Lincoln, the Politician Part 6

[105] Lamon, 195.

The State was now aglow with enthusiasm over the prospects of the policy of internal improvements. A few days before the Legislature a.s.sembled, a ma.s.s convention in Sangamon County instructed their members to vote for the system of internal improvements.[106] This was one of the many manifestations of the public sentiment.

[106] _Ibid._, 196.

Lincoln followed the common political ambition of his time. He became an aggressive champion of the public improvement policy. He told his friend Speed, in confidence, that he aimed at the great distinction of being called the "De Witt Clinton of Illinois." With many other public men of that day he ventured the hope of rivalling the fame of the builder of the Erie Ca.n.a.l.[107] A leading member of the finance committee, he was foremost in urging the popular measures by which everybody was to be enriched by some stroke of statesmanship, some mysterious manipulation in finance. The state loans were to construct railroads, the railroads were to build cities; the cities in turn were to create a demand for farms; capital rushing for investment was to follow, and lands were steadily to rise in value. The tax on real estate was to go into a sinking fund, and thus shuffle off local a.s.sessment. In this fine way taxation was to be banished.[108] With untiring step many followed the vision. Politics as well as fancy every now and then has its lamp of Aladdin.

[107] Benton, 1, 22. Lamon, p. 195.

[108] Lamon, 197.

No one voted more persistently for local and State improvements, relief acts and the incorporation of organizations, than Abraham Lincoln. This was not done in darkness. The solemn protest of some sane members was put forth against the prevailing folly that held its repeated jubilations in the Legislature. They commented on the madness of the immense schemes, on the mult.i.tude of officers with ample salaries. They dimly prophesied shadow and gloom to the hopes of the enamored majority.[109] Another resolution advising consultation with the people before borrowing money for all the contemplated enterprises received only nine votes. Lincoln was not among that eminent minority.[110]

[109] House Journal of 1836-37, 680.

[110] _Ibid._, 367.

Governor Ford makes the following stinging comment on those who put into operation the internal improvement policy: They have been excused upon the ground that they were instructed to vote as they did, and that they had every right to believe that they were truly reflecting the will of their const.i.tuents. But members ought to resign such small offices, to sacrifice a petty ambition, rather than become the willing tools of a deluded people, to bring so much calamity upon the country.[111]

[111] Ford, 196.

The chief task of Lincoln and the other members of the Sangamon delegation in the tenth biennial session of the Legislature was to secure the removal of the capital from Vandalia to Springfield. This called forth his utmost ingenuity. Many rivals sought the prize. It was no mean problem to grasp victory from a crowd of contending communities.

Lincoln set himself resolutely to the practical problem. It demanded patience, skill and every art of the legislator. Twice its enemies laid the Springfield bill on the table. He gathered his despairing a.s.sociates for counsel in the hour of seeming defeat. The bill was squeezed through at the last moment.

Governor Ford and other Democrats seriously believed, and long repeated the charge, that the "Long Nine," as the Sangamon delegation was called, "log rolled the removal" through the Legislature. Nicolay and Hay, however, contend that the removal was due to the adroit management of Mr. Lincoln--first in inducing all the rival claimants to unite in a vote to move the capital from Vandalia, and then carrying a direct vote for Springfield through the joint convention by a.s.sistance of the Southern counties. They cite as evidence of this personal influence of Lincoln the statement of a legislator: "He made Webb and me vote for the removal, though we belonged to the southern part of the state. We defended our vote before our const.i.tuents by saying that necessity would ultimately force the seat of government to a central position. But in reality we gave the vote to Lincoln because we liked him, because we wanted to oblige our friend, and because we recognized him as our leader."[112] This statement is not sufficient to meet the contention that the removal was cunningly attained. The personal power of Lincoln with some legislators may have been an availing factor. Still the majority of the lawmakers were men moved mainly by material considerations. It is not reasonable to a.s.sume that in voting on a vital and important proposition they would not highly consider its effect on their own measures; that they would enable the Sangamon delegation to return triumphantly to their const.i.tuents without some understanding of reciprocity. That Lincoln reluctantly or otherwise made some peculiar alliances or engaged in some questionable strategy may be reasonably deduced from the admission: "I also tacked a provision onto a fellow's bill, to authorize the relocation of the road from Salem down to your town, but I am not certain whether or not the bill pa.s.sed. Neither do I suppose I can ascertain before the law will be published--if it is a law."[113]

[112] Nicolay & Hay, 138-139.

[113] Tarbell, 1, 137.

Still there is stirring evidence that Lincoln would not barter his principles even for the success of his most cherished purpose in that session. An effort was made to unite the friends of Springfield with those of a measure Lincoln refused to sanction. Every argument was used to influence Mr. Lincoln to yield his objections, and thus secure the removal of the capital to his own city, but without effect. Finally after midnight, when the candles were burning low in the room, he rose amid the silence and solemnity which prevailed, and made an eloquent and powerful speech, saying in conclusion: "You may burn my body to ashes, and scatter them to the winds of heaven; you may drag my soul down to the regions of darkness and despair to be tormented forever; but you will never get me to support a measure which I believe to be wrong, although by doing so I may accomplish that which I believe to be right."[B]

[B] Tarbell, 1, 138-9.

In matters involving method and detail, he used every art of the politician. Still when principle was at stake, he would not bow to expediency. With rare precision, he keenly followed the hazy border land between principle and policy. In securing results, he surpa.s.sed common politicians; in fealty to integrity he rivalled the patriot.

The year 1837 was a crucial period in many respects for Lincoln. He had steadily moved forward until he became the leader of New Salem. He had shown superior skill as a local politician. But his future as lawyer and politician in New Salem was already bounded. With his success as a legislator and the applause of larger communities, his longing for fame and power grew stronger. With no keen regret, he sundered the ties that bound him to Clary Grove where his word was law, to enter upon a life of more varied and extensive character. His entrance into Springfield was as humble as that into New Salem. Speed relates that Lincoln came into his store, set his saddle bags on the counter, and inquired what a single bedstead would cost. Being told that the amount complete was seventeen dollars, Lincoln said that it was cheap enough, but cheap as it was, he did not have the money to pay, but if he would be trusted until Christmas, and his experiment there as a lawyer was a success, he would pay then, if he failed he would probably never pay at all. The tone of his voice was so full of pathos that Speed felt for him, and he thought that he never saw so gloomy and melancholy a face in his life, and he then told Lincoln that he had a very large room and a very large double bed in it, which he was welcome to share with him. Without saying a word Lincoln took his saddle bags on his arm, went upstairs, set them down on the floor, came down again, and with a face beaming with pleasure and smiles, exclaimed, "Well, Speed, I'm moved."[114]

[114] Herndon, 1, 176.

In the special session of 1837, the accusation that the removal of the capital was born of "bargain and corruption," challenged the integrity of the Sangamon delegation. A prominent Democrat, General Ewing, thus taunted them: "The arrogance of Springfield, its presumption in claiming the seat of government is not to be endured; the law has been pa.s.sed by chicanery and trickery; the Springfield delegation has sold out to the internal improvement men, and has promised its support to every measure that would gain a vote to the law removing the seat of government."[115]

That Lincoln hurried to the defence of the onslaught of an eminent opponent, is another indication that he was rapidly becoming chief of his fellows. He here displayed the same kind of talent that won him applause from audiences on the prairie.[116] General Linder states that then, for the first time, he began to conceive a very high opinion of the talents and personal courage of Abraham Lincoln. The intervention of friends alone averted a duel between Lincoln and Ewing.[117]

[115] Tarbell, 1, 139.

[116] Lamon, 201.

[117] Tarbell, 1, 139.

During this session, a resolution was introduced by Mr. Linder for a legislative inquiry into the affairs of the State Bank, generally known to be in a hazardous condition. The introducer ventured to support his resolution with a tone of superiority that invited chastis.e.m.e.nt. Again Lincoln bore the brunt of the defence, railing at Mr. Linder about his pretensions, saying that in one faculty at least, there could be no dispute of the gentleman's superiority over him and most other men, and that was, the faculty of so entangling a subject that neither himself, nor any other man, could find head or tail to it.[118]

[118] Tarbell, 1, 140, 141.

In speaking of the resolution itself, Lincoln indulged in these typical expressions: It is an old maxim and a very sound one, that he who dances should always pay the fiddler. I am decidedly opposed to the people's money being used to pay the fiddler. These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert to fleece the people; and now that they have got into a quarrel with themselves, we are called upon to appropriate the people's money to settle the quarrel.[119] The people know their rights and they are never slow to a.s.sert and maintain them when they are invaded. I make the a.s.sertion boldly, and without fear of contradiction, that no man who does not hold an office, or does not aspire to one, has ever found any fault with the bank. No, sir, it is the politician who is first to sound the alarm (which by the way, is a false one.) It is he who by these unholy means, is endeavoring to blow up a storm that he may ride upon and direct. Mr. Chairman, this work is exclusively the work of politicians--a set of men who have interests aside from the interests of the people, and who, to say the most of them, are, taken as a ma.s.s, at least one step removed from honest men. I say this with the greater freedom, because, being a politician myself, none can regard it as personal.[120]

[119] _Ibid._, 141.

[120] _Ibid._, 142.

The speech was published in the _Sangamon Journal_ with the editorial comment that Lincoln's remarks on Linder's bank resolution were quite to the point; that he carried the true Kentucky rifle, and when he fired he seldom failed sending the shot home.[121]

[121] _Ibid._

Lincoln's bold words about the politician, modified by his quaint admission, allow us a glimpse of the inner man. It took no mean courage to make so unpalatable an a.s.sertion. Still tempering his speech with his rare kind of diplomacy, he did not suffer in the estimation of his a.s.sociates, those whose esteem he valued.

CHAPTER V

PROTESTER AND PATRIOT

The year 1837 is the culmination of the first period of abolitionism in Illinois. Until then, abolitionism was a hated eastern conception.

Despite opposition, and somewhat feeding on it, it slowly filtered its way through an almost impervious public sentiment. A small band encountered with heroism, the continuous martyrdom that waits on the protagonist. Few in numbers, zealous in their gospel, superbly confident in the rect.i.tude of their counsel they aroused the spirit of retaliation. Their excessive zeal transcended all other obligations, rendering them indifferent, if not hostile, to the const.i.tutional compact. They stimulated and encouraged to life a corresponding bitterness among the mult.i.tude.

It was in those days a mortal offence to call a man an abolitionist. The popular mind scarcely distinguished between men who stole horses and men who freed negroes. They regarded anti-slavery men as robbers, disturbers of the peace, the instigators of arson, and enemies to the Union which gave us as a people liberty and strength. "In testimony of these sentiments, Illinois enacted a 'black code' of most preposterous and cruel severity,--a code that would have been a disgrace to a slave state, and was simply an infamy in a free one. It borrowed the provisions of the most revolting laws known among men, for exiling, selling, beating, bedeviling, and torturing negroes, whether bond or free."[122]

[122] Lamon, 206.

That the opposition of slavery was bothering the people of Sangamon County, is evident from the following resolution adopted at Springfield in 1837 at a public meeting, over which Judge Brown presided:

"Resolved that in the opinion of this meeting the doctrine of the immediate emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves of this country (although promulgated by those who profess to be Christians) is at variance with Christianity, and its tendency is to breed contention, broil and mobs; and the leaders of those calling themselves Abolitionists are designing ambitious men and dangerous members of society and should be shunned by all good citizens."[123]

[123] History of Sangamon County, 251.

Illinois would scarcely brook unchained utterance on the darkest question of all the ages,--the "right of one man to eat the bread which another earned." A kind of stifling ostracism awaited the lowly or the towering disciple who spoke in the language of Jefferson, of the fear awakening problem. Every generation has its remorseless method of crucifying its heroes of speech and deed. Business and political interests, social influences and religious affiliations concerted in the crushing of abolitionism. Success might have crowned their effort had prudence been their companion, but they mobbed, maltreated, and even murdered the champions of the new movement. Had madness confounded them, they could not have acted more unwisely. This, more than all the agitation of abolition leaders, quickened the moral vitality of the people. There were many white men who cared little for the slave, but much for the gospel of free speech as old as the Anglo-Saxon race. This fatal policy of brute force finally dictated the doom of a power that long mocked all opposition, that dreamed of an imperial government grander than the vision which "Stout Cortez" beheld when he first stared at the Pacific, "silent on a peak in Darien."

The motives that prompted public sentiment in Illinois to throttle discussion on the slave question, almost baffle understanding. The Lovejoys attacked no vested interest in the State, menaced no substantial rights of person or property. While the Southern States busied themselves with the doctrine that it was the privilege of each State to demean itself as it wished, subject only to the Const.i.tution, as it interpreted that instrument, there was small occasion for a Northern commonwealth to curb its own citizens, to sacrifice ancient and cherished rights for the pleasure of an exacting foreign inst.i.tution.

The anti-slavery forces with keenness of vision saw the weak point of the enemy's attack, so they ranged themselves round the banner, proclaiming the doctrine of free speech and the sacredness of an unshackled press. Nothing more inherently reveals the weakness of the advocates of slavery, than their morbid fear of free and frank inquiry into its policy and wisdom. In the face of an inst.i.tution demanding mob power, and the sacrifice of priceless principles, the Abolitionists performed a wholesome public service in contending that then more than ever liberty of discussion should be protected, maintained and hallowed.

Suddenly, in the same year up starts Lincoln the statesman, Lincoln the politician sinks. He possessed the rare gift of concealing his most cherished opinions until the time was ripe for expression. He was aware of the folly of mouthing truths when no good could come therefrom. In this, he was a politician. Still when the occasion called for an act of fort.i.tude, when the solemnity of the hour summoned heroic utterance, as from "heights afar," the sound of his voice was heard and the thrill of his words awakened. In this, he was a supreme statesman.

Strange medley of the ideal and the practical,--at times he appeared the very woof of the visionary, and then stood forth as a petty politician.

He was a mystery and a wonder to his contemporaries. They never beheld such a man; they had no standard by which to measure him. First, amazing some by the minuteness of his strategy, he would then startle others by a bold proclamation of immortal truth. There was something elusive in the manifoldness of his nature. The world with childlike simplicity looks for uniformity of action, for consistency. So it was that in later years time-servers called Lincoln the apostle of radicalism, and radicals named him the slave of conservatism.

The legislature instead of branding the black crime of the murder of Lovejoy in 1837, hastened to pa.s.s resolutions of sympathy with slavery.

No external inducement guided Lincoln to fly in the face of the sentiment of the Legislature, the State and Nation in regard to Abolitionism. His conduct mystifies unless the abiding impress of the incident at New Orleans is fully measured. It was no idle vaunt that stirred him to the declaration that if he ever had the chance he would strike a blow for the enslaved. The testing time was at hand. His oath was "registered in Heaven." It was necessary to join the majority in their defence of slavery, or strike a lonely path in behalf of the enslaved. His soul faced that crisis. No longer helpless, he was widely known, and was distinguished for his services as a political leader.