America's Greatest 19th Century Presidents (19 page)

Birth and Early Life

Unlike most Presidential legends, those surrounding Abraham Lincoln's birth are true: Abraham Lincoln was, indeed, born in a log cabin in Kentucky on February 12
^th
, 1809. 

That's where the truth of Lincoln mythology ends, however.  Contrary to popular belief, Lincoln was not born into the near-destitute poverty many allege he was.  His father was a carpenter who provided a modest life for his family.  His mother, however, was illiterate and signed her marriage certificate with an X.

The Lincolns had two children, Abraham and his sister Sarah, but a third child died shortly after birth in their Kentucky cabin.  The devoutly Baptist Nancy Hanks Lincoln explained the death of her child as a a design of Providence.  This type of fatalist rhetoric was typical of Mrs. Lincoln, and her son would exhibit fatalistic tendencies throughout his own life.

Religion was an important early influence on young Lincoln.  Though Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, was from a family of small slaveholders, he and his wife brought their family to an anti-slavery Baptist church.  That group had left the mainstream Baptist church over its opposition to human bondage.  The Lincoln household in which Abraham grew up never owned slaves, despite living in the slaveholding territory of Kentucky.

In 1816, the family moved to Indiana, a free state.  Arriving in winter, the family lacked the time and resources to build a proper cabin, so this short period of Lincoln's life was lived out in an open shelter. When the young Lincoln was only nine years old, his mother died.  Less than a year later, Thomas remarried a woman named Sarah “Sally” Bush Johnston, whom Abraham admired.

The young Abraham received only a crude education.  Sally took an interest in his education, and she ensured that he learned to read and write by attending a local school.  Nevertheless, this was the total extent of Abraham's education until early adulthood. Instead, Lincoln spent much of his time doing household chores, which helped him develop into a muscular man with a reputation for being a strong wrestler and axeman. Developing what would eventually become a sturdy 6’4 frame, young Abraham Lincoln was not an easy target for bullies. Even still, Lincoln eschewed the “frontier” life as he delved deeper and deeper into books.

In 1830, the family relocated to the state with which Lincoln is most intimately connected: Illinois.  He helped his father build a livelihood and became a clerk at a local general store in New Salem.  It was also here that he self-educated himself, reading as much as possible, while also getting his first introduction to politics.

Young Abraham Lincoln

State Legislature

Because the general store in New Salem was a center for political discussion, Lincoln quickly became acquainted with the political controversies of the day.  Politics had become a passion for him, so much so that he opted to run for a seat in the Illinois state legislature in 1832, at the young age of 23.  Within just a month of declaring his candidacy as a Whig, however, the New Salem general store went out of business and the Black Hawk War broke out. 

In the 19
^th
century, many men Lincoln’s age forged legacies out of war, which was often seen as a grand adventure. Lincoln was elected as the captain of his company, but he spent more time battling bugs and burying the dead than he did fighting. In fact, Lincoln never saw combat, and he frequently made fun of what would prove to be his only military experience.

In October of 1832, Lincoln returned to New Salem from war to collect election returns.  His expectations were low, and rightfully so: in November, he lost the race for the Illinois State Legislature badly.  As a Whig supporter of Henry Clay, Lincoln was seemingly in the wrong state.  Illinois was favorable to the Democrats that year, and the Whig Party was in decline nationwide.

Still, Lincoln evidently didn't consider his 1832 loss much of a setback.  He opened a general store of his own in New Salem and became Postmaster of the town.  He continued his education by reading and studying law, history and politics. By 1834, Lincoln was ready again, making a second try for the State Legislature.  As Postmaster of New Salem, he held a position of significant influence, was well-liked and was thus a better candidate than he had been two years earlier.  Election returns from 1834 were also more favorable to Lincoln: he won!  And kept winning.  He was reelected three times thereafter, and served in the Illinois State Legislature until 1842.

The most informative piece of Lincoln's service in the state legislature is his partisan affiliation.  Before the Civil War – even before World War II – American political parties were not as clearly organized as they are today.  Whether one identified as a Federalist, a Democrat, or a Whig didn't hold the significance it does today; partisan lines were blurred.  What did matter, however, was the national figure one claimed to follow.  In this sense, Lincoln was a staunch supporter of Henry Clay, and was thus a “Clay Man.” 

Henry Clay

On two fronts, Lincoln and Clay were in lockstep.  On the question of slavery, Lincoln, like Clay, was  a moderate.  Clay was responsible for numerous Compromises, most important during Lincoln's time in the Legislature being the Missouri Compromise of 1820.  Central to both Lincoln and Clay was a personal abhorrence of slavery, but a reverence for Constitutional Federalism.  Because of this, compromise often made sense: keeping the union together was a top priority.  This idea would be central to Lincoln's presidency.

On issues of race, Lincoln and Clay liked the idea of African colonization.  This idea proposed sending all of America's slaves back to Africa, once slavery ceased to exist.

In the Illinois State Legislature, Congressman Lincoln rarely got to debate these issues.  Where he was most active in promoting “Clayism,” was on the economy.  Clay supported a strong, active  government that paid for roads and provided funding to stimulate economic growth.  Lincoln supported business interests and road and bridge construction in Illinois.

Personal Life

Lincoln's personal life was often unsatisfying, and even tragic, throughout most of his life.  As a young man, Lincoln was said to have fared poorly with women, in large part due to his unusually long frame.  All the young girls in Illinois apparently made fun of the gawky-looking Lincoln, insults that would be repeatedly hurled at him by politicians later in life.  Abraham also seems to have occasionally lacked self confidence.  Being “tainted,” as he saw it, with a Kentucky accent that labelled him something of a frontier hick, Lincoln was ever aware of his lowly class status.

Making matters worse, Lincoln’s first real love was starcrossed. Lincoln's first love was a woman named Ann Rutledge, whom he met in New Salem. They were together until 1835, when Rutledge died during the summer with what was believed to be typhoid. Historians often speculate that Lincoln never truly got over Rutledge, making his subsequent love life that much more forlorn.

Living in Springfield – the Illinois State Capitol where Lincoln served in the Legislature – was the most urban experience Lincoln had ever had.  He had achieved a measure of political success in Springfield, but his romantic life was still yearning for more.  Because Springfield was full of eligible bachelors serving in the Legislature, unmarried women frequented the city in search of husbands.  Here, Lincoln met his future wife, Mary Todd.

Young Mary Todd

Mary Todd was from a wealthy socialite family in Kentucky.  Though Lincoln was intensely shy and nervous, Mary admired him.  Mary's family, however, thought otherwise.  To Lincoln, Mary seemed void of snobbishness, but her family was another story.  Because of such class distaste, their relationship was “on again, off again.”  They went through periods of seeing each other, and then not speaking to one another.  Much of this was rooted in Lincoln's own lack of confidence.  In his typical humor, he said of the snobby Todd family that “one
d
was good enough to spell God, but it took two
d
's to spell Todd.”
[2]

Despite the tumult, Lincoln and Mary Todd married in 1842.  The chaotic courting process, however, would prove a harbinger of the chaos in Mary Todd's own psyche.

Chapter 2: Introduction to National Politics and the Law, 1843-1848

Running for Congress

During his time in the State Legislature, Lincoln built a prosperous legal career.  In the early 19
^th
century, most state legislatures only met for about a month each year, leaving plenty of time for other pursuits. Lincoln first received his license to practice in 1837, and he joined the law firm of John T. Stuart in Springfield.  In 1844, he became the founding partner of the law firm Logan and Lincoln.

Lincoln was a bright man, and he would take on any case, one of which even led to him arguing before the Supreme Court. Lincoln’s practice took him outside of Illinois, and in one famous case, he encountered Eastern lawyer Edwin Stanton, his future Secretary of War. Working together on a case involving a patent, Stanton famously referred to Lincoln as a “damned long armed ape.”

Edwin Stanton

Despite some of his noteworthy successes, Lincoln’s law practice is better known for some of the legends that came out of it. Perhaps the best known legend about Lincoln was that he was extremely disorganized, with papers cluttering his desk and office. One funny story even accused Lincoln of forgetting where he put an important document, until he went to put on his hat and the document fell out.