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Lincoln Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the Lincoln novel. A total of 174 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : LINCOLN.by DAVID HERBERT DONALD.Preface The only time I ever met President John F. Kenne
LINCOLN.by DAVID HERBERT DONALD.Preface The only time I ever met President John F. Kennedy, in February 1962, he was unhappy with historians. A group of scholars had been in the Oval Office hoping to enlist him in a poll that ranked American presidents. I
- 1 LINCOLN.by DAVID HERBERT DONALD.Preface The only time I ever met President John F. Kennedy, in February 1962, he was unhappy with historians. A group of scholars had been in the Oval Office hoping to enlist him in a poll that ranked American presidents. I
- 2 Starved for affection, Abraham returned her love. He called her "Mama," and he never spoke of her except in the most affectionate terms. After he had been elected President, he recalled the sorry condition of Thomas Lincoln's household before Sarah Bus
- 3 Years afterward the doggerel was still remembered in southern Indiana. According to one settler, parts of it were known "better than the Bible-better than Watts hymns."If the whole episode had any significance, it indicated that Lincoln needed to break
- 4 III Consoling as that expression of neighborly support was, it did little to solve his acute financial problems. As he noted in an autobiographical statement: "He was now without means and out of business, but was anxious to remain with his friends who h
- 5 After McNamar left, Ann told his story to other members of her family, who received it with skepticism. There was, they thought, something wrong in McNamar's story about deserting his family in order to save them. A man who changed his name must have a l
- 6 I To Eastern observers, Springfield in the 1830s was a frontier town. Though there were a few brick edifices, many of the residences were still log houses. If the roads were wide, they were unpaved; in the winter wagons struggled through axle-deep mud, an
- 7 Acknowledging "his share of the responsibility devolving upon us in the present crisis," Lincoln looked for alternative ways to finance the building of roads and ca.n.a.ls. For a time he placed much hope in a plan, similar to one he had advanced earlier
- 8 When he told Speed what had happened, his friend said, "The last thing is a bad lick, but it cannot now be helped," and he a.s.sumed the engagement still stood. But after Lincoln left, Mary brooded over "the reason of his change of mind-heart and soul
- 9 II Running a household required money, and Lincoln set about earning it with greater energy than he had ever before demonstrated. A few years later, in notes he prepared for a lecture on the legal profession, he began, "The leading rule for the lawyer, a
- 10 In addition, Lincoln remained on the circuit because he enjoyed the life. What others considered hards.h.i.+ps were matters of complete indifference to him. He did not care where he slept, and he ate whatever food was put in front of him. If there were dr
- 11 After his election victory Lincoln could relax. Since the Thirtieth Congress, to which he had been chosen, did not a.s.semble until December 1847, he had over a year to prepare for his move to Was.h.i.+ngton. His only notable public appearance during the
- 12 Herndon, too, reported that "murmurs of dissatisfaction began to run through the Whig ranks." He deplored Lincoln's vote for the Ashmun resolution, took it for granted that Lincoln's opposition to the war meant that he would not vote to supply the arm
- 13 Lincoln tried to maintain this balance after he took his seat in the House of Representatives. He took no part in the repeated and acrimonious debates over the Wilmot Proviso, which prohibited slavery in the territories acquired as a result of the Mexican
- 14 The heart of Lincoln's law practice continued to be in the circuit courts, and Lincoln & Herndon did its largest business in the Sangamon County Circuit Court. In August 1849, at the first session of that court held after Lincoln's return from Congress,
- 15 The Illinois Supreme Court heard the case of Illinois Central Railroad v. The County of McLean in its spring 1854 term, with Lincoln's two former partners, Logan and Stuart, representing the county. Lincoln and James F. Joy, the railroad's attorney, app
- 16 Largely perfunctory, Lincoln's eulogy on Henry Clay came alive only in its final paragraphs. Of the hundreds of funeral addresses' on the Kentucky statesman, Lincoln's was one of the very few that explicitly dealt with Clay's views on slavery. Clay "
- 17 Lincoln next attacked Douglas's arguments in favor of that measure. Claiming that repeal of the Missouri Compromise was not necessary in order to set up a territorial government in Nebraska, he showed that in recent years both Iowa and Minnesota had been
- 18 Nevertheless, he took the train to Cincinnati, where he called on Harding at the Burnet House. The Philadelphia lawyer was not impressed; he described Lincoln as "a tall rawly boned, ungainly back woodsman, with coa.r.s.e, ill-fitting clothing, his trous
- 19 Two weeks after the 1856 presidential election the fall term of the Sangamon County Circuit Court opened, and Lincoln & Herndon had five cases on the first day, ten on the second. Thereafter the partners appeared in court day after day, mostly in suits of
- 20 We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation.Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augment
- 21 Lincoln could not stay in his office to manage the campaign because he was constantly in demand as a speaker. Day after day, both Democrats and Republicans held rallies all across the state. Republican foot soldiers were deployed to the smaller gatherings
- 22 Then, becoming serious, he again charged ("without questioning motives at all") that Douglas was part of a plan to make slavery national. To do this Douglas was willing to distort history and to rewrite the story of the American Revolution; he was "goi
- 23 He also tried to keep Republicans in other states from shattering the party harmony. When Republicans in Ma.s.sachusetts, where nativism was strong, endorsed a const.i.tutional provision requiring naturalized citizens to wait two years before they could v
- 24 The first step was to secure the unanimous support of the Illinois delegation. This was not an easy task, because both the Sewardites in northern Illinois and the Bates men in the south favored selecting delegates by districts, thus, as Judd said, "hopin
- 25 Occasionally Lincoln thought of taking a more active role in the campaign, imitating Douglas, who was flouting precedent and making stump speeches in behalf of his candidacy. When Seward, who recovered from his momentary pique, went on a barnstorming tour
- 26 Keeping this list in mind, Lincoln proceeded with his customary caution. Two days after the election he asked Hannibal Hamlin, whom he had never met face-to-face, to meet him in Chicago. There on November 21 the future President and the future Vice Presid
- 27 All the Lincolns made affectionate farewell visits to their Springfield friends. One of Lincoln's last calls was on Herndon, whom Lincoln had not seen frequently during the months after the election. The partners discussed legal matters and talked about
- 28 The selection of Chase was a bitter dose for Seward, who had increasingly come to think of himself as the premier of the incoming Lincoln administration. In his mind the brilliant policy he had pursued in the Senate had saved the country during the months
- 29 Thus two projects got under way at the same time. The Sumter mission, pressed chiefly by Welles and Blair, was largely a naval expedition commanded by Fox; the Pickens expedition, sponsored by Seward, was an army affair led by Meigs. The task forces prepa
- 30 Lincoln's July 4, 1861, message to the special session of Congress offered a full explanation of the course he had pursued in the Sumter crisis, blamed the Southerners for beginning the conflict, and defended the subsequent actions he had taken to sustai
- 31 V At the same time, Mary Lincoln was achieving some successes of her own, and she became the most conspicuous female occupant of the Executive Mansion since Dolley Madison. Brought up with an active interest in public affairs, deeply involved in her husba
- 32 Lincoln's first State of the Union message, which a clerk read to Congress on December 3, 1861, was a perfunctory doc.u.ment. Cobbling together reports from the various heads of departments, the President made a few interesting recommendations, such as c
- 33 On January 13, McClellan rose from his sickbed to join in the discussion. Clearly regarding these meetings as a conspiracy against him, the general-in-chief was sullen and uncommunicative. When Lincoln again rehea.r.s.ed the urgent reasons for actions and
- 34 Mary Lincoln's grief over Willie's death was even more devastating than her husband's. Having earlier lost Eddie in Springfield, she could not deal with this second death, and for three weeks she took to her bed, so desolated that she could not attend
- 35 VII Lincoln's military plans bore equally meager results. After McClellan's demotion the President and the Secretary of War, neither of whom had any significant military experience, found themselves swamped by administrative detail as they tried to dire
- 36 The letter was couched in respectful language, and there was nothing insubordinate about it. McClellan had earlier requested the President's permission to present his general ideas about the conflict and Lincoln said he would welcome his "views as to [t
- 37 Victory did not come. Throughout July, McClellan's huge army sweltered on the Peninsula, its commander unable to take the offensive and unwilling to withdraw. The general was furious that Halleck, and not he, had been named general-in-chief, and he spent
- 38 II However m.u.f.fled, the voice of the people found expression in the 1862 fall elections for governors and congressmen, in which the President's party suffered major reverses. The outcome was hardly surprising to Lincoln. After all, he had been elected
- 39 Naming Rosecrans and Burnside was a shrewd move. Burnside, in particular, was a happy choice. In addition to having some military reputation from his expedition against Roanoke Island, he looked like a great commander. His st.u.r.dy figure, his commanding
- 40 Any chance for Lincoln's plan for a speedy restoration of the Union was lost on December 13. General Burnside, against the advice and warnings of the President, threw the Army of the Potomac across the Rappahannock into Fredericksburg. Then he ordered hi
- 41 Lincoln felt he had no alternative but to rescind his order, endorsing it "Withdrawn, because considered harsh by Gen. Halleck." Heading an administration which he had barely saved from collapse, after the two princ.i.p.al members had offered their resi
- 42 IV Seymour's speech killed hopes of a political realignment that would have created a centrist party consisting of most Republicans and War Democrats. Talk of such a realignment had been in the air for months. Indeed, in the fall elections of 1862 in sev
- 43 By spring the President was urging a ma.s.sive recruitment of Negro troops. When neither General Butler nor General Fremont accepted his offer to go South and raise a black army, Lincoln turned directly to men already in the field. "The colored populatio
- 44 While Lincoln was trying to establish his control over the Army of the Potomac, he also sought to give a new direction to public opinion. Up to this point he had largely accepted the traditional view that the President, once elected, had no direct dealing
- 45 Lincoln could not spend much time at his wife's bedside because on July 13 draft riots erupted in New York City. Attempts to enforce the conscription act led to resistance in many parts of the country-in Holmes County, Ohio, Rush and Sullivan counties in
- 46 For these successes Republicans gave much credit to Lincoln's public letters-to the Conkling letter in particular, but also to those addressed to Corning and Birchard concerning Vallandigham and to Seymour concerning the draft. These letters were conside
- 47 The message showed that it had been composed under difficulty; it was, several newspapers remarked, less "Lincolnian" than his earlier messages, and certainly it missed several opportunities. The President did follow up one of the themes of his Gettysbu
- 48 Inevitably these political maneuvers affected Lincoln's program for reconstructing the Southern states. Always alert to what they perceived as a threat of Caesarism, Democrats immediately saw political implications in the 10 percent plan. "By setting up
- 49 In so doing, he grievously offended New York Conservatives led by Thurlow Weed. "Distinctly and emphatically" Weed asked David Davis to tell the President "that if this Custom House is left in custody of those who have for two years sent 'aid and comf
- 50 At any rate, Lincoln was pleased by the outcome of the convention. When a committee of delegates came to the White House on June 9 to give him official notification of his renomination, he replied: "I will neither conceal my gratification, nor restrain t
- 51 The outcry against Grant made the President want to see for himself what was happening with the Army of the Potomac, and on June 20, accompanied by Tad, he made an unheralded visit to Grant's headquarters at City Point. Looking, as Horace Porter, one of
- 52 IV Lincoln was more troubled by the effect that his "To Whom It May Concern" letter had on the conservative elements of his following. It hit the War Democrats hardest. Charles D. Robinson, Democratic editor of the Green Bay (Wisconsin) Advocate, best e
- 53 But the Postmaster General had become a controversial figure, more hated by the Radicals than even Seward. His blunt denunciations of abolitionists, his continuing advocacy of the colonization of African-Americans, his fierce opposition to Radical schemes
- 54 Election night was rainy and foggy in Was.h.i.+ngton, and the President spent the evening at the War Department waiting for the returns. The first reports were encouraging, and he sent them over to Mrs. Lincoln, saying, "She is more anxious than I." Pre
- 55 One important bit of a.s.sistance Lincoln gave to the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment he was not prepared to make public at the time. During the last days of debate in the House of Representatives, rumors spread that Confederate commissioners were on
- 56 It was a remarkably impersonal address. After the opening paragraph, Lincoln did not use the first-person-singular p.r.o.noun, nor did he refer to anything he had said or done during the previous four years. Notably lacking from his brief account of how t
- 57 Landing without notice or fanfare, the President was first recognized by some black workmen. Their leader, a man about sixty, dropped his spade and rushed forward, exclaiming, "Bless the Lord, there is the great Messiah! ... Glory, Hallelujah!" He and t
- 58 At least one member of the crowd outside the White House that night recognized how much Lincoln was conceding to the Radicals. John Wilkes Booth fumed with hatred for the President. Born in Maryland in a slaveholding community, the twenty-six-year-old act
- 59 On one of his visits to the War Department, Lincoln asked Stanton if Major Thomas T. Eckert, chief of the telegraph bureau, could accompany him to the theater. Eckert was a man of exceptional strength, who once, in order to demonstrate the poor quality of
- 60 Courtesy of the Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield Stephen T. Logan Meserve-Kunhardt Collection The Lincoln & Herndon Law Office. This unusually tidy view was sketched after the senior partner had been elected President. Courtesy of the Illino
- 61 The National Archives RIVALS IN THE GREAT DEBATES OF 1858 Abraham Lincoln The Library of Congress The President-elect grows a beard. In response to suggestions by Grace Bedell and others, Lincoln decided to let his whiskers grow. By the time he posed for
- 62 General Irvin McDowell Meserve-Kunhardt Collection General Henry W. Halleck Meserve-Kunhardt Collection PRESIDENT LINCOLN AND HIS SONS William Wallace ("Willie") Lincoln (1850-1862) Courtesy of the Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield Robert T
- 63 LINCOLNS OFFICE IN THE WHITE HOUSE Lincolns office was on the second floor of the White House, in the East Wing. The painting over the fireplace is of Andrew Jackson. This sketch was drawn by C. K. Stellwagen in October 1864. Western Reserve Historical So
- 64 "FIRST READING OF THE EMANc.i.p.aTION PROCLAMATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN" This engraving, made from Francis B. Carpenters huge oil painting completed in 1864, shows the President reading the draft of his Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation to members of the cab
- 65 Taken by Alexander Gardner in Was.h.i.+ngton on November 8, 1863, this profile view shows how Lincoln had matured as President into a benign, self-a.s.sured leader who (despite the admonitions of the photographer to make absolutely no movement) dared vent
- 66 AL-Abraham Lincoln ALQ-Abraham Lincoln Quarterly Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln-Jean Harvey Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1987) Bates, Diary-Howard K. Beale, ed., Diary of Edward Bates, 18591866 (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: Gove
- 67 LL-Lincoln Lore McClellan, Civil War Papers-Stephen W. Sears, ed., The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan (New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1989) Nicolay and Hay-John G. Nicolay and John Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History (10 vols.; New York: Century Co., 18
- 68 20 "and absolute darkness": W. D. Howells, Life of Abraham Lincoln (facsimile ed.; Springfield, Ill.: Abraham Lincoln a.s.sociation, 1938), p. 18. Howells's biography carries unusual authority because Lincoln, at the request of a friend, read it and co
- 69 26 called milk sickness: Milton H. Shutes, Lincoln and the Doctors (New York: Pioneer Press, 1933), pp. 45; Philip D. Jordan, "The Death of Nancy Hanks Lincoln," Indiana Magazine of History 40 (June 1944): 103110; Warren, Lincoln's Youth, pp. 5153, 228
- 70 30 "for his age": Ibid.31 "men struggled for": CW, 4:235236.31 in elementary mathematics: The following paragraph is based on an excellent article by Maurice Dorfman, "Lincoln's Arithmetic Education: Influence on His Life," LH 68 (Summer 1966): 618
- 71 34 "fairer before me": Carpenter, Six Months, pp. 9798.34 "'weighed anchor and left": CW, 4: 62.35 "felt miffed-insulted": William Wood, statement to WHH, Sept. 15, 1865, HWC.35 "The Chronicles of Reuben": Herndon's Lincoln, 1:4548, gives a deta
- 72 41 "kindness and honesty": Mentor Graham to WHH, May 29, 1865, HWC. 41 "old law functionary": Jason Duncan to WHH, [1865], HWC. 42 "dollars per month": CW, 1:320. 42 "plenty of friends": Roy P. Basler, ed., "James Quay Howards Notes on Lincoln,"
- 73 47 "and transcendent genius": CW, 8:237. 48 "inexpressibly touching": Carpenter, Six Months, p. 59. 48 Sir Walter Scott: Ibid., pp. 6061. 48 "I am ruled": M. L. Houser, Lincolns Education and Other Essays (New York: Bookman a.s.sociates, 1957), pp.
- 74 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. 113114.53 "I ever saw": Herndon's Lincoln, l:181n.53 "in good ea
- 75 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.
- 76 68 "of woman's happiness": Herndon's Lincoln, 1:148; WHH, interview with Johnson G. Green, [1866], Lamon MSS.68 "or forty years": CW, 1:117118. Lincoln was probably referring to his stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln, no
- 77 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, 1:135136.76 "would go down": CW,
- 78 80 "native Spanish moss": CW, 1:109110. 81 "religion of the nation": CW, 1:112. 81 "in the land": CW, 1:69. 81 "or enslaving freemen ": CW, 1:113114. 81 "knew no rest": Herndons Lincoln, 2:375. 81 "he
- 79 86 still s.e.xually inexperienced: For sensitive comment on this point, see Strozier, Lincolns Quest for Union, pp. 4748. 86 "horrible and alarming": CW, 1:280. 87 His nerve snapped: Herndons elaborate story of how Lincoln failed to show up at t
- 80 90 "Be friends again": Herndon's Lincoln, 2:227.90 except Dr. Henry: See Harry E. Pratt, Dr. Anson G. Henry: Lincoln's Physician and Friend (Harrogate, Tenn.: Lincoln Memorial University, 1944), and Wayne C. Temple, Dr. Anson G. Henry:
- 81 95 "love and tenderness": Randall, Mary Lincoln, p. 81.95 "expressed the least": Charles B. Strozier, Lincoln's Quest for Union (New York: Basic Books, 1982), p. 78.96 Todd had purchased: The case was Todd v. Ware (1844). The very
- 82 102 "to jump far": WHH, "Lincoln as Lawyer Politician and Statesman," HWC.102 "a few other books": Angle, "Where Lincoln Practiced Law," p. 32.102 "things in order": Donald, Lincoln's Herndon, pp. 212
- 83 108 piece of firewood: Hidden Lincoln, p. 141. For other, similar anecdotes, see Herndons Lincoln, 3:425431. 108 "arms are long": Herndons Lincoln, 2:296. 109 out on the circuit: Gibson W. Harris to AL, Nov. 7, 1860, Lincoln MSS, LC; Frederick T
- 84 113 "Abraham's turn now": Riddle, Lincoln Runs for Congress, p. 102.114 "elected to congress": CW, 1:356.114 "to keep peace": CW, 1:366.114 "abilities and integrity": Riddle, Lincoln Runs for Congress, p. 157.1
- 85 121 "his own way": Busey, Personal Reminiscences, p. 28. 121 "others say nothing": CW, 1:465. 121 missed only 13: Paul Findley, A Lincoln: The Crucible of Congress (New York: Crown Publishers, 1979), pp. 167168. 121 of the Congress: Pr
- 86 125 "aggression on Mexico": CW, 1:473. 125 "the Whig ranks": Herndons Lincoln, 2:279. 125 "of another country": Herndons letters have not been preserved, but it is possible to reconstruct their contents from Lincolns replies
- 87 131 "I see you": CW, 1:477.131 he had appointments: The following paragraphs draw heavily on William F. Hanna's excellent monograph, Abraham Among the Yankees: Abraham Lincoln's 1848 Visit to Ma.s.sachusetts (Taunton, Ma.s.s.: Old Colo
- 88 135 "of the earth": Congressional Globe, 30 Cong., 2 sess., pp. 31, 38, 55, 83. 136 "of said District": CW, 1:75. 136 "to be abolished": Findley, A. Lincoln: The Crucible of Congress, pp. 138, 139. 136 "I was n.o.body&qu
- 89 140 to write letters: CW, 2:52.140 "of the State": Riddle, Congressman Abraham Lincoln, pp. 210, 122. The author of the letter, Caleb Birchall, was angry because Lincoln had failed to recommend him to be postmaster at Springfield. Boritt, "
- 90 145 the third day: Day by Day, 2:1819.145 of all cases: Donald, Lincoln's Herndon, p. 44.145 completed the furnis.h.i.+ngs: Herndon's Lincoln, 2:316317.145 "of the room": WHH to Jesse W. Weik, Oct. 21, 1885, HWC.145 "read the bett
- 91 150 "of such law": Ibid., p. 68.150 held as contempt: WHH to Jesse W. Weik, Nov. 20, 1885, HWC.150 "and defies deceit": "Cog," in Danville Illinois Citizen, May 29, 1850, photostat, David Davis MSS, Chicago Historical Society
- 92 154 significant railroad case: This account of the Barret case is drawn from the admirable monograph by William D. Beard, "'I Have Labored Hard to Find the Law': Abraham Lincoln for the Alton and Sangamon Railroad," Illinois Historical
- 93 160 "my mouth shut": WHH to J. W. Weik, Nov. 19, 1885, HWC.160 of their mother: The following paragraphs follow Donald, Lincoln's Herndon, pp. 188189.160 "insolent witty and bitter": WHH to J. W. Weik, Jan. 9, 1886, HWC.160 "
- 94 165 "or to myself": CW, 2:82.165 "are still aloft!": CW, 2:85.165 "the world respectably": CW, 2.124.165 "of his cause": CW, 2:126.165 views on slavery: Mark E. Neely, Jr., "American Nationalism in the Image of
- 95 170 "into free territory": CW, 2:227. 170 "Yates to congress": CW, 4:67. 171 "as english-vote": CW, 2:284. 171 "not taste liquor": CW, 10:24. 171 Yates as well: Franklin T. King to WHH, Sept. 12, 1890, HWC. 171 &quo
- 96 177 "throughout the world": CW, 2:276. 177 "of Human Freedom": This quotation is from a newspaper report of Lincolns speech in Springfield. CW, 2:242. 177 "felt himself overthrown": Journal, Oct. 10, 1854. 177 "all over
- 97 181 "the Union dissolved": CW, 2:270. 181 "an innocent one": CW, 2:256. 181 all "mere politicians": Zebina Eastman to WHH, Jan. 2, 1866, HWC. 181 "all his kin": C. H. Ray to E. B. Washburne, Dec. 24, 1855, Washburne
- 98 184 "of his friends": Joseph Gillespie, memorandum, Apr. 22, 1880, MS, Chicago Historical Society. 184 "he could be": Willard L. King, Lincolns Manager: David Davis (Cambridge, Ma.s.s.: Harvard University Press, 1960), p. 108. 184 &quo
- 99 190 with the Democrats: CW, 2:333. 190 "radicals and all": Herndon later claimed that he had "forged" Lincolns name, without his consent. For an examination of the evidence, see Donald, Lincolns Herndon, pp. 8688. 191 "kinder"
- 100 Don E. Fehrenbacher, Prelude to Greatness: Lincoln in the 1850's (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1962), is by far the best a.n.a.lysis of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. My indebtedness to this brilliant book, both for facts and interpreta