In the famous presidential campaign of 1840, noted for its "log cabins and hard cider," Douglas and Lincoln stumped the country, holding joint political debates at every available county-seat. A great Whig meeting was held at Springfield, to which people crowded from every corner of the State. Camp-fires lighted the groves, and campaign songs awoke the echoes on every hand. The Whig orators were there in force, including Lincoln, Baker and Logan of Springfield, Hardin, Browning of Quincy, Butterfield and Lisle Smith of Chicago. Lincoln's usual force of argument and aptness of illustration placed him by general consent at the head of this distinguished list.

It was in 1839 that Miss Mary Todd, daughter of the Hon. R. S. Todd, of Kentucky, came from Lexington to visit her sister, Mrs. Ninian Edwards, in Springfield. Her great-uncle was Acting Governor of Illinois in 1779, and was justly regarded as the founder of the State. This ambitious Kentucky brunette had declared before leaving home that she meant to marry a man who would be President. Though Stephen A. Douglas was also a competitor for her favor, she saw in Lincoln the means of gratifying her ambition. Their engagement soon followed, but owing to Lincoln's moody melancholy the marriage did not take place until November 4, 1842. Their first residence in Springfield was in the Globe Tavern, but afterward a modest mansion was purchased, in which they continued to live till their removal to the White House. In 1841 Lincoln formed a partnership with Judge Logan, which proved of much service to him as a lawyer, and later he took as partner W. H. Herndon, who retained this connection till Lincoln went to Washington.

In 1846 Lincoln was elected to Congress, and took his seat in the next year as the only Whig member from Illinois. The Congress of 1847 had more than the average number of distinguished members. Among them were John Quincy Adams, Caleb B. Smith, John G. Palfrey, Robert C. Winthrop, who was chosen Speaker, A. H. Stephens and Andrew Johnson. Douglas was in the Senate. Lincoln's first speeches were made by way of experiment and getting the "hang of the House," as he expressed it, but his speech on the Mexi

can War gave him some reputation as a Congressional debater. His most important action was the introduction of a bill for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. He had emphatically declared many times before the public that slavery was “unjust to the slave and impolitic to the nation." He proposed a system of gradual emancipation with compensation to the slave-owners, and provided that no person born after January 1, 1850, within the District should be held to slavery. The bill met with strong opposition, and was not brought to a vote. When Lincoln's term in Congress expired in 1849, his friends sought for him, under President Taylor's administration, the appointment of Commissioner of the General Land Office, to which they thought him fairly entitled by experience and party services, but it was given to another. He was subsequently offered the Governorship of Oregon, but declined it, and returned to Illinois to devote himself to the practice of law. With simple tastes and no expensive habits, his modest income of $2,000 to $3,000 a year kept him in comfort and respectability.

Lincoln was recalled to political activity by the outbreak of the national conflict over the extension of slavery in the Territories. His rival, Senator Douglas, was the author of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, by the passage of which, in 1854, the barrier against the extension of slavery had been broken down. Douglas, returning to Springfield, found he had lost favor with the people, and at the time of the State Fair presented his plausible reasons for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Lincoln announced that he would reply on the next day. His powerful argument, in a speech of three hours, swayed the vast audience to his side. Douglas, attempting a reply, became excited and furious, and closed by announcing that he would continue his reply in the evening. He went on to Peoria, where he spoke for three hours in the afternoon. But Lincoln was on his trail, and followed with a three hours' speech in the evening, again carrying the audience with him. Douglas then proposed a truce, that they should both return home, and to this Lincoln agreed.

When Douglas was seeking reëlection to the Senate, the Illinois State Republican Convention, held at Springfield,

1858, enthusiastically and unanimously nominated Lincoln as his opponent. He then delivered a speech, which commanded universal attention, and has become part of the history of the country. Its most striking passage was as follows:

"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it. 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 augmented. In my opinion it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government cannot endure permanently one-half slave and one-half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South."

The rival candidates conducted a series of discussions throughout the State, from July to October. The ability of the speakers and the importance of the subjects discussed roused men to an enthusiasm never before reached with regard to the vital questions of slavery and freedom. Lincoln had the advantage of speaking on the winning side-for the tide of popular feeling was surely setting towards freedom. His humor, anecdotes, and illustrations gave him double power, yet his arguments were deep and convincing, and he spoke not for applause, but to lead men to reflection and just conclusions. Douglas, on the other hand, fascinating and attractive as he generally was, and everywhere personally popular, did not disdain to snatch a momentary triumph by appeal to prejudice, where he despaired of making a lasting impression. Lincoln won the victory for his party, as the Republican State ticket was elected; but Douglas, though defeated in the popular vote, was able to control enough legis

lative districts to secure a small majority in the Legislature. Lincoln being asked how he felt when the result was ascertained, replied with his homely humor, that he was like the country boy, who had stubbed his toe, "It was too sore to laugh about, but he was too big to cry."

The replies Douglas had been compelled to make to Lincoln's searching questions forever prevented his being elected President, as his views could never be acceptable to the extreme Southern wing of the Democratic party. By this series of debates with the Northern champion of the Democratic party the attention of the Eastern States was called to Lincoln, and he was invited to speak in New York City. The speech delivered at the Cooper Institute-in February, 1860 -cleared away all prejudices against him as merely a stump speaker, and was accepted as a clear and masterly exposition of the ideas of the Republican party on the issues of the critical time.

Chicago, the rising city of the Northwest, was able to secure the National Republican Convention, in May, 1860. Though several prominent men were candidates, it was generally expected that William H. Seward, of New York, would be the nominee. He was a sagacious statesman of many years' standing, and a man of philosophic mind; but his leading position had made him the object of considerable personal and political hostility. Pennsylvania and Indiana were doubtful States, and their representatives, feeling sure that if Seward were nominated the party would be defeated in those States, joined with the Illinois delegates in supporting Lincoln. "Honest Abe," the rail-splitter from Illinois, in whose behalf great local enthusiasm had been developed, was therefore nominated on the third ballot. The Democratic party was hopelessly divided, and Douglas, who was nominated by the fractional convention at Baltimore, took the stump on his own behalf and made a spirited canvass. There were altogether four candidates. Lincoln's electoral vote was 180 out of a total of 303, though his popular vote was decidedly less than half, being 1,866,462 out of the total, 4,680,203. A President was at last elected on the distinct ground of opposition to the extension of slavery, and the executive

power of the country fell from the hands of the pro-slavery leaders.

The disunionists at once proceeded to put in practice what they had threatened in the event of Lincoln's election. A convention in South Carolina passed an ordinance of secession in December, and the six Gulf States quickly followed. In February, 1861, their representatives met at Montgomery, Alabama, and formed the "Confederate States of America," under a Constitution almost identical with that which they had repudiated. In Washington, disloyalty to the Federal Government was rampant; the treasury was plundered; the nation's ships were sent abroad, her troops dispersed, her arsenals stripped to furnish arms to the insurgents.

On the 11th day of February, 1861, Lincoln left his home at Springfield, and bade farewell to his neighbors in the following touching words:

"MY FRIENDS: No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place and the kindness of this people I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an 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 who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With 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 President-elect passed through several Northern States, addressing the people at the State capitals and principal cities. General Winfield Scott had been warned of a plot to assassinate Lincoln on his passage through Baltimore, and notified his friends, who took such precautions that he passed unnoticed and reached Washington on the 24th. Here he came in contact with the so-called Peace Congress, a gathering of delegates from most of the States, who were devising plans to