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Lincoln in Washington:
President-Elect Abraham Lincoln:
In November 1860, a sharply divided electorate chose Abraham Lincoln as the nation's 16th president. The Illinois Republican won barely 40% of the vote in a four-way contest. His party's opposition to the spread of slavery led by South Carolina, six weeks later, to secede from the Union. Six other Southern states followed -- with eight more slaveholding states handing in the balance as Lincoln prepared to assume the presidency.
The Road to Washington:
On February 11, 1861, Lincoln departed his hometown of Springfield, Illinois for a twelve-day rail journey to Washington.
At Philadelphia's Independence Hall, Lincoln raised the American flag and spoke of the tenet of freedom outlined in the Declaration of Independence. He concluded with a promise: "If this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle ... I would rather be assassinated on this spot than to surrender it."
"What would the nation think of its President stealing into the capital like a thief in the night?" -- Abraham Lincoln
The Making of a Legend:
In Philadelphia, Lincoln learned of a plot to murder him two days later in Baltimore. His advisors convinced the reluctant president-elect to cut his journey short and take a night train for Washington.
A New York Times reporter, Joseph Howard, claimed that Lincoln arrived in Washington disguised in "a Scotch plaid cap and a very long military cloak." The story was false, which didn't prevent other journals from reporting it as true. |