Lincoln in the World (51 page)

42
. Johannsen,
To the Halls of the Montezumas
, preface (first foreign war); David Davis to his wife, June 7, 1847, Davis Papers, ALPLM; Davis to his wife, June 25, 1847, ibid;
Sangamo Journal
, July 8, 1847. Robert W. Johannsen’s study of the war contends that “[i]t was the first American war to rest on a truly popular base” (Johannsen,
To the Halls of the Montezumas
, p. 16). For the final quote see Melville to Gansevoort Melville, May 29, 1846, in Davis and Gilman, eds.,
The Letters of Herman Melville
, p. 28; and Johannsen,
To the Halls of the Montezumas
, p. 10.

43
. White,
A. Lincoln
, p. 139. On Lincoln lobbying for the congressional nomination, see, for example, Lincoln to Henry E. Dummer, Nov. 18, 1845,
CWL
, vol 1., p. 350; Lincoln
to Benjamin F. James, Dec. 6, 1845,
CWL
, v. 1, pp. 351–52; Lincoln to N. J. Rockwell, Jan. 21, 1846, CWL, v. 1, p. 359. On the Lincolns’ aspirations for Washington, see also David Davis to his wife, Aug. 8, 1847, Davis Papers, ALPLM; and Burlingame,
Inner World
, p. 309 (“loom largely” etc.).

44
. Mary Lincoln biographer Ruth Randall, too, found this episode easy to visualize. She notes that her “imagination likes to play upon the Lincoln family” as they traveled on a riverboat during a leg of this trip (Randall,
Mary Lincoln
, p. 105). See also White,
A. Lincoln
, p. 139 (foliage etc.). The final quote is from Lincoln to William Henry Herndon, Dec. 13, 1847,
CWL
, v. 1, p. 420.

C
HAPTER
O
NE:
L
INCOLN VS
. H
ERNDON

1
. Richard W. Thompson, “Abraham Lincoln,” Richard W. Thompson Papers, ALPLM, pp. 10, 14–15; Whitney,
Life on the Circuit with Lincoln
, 37 (nervous). For a description of the House chamber, see the
Rockford Forum
, May 2, 1848, in Riddle,
Congressman Lincoln
, p. 74; Watterston,
A New Guide to Washington
, pp. 24–26; Dickens,
American Notes
, pp. 293–95; Maria Horsford to her children, quoted in Findley,
A. Lincoln: The Crucible of Congress
, p. 97; John J. Hardin to [David Allen Smith], Jan. 23, 1844, Hardin Family Papers, Chicago History Museum, quoted in
ALAL
, v. 1, p. 262; John J. Hardin to Eliza Caldwell Browning, Dec. 26, 1843, Orville H. Browning Papers, ALPLM, quoted in
ALAL
, v. 1, p. 264. Michael Burlingame, in
ALAL
, v. 1, pp. 261–64 and 266–68, offers a particularly complete and vivid description of the House and Lincoln’s speech.

2
. On Lincoln’s public speaking anxieties, see Henry C. Whitney,
Life on the Circuit with Lincoln
(Boston, 1892), p. 37, cited in RW, p. 492; Lincoln to Herndon, Jan. 8, 1848,
CWL
, v. 1, p. 430; and
ALAL
, v. 1, pp. 267–68. For an excellent physical description of Lincoln, see Herndon, “Analysis of the Character of Abraham Lincoln,” pp. 356–59. See also Sandburg,
Abraham Lincoln
, p. 91; and Oates,
With Malice Toward None
, loc. 437 (pants).

3
. Lincoln, “ ‘Spot’ Resolutions,” Dec. 22, 1847,
CWL
, v. 1, p. 421.

4
. Watterston,
A New Guide to Washington
, pp. 25–26; Baker, p. 140 (red-and-gold). On Lincoln’s voice see Herndon,
Herndon’s Lincoln
, p. 248; and Thomas,
Portrait for Posterity
, p. 107. For Lincoln’s Mexican War remarks, see “Speech in the United States House of Representatives: The War with Mexico,” Jan. 12, 1848, in
CWL
, v. 1, pp. 431–42.

5
.
Hudson River Chronicle
(Sing-Sing, N.Y.), Aug. 15, 1848, quoted in Foner,
Fiery Trial
, p. 53 (“abundance of gesture”); Omaha
Daily Bee
, Feb. 9, 1896, cited in
ALAL
, v. 1, p. 166 (hold him in place); William Henry Herndon to Truman Bartlett, July 19, 1887, in Hertz,
The Hidden Lincoln
, p. 191 (“bony forefinger”); Lincoln to Herndon, Feb. 1, 1848, in
CWL
, v. 1, p. 448 (rushed through).

6
. Merry, p. 27 (“silent contempt”); Beveridge, v. 2, p. 131 (lengthy diary); Boritt, “Lincoln’s Opposition to the
Mexican War,” p. 91 (sending copies home); Lincoln to Herndon, Jan. 19, 1848, in
CWL
, v. 1, p. 445 (“I have made a speech”).

7
. Howe,
What Hath God Wrought
, pp. 738–39 (acted provocatively);
Baltimore Patriot
, n.d., copied in the
Rockford Forum
, Jan. 19, 1848;
Illinois State Register
, Jan. 14, 1848; Jan. 28, 1848; Mar. 10, 1848;
Missouri Republican
quoted in Greenberg,
A Wicked War
, p. 253.

8
. Merk,
Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History
, p. 184; Bauer, p. 384 (terms); Foote,
Civil War
, v. 1, locs. 258–70 (territory gained).

9
. HL, p. 177 (“very heart”); Herndon to Theodore Parker, Nov. 27, 1858, quoted in Newton,
Lincoln and Herndon
, pp. 245–46 (“mud instinct”); Herndon to Jesse Weik, Feb. 11, 1887, HW, LOC.

10
. Lincoln to Herndon, Feb. 1, 1848,
CWL
, v. 1, pp. 446–48. For the point about the signoff, see Donald, “
We Are Lincoln Men,”
pp. 78, 99–100.

11
. Donald,
Lincoln’s Herndon
, p. 185 (romantic era). On the rationales for expansionism, see Weinberg,
Manifest Destiny
, pp. 13–16, 101. For the first Whitman quote, see
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
, Sept. 23, 1847, quoted in McDougall,
Promised Land, Crusader State
, p. 95 (“best kind”). See ch. 4, “Expansionism, or Manifest Destiny (so called),” for an insightful discussion of the topic. See also Howe,
What Hath God Wrought
, p. 769 (“miserable, inefficient”).

12
. Joseph Fort Newton, however, contends that Herndon was “essentially religious.” (Newton,
Lincoln and Herndon
, p. 154.) On Lincoln’s unorthodox religious beliefs see Guelzo,
Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President
(Grand Rapids, 1999); White,
Lincoln’s Greatest Speech
(New York, 2002); and Winger,
Lincoln, Religion, and Romantic Cultural Politics
(DeKalb, 2003). On Herndon the reformer, see Donald,
Lincoln’s Herndon
, p. 60. Prof. Donald’s work represents the most thorough examination of the Lincoln-Herndon relationship. See
Lincoln’s Herndon
(New York, 1948);
Lincoln
(New York, 1995); and “
We Are Lincoln Men”: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends
(New York, 2003). Joseph Fort Newton’s study,
Lincoln and Herndon
(Cedar Rapids, 1910), also includes much useful material.

13
. Richard Carwardine has observed that Lincoln was “no provincial hick,” adding that his “horizons stretched across the 19th-century world.” Carwardine’s essay in
The Global Lincoln
collects much evidence to support this thesis. He also notes that “Lincoln’s reading gave him a keen sense of the United States’ escape from the autocratic forces of the Old World. In this he was essentially a creature of his time: in the young Republic the experience of the revolutionary generation shaped a persisting, if fading, collective American memory of the war of independence from tyrannical rule.” (Carwardine, “Lincoln’s Horizons,”
Global Lincoln
, pp. 32–37.) Cf. the traditional view, affirmed recently by George Herring, who observes that Lincoln “had traveled only to Canada, knew no foreign languages, and even by nineteenth-century-American standards would be considered provincial.” (Herring, p. 228.) See also Dennis F. Hanks interview with Herndon, June 13, 1865, in HI, p. 36 (“strings of
them”);
ALAL
, v. 1, p. 18 (with respect); Lincoln, “Address to the New Jersey State Senate,” Feb. 21, 1861, in
CWL
, v. 4, p. 235 (“something more than common”); Washington’s farewell address is quoted in Ramsay,
Life of George Washington
, p. 298. Lincoln’s cousin Dennis Hanks recalls Lincoln borrowing Ramsay’s
Washington
. (Dennis F. Hanks interview with Herndon, June 13, 1865, in HI, p. 41.)

14
. Dennis F. Hanks to William Henry Herndon, Dec. 24, 1865, in HI, p. 146; HL, p. 49 (“field songs”); Lair,
Songs Lincoln Loved
, p. 19 (“None Can Love”); David Turnham to Herndon, Sept. 16, 1865, in HI, p. 129. For the
Sinbad
quote, I have used Sir Richard Burton’s 1885 translation, despite the fact that it was not yet available in Lincoln’s day. Burton’s translation is the most widely quoted, and no record exists of which edition Lincoln may have read. (Burton, trans.,
The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
[Lawrence, Kan., 1999], p. 15.) See also Oates,
With Malice Toward None
, loc. 226 (“spider”).

15
. Carpenter,
Inner Life
, pp. 97–98.

16
. Campanella’s
Lincoln in New Orleans
(Lafayette, 2010) is a terrific recent study. See pp. 1, 12–13, 70, 123, 156–57, and 235. See also Donald,
Lincoln
, p. 34–35; Howe,
What Hath God Wrought
, p. 10; Thomas,
Abraham Lincoln
, pp. 17–18; Tocqueville quoted in Foner,
The Fiery Trial
, p. 10.

17
. Lincoln, “Communication to the People of Sangamo County,” Mar. 9, 1832,
CWL
, v. 1, pp. 5–8; and “Campaign Circular from the Whig Committee,” Mar. 4, 1843,
CWL
, v. 1, pp. 311–12. Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame has collected examples of anonymous newspaper articles, probably by Lincoln, that also make this point.

18
. This and the following paragraphs are drawn primarily from Herndon and Weik,
Herndon’s Lincoln
, pp. 66–67 and 125–26; Donald,
Lincoln’s Herndon
, pp. 4–5; Beveridge, v. 1, p. 118, and v. 2, p. 2; and Newton,
Lincoln and Herndon
, pp. 4–10. The editors of the best edition of Herndon’s Lincoln biography, Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis, point out that in later years Herndon himself was not completely confident in his memory of the details of this incident. In 1888 he wrote to his collaborator, Jesse Weik: “Try and get me right—If L came up to Bogues mill I saw Lincoln, & if he did not then I did not see him at Bogues mill.” (Herndon to Weik, Nov. 10, 1888, HW, LOC.) See also Newton,
Herndon and Lincoln
, pp. 4–5; HL, p. 66 (“lost in boyish wonder”).

19
.
ALAL
, v. 1, p. 67 (“British Band”); Howe,
What Hath God Wrought
, pp. 418–19 (Black Hawk); Lincoln, “Speech in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Presidential Question,” July 27, 1848,
CWL
, v. 1, pp. 501–16 (mosquitoes); “Conversation with Hon. J. T. Stuart, June 23, 1875,” Hay Papers, Brown University, in Burlingame, ed.,
An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln
, p. 8.

20
. Royal Clary interview with Herndon, [Oct. 1866?,] in HI, pp. 370–73;
ALAL
, v. 1, p. 68; Browne,
The Every-Day Life of Abraham Lincoln
, p. 107, quoted in ibid.

21
. In one 1836 article, published under the name “Johnny Blubberhead,” a writer who was likely Lincoln sarcastically “bemoaned the failure of the
country to go to war with England in order to enhance Martin Van Buren’s electoral prospects.” In another ironic letter, Lincoln, pretending to be a Democratic congressman, lamented the fact that America would not gin up a war against France (
ALAL
, v. 1, pp. 107–8). The Lyceum speech is in
CWL
, v. 1, pp. 108–15. There is much debate among Lincoln scholars over the identity of the “towering genius” Lincoln sees as a threat in this speech. Edmund Wilson, the novelist Gore Vidal, and others have suggested that Lincoln may have been subconsciously referring to himself (Wilson,
Patriotic Gore
, pp. 106–8). Allen Guelzo suggests the genius is Martin Van Buren (Guelzo,
Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President
, p. 91). Michael Burlingame nominates Stephen Douglas. (
ALAL
, v. 1, pp. 140–41.)

22
. Lincoln, “Address Before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois,” Jan. 27, 1838, in
CWL
, v. 1, pp. 108–15. See McPherson,
Battle Cry of Freedom
, p. 9; and Merry, p. 132, for the growth statistics.

23
. Beveridge, v. 2, p. 2; Newton,
Lincoln and Herndon
, pp. 4, 8 (nearby college); Donald,
Lincoln’s Herndon
, pp. 11–15. David Donald casts some doubt on whether Herndon was actually enrolled at the college during this period, suggesting that Herndon may have exaggerated the incident.

24
. HL, p. 125; Donald,
Lincoln’s Herndon
, pp. 14–15; HI, p. 470; Newton,
Lincoln and Herndon
, pp. 9–10; Beveridge, v. 2, p. 2 (sit on a keg); Herndon to the Massachusetts Historical Society, Mar. 29, 1842, quoted in Donald,
Lincoln’s Herndon
, p. 14 (“staring us all in the face”).

25
. Baker, pp. 89 (greeting in French), 104; Brown, “Springfield Society before the Civil War,” p. 479 (“spirited horses”); Hay, “Edward D. Baker,” in Burlingame, ed.,
At Lincoln’s Side
, p. 153 (“Old School”); Clinton,
Mrs. Lincoln
, p. 44 (two-story brick); Sandburg,
Prairie Years
, v. 1, p. 251 (not making it to Mexico).

26
. Beveridge, v. 1, pp. 207–8; Brown, “Springfield Society before the Civil War,” pp. 478–80 (“hops”), 493 (lighting); HL, p. 121 (“priests, dogs, and servants”).