Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1832-1858, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher
Posted on 10/30/2018 5:01:29 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1832-1858, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher
Happy Standard Time! I see on page 21 that the St. Vincent de Paul Society is holding a fundraiser (2nd annual) in New York. The Society was founded in 1833 in France, so its appearance in New York now is evidence of a rapid spread.
So polite ...
You have a good eye. I didn’t see that ad even as I cut it up and posted it. I tweeted a link to the National Council of St. Vincent de Paul so they can see the historical artifact for themselves.
Unnaturally polite, considering that Crittenden's letter that fell into Douglas's hands might have tipped the Senate seat away from Lincoln.
Water under the bridge, I guess.
But one problem the Democrats had is that a candidate too closely identified with one section or the other - North or South - would be unacceptable in the other section. So a candidate more identified with the South would face trouble in those Northern states.
And the economy may still have been a problem after the Panic of 1857. People were still complaining about it, if I remember rightly, and that may have been an underlying factor in Lincoln's victory.
But if Lincoln had beaten Douglas and become a front-runner for the nomination and the presidency, he would have faced all the scrutiny that Douglas (and Seward) did.
Easterners wouldn't like the rude, uncultivated Westerner.
Anti-slavery militants would have found him weak and wobbly when it came to slavery.
The less militant might have come to suspect Lincoln of being a secret abolitionist.
All those speeches that people dig up now to show that Lincoln didn't believe in racial equality would have been picked through by enemies to prove that he did.
Which means a border state like, say, Kentucky and a prominent Democrat name like the current VP, JC Breckenridge.
Or maybe a Tennessean like Senator Johnson would appeal to North and South?
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