The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln : Chapter 6 - The New President

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter six of the Boy's Life of Abraham Lincoln by
Helen Nicolay. This Liebervox recording is in the public domain
recording by Tom Weiss Tom's audiobooks dot Com. Chapter six,
The New President. Lincoln's great skill and wisdom in his
debate with Douglas turned the eyes of the whole country

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upon him, and the force and logic of his Cooper
Institute's speech convinced every one that in him they had
discovered a new national leader. He began to be mentioned
as a possible candidate for president in the election which
was to take place that fall to choose a successor
to President Buchanan. Indeed, quite a year earlier, an editor

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in Illinois had written to him asking permission to announce
him as a candidate in his newspaper. At that time,
Lincoln had refused, thanking him for the compliment, but adding modestly,
I must encounter say that I do not think myself
fit for the presidency. About Christmas time eighteen fifty nine, however,

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a number of his staunchest Illinois friends urged him to
let them use his name, and he consented, not so
much in the hope of being chosen as of perhaps
receiving denomination for vice president, or at least of making
a show of strength that would aid him at some
future time to become senator. The man most talked about
as the probable Republican candidate for president was William H. Sewart,

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who was the United States Senator from New York and
had also been governor of that state. The political unrest continued,
slavery was still the most absorbing topic, and it was
upon their stand for or against slavery that all the
presidential candidates were chosen. The pretensions and demands of the
Southern leaders had by this time passed into threats. They

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declared roundly that they would take their states out of
the Union if slavery were not quickly make lawful all
over the country, or in case a black Republican president
should be elected. The Democrats, unable to agree among themselves,
split into two sections, the Northerners nominating Stephen A. Douglas
for president, while delegates who had come to their national

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convention from what were called the Cotton States chose John C. Breckinridge.
A few men who had belonged to the old Whig
Party but felt themselves unable to join the Republicans or
either faction of the Democrats met elsewhere and nominated John Bell.
This breaking up of their political enemies into three distinct
camps greatly cheered the Republicans and whether National Convention came

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together in Chicago on May sixteenth, eighteen sixty. Its members
were filled with the most eager enthusiasm. Its meetings were
held in a huge temporary wooden building called the Wigwam,
so large that ten thousand people could easily assemble in
it to watch the proceedings. Few conventions have shown such
depth of feeling. Not only the delegates on the central platform,

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but even the spectators seemed impressed with the fact that
they were making part in a great historical event. The
first two days were taken up in seating delegates, adopting
a platform or statement of party principles, and in other
necessary routine matters. On the third day, however, it was
certain that balloting would begin, and crowds hurried to the

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Wigwam in a fever of curiosity. The New York Men,
sure that Seward would be the choice of the convention,
marched there in a body with music and banners. The
Friends of Lincoln arrived before them, and while not making
so much nois or show, were doing good work for
their favorite. The long nominating speeches of later years had

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not then come into fashion. I take the liberty, simply
said mister Evarts of New York to name his candidate
to be nominated by this convention for the President of
the United States, Will you ate Seward? And at mister
Sewart's name, a burst of applause broke forth, so long
and loud that it seemed fairly to shake the great building.

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Mister j Out of Illinois performed the same office of
friendship for mister Lincoln, and the tremendous cheering that rose
from the throats of his friends echoed and dashed itself
against the sides of the wigwam died down and began
anew until the noise that had been made by Sewart's
admirers dwindled to comparative feebleness. Again and again, these contests

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of lungs and enthusiasm were repeated as other names were
presented to the convention. At last the voting began. Two
names stood out beyond all the rest on the very
first ballot, Sewart's and Lincoln's. The second ballot showed that
Sewart had lost votes while Lincoln had gained them. The
third ballot was begun in almost painful suspense, delegates and

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spectators keeping count upon their tally sheets with nervous fingers.
It was found that Lincoln had gained still more and
now only needed one and a half votes to receive
the nomination. Suddenly, the wigwam became as still as a church.
Everybody leaned forward to see who would break the spell.
A man sprang upon a chair and reported a change

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of four votes to Lincoln. Then a teller shouted a
name towards the skylight, and the boom of a cannon
from the roof announced the nomination and started to cheering
down the long Chicago streets while inside delegation after delegation
changed its votes to the victor in a whirlwind of hurrahs.
That same afternoon, the convention finished its slabs by nominating

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Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for Vice president, and adjourned the
delegates speeding homeward on the night trains, realizing by the
bonfires and cheering crowds at every little station that a
memorable presidential campaign was already begun. During this campaign, there
were then four presidential candidates in the field, in the

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order of strength shown at the election. They were one
the Republican Party, whose platform or statement of party principles,
declared that slavery was wrong and that its further spread
should be prevented. Its candidates were Abraham Lincoln of Illinois
for president and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for vice president.

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Two the Douglas wing of the Democratic Party, which declared
that it did not pretend to decide whether slavery was
right or wrong, and proposed to allow the people of
each state and territory to choose for themselves whether they
would or would not have it. Its candidates were Stephen A.
Douglas of Illinois for president and Hershel B. Johnson of

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Georgia for vice president. Three the Buchanan wing of the
Democratic Party, which declared that slavery was right and whose
policy was to extend it and to make new slave states.
Its candidates were John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for president
and Joseph Lane of Oregon for vice president. Four the

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Constitutional Union Party, which ignored slavery in its platform, declaring
that it recognized no political principles other than the Constitution
of the Country, the Union of the States, and the
enforcement of the laws. Its candidates were John Bell of
Tennessee for President and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for Vice President.

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In enthusiasm, the Republicans quickly took the lead. Wide awake,
clubs of young men were in caps and capes of
glazed oilcloth to protect their clothing from the dripping oil
of their torches, gathered in torch like prossessions. Miles in
length fence rails supposed to have been made by Lincoln
in his youth were set up in party headquarters and
trimmed with flowers and lighted tapers. Lincoln was called the

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rail splitter candidate, and this telling name added to the
equally telling honest old Dabe by which he had long
been known in Illinois. Furnished country and city campaign orators
with a powerful appeal to the sympathy and trust of
the working people of the United States, men and women
read in newspaper and in pamphlet biographies the story of

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his humble beginnings, how he had risen by simple earnest
work and native genius, first to fame and leadership in
his own state, and then to fame and leadership in
the nation, and these titles quickly grew to be much
more than mere party nicknames, to stand for a faith
and trust destined to play no small part in the
history of the next few years. After the nominations were made,

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Douglas went on a tour of speech making through the South. Lincoln,
on the contrary, stayed quietly at home in Springfield. His
personal habits and surroundings buried little during the whole of
this campaign. Summer, naturally, he gave up active law practice,
leaving his office in charge of his partner, William H. Herndon.
He spent the time during the usual business hours of

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each day in the Governor's room of the State House
at Springfield, attended only by his private secretary, mister Nicolay.
Friends and strangers alike were able to visit him freely
and without ceremony, and few went away without being impressed
by the sincere frankness of his manner and conversation. All
sorts of people came to see him, those from far

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away states east and West, as well as those from
nearer home. Politicians came to ask him for future favors,
and many whose only motives were friendliness or curiosity called
to express their good wishes and take the Republican candidate
by the hand. He wrote no public letters, and he
made no speeches beyond a few words of thanks and

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greeting to passing street parades. Even the strictly private letters
in which he gave his advice and points in the
campaign were not more than a dozen in number. But
all through the long summer, while welcoming his throngs of visitors,
listening to the tales of old settlers, making friends of strangers,
and binding old friends closer by his ready sympathy, mister

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Lincoln watched political developments very closely, not merely to note
the progress of his own chances, but with an anxious
view to the future in case he should be elected.
Beyond the ever changing circle of friendly faces near him,
he saw the growing unrest and anger of the South,
and doubtless felt the uncertainty of many good people in

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the North, who questioned the power of this untried Western
man to guide the country through the coming perils. Never
over confident of his own powers, his mind must at
times have been full of misgivings. But it was only
on the night of the election November sixth eighteen sixty,
when sitting all alone with the operators in the little

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telegraph opposite Springfield, he read the messages of Republican victory
that fell from the wires, until convinced of his election
that the overwhelming, almost crushing weight of his coming duties
and responsibilities fell upon him. In that hour, grappling resolutely
and alone with the problem before him, he completed what

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was really the first act of his presidency, the choice
of his cabinet of the men who were to weigh him.
People who doubted the will or the wisdom of their
real splitter candidate need have had no fear. A weak
man would have chosen this little band of counselors, the
Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the
half dozen others who were to stand closest to him

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and to be at the head of the great departments
of the government, from among his personal friends. A man
uncertain of his own power would have taken care that
no other man of strong nature with a great following
of his own should be there to dispute his authority.
Lincoln did the very opposite. He had a sincere belief
in public opinion and a deep respect for the popular will.

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In this case, he felt that no men represented that
popular will so truly as those whose names had been
considered by the Republican National Convention in its choice of
a candidate for president. So instead of gathering about him
as friends, he selected his most powerful rivals in the
Republican Party. William Ate Seward of New York was to

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be his Secretary of State. Samon P. Chase of Ohio
his secretary of the Treasury, Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania his
secretary of War, Edward Gates of Missouri his attorney general.
The names of all of these men had been before
the Convention. Each one had hoped to be president in
his stead. For the other three members of his cabinet,

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he had to look elsewhere. Dideon Wells of Connecticut for
Secretary of the Navy, Montgomery Blair of Maryland for postmaster General,
and Caleb B. Smith of Indiana for Secretary of the
Interior were finally chosen when people complained, as they sometimes did,
that by this arrangement the cabinet consisted of four men

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who had been Democrats in the old days, and only
three who had been Whigs. Lincoln smiled his wise, humorous
smile and answered that he himself had been a Whig
and would always be there to make matters. Even it
is not likely that this exact list was in his
mind on the night of the November election, but the
principal names in it most certainly were. To some of

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these gentlemen he offered their appointments by letter. Others he
asked to visit him in Springfield to talk the matter over.
Much delay and some misunderstanding occurred before the list was
finally completed, but when he sent it to the Senate
on the day after his inauguration, it was practically the
one he had in his mind from the beginning. A

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president is elected by popular vote early in November, but
he is not inaugurated until the following fourth of March.
Until the day of his inauguration, when he takes the
oath of office and begins to discharge his duties, he
is not only not president, he has no more power
in the affairs of government than the humblest private citizen.

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It is easy to imagine the anxieties and misgivings that
beset mister Lincoln during the four long months that lay
between his election and his inauguration. True to their threats
never to endure the rule of a black Republican president.
The Cotton States, one act after the other, withdrew their
senators and representatives from Congress, passed what they called ordinances

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of secession, and declared themselves to be no longer a
part of the United States. One after another, two army
and navy officers stationed in the Southern States gave up
to the Southern leaders in this movement, the forts, navy yards, arsenals, mints, ships,
and other government property under their charge. President Buchanan, in

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whose hands alone rested the power to punish these traders
and avenge their insults to the government he had sworn
to protect and defend, showed no disposition to do so,
and Lincoln, looking on with a heavy heart, was unable
to interfere in any way. No matter how anxiously he
might watch the developments at Washington or in the Cotton States.

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No matter what appeals might be made to him, no
action of any kind was possible on his part. The
only bit of cheer that came to him and other
union men during this anxious season of waiting was in
the conduct of Major Robert Anderson at Charleston Harbor, who,
instead of following the example of other officers who were
proving unfaithful, boldly defied the Southern secessionist and moving his

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little handful of soldiers into the harbor fort best fitted
for defense, prepared to hold out against them until help
could reach him from Washington. In February, the leaders of
the Southern people met at Montgomery, Alabama, adopted a constitution
and set up a government, which they called the Confederate
States of America, electing Jefferson Davis of Mississippi president and

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Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia vice president. Stephens was the little, slim,
pale faced, consumptive man whose speech in Congress had won
Lincoln's admiration. Years before, Davis had been the child who
began his schooling so near to Lincoln in Kentucky. He
had had a far different career. Good fortune had carried

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him to West Point, into the Mexican War, into the
cabinet of President Franks Pierce, and twice into the Senate.
He had had money, high office, the best education his
country could give him, everything it seemed that had been
denied to Lincoln. Now the two men were the chosen
heads of two great opposing factions, one bent of destroying

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the government that had treated him so kindly, the other
for whom it had done so little, willing to lay
down his life in its defense. It must not be
supposed that Lincoln remained idle during those four months of waiting.
Besides completing his cabinet and receiving as many visitors, he
devoted himself to writing his inaugural address, withdrawing himself for

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some hours each day to a quiet room over the
store of his brother in law, where he could think
and write undisturbed. The newspaper correspondence, who had gathered at Springfield,
though alert for every item of news and especially anxious
for a sight of his inaugural address, seeing him every
day as usual, got not the slightest hint of what

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he was doing. Mister Lincoln started on his journey to
Washington on February eleventh, eighteen sixty one, two days after
Jefferson Davis had been elected President of the Confederate States
of America. He went on a special train, accompanied by
Missus Lincoln and their three children, his two private secretaries,
and about a dozen personal friends. Mister Sewart had suggested

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that because of the unsettled condition of public affairs. It
would be better for the President elect to come a
week earlier, but mister Lincoln allowed himself only time comfortably
to fill the engagements he had made to visit the
state capitals and principal cities that lay on his way,
to which he had been invited by state and town officials,
regardless of party. The morning on which he left Springfield

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was dismal and stormy, but fully a thousand of his
friends and neighbors assembled to bid him farewell. The weather
seemed to add to the gloomy depression of their spirits,
and the leave taking was one of subdued anxiety, almost
a solemnity. Mister Lincoln took his stand in the waiting room,
while his friends filed past him, often merely pressing his

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hand in silent emotion. The arrival of the rushing train
broke in upon this ceremony, and the crowd closed about
the car into which the President elect and his party
made their way just as they were starting. When the
conductor have his hand upon the bell rope, mister Lincoln
stepped out upon the front platform and made the following
brief and pathetic address. It was the last time his

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voice was to be heard in the city which had
so long been his home. My friends, no one not
in my situation can appreciate my feeling of sadness at
this parting to this place and the kindness of these people.
I owe everything here. I have lived a quarter of
a sentry, and have passed from a young to an

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old man. Here my children have been born, and one
is buried. I now leave, not knowing when or whether
ever I may return with a task before me greater
than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of
that divine being whoever attended him, I cannot succeed. With

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that assistance. I cannot fail. Trusting in him who can
go with me and remain with you, and be everywhere
for good. Let us confidently hope that all will yet
be well to his care. Commending you, as I hope
in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you
an affectionate farewell. The conductor gave the signal. The train

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rolled slowly out of the station, and the journey to
Washington was begun. It was a remarkable progress. At almost
every station, even the smallest crowds had gathered to catch
a glimpse of the face of the President elect, or
at least to see the flying train. At the larger
stopping places, these crowds swelled the thousands, and in the

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great cities through almost unmanageable throngs. Everywhere there were calls
for mister Lincoln, and if he showed himself for a
speech when there was time, he would go to the
rear platform of the car and bow as the train
moved away, or utter a few words of thanks and greeting.
At the capitals of Indiana, Ohio, New York, New Jersey,

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and Pennsylvania, and in the cities of Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo,
New York, and Philadelphia, halts of one or two days
were made, the time being filled with formal visits and
addresses to each of the legislature, street possessions, large evening receptions,
and other ceremonies. Party foes as well as party friends
made up these expectant crowds. Every eye was eager, every

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ear strained to get some hint of the thoughts and
purposes of the man who was to be the guide
and head of the nation in the crisis that everyone
now knew to be upon the country. With the courset,
end of which the wisest could not foresee. In spite
of all the cheers and the enthusiasm, there was also
an undercurrent of anxiety for his personal safety, for the

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outs had openly boasted that Lincoln would never live to
be inaugurated president. He himself paid no heed to such warnings.
With the railroad officials and others who were responsible for
his journey had detectives on watch at different points to
report any suspicious happenings. Nothing occurred to change the program
already agreed upon until the party reached Philadelphia. But there

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mister Lincoln was met by Frederick W. Sewart, the son
of his future Secretary of State, with an important message
from his father. A plot had been discovered to do
violence too and perhaps killed the President elect. As he
passed through the city of Baltimore, mister Sewart at General Scott,
the venerable hero of the Mexican War, who was now

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at the head of the army, begged him to run
no risk, but to alder his plans so that a
portion of his party might pass through Baltimore by a
night train without previous notice. The seriousness of this warning
was doubled by the fact that mister Lincoln had just
been told of a similar, if not exactly the same
danger by a Chicago detective employed in Baltimore by one

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of the great railroad companies. Two such warnings coming from
entirely different sources could not be disregarded. For, however much
mister Lincoln might dislike to change his plans for so
shadowy a danger, his duty to the people who had
elected him forbade his running any unnecessary risk. Accordingly, after
fulfilling all his engagements in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, on February

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twenty two, he and a single companion took a night train,
passed quietly through Baltimore, and arrived in Washington about daylight
on the morning of February twenty three. This action called
forth much talk, ranging from the highest praise to ridicule
and blame. A reckless newspaper reporter telegraphed all over the

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country the absurd story that he had traveled disguised in
the Scotch cap and a long military cloak. There was,
of course, not a word of truth in the absurd tale.
The rest of the party followed mister Lincoln at the
time originally planned, they saw great crowds in the streets
of Baltimore, but there was now no occasion for violence.

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In the week that passed between his arrival and the
day of his inauguration, mister Lincoln exchanged the customary visits
of ceremony with President Buchanan, his cabinet, the Supreme Court,
the two Houses of Congress, and other dignitaries. Careful preparations
for the inauguration had been made under the personal direction
of General Scott, who held the small military force in

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the city, ready instantly to suppress any attempt to disserve
the peace and quiet of the day. On the morning
of the fourth of March, President Buchanan and Citizen Lincoln,
the outgoing and incoming heads of the government, rode side
by side in the carriage from the Executive Mansion, or
White House, as it is more commonly called, to the Capital,

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escorted by an imposing possession, and at noon a great
throng of people heard mister Lincoln read his inaugural address
as he stood on the east portico of the Capitol,
surrounded by all the high officials of the government. Senator Douglas,
his unsuccessful rival, standing not at arm's length away from him,
courteously held his hat during the ceremony. A cheer greeted

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him as he finished his address. Then the Chief Justice arose,
The clerk opened his Bible, and mister Lincoln, laying his
hand upon the book, pronounced the yeath. I, Abraham Lincoln,
do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office
of President of the United States, and will, to the
best of my ability, preserve or protect and defend the

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Constitution of the United States. Amid the thundering of cannon
and applause of all the spectators, President Lincoln and Citizen
Buchanan again entered her carriage and drove back from the
Capital to the executed Mansion, on a threshold of which
mister Buchanan, warmly shaking the hand of his successor, expressed
his wishes for the personal happiness of the new President

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and for the national peace and prosperity. End of Chapter six.
Recording by Tom West Tom's Audio books dot Com.