The Beginner's American History Part 28

I do, answered the witness. Then Lincoln took an almanac out of his pocket, turned to the day of the month on which the murder had been committed, and said to the court: The almanac shows that there was no moon s.h.i.+ning at the time at which the witness says he saw the murder.[11] The jury was convinced that the witness had not spoken the truth; they declared the prisoner "Not guilty," and he was at once set free.

Lincoln was a man who always paid his debts. Mrs. Armstrong had been very kind to him when he was poor and friendless. Now he had paid that debt.

[Footnote 10: See Jack Armstrong, in paragraph 251.]

[Footnote 11: The almanac usually gives the time when the moon rises; and so by looking at any particular day of the month, one can tell whether there was a moon on that evening.]

256. Lincoln and the pig.--Some men have hearts big enough to be kind to their fellow-men when they are in trouble, but not to a dumb animal.

Lincoln's heart was big enough for both.

One morning just after he had bought a new suit of clothes he started to drive to the court-house, a number of miles distant. On the way he saw a pig that was making desperate efforts to climb out of a deep mud-hole. The creature would get part way up the slippery bank, and then slide back again over his head in mire and water. Lincoln said to himself: I suppose that I ought to get out and help that pig; for if he's left there, he'll smother in the mud. Then he gave a look at his glossy new clothes. He felt that he really couldn't afford to spoil them for the sake of any pig, so he whipped up his horse and drove on. But the pig was in his mind, and he could think of nothing else. After he had gone about two miles, he said to himself, I've no right to leave that poor creature there to die in the mud, and what is more, I won't leave him. Turning his horse, he drove back to the spot. He got out and carried half a dozen fence-rails to the edge of the hole, and placed them so that he could get to it without falling in himself. Then, kneeling down, he bent over, seized the pig firmly by the fore legs and drew him up on to the solid ground, where he was safe. The pig grunted out his best thanks, and Lincoln, plastered with mud, but with a light heart, drove on to the court-house.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LINCOLN AND THE PIG.]

257. Lincoln is elected to the state legislature; he goes to Springfield to live; he is elected to Congress.--Many people in Illinois thought that they would like to see such a man in the state legislature[12] helping to make their laws. They elected him; and as he was too poor at that time to pay so much horse-hire, he walked from New Salem, a distance of over a hundred miles, to Vandalia,[13]

which was then the capital of the state.

Lincoln was elected to the legislature many times; later, he moved to Springfield, Illinois, and made that place his home for the rest of his life.

The next time the people elected him to office, they sent him to Congress to help make laws, not for his state only, but for the whole country. He had got a long way up since the time when he worked with John Hanks[14] fencing the cornfield round his father's cabin; but he was going higher still,--he was going to the top.

[Footnote 12: Legislature: persons chosen by the people of a state or country to make its laws.]

[Footnote 13: Vandalia (Van-da'li-a).]

[Footnote 14: John Hanks: see paragraph 250.]

258. The meeting for choosing a candidate[15] for President of the United States; the two fence-rails; the Chicago meeting; Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States.--In the spring of 1860 a great convention, or meeting, was held in one of the towns of Illinois. Lincoln was present at that convention. The object of the people who had gathered there was to choose a candidate that they would like to see elected President of the United States. A number of speeches had been made, when a member of the convention rose and said that a person asked the privilege of making the meeting a present.

It was voted to receive it. Then John Hanks and one of his neighbors brought in two old fence-rails and a banner with these words painted on it:--

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE RAIL CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY IN 1860.

TWO RAILS FROM A LOT OF 3000 MADE IN 1830 BY JOHN HANKS AND ABE LINCOLN.

The rails were received with cheer after cheer, and Lincoln was chosen candidate. About a week after that a much greater meeting was held in Chicago, and he was chosen there in the same way. The next November Abraham Lincoln, "the Illinois rail-splitter," was elected President of the United States. He had reached the top. There he was to die.

[Footnote 15: Candidate (can'di-date): a person who seeks some office, such as that of governor or president, or a person who is recommended by a party for such an office. The people in favor of the candidate vote for him; and if he gets a sufficient number of votes, he is elected.]

259. The great war between the North and the South; why a large part of the people of the South wished to leave the Union.--In less than six weeks after Lincoln actually became President, in the spring of 1861, a terrible war broke out between the North and the South. The people of South Carolina fired the first gun in that war. They, together with a great part of the people of ten other southern states, resolved to leave the Union.[16] They set up an independent government called the Confederate States of America, and made Jefferson Davis its president.

The main reason why so many of the people of the South wished to withdraw from the United States was that little by little the North and the South had become like two different countries.

At the time of the Revolution, when we broke away from the rule of England, every one of the states held negro slaves; but in the course of eighty years a great change had taken place. The negroes at the North had become free, but those of the South still remained slaves.

Now this difference in the way of doing work made it impossible for the North and the South to agree about many things.

They had come to be like two boys in a boat who want to go in opposite directions. One pulls one way with his oars, the other pulls another way, and so the boat does not get ahead.

At the South most of the people thought that slavery was right, and that it helped the whole country; at the North the greater part of the people were convinced that it was wrong, and that it did harm to the whole country.

But this was not all. The people who held slaves at the South wanted to add to the number. They hoped to get more of the new country west of the Mississippi River for slave states, so that there might always be at least as many slave states in the Union as there were free states.

But Abraham Lincoln like most of the people at the North believed that slavery did no good to any one. He and his party were fully determined that no slaves whatever should be taken into the territories west of the Mississippi River, and that every new state which should be added should be entirely free.

For this reason it happened that when Lincoln became President most of the slave states resolved to leave the Union, and, if necessary, to make war rather than be compelled to stay in it.

[Footnote 16: Union: several years after the close of the Revolutionary War, by which we gained our independence of Great Britain, the people of the thirteen states formed a new government.

That new government bound all the states together more strongly than before, thus making, as was then said, "a more _perfect union_."

In 1861 eleven of the southern states endeavored to withdraw from the Union; this attempt brought on the war.]

260. The North and the South in the war; President Lincoln frees the slaves; General Grant and General Lee; peace is made.--The North had the most men and the most money to fight with, but the people of the South had the advantage of being able to stay at home and fight on their own ground.

The war lasted four years (1861-1865). Many terrible battles were fought; thousands of brave men were killed on both sides. During the war President Lincoln gave the slaves their freedom in all the states which were fighting against the Union, and those in the other slave states got their freedom later. After a time General Grant obtained the command of all the armies of the North, and General Lee became the chief defender of the South.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STATUE OF LINCOLN WRITING THE EMANc.i.p.aTION PROCLAMATION WHICH GAVE THE SLAVES THEIR FREEDOM, IN FAIRMOUNT PARK, PHILADELPHIA.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MONUMENT TO GENERAL GRANT IN LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MONUMENT TO GENERAL LEE, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.]

The last battles were fought around Richmond, Virginia, between these two great generals. When the Southern soldiers saw that it was useless to attempt to fight longer, they laid down their arms, and peace was made--a peace honorable to both sides.

261. The success of the North preserves the Union and makes all slaves free; the North and the South shake hands; murder of President Lincoln.--The success of the North in the war preserved the Union, and as all negro laborers were now free, there was no longer any dispute about slavery. The North and the South could shake hands and be friends, for both were now ready to pull in the same direction.

The saddest thing at the close of the war was the murder of President Lincoln by a madman named Booth. Not only the people of the North but many of those at the South shed tears at his death, because they felt that they had an equal place in his great heart. He loved both, as a true American must ever love his whole country.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MONUMENT OVER THE GRAVE OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN, AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.]

262. Summary.--Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, became President of the United States in 1861. He was elected by a party in the North that was determined that slaves should not be taken into free states or territories, and that no more slave states should be made. On this account most of the slave-holding states of the South resolved to withdraw from the Union. A great war followed, and President Lincoln gave the slaves their freedom. The North succeeded in the war, and the Union was made stronger than ever, because the North and the South could no longer have any dispute over slavery. Both sides now shook hands and became friends.

Who was the tall man in Congress from Illinois? What did the people of his state like to call him? When was Abraham Lincoln born? Where was he born? To what state did his father move? Tell about "Abe's"

new home. Tell about the new cabin and its furniture. Tell about "Abe's" bed. What is said about the boy's mother? What did "Abe" do?

What did he say after he became a man? What did Thomas Lincoln's new wife say about "Abe"? Tell about "Abe's" going to school; about his new teacher; about his books. What did he use to write on? What is said of Abraham Lincoln at seventeen? What about him when he was nineteen? Tell about his voyage to New Orleans.

Tell about his moving to Illinois. What did Abraham Lincoln and John Hanks do? Tell about the hunting frolics. Tell how Lincoln chopped in the woods. What kind of a bargain did he make for a new pair of trousers? What did Abraham Lincoln hire out to do in New Salem? Tell about the gang of ruffians. What is said of Jack Armstrong? Why did Lincoln get the name of "Honest Abe"? Tell about the Black Hawk War.

What did Lincoln do in that war.

After he returned from the Black Hawk War, what did Lincoln do? Tell how he used to read law. What did people think of him after he began to practise law? Tell about the Armstrong murder trial. Tell about Lincoln and the pig. To what did the people of Illinois elect Lincoln?

Did they ever elect him to the state legislature again? Then where did they send him? Was he going any higher?

Tell about the great meeting in one of the towns of Illinois in 1860.

Can any one in the cla.s.s repeat what was on the banner? What happened at Chicago? What the next November? What happened in the spring of 1861? Who fired the first gun in the war? What was done then?