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Indiana and Lincoln's Rise to the Presidency

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Indiana and Lincoln's Rise to the Presidency Indiana and Lincoln’s Rise to the Presidency REINHARDH. LUTHIN It is a familiar fact that Abraham Lincoln spent part of his early life-from 1816 to 1830-in Spencer County, Indiana. This period, formative years as they were, par- tially moulded his viewpoint.’ In still another way Indiana exerted influence on the Emancipator’s career. This occurred in 1860, when he was elevated to the Presidency of the United States. In ascending to this exalted office Lincoln was to have the indispensable help of the state in which he had spent part of his youth. For in this critical year the Hoosier State was to be a vital factor in national affairs. Indiana had never been rabidly opposed to slavery. The lower counties, settled originally by people from below the Mason and Dixon line, were so strongly filled with south- ern sympathies that antislavery work there was discouraging. Free Soil meetings were frequently broken up, and the gen- uine opponents of slavery had almost come to accept the Compromise of 1850.‘ The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, viewed by other northern states as a measure to open up the Northwest to slavery, caused relatiyely little excitement in Indiana. In the election of 1854 the forces opposed to the dominant proslavery Democratic party were able to unite only on a three-cornered platform taking in antislavery men, prohibitionists, and Know Nothings : “Free- dom, Temperance, and our Native Land” were the issues;’: and the Democrats dismissed their opponents as “The Aboli- tion Free-Soil Maine-Law Native-American Anti-Catholic Anti-Nebraska Party of Indiana.”4 The state grew no more 1 For Lincoln’s early years in Indiana, see Albert J. Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1858 (2 vols., Boston, 1928), I, 38-99; Bess V. Ehrmann, The Missing Chapter in the Life of Abraham Lincoln (Chicago, 1938) ; R. Gerald McMurtry, “The Lincoln Migration from Kentucky to Indiana,” in Indiana Magazine of History, XXXIII (1937), 386-421. ‘Theodore C. Smith, The Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the Northwest (New York, 1897), 303; John D. Rarnhart, “The Southern Influence in the Formation of Indiana,” in Indiana Magazine of History, XXXIII (1937), 261-76; Dale Beeler, “The Election of 1852 in Indiana,” ibid., XI (1915), 314-15, and XI1 (1916), 39. 3 Godlove S. Orth to Schuyler Colfax, September 25, 1854, Colfax- Orth Papers (Indiana State Library, Indianapolis). 4 Ovando J. Hollister, Life of Schuyler Colfaz (New York, 1887), 74. 386 Indiana Magazine of History radical in its antislavery beliefs during the ensuing years,5 and the Democrats continued to hold sway.0 Nevertheless, Indiana was a political prize for which the anti-Democratic forces were willing to expend much en- ergy. It ranked second among the northwestern states, with a national convention vote of twenty-six and an electoral vote of thirteen, and held fifth place in the Union. Like Pennsylvania and Illinois, it was considered essential to the success of either party in 1860.’ When the Presidential year 1860 opened, the opposition (as those combating the Democrats were called) was still divided into three main groups-the Republicans, the “Ameri- cans” (Know Nothings), and the remnants of the old Whig party who still declined to believe that Henry Clay’s party was all but dead. Cooperation between them was especially difficult because the large German element in the Republican party disliked the “Americans,” and the Old Line Whigs feared the radicalism of the Republicans. But one factor was in their favor-the growing schism in the Democratic ranks. The Indiana Democrats, surfeited with success, had begun to quarrel among themselves. Some were disappointed over meager spoils; some were angry at the party autocrat, United States Senator Jesse D. Bright; and others were grieved because their party neglected internal improvements and homestead legislation.8 On February 22, 1860, the opposition forces met in mass state convention at Indianapolis ; the radical name “Republican” was studiously av0ided.O The supporters of Judge Edward Bates, of Missouri, were on hand, urging him on the Hoosiers as the best possible presidential timber. But their plans for a solid pro-Bates delegation to the Republican 5 Horace Greeley to Schuyler Colfax, May 4, 1857, Greeley-Colfax Papers (New York Public Library, New York City). 6. Charles Kettleborough, “Indiana. on the Eve of the Civil War,” in Puhlwatzons, Indiana Historical Society (Indianapolis, 1895- ) , VI (1919), 137-38. Charles Roll, “Indiana’s Part in the Nomination of Abraham Lincoln for President in 1860,” in Indiana Magazke of History, XXV (1929), 1-2. 8Mildred C. Stoler, Influence of the Democratic Element in the Republican Party of Illinois and Indiana, 1854-1860 (Ph. D. thesis, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 1938), 26-31 ; William W. Wick to William H. English, June 5, 1854, William H. English Papers (William Henry Smith Memorial Library, Indianapolis). 9Carl F. Brand, “The History of the Know Nothing Party in Indiana, in Indiana Magazine of History, XVIII (1922), 301-02. Indiana and Lincoln’s Rise to the Presidency 387 National Convention at Chicago were doomed to failure, since the radical Gennan-American element would have no part of the Missouri jurist, who was too conservative, and moreover, had supported the “American” presidential ticket in 1856 and had consorted with Know Nothings in St. Louis.’” Still, the Bates men were confident that majority sentiment in Indiana was for their favorite.” The Indianapolis conclave, besides nominating Henry S. Lane for governor, selected a slate of delegates to represent the state at the Chicago convention, including four delegates-at-large. The latter were Caleb B. Smith, William T. Otto, Pleasant A. Hackleman, and Daniel D. Pratt.’* Meanwhile, in Springfield, Illinois, the popular lawyer, citizen, and Republican leader, Abraham Lincoln, was being groomed for the presidential nomination by personal friends and political associates. By April, 1860, plans were afoot by Lincoln’s managers to have him selected as Illinois’ “fav- orite son” at the Republican National Convention, to meet in Chicago on May 16. The strategy of Lincoln’s sponsors, led by Republican State Chairman Norman B. Judd, of Illinois, was to gain support also in the three other doubtful states- Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.I3 Lincoln quietly and tactfully cooperated with Judd and others in the task of attracting support outside Illinois. He was particularly con- cerned with Indiana. Among his “confidential friends” in Indiana with whom he told a Connecticut leader to correspond, Lincoln on April 14, 1860, named “J. W. Gordon,” of Indianapolis, and “W. T. 1” Indianapolis Daily Journal, February 23, 1860 ; Indianapolis Daily State Sentinel, February 23, 24, 1860. For the Germans’ hostility to Bates, see Frank I. Herriott, “The Conference in the Deutsches Haus, Chicago, May 14-15, 1860,” in Transactions of th,e Illinois State Historical Society, 1928, in Puhlications of the Illinois State Historical Librarg (Springfield, Illinois, 1899- ) , No. 35 (1928), 101-91; St. Louis Daily Missouri Republican, March 11, 1860; Edgar R. Harlan to Missouri Historical Society, February 7, 1908, Edward Bates Papers (Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis). “Howard K. Beale led.). The Diaw of Edward Bates. 1859-1866. in American Historical Assoiiation Annudl Report for 1930 (Wash: ington, 1933), IV, 102. 12 Indianapolis Daily Journal, February 23, 1860. 19 William ‘Baringer, Lincoln’s Rise to Power (Boston, 1937), 5-188; Norman B. Judd to Lyman Trumbull, April 2, 1860, Lyman Trumbull Papers (Library of Congress). 388 Indiana Magazine of History Page,” of Evansville.” On May 1, Lincoln sent a note to Cyrus M. Allen, of Vincennes: Our friend Dubois, and Judge David Davis, of Bloomington [Illinois], or both, will meet you at Clinton on the 12th. If you let Usher and Griswold of Terre-Haute know, I think they will cooperate with you. 15 Cyrus M. Allen had much in common with Lincoln: both had been born in Kentucky, migrated to Indiana in their youth, and served as Whigs in their respective state legislatures.’” Allen, wrote Lincoln later, “particularly has been my friend.”’? The “Usher” mentioned by Lincoln was John P. Usher, with whom he had ridden the circuit as a lawyer.1s On May 2, the day following his letter to Allen, Lincoln dispatched a message to an Ohio delegate to the Chicago convention-Richard M. Corwine, Cincinnati lawyer and one- time partner of Rutherford B. Hayes: Yours of the 30th ult. is just received. After what you have said, it is perhaps proper I should post you, so far as I am able, as to the “lay of the land”. Fi,rst, I think the Illinois delegation will be unanimous for me at the start; and no other delegation will. A few individuals in the other delegations would like to go for me at the start, but may be restrained by their colleagues. It is represented to me by men who ought to know, that the whole of Indiana might not be difficult to get. You know how it is in Ohio. I am certainly not the first choice there; and yet I have not heard that anyone makes any positive objection to me. It is just so everywhere as far as I can perceive. Everywhere, except here in Illinois and possibly in Indiana, one or ano.ther is preferred to me, but there is no positive objection. This is the ground as it now appears. 1,believe you personally know C. M. Allen of Vincennes, Indiana. He is a delegate and has notified me that the entire Indiana delegation will be in Chicago the same day you name, Saturday, the 12th. My friends, Jesse K. Dubois, our auditor, and Judge David Davis, will probably be there ready to 14 Emanuel Hertz, Abraham Lincoln: A New Portrait (2 vols., New York, 1931), 11, 772.
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