Experiences with Slavery “The first impression of slavery which Abraham Lincoln received was in his childhood in Kentucky. His father and mother belonged to a small company of western abolitionists, who at the beginning of the century boldly denounced the institution as an iniquity. So great an evil did Thomas and Nancy Lincoln hold slavery […]

Pre-Civil War Lincoln friend John Wesley Hill recalled: “In August 1837, Mr. Lincoln, with six other lawyers and two doctors, went in a bad wagon from Springfield to Salem to attend a camp-meeting. On the way Lincoln cracked jokes about the horses, the wagon, the lawyers, the doctors – indeed about nearly everything. At the […]

Thaddeus Stevens “There are some interesting analogies between the careers of Thaddeus Stevens and Abraham Lincoln,” noted Stevens biographer Ralph Korngold. One is that while both detested slavery, both were guilty — Stevens in 1821, Lincoln in 1847 — of appearing in court on behalf of a slaveholder against a fugitive slave… Mr. Lincoln and […]

Charles Sumner President-elect Lincoln proposed comparing heights but a stiff-backed Senator Charles Sumner. Mr. Lincoln later recalled: “Sumner declined to stand up with me, back to back, to see which was the tallest man, and made a fine speech about being the time for uniting our fronts against the enemy and not our backs. But… […]

Quincy, Adams County, October 13, 1858 “Six days after Galesburg, the candidates met again at Quincy, a town in west-central Illinois that at one time had been Douglas’s home district. Adams County was regarded as ‘Democratic, though not overwhelmingly so,’ Located in the disputed central Illinois area, it was a crucial battleground… Mr. Lincoln and […]

Alton, Madison County, October 15, 1858 Sangamon Valley resident Francis Grierson later recalled the Alton debate on October 15, 1858: “Crowds were pouring into Alton. For some days people had been arriving by the steam-packets from up and down the river, the up-boats from St. Louis bringing visitors with long, black hair, goatees, and stolid, […]

William de Fleurville (1807-1868) William de Fleurville (also known as “Florville”) was a Haitian-born businessman who met Mr. Lincoln in New Salem in 1831. After Mr. Lincoln helped him attract clients in that community, Fleurville moved to Springfield where he eventually opened barbershop across from the State House and served… Mr. Lincoln and Freedom >

Reflections on Lincoln and Freedom by Lewis E. Lehrman President Abraham Lincoln”s hand was shaking. New Year’s Day festivities on January 1, 1863 began at 11 A.M. The hundreds of hands Lincoln shook at the White House left the nation’s chief executive with a tremor he could not afford…. Mr. Lincoln and Freedom >

Preface by Lewis Lehrman “I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves, it should be first those who desire it for themselves, and secondly , those who desire it for others. When I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried […]

Introduction by Richard Behn “Whether we will have it so or not, the slave question is the prevailing question before the nation. Though it may be true, and probably is true, that all parties, factions and individuals desire it should be settled, it still goes on unsettled–the all-prevailing and all-pervading question of the day,” said […]