The History Book Club discussion

This is the reading assignment for week six - (December 7, 2009 to December 13, 2009):

Chapters 14 - 15: (pages 291 - 348)

Chapter 14 - The Taste Is in My Mouth, a Little: 1858 - 60
- page 291

Chapter 15 - Justice and Fairness to All: May 1860 - November 1860 - page 331

Hello Everyone,

We will open up a thread for each week's reading. Please make sure to post in the particular thread dedicated to those specific chapters and page numbers to avoid spoilers.

This book was kicked off on November 1st.

We look forward to your participation. Barnes and Noble and other noted on line booksellers do have copies of the book and shipment can be expedited. The book can also be obtained easily at your local library, or on your Kindle.

Since we only started this book on November 1st, there is still time remaining to obtain the book and get started.

There is no rush and we are thrilled to have you join us. It is never too late to get started and/or to post.

Welcome,

~Bentley


TO ALWAYS SEE ALL WEEKS' THREADS SELECT VIEW ALL



Ronald C. White Jr.

Lincoln's Cooper Union Speech - February 27, 1860

Lincoln's Cooper Union Speech was one of the most important and influential in our nation's history. It is of utmost importance to examine what Lincoln said in his speech, and to understand why it was such a success.

The Cooper Union Speech, or Address was delivered by Abraham Lincoln on February 27, 1860, at Cooper Union, in New York City. Lincoln was not yet the Republican nominee for the presidency, as the convention was scheduled for May. It is considered one of his most important yet little known speeches. Some have argued it was responsible for making him President.

In the speech, Lincoln elaborated his views on slavery, affirming that he did not wish it to be expanded into the western territories and claiming that the Founding Fathers would agree with this position. The speech electrified Lincoln's hearers and gained him important political support in Seward's home territory. Said a New York writer, "No man ever before made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York audience." After being printed by New York newspapers, the speech was widely circulated as campaign literature.

Easily one of Lincoln's best efforts, it revealed his singular mastery of ideas and issues in a way that justified loyal support. Here we can see him pursuing facts, forming them into meaningful patterns, pressing relentlessly toward his conclusion.

With a deft touch, Lincoln exposed the roots of sectional strife and the inconsistent positions of Senator Stephen Douglas and Chief Justice Roger Taney. He urged fellow Republicans not to capitulate to Southern demands to recognize slavery as being right, but to "stand by our duty, fearlessly and effectively."

The Speech

Lincoln's speech has three major parts, each building towards his conclusion. The first part concerns the founders and the legal positions they supported on the question of slavery in the territories. The second part is addressed to the voters of the southern states, clarifying the issues between Republicans and Democrats, arguing that the Republican position on slavery is the 'conservative' policy. The final section is addressed to Republicans.

In the first section, Lincoln asks rhetorically "What is the frame of government under which we live?" and answers that it "must be: 'The Constitution of the United States.'" From there he begins his reasoning on why the federal government can regulate slavery in the federal territories (those that were not states), especially resting on the character of the founders, and how they thought of slavery:

“The sum of the whole is, that of our thirty-nine fathers who framed the original Constitution, twenty-one - a clear majority of the whole - certainly understood that no proper division of local from federal authority, nor any part of the Constitution, forbade the Federal Government to control slavery in the federal territories... ”

In the second part, Lincoln denies that Republicans are a "sectional" party, only representing interests in the Northern part of the country, and help incite slave rebellions. He rebukes the Southern accusation that Republicans helped John Brown by saying "John Brown was no Republican; and you have failed to implicate a single Republican in his Harper's Ferry enterprise." He addressed the single-mindedness of the Southerners, saying:

“Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events.”

He also tried to show that the Southern demand to secede from the Union if a Republican were to be elected president was like robbing a man with a gun: "the threat of destruction to the Union, to extort my vote, can scarcely be distinguished in principle" from that of a robber.

The third section, addressed to fellow Republicans, encourages level-headed thinking and cool actions, doing "nothing through passion and ill temper."

“We must not only let them alone, but we must somehow, convince them that we do let them alone. This, we know by experience, is no easy task. We have been so trying to convince them from the very beginning of our organization, but with no success. In all our platforms and speeches we have constantly protested our purpose to let them alone; but this has had no tendency to convince them.”

Lincoln states that the only thing that will convince the Southerners is to "cease to call slavery wrong, and join them in calling it right" and to support all their runaway slave laws and the expansion of slavery. He ends by saying that Republicans, if they cannot end slavery where it exists, must fight through their votes to prevent its expansion. He ends with a call to duty:

“Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

Complete text of the Cooper Union Speech
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creati...

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_U...
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creati...

Harold Holzer wrote an exceptional account of Lincoln's Cooper Union. This book comes highly recommended.


Harold Holzer

Here's my review of the book:

Lately, I have been trying to better familiarize myself with some of the most important documents and speeches of our nation's history, and Lincoln's Cooper Union ranks pretty close to the top. Lincoln basically summarizes the north/south conflict with slavery, and presents his viewpoint on how to best deal with it as a moderate Republican abolitionist candidate for President. Because of Lincoln's simple, solid, and convincing logic, it was hugely successful. The text of the speech was therefore reprinted many times in the papers, and later sold quite well in annotated pamphlet form. In short, his speech catapulted him to become one of the leading contenders for the Republican nominee for President in 1860, and later to become our nation's 16th President.

Harold Holzer presents the story of Lincoln's Cooper Union speech very well. He doesn't examine it line-by-line like I expected him to, (probably because this speech is so long) but instead, he dissects the most important aspects of it, and also examines the history of how those ideas evolved. My only criticism is that Holzer could have added another chapter or two in examination of the speech itself, but decided to concentrate more on it's history instead. But all-in-all Holzer does a superb job of presenting Lincoln's Cooper Union, and I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about Lincoln's most famous pre-presidential speech.

1860 Democratic National Convention

The 1860 Democratic National Convention was one of the crucial events in the lead-up to the American Civil War. Following a fragmented official Democratic National Convention that was adjourned in deadlock, two more presidential nominating conventions took place: a resumed official convention, which nominated Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, and a "rump" convention of disgruntled Democrats, primarily Southerners, which nominated Vice President John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky."

Consequences:

After the break-up of the Charleston convention, many of those present stated that the Republicans were now certain to win the 1860 Presidential election.[1:] The actual division in Democrat votes did not affect any state outcomes except California, Oregon, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, and even if those states had been carried by the Democrat nominee, the Republican nominee would still have had a majority of electoral votes.[2:] However, the split in the Democratic Party organization was a serious handicap in many states, especially Pennsylvania, and almost certainly reduced the Democrat popular vote.

James McPherson suggests in his Pulitzer Prize work, "The Battle Cry of Freedom" that the "Fire-eater" program of breaking up the convention and running a rival ticket was deliberately intended to bring about the election of a Republican as President, and thus trigger secession declarations by the slave-owning states. No explicit statements of this have been found, even in the private correspondence of prominent "Fire-eaters". But the open talk at Charleston about Republican victory, and the known repulsion of Northerners towards the pro-slavery doctrines of the Breckenridge ticket, suggests that the "Fire-eaters" had no serious expectation of electing Breckenridge. If so, then it is difficult to find any motive for their program other than provoking secession.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_Dem...

1860 Republican National Convention

The Republican National Convention met in mid-May, after the Democrats had been forced to adjourn the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina without a nominee and had not yet re-convened in Baltimore, Maryland. With the Democrats in disarray and with a sweep of the Northern states possible, the Republicans were confident going into their convention in Chicago. William H. Seward of New York was considered the front runner, followed by Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, and Missouri's Edward Bates.

As the convention developed, however, it was revealed that Seward, Chase, and Bates had each alienated factions of the Republican Party. Delegates were concerned that Seward was too closely identified with the radical wing of the party, and his moves toward the center had alienated the radicals. Chase, a former Democrat, had alienated many of the former Whigs by his coalition with the Democrats in the late 1840s, had opposed tariffs demanded by Pennsylvania, and critically, had opposition from his own delegation from Ohio. Bates outlined his positions on extension of slavery into the territories and equal constitutional rights for all citizens, positions that alienated his supporters in the border states and southern conservatives. German-Americans in the party opposed Bates because of his past association with the Know-Nothings.

Since it was essential to carry the West, and because Lincoln had a national reputation from his debates and speeches as the most articulate moderate, he won the party's nomination on the third ballot on May 18, 1860.

The party platform clearly stated that slavery would not be allowed to spread any further, and it also promised that tariffs protecting industry would be imposed. The party promised a homestead law granting free farm land in the West to settlers. These provisions were highly unpopular in the South.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_Rep...

Democratic Party Platform; June 18, 1860

1. Resolved, That we, the Democracy of the Union in Convention assembled, hereby declare our affirmance of the resolutions unanimously adopted and declared as a platform of principles by the Democratic Convention at Cincinnati, in the year 1856, believing that Democratic principles are unchangeable in their nature, when applied to the same subject matters; and we recommend, as the only further resolutions, the following:

2. Inasmuch as difference of opinion exists in the Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the powers of a Territorial Legislature, and as to the powers and duties of Congress, under the Constitution of the United States, over the institution of slavery within the Territories,

Resolved, That the Democratic party will abide by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States upon these questions of Constitutional Law.

3. Resolved, That it is the duty of the United States to afford ample and complete protection to all its citizens, whether at home or abroad, and whether native or foreign born.

4. Resolved, That one of the necessities of the age, in a military, commercial, and postal point of view, is speedy communications between the Atlantic and Pacific States; and the Democratic party pledge such Constitutional Government aid as will insure the construction of a Railroad to the Pacific coast, at the earliest practicable period.

5. Resolved, that the Democratic party are in favor of the acquisition of the Island of Cuba on such terms as shall be honorable to ourselves and just to Spain.

6. Resolved, That the enactments of the State Legislatures to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, are hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in their effect.

7. Resolved, That it is in accordance with the interpretation of the Cincinnati platform, that during the existence of the Territorial Governments the measure of restriction, whatever it may be, imposed by the Federal Constitution on the power of the Territorial Legislature over the subject of the domestic relations, as the same has been, or shall hereafter be finally determined by the Supreme Court of the United States, should be respected by all good citiz

June 18, 1860.

Source:

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_centu...

Republican National Platform, 1860


Resolved, That we, the delegated representatives of the Republican electors of the United States, in convention assembled, in discharge of the duty we owe to our constituent and our country, unite in the following declarations:


1. That the history of the nation during the last four years has fully established the propriety and necessity of the organization and perpetuation of the republican party, and that the causes which called it into existence are permanent in their nature, and now more than ever before demand its peaceful and constitutional triumph.

2. That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution, "That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," is essential to the preservation of our Republican institutions; and that the Federal Constitution, the rights of the states, and the Union of the states, must and shall be preserved.

3. That to the Union of the States this nation owes its unprecedented increase in population; its surprising development of material resources; its rapid augmentation of wealth; its happiness at home and its honor abroad; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes for disunion, come from whatever source they may; and we congratulate the country that no republican member of congress has uttered or countenanced the threats of disunion so often made by democratic members, without rebuke and with applause from their political associates; and we denounce those threats of disunion, in case of a popular overthrow of their ascendancy, as denying the vital principles of a free government, and as an avowal of contemplated treason, which it is the imperative duty of an indignant people sternly to rebuke and forever silence.

4. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the states, and especially the right of each state, to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends, and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any state or territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.

5. That the present Democratic Administration has far exceeded our worst apprehension in its measureless subserviency to the exactions of a sectional interest, as is especially evident in its desperate exertions to force the infamous Lecompton constitution upon the protesting people of Kansas - in construing the personal relation between master and servant to involve an unqualified property in persons - in its attempted enforcement everywhere, on land and sea, through the intervention of congress and of the federal courts, of the extreme pretensions of a purely local interest, and in its general and unvarying abuse of the power entrusted to it by a confiding people.

6. That the people justly view with alarm the reckless extravagance which pervades every department of the Federal Government; that a return to rigid economy and accountability is indispensable to arrest the systematic plunder of the public treasury by favored partisans; while the recent startling developments of frauds and corruptions at the federal metropolis, show that an entire change of Administration is imperatively demanded.

7. That the new dogma that the Constitution of its own force carries slavery into any or all of the territories of the United States, is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself, with cotemporaneous exposition, and with legislative and judicial precedent, is revolutionary in its tendency and subversive of the peace and harmony of the country.

8. That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom; that as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our national territory, ordained that no "person should be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law," it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the constitution against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States.

9. That we brand the recent re-opening of the African Slave Trade, under the cover of our national flag, aided by perversions of judicial power, as a crime against humanity, and a burning shame to our country and age, and we call upon congress to take prompt and efficient measures for the total and final suppression of that execrable traffic.

10. That in the recent vetoes by the federal governors of the acts of the Legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting slavery in those territories, we find a practical illustration of the boasted democratic principle of non- intervention and popular sovereignty, embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and a demonstration of the deception and fraud involved therein.

11. That Kansas should of right be immediately admitted as a state, under the constitution recently formed and adopted by her people, and accepted by the House of Representatives.

12. That while providing revenue for the support of the general government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imposts as to encourage the development of the industrial interests of the whole country, and we commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to the workingmen liberal wages, to agriculture remunerating prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence.

13. That we protest against any sale or alienation to others of the public lands held by actual settlers, and against any view of the free homestead policy which regards the settlers as paupers or suppliants for public bounty, and we demand the passage by congress of the complete and satisfactory homestead measure which has already passed the house.

14. That the Republican Party is opposed to any change in our naturalization laws, or any state legislation by which the rights of citizenship hitherto accorded by emigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired; and in favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native or naturalized, both at home and abroad.

15. That appropriation by Congress for river and Harbor improvements of a National character, required for the accommodation and security of an existing commerce, are authorized by the constitution and justified by the obligation of Government to protect the lives and property of its citizens.

16. That a railroad to the Pacific ocean is imperatively demanded by the interests of the whole country; that the Federal Government ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its construction; and that, as preliminary thereto, a daily overland mail should be promptly established.

17. Finally, having thus set forth our distinctive principles and views, we invite the coöperation of all citizens, however differing on other questions who substantially agree with us in their affirmance and support. Supplementary Resolution. Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with those men who have been driven, some from their native States and others from the States of their adoption, and are now exiled from their homes on account of their opinions; and we hold the Democratic Party responsible for this gross violation of that clause of the Constitution which declares that the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States."

Source:
http://www.webcitation.org/5gVUwIp4F

Sam Waterston Delivers Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union Speech to promote Harold Holzer's book Lincoln at Cooper Union.

Lincoln's Cooper Union was not meant to be read, it was meant to be heard. If you have time, Sam Waterston does an amazing job delivering and interpreting this speech. The audience even chimes in when they were expected to do so.

Free MP3 - Duration: 01:08:24
http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=1...

Joe wrote: "Lincoln's Cooper Union Speech - February 27, 1860

Lincoln's Cooper Union Speech was one of the most important and influential in our nation's history. It is of utmost importance to examine what L..."

OK...first I want to say that if Lincoln was in a court of law and this was a brief versus a speech, he probably would have won the case because he prepared extremely well, everything was logically laid out and one could see how each thought led to another. Since he was also a lawyer...he certainly learned his craft well.

Now having said that..if I was listening to this speech and waiting to get inspired..for me it would not have happened.

I read every line. Now I will next try the Waterston version and see how I feel (smile).

I thought that the speech was very repetitive, and it was almost annoying while listening to Waterston shout over and over again, "...who framed the original Constitution..." but I am trying to keep this all in context. Speeches like these were very popular in the 1860's, just as we watch our sports teams on tv and at the stadium today.

Lincoln knew his audience, and he knew how to get his point across. Reporters after the speech mostly agree that he did a marvelous job in expressing his arguments clearly.

Well that is what I was thinking but I have not had the opportunity to listen to the Waterston version yet but I will later. I agree with you about the post speech reports but I just have to imagine it was a different time and place. I tried to be as complimentary as I could (smile). Lincoln knew how to work the audience for sure...but the audience was vastly different then. They loved showing up for these long speech events.

I thought that I had posted this somewhere...but C-Span has on this pre presidency listing the Waterston presentation of the speech and he appeared with Holzer. The first fifteen minutes you can do without but it is pretty amazing seeing his performance. Big difference and I was impressed with Waterston and some parts of the speech actually.


http://www.c-span.org/lincoln200years...

Thanks for posting the link to that video, Bentley. I wanted to originally post the video, but found that mp3 first. I thought the mp3 might be more convenient, but it's very nice now to have both.

The 1860 Election

The United States presidential election of 1860 set the stage for the American Civil War. The nation had been divided throughout most of the 1850s on questions of states' rights and slavery in the territories. In 1860 this issue finally came to a head, fracturing the formerly dominant Democratic Party into Southern and Northern factions and bringing Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party to power without the support of a single Southern state.

Republican nomination
Abraham Lincoln, with running mate Hannibal Hamlin

Northern Democratic Party nomination
Stephen A. Douglas, with running mate Herschel Vespasian Johnson

Southern Democratic Party nomination
John C. Breckinridge, with running mate Joseph Lane

Constitutional Union nomination
John Bell, with running mate Edward Everett

Election Results

Lincoln won an electoral majority without an absolute majority of total popular votes. While Lincoln captured less than 40% of the popular vote, his concentration of votes in the free states allowed him to capture 17 states plus four electoral votes in New Jersey, for a total of 180 electoral votes. He would have won an outright majority in the electoral vote, 169-134, even if the 60% of voters who supported other candidates united behind a single candidate. Except for California, Oregon, and New Jersey, Lincoln won a popular majority in every state that cast its electoral votes for him. Only in California, Oregon, and Illinois was Lincoln's victory margin less than seven percent.

Contrary to popular myth, Lincoln was not a third party candidate. The Republicans had already established themselves as the second major party in the 1856 election by coming in second in that race.

The voter turnout rate in 1860 was the second-highest on record (81.2%, second only to 1876, with 81.8%). The Fusion ticket of non-Republicans drew 595,846 votes.

Had 25,069 New Yorkers voted for Douglas instead of Lincoln, Lincoln would have failed to achieve a majority in the Electoral College; without New York's 35 electoral votes, he would have received only 145 votes, seven short of the required 152. The vote would have then gone to the United States House of Representatives, and some historians have speculated that the Southern-controlled House of Representatives would have cast their vote for the Southern Democratic nomination, John C. Breckinridge, under the urging of William Yancey.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_S...

It seems to be a set of circumstances which allowed Lincoln to win and since New York was key...the Cooper Union speech probably did not hurt him in the least.

In 1859, we find my ancestor, Jefferson Dugger was an aspiring young lawyer. I suspect that Lincoln, who defended Jefferson the year before in a case, had something to do with this because in March of 1859 the two of them took on a case together. Dugger and Lincoln defended a John McPheeter. McPheeters was being sued by Joseph Bell to collect $300 for rent on seventy-four acres of farm land, plowing two acres of sod, and loans of money. Dugger and Lincoln got the parties to reach a settlement out of court. Perhaps Dugger felt that urge to move on or that he felt that with Lincoln in the area there was just no room for him to practice so he decided to move to Kansas.

By early May 1859, Jefferson Dugger writes to Lincoln and urges Lincoln to come. Dugger writes: “The administration party here are, about in proportion as they are in Illinois; taking the hopeless ground of making Kansas a slave state. Every one I have heard speak of the matter are anxious to have you come out and make a speech, and if you can, or will go out to Osawatomie to the Convention I will engage to take you out in a carriage. I am about commencing the Law. I have formed a partnership with Delahay. Write me by ret[urn:] mail.” Delahay also writes Lincoln about this time and Lincoln writes back to both. Lincoln’s letter to Delahay has survived but not Lincoln’s letter to Dugger, only an annotation on a copy of Delahay’s letter that Lincoln made stating that “copies mailed to Jefferson Dugger.” I hope someone in the family has it but I have not found it yet!

As you see in this chapter, Lincoln delays coming to Kansas until late November 1859. White (p. 304) discusses this event in one paragraph. Lincoln visits several towns and gives a number of speeches. It is well know that Lincoln had several unnamed men accompanying him to these towns. I would like to think that one of them was Jefferson Dugger who clearly committed to do this in his letter above. To make ends meet, Dugger also ran a newspaper, “The Daily Register” formerly published by Delahay.

It is clear that Dugger is with Lincoln some of the time since Lincoln’s second speech in Leavenworth, Kansas in Stockton Hall on December 3rd was published in “The Daily Register” and picked up by several papers thereafter. By reading this speech it is clear that what Lincoln is doing is practicing what he will say in the Cooper Union NY speech a few months later. Lincoln is also working the crowd and seeing what kind of reaction he will get.

Lincoln must have liked his trip to Kansas and his interaction with Delahay and Dugger. A few months later, he advised a young lawyer looking for a place to practice, “If I went west, I think I would go to Kansas…”

After the war starts Jefferson Dugger will contact Lincoln one more time, but I will leave that interaction for when we get to 1863.

[Reference: Lincoln, Abraham, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 3.
Also an entire online version is located at: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/]

See also Ayres book "Lincoln and Kansas: Partnership for Freedom."

James, this is interesting stuff...too bad about the letter but it is at least good there was a notation of sorts.

Also, thank you so much for the links.

The above story of your ancestor is fabulous information.

However, I could not find what you were referencing on the link. I also added the book cover and author of the book you cited. Please make sure to add both..it is very helpful to all of us.

Carol Dark Ayers

James wrote: "In 1859, we find my ancestor, Jefferson Dugger was an aspiring young lawyer. I suspect that Lincoln, who defended Jefferson the year before in a case, had something to do with this because in March..."

What an amazing series of events to have a connection to Lincoln like that. That must given you an enormous amount of motivation to learn how Lincoln interacted with your family. Thanks so much for your posts, James. We are all looking forward to reading more.

Bentley wrote: "James, this is interesting stuff...too bad about the letter but it is at least good there was a notation of sorts.

Also, thank you so much for the links.

The above story of your ancestor is fab..."

Sorry you couldn't get the link to work... I see that i messed it up.
try: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/
Go to simple search
put in Dugger
Then select the"Result details" link in the first set (That's Volume 3),
These are the Dugger links to his Kansas trip. I forgot to add the book cover but I now see how to do it and will do so the next time.

I just learned about this connection about a year ago and since starting the Lincoln book I have been investigating Jefferson Dugger much more. I now have his war record and his pension. There are also a couple of other Dugger connections that I now know of that I will talk about as we go along. It shows much more of the human interest side of Lincoln. I am very fascinated about this as you can imagine and it makes Lincoln much more of a real person to me. Someone who was actually very accessible to anyone I believe. Lincoln was also someone who didn't forget his friend. But more on that later.

James wrote: "Bentley wrote: "James, this is interesting stuff...too bad about the letter but it is at least good there was a notation of sorts.

Also, thank you so much for the links.

The above story of your..."

This sounds fascinating James...I will try out the new link.

James, I hope your family can track down that Lincoln letter. That would be quite a find.

I've been checking out the Michigan database and am addicted!