Team of Rivals
David Wilmot…Senate: “Wilmot Proviso,” in The Reader’s Companion to American History, ed. Foner and Garraty, p. 1155; David M. Potter, The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861, completed and ed. Don E. Fehrenbacher. New American Nation Series (New York: Harper & Row, 1976), pp. 21–23 (quote p. 21).
Lincoln positioned himself…“exist in the old”: AL to Williamson Durley, October 3, 1845, in CW, I, p. 348.
Bates considered the problem…pull the country apart: Cain, Lincoln’s Attorney General, pp. 59–60, 66.
John Calhoun led the…American territory: John C. Calhoun, February 19, 1847, Congressional Globe, 29th Cong., 2nd sess., pp. 453–55 (quote p. 455).
“The madmen of the North…glorious Union”: Richmond [Va.] Enquirer, February 18, 1847.
“When you were…marry again”: AL to MTL, April 16, 1848, in CW, I, pp. 465–66.
“My dear Husband…love to all”: MTL to AL, May 1848, in Turner and Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln, pp. 36–38.
“The leading matter…till I see you”: AL to MTL, June 12, 1848, in CW, I, p. 477.
“I am in favor…elect any other whig”: AL to Thomas S. Flournoy, February 17, 1848, in ibid., p. 452.
“on the blind side…hanged themselves”: AL to WHH, June 12, 1848, in ibid., p. 477.
“very willingly…Universal Freedom”: WHS to SPC, June 12, 1848, reel 6, Chase Papers.
a “doughface”: Anonymous, A Bake-Pan for Dough-Faces (Burlington, Vt.: Chauncey Goodrich, 1854), p. 1; Byrd, The Senate, 1789–1989, Vol. I, pp. 206–07.
the Free Soil Convention in Buffalo, 1848: See Foner, Free Soil. Free Labor, Free Men, p. 125; Blue, Salmon P. Chase, pp. 61–66.
asking if his name…vice presidency: Bates diary, August 5, 1848.
remained a slaveowner: Entry for Edward Bates, Dardenne, St. Charles County, Missouri, Sixth Census of the United States, 1840 (National Archives Microfilm Publication M704, reel 230), RG 29, DNA. According to Bates’s entry in the 1840s federal census, there were nine slaves in the Bates household. By 1860, the servants and farmhands employed by Bates seem to have been exclusively Irish. Entry for Edward Bates, Carondelet, St. Louis Township, St. Louis County, Missouri, Eighth Census of the United States, 1860 (National Archives Microfilm Publication M653, reel 656), RG 29, DNA.
his belief in the inferiority of the black race: Hendrick, Lincoln’s War Cabinet, p. 46.
one of his female slaves escaped…“plagued with them”: Bates diary, April 15, 1848.
Bates declined…“geographical party”: Bates diary, August 5, 1848.
“Free Soil, Free Speech”: SPC to Thomas Bolton, December 1, 1848, reel 7, Chase Papers.
to “prohibit slavery extension”: Smith, The Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the Old Northwest, p. 140.
Arriving uninvited…without a speaker: Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, 1809–1858, Vol. II, pp. 171–72.
“an intellectual face…from that State”: Boston Daily Advertiser, September 14, 1848, reprinted as “Speech at Worcester, Massachusetts,” September 12, 1848, in CW, II, pp. 1–2, 5.
Whig rally at the Tremont Temple; Seward and Lincoln meet: James Schouler, “Abraham Lincoln at Tremont Temple in 1848,” Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, October, 1908–June, 1909 XLII (1909), pp. 70–83.
“had probably…Governor Seward’s”: AL, quoted in Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 80.
“the time will come…institution of slavery”: WHS, “Whig Mass Meeting, Boston, October 15, 1848,” Works of William H. Seward, Vol. III, pp. 289, 288.
“a most forcible…applause”: Boston Courier, September 23, 1848.
“rambling, story-telling…boldness of utterance”: F. B. Carpenter, “A Day with Governor Seward at Auburn,” July 1870, reel 196, Seward Papers.
“a thoughtful air”: Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 80.
“I reckon…have been doing”: AL, quoted in ibid., p. 80.
voted for the Wilmot Proviso…single speech on the issue: Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, pp. 126–27.
“I went with…State in the Union”: Edward L. Pierce to JWW, February 12, 1890, in HI, p. 697.
“a superb dinner…arranged at table”: Governor Henry J. Gardner statement, [February–May 1890], enclosure in Edward L. Pierce to WHH, May 27, 1890, in HI, p. 699.
election results, 1848: Congressional Quarterly, Presidential Elections Since 1789 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1991), p. 106.
who, four years later…only four states: Allan Nevins, Ordeal of the Union. Vol. II: A House Dividing, 1852–1857 (New York and London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1947), p. 36.
he drafted a proposal: AL, “Remarks and Resolution Introduced in United States House of Representatives Concerning Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia,” January 10, 1849, in CW, II, pp. 20–22 (quote p. 21).
“that slave hound from Illinois”: Wendell Phillips, quoted in Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, 1809–1858, Vol. II, p. 185.
once the proposal was distributed…never introduced his bill: Donald, Lincoln, pp. 136–37.
“Finding that I was…at that time”: AL, quoted in James Q. Howard, Biographical Notes, May 1860, Lincoln Papers.
campaigned vigorously…Commissioner of the Land Office: Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, p. 129. See also Lincoln’s correspondence from May to July 1849 in CW, II, pp. 51–55, 57–58.
“If I have one vice…tempted me”: AL, quoted in Egbert L. Viele, “A Trip with Lincoln, Chase, and Stanton,” Scribners Monthly 16 (October 1878), p. 818.
applied to patent…“buoyant chambers”: AL, “Application for Patent on an Improved Method of Lifting Vessels over Shoals,” March 10, 1849, in CW, II, p. 32.
“added practically…his reputation”: John G. Nicolay, A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln. Condensed from Nicolay & Hay’s Abraham Lincoln: A History (New York: Century Co., 1902), p. 77.
Caleb Smith of Indiana: John P. Usher, President Lincoln’s Cabinet, with a Foreword and a Sketch of the Life of the Author by Nelson H. Loomis (Omaha, Nebr.: n.p., 1925); Louis J. Bailey, “Caleb Blood Smith,” Indiana Magazine of History 29 (September 1933), pp. 213–39; Indianapolis Daily Journal, January 9, 1864.
“handsome, trimly-built man”: C. P. Ferguson, quoted in Bailey, “Caleb Blood Smith,” Indiana Magazine of History (1933), p. 237.
“smooth oval face”: John Coburn, quoted in ibid., p. 236.
“feel the blood…up your spine”: Usher, President Lincoln’s Cabinet, p. 17.
Smith a more compelling public speaker: Macartney, Lincoln and His Cabinet, p. 49; Bailey, “Caleb Blood Smith,” Indiana Magazine of History (1933), pp. 237–39.
Joshua Giddings: James Brewer Stewart, Joshua R. Giddings and the Tactics of Radical Politics (Cleveland: Case Western Reserve University Press, 1970); George W. Julian, The Life of Joshua R. Giddings (Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1892).
“He had lived…with their lot”: Julian, The Life of Joshua R. Giddings, p. 21.
“would walk clear to Illinois”: Elihu B. Wasburne to AL, December 26, 1854, Lincoln Papers.
“a little slim…full of tears yet”: AL to WHH, February 2, 1848, in CW, I, p. 448.
“Mr. Lincoln was careful…roar of laughter”: Alexander Stephens recollection, in Osborn H. Oldroyd, comp., The Lincoln Memorial: Album-Immortelles (New York: G. W. Carleton & Co., 1882), p. 241.
“was losing interest in politics”: AL, “Autobiography Written for Jesse W. Fell,” December 20, 1859, in CW, III, p. 512.
“the one great question of the day”: AL, “Eulogy on Zachary Taylor,” July 25, 1850, in CW, II, p. 89.
with “greater earnestness”: AL, “Scripps autobiography,” in CW, IV, p. 67.
deaths of Mary’s father, grandmother, and Eddie: Randall, Mary Lincoln, pp. 139–41; Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, pp. 125–28; Donald, Lincoln, p. 153.
That destiny had branded her: Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 128.
Mary’s inconsolable weeping: Ibid., p. 126.
“Eat, Mary…for we must live”: AL, quoted in Randall, Mary Lincoln, p. 141.
found some solace…rented a family pew: Ibid., pp. 143–44.
Eddie’s death left an indelible scar: See Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, pp. 125–29.
“hysterical outbursts”: Burlingame, The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln, p. 296.
chased him through the yard: Stephen Whitehurst interview, 1885–1889, in HI, p. 722; WHH to JWW, January 23, 1886, reel 9, Herndon-Weik Collection, DLC.
drove him from the house: Mrs. Hillary Gobin to Alfred J. Beveridge, May 17, 1923, container 288, Papers of Alfred J. Beveridge, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress [hereafter Beveridge Papers, DLC].
smashed his head with a chunk of wood: Margaret Ryan interview, October 27, 1886, in HI, p. 597; WHH to JWW, January 23, 1886, reel 9, Herndon-Weik Collection, DLC.
“a protective deafness”: J. P. McEvoy, quoted in Randall, Mary Lincoln, p. 121.
quietly leave the room…for a walk: James Gourley interview, 1865–1866, in HI, p. 453.
If the discord continued…storm had ceased: Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, p. 91.
“a woman of more angelic…people outside”: Milton Hay interview, c. 1883–1888, in HI, p. 729.
“rendering [himself] worthy”: AL, “Communication to the People of Sangamo County,” March 9, 1832, in CW, I, p. 8.
Weed’s campaign for Senate seat for Seward: Van Deusen, William Henry Seward, pp. 110–11; Van Deusen, Thurlow Weed, pp. 165–66.
“There are two…and odious”: WHS, “The Election of 1848, Cleveland, Ohio, October 26, 1848,” Works of William H. Seward, Vol. III, pp. 291–302.
“of making voters…to intermarry”: AL’s speech, “Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois,” September 18, 1858, in CW, III, p. 145.
radicalism of the Western Reserve: Smith, The Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the Old Northwest, pp. 13–14, 31–32, 128.
the Cleveland Plain Dealer charged: Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 27, 1848.
“‘Can nothing’…can and must do it”: WHS, “The Election of 1848,” Works of William H. Seward, Vol. III, p. 301.
“a political crime…political evil”: TW, quoted in Van Deusen, Thurlow Weed, p. 90.
“this question of slavery…partisan conflicts”: TW, Albany Evening Journal, 1836, in Seward, An Autobiography, p. 319.
his provocative language: WHS to TW, March 31, 1850, Weed Papers; Holman Hamilton, Zachary Taylor: Soldier in the White House, Vol. II (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1951), pp. 321–22.
not fully “ripened”: WHS to unknown recipient, May 28, 1846, in Seward, An Autobiography, p. 809.
“wanted to level society up, not down”: Van Deusen, Thurlow Weed, p. 166.
“Probably no man…warmly appreciated”: NYTrib, quoted in Van Deusen, William Henry Seward, p. 113.
a Southern senator…“a shudder”: Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 119.
“If we ever find…your odious neck”: “Georgia Savannah” to WHS, January 22, 1850, in ibid., p. 130.
balance of power in the Ohio legislature: [Albert G. Riddle], “The Election of Salmon P. Chase to the Senate, February 22, 1849,” The Republic 4 (March 1875), p. 180; Schuckers, The Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase, p. 91.
Dr. Norton Townshend and John F. Morse: See Niven, Salmon P. Chase, p. 118; Schuckers, The Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase, pp. 91–92.
drafted a deal…extensive patronage: SPC to Sarah Bella D. L. Chase, December 20, 1848, reel 7, Chase Papers; Hart, Salmon P. Chase, pp. 104–09, 112.
Chase journeyed to Columbus…money to more than one paper: Niven, Salmon P. Chase, pp. 117–19, 121.
“After the Senatorial Election…rely on me”: SPC to Edward S. Hamlin, January 17, 1849 (erroneously dated 1848), reel 7, Chase Papers.
advanced money to…“mortgage to myself”: SPC to Stanley Matthews (copybook version), February 26, 1849, reel 7, Chase Papers.
“It is really important…Morse especially”: SPC to Edward S. Hamlin, January 17, 1849 (erroneously dated 1848), reel 7, Chase Papers.
“Every thing…of the Cause”: SPC to John F. Morse, January 19, [1849], reel 7, Chase Papers. The recipient’s name does not appear on the letter itself, but he has been identified as John F. Morse. See Vol. II of Niven, ed., the Salmon P. Chase papers, pp. 216–19.
“Every act…meant His Own”: Ohio State Journal, quoted in Blue, Salmon P. Chase, p. 72.
voted to repeal the hated Black Laws: Noah Brooks, Statesmen (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904), p. 158.
“not see how…or profit by it”: Horace Greeley to SPC, April 16, 1852, reel 9, Chase Papers.
“It lost to him…his political after life”: Riddle, “The Election of Salmon P. Chase,” Republic (1875), p. 183.
Certainly, his willingness to sever…custom of the times: Ibid., p. 183; Blue, Salmon P. Chase, p. 90; Niven, Salmon P. Chase, pp. 146–47.
“I can hardly…of our cause”: CS to SPC, February 27, 1849, reel 7, Chase Papers.
“to be first wherever I may be”: SPC to Charles D. Cleveland, February 8, 1830, reel 4, Chase Papers.
CHAPTER 5: THE TURBULENT FIFTIES
population: “Area and Population of the United States: 1790–1970,” series A 1–5, in U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Bicentennial Edition, Part 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1975), p. 8.
Nearly three fourths…participated: “Voter Participation in Presidential Elections, 1824–1928,” available at infoplease website, www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0877659.html (accessed July 2005).
“were the daily fare…are undervalued”: Charles Ingersoll, quoted in Appleby, Inheriting the Revolution, p. 102.
“Look into the morning…second breakfast”: Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Fugitive Slave Law,” reprinted in The Portable Emerson, new ed., ed. Carl Bode, with Malcolm Cowley (New York: Penguin Books, 1981), p. 542.
“You meet…ale- and oyster-houses”: Ludwig Gall, quoted in Appleby, Inheriting the Revolution, pp. 102–3.
“The nullifiers…Potomac river”: Andrew Jackson, quoted in Marquis James, Andrew Jackson: Portrait of a President (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1937), p. 324.
three fifths of a person…lawful masters: U.S. Constitution, Section I, Article II, and Section IV, Article II.
“written in the bond…its obligations”: John Quincy Adams, quoted in Potter, The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861, p. 47.
“If by your legislation…for disunion”: Robert Toombs, debate in the House of Representatives, December 13, 1849, Congressional Globe, 31st Cong., 1st sess., p. 28.
Mississippi called for a convention: Potter, The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861, pp. 88, 94, 104.
“We read…nuptial couch, everywhere!”: Thomas Hart Benton, May 31, 1848, Appendix to the Congressional Globe, 30th Cong., 1st sess., p. 686.
“We must concern…of life and death”: John Randolph, quoted in Margaret L. Coit, John C. Calhoun: American Portrait (Atlanta, Ga.: Cherokee Publishing Co., 1990), p. 166.
“antagonistical elements”: WHS, “The Election of 1848, Cleveland, Ohio, October 26, 1848,” Works of William H. Seward, Vol. III, p. 295.
“It is a great mistake…except force”: John C. Calhoun, “The Compromise,” March 4, 1850, Congressional Globe, 31st Cong., 1st sess., p. 453.
All eyes turned to…Henry Clay: Robert V. Remini, Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1991), pp. 730–38.
“regarded by all…man for a crisis”: AL, “Eulogy on Henry Clay,” July 6, 1852, in CW, II, p. 129.
“the spirit and the fire of youth”: James S. Pike, “Mr. Clay’s Speech,” May 20, 1850, from the NYTrib, reprinted in James S. Pike, First Blows of the Civil War: The Ten Years of Preliminary Conflict in the United States (New York: American News Company, 1879), p. 72.
Henry Clay speech, resol
utions: “Compromise Resolutions. Speech of Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, in the Senate of the United States, February 5 and 6, 1850,” Appendix to the Congressional Globe, 31st Cong., 1st sess., pp. 115–27 (quotes pp. 115, 127).
denied a jury trial…hunt down escapees: Potter, The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861, pp. 130–31.
“if the direful…heart-rending spectacle”: “Compromise Resolutions. Speech of Mr. Clay,” Appendix to the Congressional Globe, p. 127.
Frances Seward in the gallery: FAS to LW, February 10, 1850, reel 119, Seward Papers.
F Street house in Washington: Van Deusen, William Henry Seward, p. 118; Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 111. The house was located on the north side of F Street, NW, between Sixth and Seventh Streets.
“He is a charming…I supposed”: FAS to LW, February 10, 1850, reel 119, Seward Papers.
John Calhoun in the Senate: Pike, “Speeches of Webster and Calhoun,” from the Portland Advertiser, March 9, 1850, in Pike, First Blows of the Civil War, p. 15; Ben: Perley Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis, Vol. I (Philadelphia, 1886; New York: AMS Press, 1971), p. 365.
Calhoun’s speech read by Mason: John C. Calhoun, “The Compromise,” March 4, 1850, Congressional Globe, 31st Cong., 1st sess., pp. 451–55.
the “great triumvirate”: Richard N. Current, “Webster, Daniel,” in The Reader’s Companion to American History, ed. Foner and Garraty, p. 1139.
“crammed”…previous occasion: National Intelligencer, Washington, D.C., March 8, 1850.
the rumor that Webster…was watching: FAS to LW, March 10, 1850, reel 119, Seward Papers.
“I wish to speak”: “Compromise Resolutions. Speech of Mr. Webster, of Massachusetts, in the Senate, March 7, 1850,” Appendix to the Congressional Globe, 31st Cong., 1st sess., pp. 269–76 (quote p. 269).
“Mr Webster has deliberately…years in doing”: Journal BO, p. 217, in The Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Vol. XI: 1848–1851, ed. A. W. Plumstead and William H. Gilman (Cambridge, Mass., and London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1975), pp. 347–48.
Frances Seward on Webster’s speech: FAS to LW, March 10, 1850, reel 119, Seward Papers.