys left Was.h.i.+ngton and returned to Lexington. She had grown weary of her confinement in Ann Sprigg's boardinghouse, where much of the time she found herself alone with her two small children. Lincoln attended sessions of Congress during the day and often spent his evenings in Whig caucuses.

The correspondence between Abraham and Mary from the spring of 1848-some of the few letters between them that have survived-reveals how their affection grew stronger in absence. Lincoln wrote on April 16, 1848, ”In this troublesome world, we are never quite satisfied. When you were here, I thought you hindered me in attending to business but now, having nothing but business-no vanity-it has grown exceedingly tasteless to me.” Lincoln admitted, ”I hate to stay in the old room by myself.” He wanted to include a greeting from others, but remembered that not everyone at Ann Sprigg's thought kindly of her, so he wrote, ”All the house-or rather all with whom you were on decided good terms-send their love to you. The others say nothing.” He also asked Mary, in the future, ”Suppose you do not prefix the ”Hon” to the address on your letters to me any more.”

Mary wrote in May telling Abraham that she wanted to return to Was.h.i.+ngton to be with him. He replied, playfully, ”Will you be a good girl good girl in all things, if I consent?” This was undoubtedly another reference to her behavior with other guests at the boardinghouse. ”Then come along, and that as in all things, if I consent?” This was undoubtedly another reference to her behavior with other guests at the boardinghouse. ”Then come along, and that as soon soon as possible. Having got the idea in my head, I shall be impatient till I see you.” as possible. Having got the idea in my head, I shall be impatient till I see you.”

The correspondence between Abraham and Mary, in the sixth year of their marriage, brings to light both the depth of their love and the difficulties in their relations.h.i.+p. Lincoln, as was often his way, gently teased Mary about her strained relations with some of the boarders, but his comments also hint at tensions between them. Mary, pretty and perky, could also be difficult and demanding.

WITH MARY AND the two boys gone, Lincoln had more time to continue his self-education. He attended sessions of the U.S. Supreme Court, hearing Daniel Webster argue a case before the highest court in the land. He certainly got a glimpse of Roger B. Taney of Maryland, who in 1836 had been appointed by President Andrew Jackson to replace the legendary John Marshall as chief justice of the United States. the two boys gone, Lincoln had more time to continue his self-education. He attended sessions of the U.S. Supreme Court, hearing Daniel Webster argue a case before the highest court in the land. He certainly got a glimpse of Roger B. Taney of Maryland, who in 1836 had been appointed by President Andrew Jackson to replace the legendary John Marshall as chief justice of the United States.

Lincoln frequently walked across the street from the boardinghouse to the Library of Congress. The Library began in 1800 when the capital moved from Philadelphia to Was.h.i.+ngton. During the War of 1812, when the British burned the Capitol, they used books from the Library of Congress to kindle the inferno. The Library began to rebuild itself when former president Thomas Jefferson offered his private library to Congress. After partisan wrangling, Jefferson's offer was accepted and Congress purchased his library of 6,487 volumes for $23,950. The books were transported by wagons from Monticello to Was.h.i.+ngton. The fledgling Library continued in its temporary quarters until August 1824, the last year of James Monroe's presidency, when it moved into its new home in the center of the west front of the Capitol.

Twenty-three years later, Abraham Lincoln became one of the Library of Congress's most active borrowers. Where the new congressman spent his free time became ”a puzzle, and a subject of amus.e.m.e.nt” to his fellow representatives. They observed, ”He did not drink, or use tobacco, or bet, or swear.” What Lincoln was doing was ”mousing among the books” at the Library. Lincoln often selected books to take to his room at the boardinghouse, wrapping them in a bandana, placing a stick in the knot, and transporting them over his shoulder. To his fellow congressmen, whatever else they thought of Lincoln, many were convinced: ”He is a bookworm!”

THERE WAS A presidential election in 1848, and in June Lincoln attended the Whig convention in the Chinese Museum Hall in Philadelphia. The contest pitted Henry Clay against General Zachary Taylor. Intellectually, Lincoln leaned toward Clay and his ideas, but he supported Taylor for a strictly pragmatic reason: The Whigs needed to win. The Whigs took a page from the Democrats, who had nominated General Andrew Jackson in 1828 and 1832, and nominated their own military hero, General Zachary Taylor, as their presidential candidate in 1848. presidential election in 1848, and in June Lincoln attended the Whig convention in the Chinese Museum Hall in Philadelphia. The contest pitted Henry Clay against General Zachary Taylor. Intellectually, Lincoln leaned toward Clay and his ideas, but he supported Taylor for a strictly pragmatic reason: The Whigs needed to win. The Whigs took a page from the Democrats, who had nominated General Andrew Jackson in 1828 and 1832, and nominated their own military hero, General Zachary Taylor, as their presidential candidate in 1848.

Taylor, a down-home fellow known as ”Old Rough and Ready,” had served in the military for forty years. He was best known for leading his troops to an unlikely victory at the desperate battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican War. He did not write or speak well and was woefully ignorant of foreign affairs. The Whigs hoped that Taylor, a strong nationalist, could appeal to their Northern const.i.tuents because of his experience in the military. At the same time, they hoped he would also draw in Southerners because he was from Louisiana and owned a plantation with one hundred slaves in Mississippi.

Lincoln made the pragmatic decision to back General Zachary Taylor, a hero of the Mexican War, over Henry Clay in the 1848 presidential election.

Taylor's nomination allowed Lincoln and other young Whigs in the House to continue to attack the Democrats for beginning an unjust war, but at the same time extol one of the generals responsible for winning it. Taylor's political record was nonexistent, but he offered the hope of electability. ”I am in favor of Gen: Taylor as the whig candidate for the Presidency because I am satisfied we can elect him, that he would give us a whig administration, and that we can not elect any other whig.” The other Whig, unnamed, was Henry Clay. Lincoln said as much in a letter to a friend in Illinois: ”Our only chance is with Taylor. I go for him, not because I think he would make a better president than Clay, but because I think he would make a better one than Polk, or Ca.s.s, or Buchanan.” In 1848, Lincoln's political pragmatism triumphed over his idealism.

The Democrats nominated Lewis Ca.s.s of Michigan. Ca.s.s had fought in the War of 1812, had been secretary of war in the Jackson administration, and was serving as U.S. senator from Michigan. On the slavery issue, Ca.s.s favored what he called ”popular sovereignty,” letting the residents of each of the new territories decide whether they wanted slavery or not.

A third antislavery party, the Free Soil Party, emerged in 184748 as a protest to both Ca.s.s, who they feared would allow ”squatter sovereignty” in the territories, and to Taylor, a slave owner. The Free Soil Party nominated former president Martin Van Buren as their candidate in 1848. This loose coalition of former Liberty Party men, plus antislavery Whigs and Democrats, campaigned on the slogan ”Free soil, free speech, free labor, free men.”

As the long, hot summer term of Congress wound down, presidential politicking warmed up. Presidential campaigning in the early nineteenth century was largely the work of surrogates. Most Americans thought it unseemly for candidates to speak on their own behalf. Before the Thirtieth Congress adjourned, the candidates' supporters took to the floor to give their best political orations. On July 27, 1848, Lincoln found himself speaking eighth behind three Democrats and four Whigs in the House before a packed gallery. After hours and hours of speeches, how could Lincoln stand out?

He decided to turn the Ca.s.s criticism of Taylor against their man. The Democratic speakers that day had complained that they did not know either the principles or policies of General Taylor. Lincoln answered by giving an exposition of Whig principles-tariff, currency, and internal improvements. But Democrats contended that the Whigs had deserted all of their principles and taken refuge under General Taylor's military armor. Lincoln could smell an opening.

What about the military coattail of General Jackson? ”Like a horde of hungry ticks you have stuck to the tail of the Hermitage lion to the end of his life.” Part of Ca.s.s's reputation was his military exploits in the War of 1812. As Lincoln zeroed in on Ca.s.s, he exclaimed, ”You democrats are now engaged in dovetailing onto the great Michigander ... tying him to a military tail.”

Lincoln now raised suspicions about Ca.s.s's war record by presenting a self-deprecating recital of his own military record. ”By the way, Mr. Speaker, did you know that I am a military hero?” Lincoln captivated his listeners by declaring, ”Yes, sir; in the days of the Black Hawk war, I fought, bled, and came away.” By now it was clear that he was mocking Ca.s.s's military career. ”Speaking of Gen: Ca.s.s' career, reminds me of my own.” Lincoln spoke satirically with a set of derisive comparisons about battles, weapons, and enemies, all meant to say that Ca.s.s saw no more action than Lincoln did. Finally, in sardonic humor, Lincoln told his colleagues, now convulsed in laughter, ”If he saw any live, fighting Indians, it was more than I did; but I had a good many b.l.o.o.d.y struggles with musquetoes.”

Reporting on Lincoln's speech, the Baltimore American Baltimore American described his power to mesmerize an audience. Lincoln ”was so good natured, and his style so peculiar, that he kept the House in a continuous roar of merriment.” Lincoln's mannerisms caught the eye of the reporter as it did that of his fellow congressmen. ”He would commence a point in his speech far up one of the aisles, and keep on talking, gesticulating, and walking until he would find himself, at the end of a paragraph, down in the center of the area in front of the speaker's desk. He would then go back and take another described his power to mesmerize an audience. Lincoln ”was so good natured, and his style so peculiar, that he kept the House in a continuous roar of merriment.” Lincoln's mannerisms caught the eye of the reporter as it did that of his fellow congressmen. ”He would commence a point in his speech far up one of the aisles, and keep on talking, gesticulating, and walking until he would find himself, at the end of a paragraph, down in the center of the area in front of the speaker's desk. He would then go back and take another bead, bead, and work down again.” Lincoln, perhaps feeling more at home, offered an old-fas.h.i.+oned Illinois stump speech in the well of the House of Representatives. and work down again.” Lincoln, perhaps feeling more at home, offered an old-fas.h.i.+oned Illinois stump speech in the well of the House of Representatives.

MARY, BOB, AND EDDIE returned to Was.h.i.+ngton at the end of July, finding husband and father busily engaged in the last two weeks of the first session of Congress. After an all-night meeting on August 13, 1848, Congress adjourned for the summer. Lincoln decided to spend the recess working for Taylor's election. returned to Was.h.i.+ngton at the end of July, finding husband and father busily engaged in the last two weeks of the first session of Congress. After an all-night meeting on August 13, 1848, Congress adjourned for the summer. Lincoln decided to spend the recess working for Taylor's election.

In early September, with a basic stump speech in hand, Lincoln left Was.h.i.+ngton with his family for a campaign tour in Ma.s.sachusetts. The Bay State had been a Whig stronghold, led by such giants as Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate, but lately Whig unity and dominance was fracturing. Many members, outraged about the lack of progress on the issue of slavery, were joining the emerging Free Soil Party just as the 1848 presidential campaign got into full swing. By the middle of the 1840s, two groups of New England Whigs had fallen into dispute. ”Conscience Whigs” saw the battle over slavery as a moral struggle; ”Cotton Whigs,” while admitting the evils of slavery, nevertheless did not want to completely alienate the South, whose cotton was needed in New England's textile mills. As Lincoln prepared to speak in Ma.s.sachusetts, he knew many Ma.s.sachusetts Whigs were deeply upset that the Whig presidential candidate, General Taylor, owned slaves in Louisiana.

Lincoln arrived in Worcester on Tuesday, September 12, 1848, the eve of the Whig state convention. Andrew Bullock, a local Whig politician, was planning a public rally for the evening but all of the speakers had declined his invitation to speak. Hearing that the Illinois congressman was in Worcester, he found Lincoln at the Worcester House and asked him to address the rally. That evening at 7 p.m., Lincoln, dressed in a long linen duster, arrived at the city hall to find more than one thousand people crammed inside. The chairman of the meeting introduced Lincoln as a ”Free Soil Whig,” which he did not deny.

Dusting off the speech he gave in the Congress in July, Lincoln spoke for two hours. He had two main goals in mind. First, he wanted to a.s.sure the audience that Taylor did embody Whig values. Second, Lincoln drove home the point that Van Buren, the Free Soil candidate, could not win the election; a vote for Van Buren would end up being a vote for the Democratic candidate Ca.s.s. Lincoln had vowed never to forget the lesson of the presidential campaign of 1844, that moral purity can be self-defeating if it opens the door to political defeat. The Springfield Springfield (Ma.s.sachusetts) (Ma.s.sachusetts) Republican Republican reported that the audience ”frequently interrupted” Lincoln ”by loud cheering.” The reported that the audience ”frequently interrupted” Lincoln ”by loud cheering.” The Boston Daily Advertiser Boston Daily Advertiser was impressed with his initial speech. ”Mr. Lincoln has a very tall and thin figure, with an intellectual face, showing a searching mind, and a cool judgment.” The Whig newspaper called Lincoln's oration a ”truly masterly and convincing speech.” was impressed with his initial speech. ”Mr. Lincoln has a very tall and thin figure, with an intellectual face, showing a searching mind, and a cool judgment.” The Whig newspaper called Lincoln's oration a ”truly masterly and convincing speech.”

Three days later, Lincoln arrived by train in Boston. The different districts in this city of 130,000 were connected not by horsecars but by a number of stagecoach lines. Used to rude hostelries in central Illinois, Lincoln and his family enjoyed their stay at the stylish Tremont House.

In succeeding days, Lincoln traveled by train to speak in Lowell, Dorchester, Chelsea, Dedham, Cambridge, and Taunton. On Thursday evening, September 21, 1848, Lincoln addressed the Union Hall in Taunton, a city humming with industrialization. A Taunton Whig newspaper, the Old Colony Republican, Old Colony Republican, captured the dynamism of Lincoln as a public speaker and described the way Lincoln ”advanced upon his hearers.” captured the dynamism of Lincoln as a public speaker and described the way Lincoln ”advanced upon his hearers.”

It was an altogether new show for us-a western stump speaker. ... Leaning himself up against the wall, as he commenced, and talking in the plainest manner, and in the most indifferent tone, yet gradually fixing his footing, and getting command of his limbs, loosening his tongue, and firing up his thoughts, until he had got possession of himself and of his audience.

The content of Lincoln's speech struck the reporter as even more distinctive. ”Argument and anecdote, wit and wisdom, hymns and prophecies, platforms and syllogisms, came flying before the audience like wild game before the fierce hunter of the prairie.” The reporter concluded, ”There has been no gathering of any party in a region where the responses of the audience were so frequent and so vigorous.”

The climax of his speaking tour was a giant Whig open-air rally in the evening in Boston. The main speaker for the evening was not Lincoln, but William H. Seward. A former governor of New York, the slender Seward had been elected to the Senate in 1848 and spoke in Boston as an established leader in the antislavery movement. Seward gave a formal address, arguing that a third Free Soil Party, however well intentioned in their ideas, could only draw away votes from the Whigs and help elect Democrats who would do nothing to stop the spread of slavery.

Seward gave such a lengthy speech that by the time Lincoln was introduced, it was already 9:30. But Lincoln was not about to cut short his remarks. He spoke for a full hour, the Boston Courier Boston Courier reporting that Lincoln spoke ”in a most forcible and convincing speech, which drew down thunders of applause.” The next evening Lincoln and Seward, who would go on to become Lincoln's secretary of state, shared a room in Worcester. Seward recalled, ”We spent the greater part of the night talking about anti-slavery positions and principles.” Lincoln told Seward, ”I have been thinking about what you said in your speech. I reckon you are right. We have got to deal with this slavery question, and got to give much more attention to it hereafter than we have been doing.” reporting that Lincoln spoke ”in a most forcible and convincing speech, which drew down thunders of applause.” The next evening Lincoln and Seward, who would go on to become Lincoln's secretary of state, shared a room in Worcester. Seward recalled, ”We spent the greater part of the night talking about anti-slavery positions and principles.” Lincoln told Seward, ”I have been thinking about what you said in your speech. I reckon you are right. We have got to deal with this slavery question, and got to give much more attention to it hereafter than we have been doing.”

WITH HIS SPEAKING obligations in New England completed, Lincoln and his family finally started for home. He stopped in Albany, New York, to meet Millard Fillmore, the Whig vice presidential candidate, and Thurlow Weed, founder of the obligations in New England completed, Lincoln and his family finally started for home. He stopped in Albany, New York, to meet Millard Fillmore, the Whig vice presidential candidate, and Thurlow Weed, founder of the Albany Evening Journal Albany Evening Journal and a close friend of Seward's. In Buffalo, the Lincolns took a boat trip to see Niagara Falls. Lincoln was ”overwhelmed in the contemplation of the vast power the sun is constantly exerting in quiet, noiseless operation of lifting water and a close friend of Seward's. In Buffalo, the Lincolns took a boat trip to see Niagara Falls. Lincoln was ”overwhelmed in the contemplation of the vast power the sun is constantly exerting in quiet, noiseless operation of lifting water up up to be rained to be rained down down again.” He wrote some notes about this experience, thinking of turning it into an essay. ”It calls up the indefinite past. When Columbus first sought this continent-when Christ suffered on the cross-when Moses led Israel through the Red Sea-nay, even when Adam first came from the hand of his Maker-then as now, Niagara was roaring here.” again.” He wrote some notes about this experience, thinking of turning it into an essay. ”It calls up the indefinite past. When Columbus first sought this continent-when Christ suffered on the cross-when Moses led Israel through the Red Sea-nay, even when Adam first came from the hand of his Maker-then as now, Niagara was roaring here.”

The Lincolns traveled on the steamer Globe Globe from Buffalo to Chicago, covering the 1,047 miles in the astounding time of sixty hours. During the voyage, the s.h.i.+p became stranded on a sandbar. The captain called for the hands to collect loose planks and empty casks and barrels and try to force them under the boat to help lift it off the sandbar. Lincoln observed this operation closely, perhaps remembering similar problems in navigating the Sangamon and the Mississippi. from Buffalo to Chicago, covering the 1,047 miles in the astounding time of sixty hours. During the voyage, the s.h.i.+p became stranded on a sandbar. The captain called for the hands to collect loose planks and empty casks and barrels and try to force them under the boat to help lift it off the sandbar. Lincoln observed this operation closely, perhaps remembering similar problems in navigating the Sangamon and the Mississippi.

On October 10, 1848, the Lincolns finally arrived home in Springfield. Lincoln quickly learned that many of his const.i.tuents held him in disfavor. While campaigning for Taylor in the Seventh District, Lincoln found himself criticized for opposing President Polk on the war with Mexico. The Illinois State Register Illinois State Register wrote, ”Lincoln has made nothing by coming to this part of the country to make speeches. He had better have stayed away.” Nevertheless, on Election Day, November 7, Lincoln joined the cheering in his hometown when Taylor won the presidency, carrying the Seventh District by nearly fifteen hundred votes. wrote, ”Lincoln has made nothing by coming to this part of the country to make speeches. He had better have stayed away.” Nevertheless, on Election Day, November 7, Lincoln joined the cheering in his hometown when Taylor won the presidency, carrying the Seventh District by nearly fifteen hundred votes.