Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/320

* LINCOLN. 284 LINCOLN. adoption without dissent of a resolution declar- ing liiu) the choice of the Kepuhlicans of Illinois for President. On May IG, 1860, the Republican National Convention met at Chicago. The city was full of political workers. Indeed, no previous con- vention had had half the nunihcr of 'outside delegates.' Two days were spent in organiza- tion and the adoption of a pUilforni. Balloting came on the third day. Lp to the jirovious evening Seward's nomination seemed certain; but the outside pre.ssure for Lincoln was powerful, for his friends were chietly men of Illinois, and the convention was held in their State. On the third ballot Lincoln won the nomination, and in the afternoon Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, was nominated for Vieel'resideiil. The platform adopted, though denying the riglit of Congress to interfere with slavery in the States, demanded that slavery be forbidden in the Territories. It declared in favor of internal improvements and protection. The Democratic National Convention at Charleston split on the slavery (piestion. The South totally re]nidialed Douglas and his squatter sovereignty, whereas Douglas was equally determined to slick to it. Most of the Southern delegates withdrew and organized a separate convention. Those hIid r<Miiained voted fifty-seven times for a candidate. Douglas always having the highest number, but not the two- thirds required by Democratic precedent. They adjourned to meet at Baltimore, -hine 18th. The Ecceders adjourned to meet at liiolnnoiul. Va., early in .Tune, but after convening they further adjourned to meet .hiiie 2Sth in Baltimore. The result finally was the nomination of three Presi- dential candidates: Doii^'Ias by one convention. Breckenridge of Kentucky by the seceders, or ex- treme Southerners, and liell (formerly a Whig) of Tennessee, by the 'Constitutional Union' Party, ccmiposcd for the most part of "Know-Nothings' and old-time Whigs. The canvass was warm on all sides. Lincoln was elected on November Gth by 180 votes. Breckenridge receiving 72. Bell 39. and Douglas 12. The election was strictly sectional, for the Reiiublicans got no electoral vote in a Southern State. Feeling the need of all possible support. Lincoln cb<ise his (^abinet carefully, trying to get a varied representation; lie wished even to have a Soutberner, until his offer to Mr. Graham, of North (jarolina, was flatly refused. Meanwliilc the South was making ready to secede, and on DecH'inber 20th the South Carolina Convention unanimously adopted the ordinance of secession. The year closed in gloom, and 1801 opened with no hope of peace. On February 4th a peace congress met in Philadel- phia; on the same day delegates met at Mont- gomery, .la., to form a Stnithern Confederacy; on the 18th the work was done, and .lefferson Davis was inaugurated President. On February 11, 1801. Lincoln set out for Washington, taking a rather roundabout road. Everywhere the people were eager to see and hear him. On Monday, March 4th. he was inaugu- rated, and delivered an elaborate address, full of the best qualities of his nature. The appear- ance of the new President is thus described by Ward Lamon, in his lAfe of Abrnhnm Lincoln: "He was six . feet four inches high, the length of his legs being out of all pro- portion to that of his body. When he sat on a chair he seemed no taller than an average man, measuring from the chair to the crown of his head; but his knees rose high in front. He weighed about 180 pounds, but was thin through the breast, narrow across the shoulders, and had the general appearance of a consumptive sub- ject. Standing up. he stooped slightly forward; sitting down, lie usually crossed liis long legs or threw llicm over tin' arms of the chair. His head was long and tall from the ba.se of the brain and the eyebrow; his forehead high and narrow, in- clining backward as it rose, llis cars were large and stoo<l out; eyebrows heavy, jutting forward over small sunken blue eyes; nose long, large, and blunt ; chin projecting far and sbarj), curved upward to meet a thick lower lip, which hung downward; cheeks flabby, the loose skin falling in folds; a mole on one cheek, and an uncom- monly ))roniincnt Adam's apple in his throat. His hair was dark brown, stiff and unkempt; complexion dark, skin yellow, sliiiveled, and leathery. Every feature of the man — the hollow eyes, with the dark rings beneath, the long, sal- low, cadaverous face, intersected by those peculiar deep lines, his whole air, his walk, his long and silent reveries, broken at intervals by sudden and startling exclamations, as if to confound an observer who might suspect the nature of his thoughts — showed that he was a man of sorrows, sorrows not of to-day or yesterday, but long- treasured and deep, bearing with him continual sense of weariness and pain." Yet this strangely sorrowful man dearly loved jokes, puns, and com- ical stories, and was himself world-famous for his inimitable narrative powers. He drank very little, and was in precept and example for tem- ])erance: and at table he always ate sjiaringly. He was never a member of a church ; indeed, be is believed to have bad doubts of the divinity of Christ and of the inspiration of the Scripture, i.e. of revelation. In early life he read Volncy and Paine, and wrote an essay in wliicb he agreed with their conclusions. Of modern thinkers he was thought to agree most with Theodore Parker. .t his inauguration Lincoln denied the right of any State or number of States to go out of the I'nion. In the Soutli the address was re- garded as practically a declaration of war, and preparations were hurried : in the North it was strongly approved, and parties were quickly con- solidated. Less than six weeks afterwards. Gen- eral Beauregard, on behalf of the Confederate Government, bombarded Fort Sumter, in Charles- ton Harbor, forcing the surrender of Major Anderson and his small force on .pril 14tli. There began the Civil War, and from that day to the day of his death the political biog- raphy of Lincoln is nearly identical with the history of the United States. On A])ril l.'ith he called for 7.5,000 volunteers, and hundreds of thousands in the first flush of patriotic feeling thronged to enlist. At the same time Lincoln called for a special session of Congress to meet on the Fourth of .July. On April 10th he pro- claimed a blockade of the Southern ports ; on April 27th he authorized the suspension of the writ of habeas roipxis. The date for the meeting' of Congress had been made distant, not only to allow the President to develop his policy and to avoid the turmoil that would ensue if the mem- bers met in the height of passion, but also to take advantage of the famous holiday — thus sat- isfying a curious superstitious streak in Lin-