| Show THE LAMENTED ABRAHAM LINCOLN fim was the anniversary of the birth of abraham lincoln one of the greatest men in american history he was born in hardin hard in county kentucky february 12 1809 at this time thomas jefferson was nearing the ead of his second term as president of the united atatim Sta Bt ates tim in early life the lincoln family moved into illinois shortly after young abraham is found working for hire in various capacities as a manual laborer his young manhood was marked by diligence industry and energy by his own unaided efforts he became a good surveyor a fair english scholar and a good lawyer in 1832 1882 we e find him elected captain of a militia company organized to fight indians in the same year gearhe he was a candidate for the illinois legislature but was defeated two years later he was successful and served four years in that legislature in 1846 he went to congress after serving one term he returned home homeland aej applied himself earnestly to law at this time he be had achieved considerable fame as an attorney in 1854 politics had assumed an exciting phase the missouri compromise law had been repealed the question of da slavery very came up once more in all its hideousness abraham alln l iio coin was aroused and he be went into the arna fearless vigorous and unconquerable qu erable in a short abort time he became the recognized leader of the antislavery anti slavery party by his and self floe fice lyman trumbull then a D nao mo crat was waa elected united states senator in preference to a douglas man lincoln himself was the candidate of his hig party but seeing the impossibility of ve his election he withdrew and give gave his support to an antislavery anti slavery democrat but it was in 1868 1858 that he fully demonstrated his superior intellectuality moral insight and political sagacity in ih that year his famous debating tour with senator stephen A douglas was made in that year on june 16 he be uttered the prophetic words A house divided against itself cannot stand I 1 believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free I 1 do not expect the union to be dissolved I 1 do do not e expect the house to fall but I 1 do expect t t that it will cease to be divided it will become will all 11 the one thing or all the other either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it and place it where the public mind shau shall rose rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction or its advocates will push it forward un until it shall become alike lawful in all the states old as well as now new north as well as south abraham lincoln was in the early part of 1860 the undisputed head bead of the republican party his new york speech of february 27 1860 showed conclusively that he was the safest and best man to trust with the practical leadership it to la little wonder thell that at the chicago convention of may 1860 he was the nominee of the party for the presidency the campaign of that year was a memorable one the democrats split into factions there were three candidates di dates douglas breckenridge and bell when the votes of the electoral college were taken lincoln had breckenridge 72 and douglas 12 the popular vote stood for lincoln for douglas dduglas for breckenridge for bell it will be seen that if the democrats could have united op on one candidate and on one platform their popular vote would have been but there was waa a hand directing the course of events which the unthinking mind does not take note of that was the hand of god the hand which ferrit directed washington and Jeffer then directed lincoln lincoln was wag inaugurated march 4 1861 he surrounded himself with able men mea in bis cabinet william hueward HS eward salmon P chase simon cmeron cameron gideon welles caleb B smith edward bates and montgomery blair of these seward smith and rates bates were of whig paternity in politics while the others were all of democratic antecedents it is needless to go over in detail the organization of the I 1 confederate states of america and the dreadful civil war which tore asunder the union for four dark and sanguinary years after but one fact must not be omitted and it is that abraham lincoln did not precipitate the war on the contrary he tried every means of preserving the union wit without libut recourse to arms he said in your hands my dissatisfied e fellow ow countrymen and not in mine is ia the momentous momen toua issue of civil war the government will not assail you you can have no conf conflict ilot without being yourselves the aggressors you have no oath registered tn in heaven to destroy the government while I 1 shall have a most solemn one to preserve protect and defend it shortly after on april port fort sumpter surrendered to the secession lots then it was that lincoln showed himself the man for the hour he called for soldiers and obtained them re he called a special session of congress for july 4 1861 the first battle of bull run bun took place july 21 1861 A bitter controversy has arl arisen sen as as to the merits and patriotism of the early leaders 0 of f the war but thy are all beyond the reach of human criticism now and we must charitably think that if there was error it was of the head and not of the heart all meant but all were not like lincoln worthy of divine guidance the telegraph tells us that one of the great actors in this terrible drama is now on the point of death that is general sherman one of the last surviving great soldiers of the war that period from the attack on sumpter to althe the fall ot of richmond and the surrender of lee at appomattox on april 9 1865 is a thrilling one in american history the bitter memories it has left still rankles in the bosoms of many and vicious men en deavor to perpetuate and intensify them Thisie this is wrong our duty is to remember that we are americans and not party fighters or propagation of sectional hate unfortunately the hand ol 01 the assassin struck down the man who could best beet heal the wounds made by the civil war that man maa was abraham lincoln the assassin was wilkes booth a misguided insane fanatic who fancied himself a patriot let the name of lincoln be forever revered its noblest bearer abraham died april 15 1865 |
