Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States

“If this country cannot be saved without giving up the principle of Liberty, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.”

From Mr. Lincoln’s Speech at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, February 21, 1861.

“I believe this Government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.”

Springfield, Illinois, June, 1858.

“I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which the Revolution was made.”

Trenton, New Jersey, February 21, 1861.

“Having thus chosen our course, without guile and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear and with manly hearts.”

Message, July 5, 1861.

“In giving freedom to the slaves, we assure freedom to the free; honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve.”

Message, December 1, 1862.

“I hope peace will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time.”

Springfield Letter, August 26, 1863.

“The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can never forget what the brave men, living and dead, did here.”

Speech at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863.

“I shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation, nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the Acts of Congress.”

Amnesty Proclamation, December 8, 1863.

“I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.”

Letter to A. G. Hodges, April 4, 1864.

“With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in.”

Last Inaugural, March 4, 1865.

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LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

CONTAINING

HIS EARLY HISTORY AND POLITICAL CAREER; TOGETHER WITH THE SPEECHES, MESSAGES, PROCLAMATIONS AND OTHER OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF HIS EVENTFUL ADMINISTRATION.

BY FRANK CROSBY, MEMBER OF THE PHILADELPHIA BAR.

“LET ALL THE ENDS THOU AIM’ST AT BE THY COUNTRY’S, THY GOD’S AND TRUTH’S; THEN IF THOU FALL’ST THOU FALL’ST A BLESSED MARTYR.”

NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL BOOK COMPANY 310-318 SIXTH AVENUE

DEDICATED

TO THE GOOD AND TRUE

OF THE NATION

REDEEMED--REGENERATED--DISENTHRALLED.

PREFACE.

An attempt has been made in the following pages to portray Abraham Lincoln, mainly in his relations to the country at large during his eventful administration.

With this view, it has not been deemed necessary to cumber the work with the minute details of his life prior to that time. This period has, therefore, been but glanced at, with a care to present enough to make a connected whole. His Congressional career and his campaign with Senator Douglas are presented in outline, yet so, it is believed, that a clear idea of these incidents in his life can be obtained.

After the time of his election as President, however, a different course of treatment has been pursued. Thenceforward, to the close of his life, especial pains have been taken to present everything which should show him as he was--the Statesman persistent, resolute, free from boasting or ostentation, destitute of hate, never exultant, guarded in his prophecies, threatening none at home or abroad, indulging in no utopian dreams of a blissful future, moving quietly, calmly, conscientiously, irresistibly on to the end he saw with clearest vision.