ForFor thethe PeoplePeople A N e w s l e t t e r o f t h e A b r a h a m L i n c o l n A s s o c i a t i o n Volume 3, Number 3 Autumn 2001 Springfield, Illinois

Did the Family Employ a Slave in 1849–1850?

by Allen C. Guelzo (with Judge Daniel Stone) against the ford in Springfield. “Mrs. Lincoln be- “injustice and bad policy” of slavery longed to the Episcopal Church, and our times in his great debates sits Lincoln’s apparent indifference to so did the Bradfords,” and eventually with Stephen A. Douglas, Abra- the fate of Jane Bryant and her chil- “Mrs. Bradford sent me over to help Fham Lincoln fended off Dou- dren in Matson v. Rutherford (1847). Mrs. Lincoln every Saturday, for she glas’s accusation that the abolition of Beside his friendship for individual had no servant and had to do her own slavery would lead to the wholesale so- Springfield blacks like William housework.” Then, in 1849, at age cial and sexual mixing of the races. Florville sits his noncommittal attitude fourteen, Ruth Burns was sent by the Few white Americans in the mid-nine- toward the attempts of Springfield Bradfords “to live with the Lincolns.” teenth century were free from the ob- blacks to organize for abolition. At It could not have been a difficult tran- session that race, color, and racial their most acerbic, critics of Lincoln sition. John Bradford’s bindery busi- boundaries were uncrossable, and blame him for actually condoning slav- ness had retained Lincoln as its attor- Douglas knew how much damage he ery while in the midst of abolishing it, could do by implicating Lincoln’s op- by offering to pay Judge position to slavery with that fear. But George Robertson “any sum not ex- Lincoln disarmed Douglas with a sim- ceeding five hundred dollars” for a ple logic that anyone could grasp: “I slave who was at the center of a politi- do not understand that because I do cally contentious tug-of-war between not want a negro woman for a slave I Kentucky’s civil and military authori- must necessarily want her for a wife. ties, so that the slaves could then be So it seems to me quite possible for us legally freed. No one yet, however, to get along without making either has actually been able to pin on Lin- slaves or wives of negroes.” coln the accusation that he actually It was an important point to make owned slaves or used the labor of in the undecided racial climate of Illi- slaves. nois, since it damped down the anxi- But that may depend on the case eties of white Illinoisans that abolition of Ruth Stanton, and the unusual au- was only the beginning of a path that tobiographical interview she gave in led to the racist bogeyman of racial 1894 to a reporter for the St. Louis miscegenation. But was Lincoln being Post-Dispatch (“She Nursed Bob Lin- entirely forthright when he claimed, “I coln. Aunt Ruth Stanton Took Him John Bradford certainly never have had a black to School When a Boy. She is a Jani- ney in 1846, and Bradford would later woman for . . . a slave”? The answer tress Here Now,” St. Louis Post-Dis- describe to Jesse Weik how, when Lin- to that question may hang on the un- patch, November 25, 1894). Stanton coln was absent from Springfield, he certain status of a black woman only was one of at least two black domestics would invite “Mrs. Lincoln to accom- eight years in Lincoln’s past, a domes- employed by the Lincoln family in the pany me and my family in a drive to tic named Ruth Stanton. 1840s, but little is known about her, in the country.” It was to the Bradfords Over the years, many critics of contrast to Maria Vance, who had a that Mary Lincoln made her famous Lincoln have pointed out that his anti- sensational set of memoirs ghost-writ- remark that, “One thing is certain; if slavery convictions, at least before ten for her. In the 1894 interview, Mr. Lincoln should happen to die, his 1854 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Stanton claimed to have been born as spirit will never find me living outside were certainly less public, and perhaps Ruth Burns in 1835 or 1836 “in Madi- the boundaries of a slave State.” less fervent, than they were afterwards. son County, Ills.” She originally Ruth Stanton’s interview yielded a Beside Lincoln’s early 1837 protest worked for the family of John Brad- continued on page 6 2 For the People

ALA Endowment Reestablished and Past President Honored

by Robert Eckley ble for the Associa- Plaza, Springfield, Illinois 62701. tion to enrich the studies begun at the Below we proudly present the onors have reestablished the instigation of Logan Hay in the names of our initial contributors since Abraham Lincoln Association 1920s. Recently, efforts of the ALA the reestablishment of the Endowment DEndowment during the last have assisted in sponsoring the devel- in the autumn of 1999. two years. Several have made more opment of instructional materials to than one gift. Together with future do- bring the many fascinating aspects of Dan Bannister, Springfield nations, these contributions should en- the Lincoln Legal Papers to schoolchil- R-Lou Barker, Springfield able the ALA to continue to play a role dren throughout America. Surpris- Dan and Lynne Barringer, in essential Lincoln scholarship. ingly, the availability of the results of Bloomington Initial donors include members of the project together with the rediscov- David Barringer, Springfield the family of Dr. Floyd S. Barringer, ery of the richness and relevance of the Douglas M. Barringer, Springfield president of the Association from long-neglected Lincoln reminiscence Mrs. Floyd Barringer, Springfield 1969 to 1983, who made gifts in his literature make it apparent that the Judith Barringer, Springfield honor. In addition to his service to the years leading up to and following the Molly and Charles Becker, Springfield Association, which entailed reviving bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in 2009 Roger D. Bridges, Fremont, Ohio its publication program, Dr. Barringer will be very active ones in the field of Michael Burlingame, enjoyed a long and significant career in Lincoln scholarship. Washington, D.C. the field of neurosurgery. During We hope that many Association Helen Goldsworthy Campbell, Peoria World War II, Dr. Barringer was a members and friends will join in meet- John Daly, Springfield medical volunteer in Birmingham, ing the challenge of underwriting an Brooks Davis, Chicago England, serving both civilian and mil- endowment that will make it possible Rodney Davis, Galesburg itary patients from 1941 to 1945. As for the ALA to continue its leading Robert and Nell Eckley, Bloomington a pioneer neurosurgeon in Springfield, role in Lincoln research and publica- John W. Frisch, Bloomington his practice spanned thirty-five years tion. To do so, please contact the En- Donald H. Funk, Springfield beginning in 1947. dowment Committee, Abraham Lin- Allen C. Guelzo, Paoli, PA Gifts like these will make it possi- coln Association, 1 Old State Capitol Richard E. Hart, Springfield Earl W. Henderson, Jr., Springfield Fred B. Hoffmann, Springfield New Book Robert W. Johannsen, Urbana Mr. and Mrs. Lewis E. Lehrman, Titles Greenwich, CT Jane E. Lennon, Oakland, CA Richard Mills, Springfield utumn is a time for raking Oglesby, the man who created the Susan Mogerman, Springfield leaves, drinking apple cider, image of the “rail-splitter,” is now Georgia Northrup, Springfield Aroasting hot dogs and marsh- available. Mark Washburne’s study of Mark Plummer, Bloomington mallows over an evening bonfire, and his ancestor, Elihu Benjamin Wash- Gerald J. Prokopowicz, weekend hayrides. It is also a time to burne, provides a needed study of this Fort Wayne, IN sit down and enjoy a good book. Sev- significant political figure. James A. Rawley, Lincoln, NE eral recent publications are offered for Please make all checks out to Thomas F. Schwartz, Springfield your reading pleasure. Board member “IHPA.” Illinois residents must add Robert A. Stuart, Jr., Springfield Mark Plummer’s biography of Richard sales tax to their totals. Louise Taper, Los Angeles, CA Don and Wanda Tracy, Springfield Mark A. Plummer, Lincoln’s Rail-Splitter: Governor Richard J. Oglesby John T. Trutter, Northfield Retail: $34.95 ALA: $27.95 IL Sales Tax: $2.03 Andy Van Meter, Springfield Margaret Van Meter, Springfield Mark Washburne, A Biography of Elihu Benjamin Washburne: Congressman Dan Weinberg, Chicago Secretary of State, Envoy Extraordinary Robert S. Willard, Retail: $28.99 ALA: $23.19 IL Sales Tax: $1.68 University Park, MD Douglas L. Wilson, Galesburg Shipping fee: $7.00 Harlington Wood, Springfield For the People 3

THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN ASSOCIATION A Student’s (and Parent’s) DONALD R. TRACY President Lament MOLLY BECKER RICHARD E. HART RICHARD MILLS Vice-Presidents by Thomas F. Schwartz I have been another week without hearing from you. You can hardly plead THOMAS F. S CHWARTZ any parents loaded up the want of time from visitors as an excuse for Secretary Washington must be entirely destitute of JUDITH BARRINGER family car or minivan to par- them by this time. Treasurer Mtake of the annual ritual of The past week has been a very dull DAN W. B ANNISTER taking their sons and daughters to col- one with so nearly anything to enliven it Immediate Past-President lege. With college enrollments at except Fast-day. I was out to one party to Board of Directors record levels, it is also common for vary me [sic] time a little but it seemed a kind of bore. R-Lou Barker parents to receive urgent requests for Roger D. Bridges I received a picture of Geo. Latham a Michael Burlingame money. A letter of Robert Todd Lin- few days ago which would completely as- Sheldon S. Cohen coln to his mother recently surfaced re- tonish you. He is sporting an elegant John Daly flecting this timeless plea. Another in- moustache and sidewiskers and looks quite Brooks Davis gorgeous. I suppose he will finish his Col- Rodney O. Davis teresting part of the letter concerns Robert S. Eckley lege course now that he has got at it again. George Latham. Both Robert and his Would you please let me have twenty- Donald H. Funk friend failed the Harvard entrance Allen C. Guelzo five dollars when you write again? My en- Edith Lee Harris exams. Both attended Phillips Exeter tering the Society I told you of cost me ten Kathryn Harris for a year. Robert was successful in his dollars and I have also been attending the Norman D. Hellmers second attempt at entering Harvard. French Theatre a great deal while it was Earl W. Henderson, Jr. here. Several small bills and general ex- Fred B. Hoffmann George Latham, however, decided to penses after paying my term bill have Barbara Hughett enroll at Yale University. The text is nearly depleted my pocket and I don’t want Robert W. Johannsen provided in full. to be left entirely high and dry. I am sorry Lewis E. Lehrman Susan Mogerman to trouble you about it, but I have to. Georgia Northrup Cambridge April Please write soon to your affectionate Son. Phillip S. Paludan My dear Mother R.T.L. James W. Patton III Mark Plummer Gerald Prokopowicz James A. Rawley Brooks D. Simpson Member News Robert A. Stuart, Jr. Louise Taper John T. Trutter sity. Hirschhorn argues that Lincoln’s Andy VanMeter onald Winkler has completed Margaret VanMeter The Women in Lincoln’s Life , use of blue mass to treat his depression Daniel R. Weinberg which will published by Rut- actually resulted in mercury poisoning. Robert Willard D Mercury, a heavy metal, was a basic in- Douglas L. Wilson ledge Hill Press. Winkler is a writer, Kenneth J. Winkle editor, and retired university adminis- gredient of the popular remedy used Honorary Directors trator who currently resides in Gatlin- for worms, constipation, depression Governor George H. Ryan burg, Tennessee. and a variety of other maladies. Senator Richard Durbin Wayne C. Temple, chief deputy di- Larry Mensch is under contract Senator Peter Fitzgerald Congressman Ray LaHood rector of the Illinois State Archives, with McFarland Publishers to write a Congressman John Shimkus received a “Life-Time Achievement Lincoln book. Mayor Karen Hasara Award” from the Abraham Lincoln Congratulations go out to Senator The Honorable Rita Garman Museum for his numerous contribu- Richard Durbin, Congressman Ray Emeritus Directors Willard Bunn, Jr. tions to our understanding of Lincoln LaHood, and Harold Holzer who will John R. Chapin and his times. head the Lincoln Bicentennial Com- Cullom Davis John Daly, director of the Illinois mission. Irving Dilliard James Myers State Archives, is back at work having Lincoln books being published Sally Schanbacher fully recovered from his heart attack. and promised in February 2002 are Distinguished Directors Norbert Hirschhorn created a stir William Gienapp’s biography of Lin- Mario M. Cuomo with his article on “Lincoln’s Blue coln, Ronald White’s study of Lin- David Herbert Donald coln’s Second Inaugural Address, and John Hope Franklin Pills,” published in the summer issue Garry Wills of Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, William Lee Miller’s study of Lincoln’s published by Johns Hopkins Univer- political virtues. 4 For the People

A Letter from the South

octor L.W. Johnson, a surgeon left but a sense of pride. Its property citizens in the South, you who along with the Louisiana State Uni- is destroyed, its young men are dead, with me risked everything on a martial Dversity Medical Center, sent us and it is utterly defeated. Its inhabi- decision to be fairly decided on a field his letter to the editor, defending tant’s very sense of self worth is in of battle to rise like the Phoenix from Abraham Lincoln against a number of doubt. the ashes of the past and allow a man detractors. It is published in full: Why did we go to war if not to who was not capable of averting war, keep them? Why did young men from to, with the help of God almighty win “Dear Editor: the North sacrifice their lives if South- the peace, and be granted the forgive- It has taken me several months to ern Americans are not still their ness of those of you both North and regain my composure and collect my needed brothers, and America’s prodi- South who have suffered most. thoughts following reading the gal sons? There are those among you who scathing appraisal of Abraham Lincoln Let us understand that their Red, say that it is too soon for forgiveness. in your letters to the Editor Section. White, and Blue flag was not torn That now is a time for punishment and Anyone who has studied Lincoln cer- from their great Captain at Appomat- reconstruction of the Southern States tainly knows that such an attack does tox but was freely surrendered when in your conceived image. I say that the not merit a response. Without re- the last ditch had been defended and time for forgiveness and reconcilement sponding to the particulars of the pre- honor had been served. How hard is now. It cannot be postponed even vious letter I personally felt that I must must it be to suffer defeat. How hard until the sun sets this evening. As the give another Southern perspective. must it be for Americans to accept de- sun sets so does a window and mo- feat. We in the North have never lost ment of opportunity for the exhibition July 4, 1865 11 AM a war. We have won a great physical of mercy. A merciful rain rains on all Joint Session of Congress battle. It is now time for all, North men and blesses both giver and re- Washington, D.C. and South, to win the emotional and ceiver. This moment, for this great na- spiritual battle of reconciliation and tion, and experiment in the democratic It is with mixed emotions that I forgiveness. No American of any sec- process, must not be squandered. Our address you this morning. I must relay tion of our country can be subdued by house divided must be reconstructed to you a profound sense of relief for martial force alone, they must be and placed upon a foundation of rock the outcome of the recent troubles. We swayed and inspired by ideas and ide- for I foresee a time when freedom and now witness a time of great happiness als. independence so dear to all in this for those of us Americans who feel I am the one human being who American nation will be tested that we have won, but a time of can and must shoulder the blame for throughout the world. A time when unimaginable sadness for those Amer- these vicissitudes. I hold primary re- the dark side of humanity will rise and icans who feel, for now, that we have sponsibility for a time when the rule of launch forth in an effort to conquer lost. law was broken, a time when govern- and destroy all that our forefathers I had planned a much different ad- ment was no longer able to afford a have stood for. A time when the ma- dress this morning. One to celebrate forum for debate. I must bear the lignancy of racism will be taken to new the birthday of our great nation, July guilt for a martial decision of a civil depths and a self proclaimed master 4. My mind is capable of such an ora- matter, and for the greatest failure thus race will attempt to enslave us all. It tion but I have no conviction for it in far witnessed on our continent. will be time gentlemen when this my heart. Please take the hand of a flawed will fear not. Our na- I have just returned last evening man and allow me to walk with you tion will not cower before an evil from a wasteland. Our armies have ac- this morning into a new dawn for our giant. Our nation will stand, because, complished what I asked of them. The Country. Let there occur a springtime we have endured worse. We, both whirlwind of war and the magnifi- in our hearts and allow understanding, North and South, will have faced a cence of a foe asked no quarter has al- tolerance, and forgiveness to rule this worthier adversary. We will know that lowed the greatest force ever assem- day. If intolerance, sanctimony, and our nation North and South will stand bled on this earth to decimate a region judgment hold sway then I fear a cen- for what we believe, the sanctity and which we all thought enough of, to die tury of tribulation for this country ac- independence of the individual and the for. centuated by continued loss of pre- human spirit. Before the indivisible The Southern region of our coun- cious time wasted upon the pettiness union of all our regions any power try, for better or worse, has nothing of racism and sectionalism. I ask you should take pause, and be hesitant, to For the People 5 arouse the martial spirit of such a peo- together, that which we together, de- sent upon the field at Gettysburg it is ple. stroyed? my right to believe that this is the less Timidity, reticence, and gradual- May God almighty guide you in traveled road that the greatest of all ism are not avenues that we may af- your coming deliberations and show OUR American Presidents would have ford. Today is a time for great you the way to mercy and understand- chosen and that our beloved South thoughts and great deeds, a time to ing. would have felt the soft and healing ca- paint with wide strokes. I thank you. ress of a drifting fog.” Gentlemen, you may have noticed the four persons who have just entered President Lincoln was of course our chamber. Two of them are of never afforded the opportunity to Unless otherwise indicated, course readily identifiable. The other make such an address. A drunken photographs are courtesy of the two perhaps not. The men are the two coward assassinated him in late April Illinois State Historical Library, great generals of the recent troubles. 1865. Every American since that fate- Springfield The women dressed in black are ful event has wondered what Lincoln’s cousins and are an example of victims course of action would have been to For the People (ISSN 1527-2710) is of the recent struggle. One came from heal the wounds of the great Civil War. published four times a year and is a my home state of Illinois, the other There are many opinions. Perhaps benefit of membership of the from the great state of Tennessee. Carl Sandburg Lincoln’s greatest biog- Abraham Lincoln Association Both lost sons on opposite sides of the rapher described him best: “Not often 1 Old State Capitol Plaza low stone wall of Gettysburg. In these in the story of mankind does a man ar- Springfield, Illinois four persons we see both victors and rive on earth who is both steel and vel- 62701 vanquished. If you had not been a vet, who is as hard as rock and as soft party to the recent struggle could you as drifting fog, who holds in his heart Newsletter design and layout pick the one for the other? Does one and mind the paradox of terrible storm by William B. Tubbs man look prouder or more triumphant and peace, unspeakable and perfect.” [email protected] than the other? Does one woman look As a Southerner who has two sons less saddened than the other? No, named for confederate generals pre- gentlemen, I say that they are as one, unidentifiable, and inseparable as vic- tims in our national tragedy. As God as my witness I will atone lincoln: mclean county from my mistakes and shortcomings. Therefore, with greatest humility on courthouse 1855 behalf of Americans of all colors, creeds, and sections I am commanding General Grant to send another U.S. by robert bray* Army into the Southern States. This army’s mission will be to rebuild what look at him now a carved granitic face the last destroyed. I will without alone and cornered in this marble space reservation, due to his actions of the wrapped in gloom pursuing in his mind last 40 years and his actions to pro- some sad specific wholly blind mote healing and goodwill during the to other presence sinuousities last three months suggest to this of thought deeper phases of grief seize Congress and to General Grant that him like a silent fit petit mal Robert E. Lee of Virginia be recom- legal social mortal awful all missioned a General in the United State Army with primary responsibili- then the shade he seeks to fix just goes ties for the Army in the Southern dispelled by standing of the court he knows States. us once again and blinking turns to pose I can think of no better way for in low light the camera clicks holds tries the South to be healed in body, and we a long exposure grey green olive eyes all, Americans, North and South, that sign I love that union never dies black and white to begin the healing of our souls. What greater apology can *Bray is the Colwell Professor of English at Illinois Wesleyan University. we make to each other and to our fore- Lines 3-5 are adapted from the text in Henry C. Whitney’s Life on the Circuit with fathers? What greater gift may we im- Lincoln (1892), and the italicized portion of the last line is from a Sacred Harp part to our children, than to rebuild hymn. 6 For the People

Did the Lincoln Family Employ a Slave in 1849–1850?

continued from page 1 Gen[eral James] Semple’s family, for Ruth Stanton or (as the census-taker series of picturesque views of the Lin- my mother used to belong to them.” would have) her legal status. But if we coln household in the year after Abra- Indeed they did. James Semple had suppose that her parents, who “were ham Lincoln returned from his solitary been born in Kentucky in 1798, where free,” originally arrived in Illinois from term in Congress, including a surpris- he practiced law and was commis- Kentucky with James Semple as slaves ingly sunny view of Mary Lincoln. sioned in the Kentucky militia. He in 1827, then Ruth Burns (who did moved permanently to Edwardsville, not, significantly, claim to have been I scrubbed the floors and waited on the table and helped Mrs. Lincoln to clean Illinois in 1827, and served in the Illi- born free) may have been born under the dishes and do the washing. She did all nois House of Representatives from provisions of Article 6, section 3, of the upstairs work, made clothes for the 1826 until 1833 (putting in a brief the Illinois Public and General Statute boys, Robert and Willie [since William stint as an officer in the Black Hawk Laws (1836) which bound her as an Wallace Lincoln was not born until De- War). Semple was appointed as a ‘indentured servant” until age eigh- cember, 1850, Stanton may have been re- membering , who Democrat to fill the vacant United teen. Until that time, the Semples or died in 1850, as “Willie”] and cooked the States Senate seat of Samuel Bradfords could hire her out to fami- meals. Mr. Lincoln was a very good and McRoberts in 1843, and it was at that lies such as the Lincolns (Lincoln’s in- kind man, but I don’t remember anything point, “when Gen. Semple became a laws, the Edwards and Todds both em- particular about him, for I was very young. He was a very tall man. That’s all I can re- member of him. He used to be at his of- fice all the day long and I did not see much of him, but I never expected to see him the President of the United States. Mrs. Lincoln was a very nice lady. She worked hard and was a good church mem- ber. Every Thursday the Sewing Society of the Episcopal Church would meet at Mrs. Lincoln’s house and make clothes for the very poor people. She was very plain in her ways, and I remember that she used to go to church wearing a cheap calico dress and a sun-bonnet. She didn’t have silk or satin dresses. The children, Robert 6 years old, and Willie a few years younger, were very good boys. I used to take care of them, for they were too small to go to school. We would play around the street of Springfield, and the white children would throw stones at the colored children. I was as bad as any of the white children at throwing, because I lived so much with white people I thought I was white. Sometimes Mrs. Lincoln would catch Abraham and , circa 1846 me and the boys throwing at colored chil- dren, then she would call ‘Ruth!’ Senator,” that Ruth Burns “was sent to ployed “indentured” black domestics). ‘Mam,’ I would say. Springfield to live with the family of This may be the central fact packed ‘What are you throwing at those chil- John Bradford, who was married to into her descriptions of he places of dren for, aren’t you colored?’ Gen. Semple’s sister.” John S. Brad- employment with the Bradfords and ‘Yes, mam, but I am not black like them!’” ford, in fact, did marry Adaline M. the Lincolns as places to which she Semple on July 14, 1841, and it was was “sent.” If not legally or actually a Ruth Stanton stayed with the Lin- while working for the Bradfords after slave, Ruth Burns may have been, in colns “about a year.” The presumption 1843 that Ruth Burns “first got to the year she worked for the Lincolns, has been that she was a free person of know the Lincolns.” the next closest thing. color. But there are circumstances The question is, what was the Such a speculation could be concerning her arrival and her depar- eight-year-old Ruth Burns’s legal sta- clinched another way if the 1850 cen- ture from the Lincolns that raise some tus at the time that she arrived in sus also allowed us to track Ruth questions about this status. Springfield? The Bradfords did not Burns. But again, she does not appear In her interview, Ruth Stanton move to Springfield until December on the census returns for either the claimed, “my parents were free.” But 1840, just missing the 1840 census, Lincoln of the Bradford households Ruth herself was “bound out to and therefore giving us no glimpse of (although curiously, the census makes For the People 7 no mention of any African-Americans adopted a slave code with the pro- statue) sale to the highest bidder “for in these households, either). What we posed state constitution of 1821, and the shortest period” in lieu of fines. do know is that Ruth Burns returned it continued to make generous provi- That the Lincoln family might, for a to work for the Semple family, and sion for transient use of slaves by slave brief time, have hired from a neighbor moved with Semple’s son-in-law, owners who happened to own land or family the services of a young black Napoleon Mulligan, to St. Louis. businesses in Illinois, something the women who lived somewhere in the There, she married William Stanton, Matson slave case in 1847 dramatically legal limbo short of freedom is more a and appears as William Stanton’s underscores. Not until 1848 did the testimony to the ambiguity of “free” widow in the 1888 St. Louis city di- Illinois Constitution abolish all forms Illinois rather than a Lincolnian rectory. of slavery outright; but even that did hypocrisy. This does not, by any stretch of not touch the other forms of semi- the imagination, make Abraham Lin- slavery that persisted until the eve of *Allen C. Guelzo is a professor of coln into a slaveholder, nor does it the Civil War, including “apprentice- American history at Eastern College in even necessarily prove that, in the case ships” and (according to an 1853 St. Davids, Pennsylvania. of at least one black woman, Lincoln repeatedly told an untruth about not “That Government of the People, wanting a black woman for a slave. Rather, it underscores the uncertain By the People, For the People, fluidity of Illinois law concerning peo- ple of color. Although Illinois was Shall Not technically a free state, it had nearly Perish From the Earth” mericans were shocked and ter- spring up amongst us. It cannot come ribly saddened by the Septem- from abroad. If destruction be out lot, Aber 11 terrorist attacks. Target- we must ourselves be its author and ing civilians and using commercial jets finisher.” Clearly, Lincoln’s point was as guided missiles, terrorists have that as long as Americans remained forced Americans to rethink national united and committed to defending security measures. As Americans ad- the ideals that were expressed in the just to the new realities and challenges Declaration of Independence and the posed by terrorists, we would do well Constitution, they could overcome to remember Lincoln’s warning in his any danger posed by foreign powers. January 27, 1838, “Young Men’s Terrorists may pose new difficulties Lyceum Address.” In it Lincoln dis- when devising an appropriate military cussed the threats to American politi- response, but terrorists cannot tri- cal institutions: “At what point then is umph as long as Americans remain the approach of danger to be expected? committed to the ideals that express James Semple I answer, if it ever reach us, it must their political aspirations and values. APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP

Please enroll me as a member of the Mail this application (or a photo- Abraham Lincoln Association in the copy) and a check to: category indicated: The Abraham Lincoln Association 1 Old State Capitol Plaza _____ Railsplitter ...... $ 35 Springfield, Illinois _____ Postmaster ...... $ 75 62701 _____ Lawyer ...... $ 200 Name______Congressman ...... $ 500 Street ______Presidential ...... $ 1,000 City ______Web site: www.alincolnassoc.com State ______Members residing outside the U.S add $3.00 Zip ______8 For the People

“A Lincoln Evening”

n Wednesday, November 14, Bloomington, Illinois. The evening Judicial District and one of the key in- 2001, the Abraham Lincoln will begin at 5:00 p.m. where partici- dividuals responsible for Lincoln’s OAssociation in cooperation pants will be treated to an enhanced election in 1860. Tours will be con- with the McLean County Museum of tour of the David Davis Mansion at ducted until 6:30 p.m. From 6:30 History and the David Davis Mansion 1000 E. Monroe Drive. David Davis until 7:30 p.m. a stand-up buffet din- will host “A Lincoln Evening,” in was the presiding judge of the Eighth ner will be held at the McLean County Museum of History at 200 N. Main Street. During this time, tours of the museum’s new exhibit, “To Sustain the Union: Central Illinois and the Civil War,” will be offered. Beginning at 7:45, guests will then be treated to a lecture by Michael Burlingame, Pro- fessor Emeritus of History at Con- necticut College. The evening’s festiv- ities should conclude at 9:15 p.m. Those interested in attending should phone 309.828.1084. The cost of the evening is $25 per person, which in- cludes tours and dinner. All checks should be made payable to “The Abra- ham Lincoln Association.” This event is part of a continuing series of lun- cheon and dinner programs hosted at Lincoln sites throughout Central Illi- nois. The Association wishes to thank State Farm Insurance Company for their generosity in underwriting some David Davis Mansion State Historic Site of the costs associated with this event.

For the People Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage A N e w s l e t t e r o f t h e A b r a h a m L i n c o l n A s s o c i a t i o n PAID 1 O l d S t a t e C a p i t o l P l a z a Springfield, Illinois S p r i n g f i e l d , I l l i n o i s 6 2 7 0 1 Permit No. 263

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