community
directory
books
authors
images
encyclopedia

[ Table of Contents ] [ Previous Page ] [ Next Page ]
Abraham Lincoln: A History V1 by John G. Nicolay
Book, page 191 / 313


an analysis of the position of Cass and his party which is full of
keen observation and political intelligence, and his speech goes on to
its rollicking close with a constant succession of bright, witty, and
striking passages in which the orator's own conviction and enjoyment
of an assured success is not the least remarkable feature. A few weeks
later Congress adjourned, and Lincoln, without returning home, entered
upon the canvass in New England, [Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote
(4) relocated to chapter end.] and then going to Illinois, spoke night
and day until the election. When the votes were counted, the extent of
the defection among the Northern Whigs and Democrats who voted for Van
Buren and among the Southern Democrats who had been beguiled by the
epaulets of Taylor, was plainly seen. The bolting "Barnburners" had
given New York to Taylor; the Free-Soil vote in Ohio, on the other
hand, had thrown that State to Cass. Van Buren carried no electors,
but his popular vote was larger in New York and Massachusetts than
that of Cass. The entire popular vote (exclusive of South Carolina,
which chose its electors by the Legislature) was for Taylor 1,360,752;
for Cass 1,219,962; for Van Buren 291,342. Of the electors, Taylor had
163 and Cass 137.

[Relocated Footnote (1): The following extract from a letter of
Lincoln to his partner, Mr. Herndon, who had criticized his anti-war
votes, gives the names of some of the Whig soldiers who persisted in
their faith throughout the war: "As to the Whig men who have
participated in the war, so far as they have spoken to my hearing,
they do is not hesitate to denounce as unjust the President's conduct
the beginning of the war. They do not suppose that such denunciation
is directed by undying hatred to them, as 'the Register' would have it
believed, There are two such Whigs on this floor (Colonel Haskell and
Major James). The former fought as a colonel by the side of Colonel
Baker, at Cerro Gordo, and stands side by side with me in the vote
that you seem dissatisfied with. The latter, the history of whose
capture with Cassius Clay you well know, had not arrived here when
that vote was given; but, as I understand, he stands ready to give
just such a vote whenever an occasion shall present. Baker, too, who
is now here, says the truth is undoubtedly that way; and whenever he
shall speak out, he will say so. Colonel Doniphan, too, the favorite
Whig of Missouri and who overran all northern Mexico, on his return
home, in a public speech at St. Louis, condemned the Administration in
relation to the war, if I remember. G. T. M. Davis, who has been

 
[ Table of Contents ] [ Previous Page ] [ Next Page ]
Google
  Web knowledgerush

Knowledgerush Search


 

Contact UsPrivacy Statement & Terms of Use

 
Copyright © 1999-2004 Knowledgerush.com. All rights reserved.