Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois,
the Presidential Candidate for the Republican Party. — Photographed by Brady
Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, October 20, 1860
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The Republican candidate for the Presidency is one of a class which belongs especially to our Republic. No other nation on the face of the globe can boast of men who, by the mere force of individual hardihood and merit, rise through all the gradations of toil to the highest offices in the State. Common labor, which brutalises and degrades man in other lands, in our own country strengthens him mentally as well as physically, and the cabinet-maker and the rail-splitter, after having earned a competency by the honest labor of their hands, ?nally meet face to face as contestants for the highest office in the gift of the people.
Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin county, Kentucky, of poor but honest and industrious parents. After receiving a limited education, he became a laborer, and worked hard for some years.
In 1830 we ?nd him a boatman on the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and ful?lling his humble duties with exemplary ?delity and perseverance. Lincoln’s ?rst trip to New Orleans was made in his nineteenth year from the Ohio River in a ?at boat belonging to Denton Offut. During his trip he had a narrow escape of being murdered by some negroes, who had formed a plot for robbing the vessel. The courage of young Abe and his companion defeated the nefarious attempt, for driving the black robbers off, they got their boat underway, and were soon out of reach.
Early in 1832 the Black Hawk war broke out, and young Lincoln enlisted under Governor Reynolds, who formed four regiments for the defence of the State. To his great surprise, Lincoln was chosen captain of one of them, and conducted himself with great coolness, courage and enterprise during the entire campaign.
Lincoln had no sooner returned than he was urged by his friends to become a candidate for the Legislature, but he was defeated. He was soon afterwards made Postmaster of New Salem, which he retained for a short period.
In 1834 he again became a candidate for the Legislature, and was triumphantly elected. He was re-elected in 1836, again in1838, and again in 1840. During these last six years, Lincoln had, by the advice of the Hon. J. T. Stuart, studied law, and in the autumn of 1836 was admitted to the bar. On 15th of April, 1837, he formed a partnership with Mr. Stuart, and removed to Spring?eld, to enter upon his professional career.
On retiring from the Legislature he devoted himself—exclusively to the labors of Themis, and became one of the ablest jurists in Illinois.
In November, 1842, Lincoln married Miss Mary Todd, daughter of the Hon. Robert Todd, of Lexington, Kentucky. The fruits of this union are three sons living and one dead. The eldest, now a ?ne boy of seventeen, is a student at Exeter Academy. In 1844, Abe Lincoln was chosen Elector at Large, and entered upon the canvass with his usual vigor and address.
In 1846 he received the unanimous nomination for Congress, by the Whig Convention for the Spring?eld district. He was elected, and took his seat in the National House of Representatives on the 7th December, 1847.
In 1852, he was again placed by his Whig friends on the Scott Electoral Ticket, but his legal duties prevented him from taking his usual active part in the canvass.
The Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1856, however, again roused all the politician in him, and he resumed his labors against the new order of things.
In 1858 he was elected by the people as a candidate for Congress, but the Legislature chose Mr. Trumbull as their Senator.
Our space will not allow us to give any details of the exciting stump campaign between Douglas and Lincoln in Illinois. It might truly be said they both held their own, ?nding in each other foemen worthy of their steel.
The events of the Chicago Convention, which resulted in the nomination of Abraham Lincoln as the Republican Candidate for the Presidency, are too fresh in the recollection of our readers to need any recapitulation.