Firm Hand of Friendship There was no false compassion in Mr. Lincoln’s nature. When Maryland Democrat Reverdy Johnson wrote him from New Orleans in July 1862 to complain of the actions of the military governor, President Lincoln did not yield: “You are ready to say I apply to friends what is due only to…” Abraham […]

Presidency and Acquaintance Friendship was politically important as well as personally important to Mr. Lincoln’s election to the presidency. Mr. Lincoln’s secretary, John G. Nicolay, wrote of the “pride which his old-time friends and neighbors felt in the…” Abraham Lincoln and Friends >

Nomination for the Presidency Shortly after his defeat in the 1858 campaign for the U.S. Senate, Mr. Lincoln wrote law partner William H. Herndon, Mr. Lincoln “began gradually to lose his interest in the law and to trim his political sails…” Abraham Lincoln and Friends >

Senate Campaign of 1858 The 1858 debates with Senator Douglas caused Mr. Lincoln’s friends much apprehension – even though they were the agents for his debate challenge. It was Bloomington businessman Jesse W. Fell who urged Mr. Lincoln to challenge… Abraham Lincoln and Friends >

Conflicts over Owen Lovejoy An important cause of conflict among Mr. Lincoln’s friends in 1856 and 1858 was the Republican candidacy for Congress of Owen Lovejoy. Lovejoy was an avowed and impassioned abolitionist – while many of the friends of Mr. Lincoln were…” Abraham Lincoln and Friends >

Kansas-Nebraska and the Senate Mr. Lincoln moved quickly to mobilize his friends in the days after the legislative elections. “During the anxious moments that intervened between the general election and the assembling of the Legislature he…” Abraham Lincoln and Friends >

Congressional Nomination of 1843 The importance of friends was perhaps never so evident as when Mr. Lincoln sought the Whig nomination for Congress in 1843. He had been associated – personally and by marriage – with a group of Springfield Whigs known as… Abraham Lincoln and Friends >

New Salem Lincoln biographer William E. Gienapp wrote: “Lincoln’s modest demeanor, affable manner, and rollicking sense of humor gained him many friends, and village loafers regularly congregated in the store to listen to…” Abraham Lincoln and Friends >

Meeting and Greeting Friends Journalist William O. Stoddard recalled meeting Mr. Lincoln in Champaign, Illinois in 1859: “He greeted me cordially as though we had known each other for a long time. There was no strangeness about him. He knew…” Abraham Lincoln and Friends >

The Women Historian David Herbert Donald observed that Mr. Lincoln “was extremely awkward around women. With the wives of old friends, like Mrs. Hannah Armstrong, he could be courtly, even affectionate, but he froze in the presence of…” Abraham Lincoln and Friends >