“We find ourselves…times tells us”: AL, “Address Before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois,” January 27, 1838, in CW, I, p. 108.
“When both the…universal feeling”: Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, ed. J. P. Mayer, trans. George Lawrence (New York: Harper & Row, 1966; 1988), p. 629.
“any man’s son…any other man’s son”: Frances M. Trollope, Domestic Manners of the Americans (London: Whittaker, Treacher, & Co., 1832; Barre, Mass.: Imprint Society, 1969), p. 93.
thousands of young men to break away: Joyce Appleby, Inheriting the Revolution: The First Generation of Americans (Cambridge, Mass., and London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000), p. 88.
the Louisiana Purchase: See Robert Wiebe, The Opening of American Society: From the Adoption of the Constitution to the Eve of Disunion (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984), pp. 131–32; “Louisiana Purchase,” in The Reader’s Companion to American History, ed. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991), p. 682.
“Americans are always moving…the mountainside”: Stephen Vincent Benét, Western Star (New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1943), pp. 3, 7–8.
In the South…thriving cities: Thomas Dublin, “Internal Migration,” in The Reader’s Companion to American History, ed. Foner and Garraty, pp. 564–65.
“Every American…to rise”: de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, ed. Mayer, p. 627.
born on May 16, 1801: Van Deusen, William Henry Seward, p. 3.
Samuel Seward: Seward, An Autobiography, pp. 19–20; Bancroft, The Life of William H. Seward, Vol. I, pp. 1–2; Taylor, William Henry Seward, p. 12.
“a considerable…destined preferment”: Seward, An Autobiography, pp. 20, 21.
Seward’s early education: Ibid., pp. 20, 22; “Biographical Memoir of William H. Seward,” The Works of William H. Seward, Vol. I, ed. George E. Baker (5 vols., New York: J. S. Redfield, 1853; New York: AMS Press, 1972), pp. xvi–xvii.
“at five in the morning…politics or religion!”: Seward, An Autobiography, pp. 21, 22.
Seward slaves: Ibid., p. 27. The Sewards still owned seven slaves in 1820. See entry for Samuel S. Seward, Warwick, Orange County, N.Y., Fourth Census of the United States, 1820 (National Archives Microfilm Publication M33, reel 64), RG 29, DNA.
“loquacious”…to fight against slavery: Seward, An Autobiography, pp. 27–28.
status of slavery in the North after the Revolution: Winthrop D. Jordan, White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550–1812 (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1977), p. 345; Leon F. Litwack, North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790–1860 (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1961), pp. 3, 6.
slavery eliminated in New York by 1827: Taylor, William Henry Seward, p. 14.
enrolled in…Union College: Van Deusen, William Henry Seward, p. 4.
“a magnificent…so imposing”: Seward, An Autobiography, p. 29.
“I cherished…of my class”: Ibid., p. 31.
“had determined…at Union College”: Ibid., p. 35.
“all the eminent…a broken heart”: Ibid., pp. 35, 36–43.
“Matters prosper…even his notice”: WHS to Daniel Jessup, Jr., January 24, 1820, reel 1, Seward Papers.
“was received as a student…in Washington Hall”: Seward, An Autobiography, pp. 47–48.
friendship with…David Berdan: “David Berdan,” Eulogy read before the Adelphic Society of Union College, July 21, 1828, and published in The Knickerbocker Magazine (December 1839), in The Works of William H. Seward, Vol. III, pp. 117–27; WHS to the President of the Adelphic Society, Union College, draft copy, September 3, 1827, reel 1, Seward Papers; Taylor, William Henry Seward, p. 18.
“a genius of the highest order”…Seward was devastated: WHS to the President of the Adelphic Society, Union College, draft copy, September 3, 1827, reel 1, Seward Papers.
“never again…in this world”: FAS to WHS, February 15, 1831, reel 113, Seward Papers.
“a common feature”…passionate romances: E. Anthony Rotundo, American Manhood: Transformations in Masculinity from the Revolution to the Modern Era (New York: Basic Books/HarperCollins, 1993), pp. 3, 76 (quote), 86.
Relationship with Judge Miller: “Biographical Memoir of William H. Seward,” Works of William H. Seward, Vol. I, p. xxi.
marriage to Frances Miller…The judge insisted: Seward, An Autobiography, p. 62.
Chase’s ancestors: Niven, Salmon P. Chase, pp. 5–7, 21; Schuckers, The Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase, p. 3; Robert B. Warden, An Account of the Private Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase (Cincinnati: Wilstach, Baldwin & Co., 1874), pp. 22–27.
“the neighboring folk…in New England”: SPC to John T. Trowbridge, December 27, 1863, reel 30, Chase Papers.
“a good man”: SPC to Trowbridge, January 19, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers.
“angry word…from his lips”: SPC to Trowbridge, December 27, 1863, reel 30, Chase Papers.
Chase long remembered…“& kind looks”: SPC to Trowbridge, January 19, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers.
“I was…ambitious…of my class”: SPC to Trowbridge, December 27, 1863, reel 30, Chase Papers.
taught by elder sister: Warden, Private Life and Public Services, p. 36.
retreat to the garden…designated passages: SPC to Trowbridge, January 19, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers.
“once repeating…a single recitation”: Biographical sketch of Salmon P. Chase, quoted in Warden, Private Life and Public Services, p. 39.
“for the entertainment they afforded”: Warden, Private Life and Public Services, p. 38.
“quite a prodigy…and head down”: SPC to Trowbridge, January 21, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers.
“sliding down hill”…would swear: SPC to Trowbridge, December 27, 1863, reel 30, Chase Papers.
made him abhor intemperance: Warden, Private Life and Public Services, p. 63.
“face forward…sufficed to save”: SPC to Trowbridge, January 21, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers.
Ithamar’s glass venture and financial ruin: SPC to Trowbridge, January 19, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers; Niven, Salmon P. Chase, pp. 7–8.
Ithamar Chase’s fatal stroke: Niven, Salmon P. Chase, p. 8.
“He lingered…our home”: SPC to Trowbridge, January 19, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers.
“almost to suffering”: SPC to Trowbridge, February 1, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers.
“ever lamented and deceased father”: Janette Ralston Chase to SPC, August 14, 1824, [filed as 1824–1825 correspondence], reel 4, Chase Papers.
Salmon sent to Philander Chase: SPC to Trowbridge, January 21 and 31, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers; Arthur Meier Schlesinger, “Salmon Portland Chase: Undergraduate and Pedagogue,” Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly [hereafter OAHQ] 28 (April 1919), pp. 120–21.
Salmon’s journey to Worthington: SPC to Trowbridge, January 23, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers; Niven, Salmon P. Chase, pp. 9–11.
“was not passive…quite tyrannical”: SPC to Trowbridge, January 25, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers.
“My memories…wish I had not”: SPC to Trowbridge, January 27, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers.
Cincinnati College…“gave it to reading”: SPC to Trowbridge, January 31, 1864, typescript copy, reel 31, Chase Papers.
his “life might have been…more fun!”: Warden, Private Life and Public Services, p. 94.
first teaching position…dismissed: Niven, Salmon P. Chase, p. 17.
At Dartmouth: Ibid., pp. 18–19; Frederick J. Blue, Salmon P. Chase: A Life in Politics (Kent, Ohio, and London: Kent State University Press, 1987), pp. 6–7.
two lifelong friendships: Niven, Salmon P. Chase, p. 97.
“Especially do I…have been wasted”: SPC to Thomas Sparhawk, July 8, 1827, reel 4, Chase Papers.
“the author is doubtless…vilest purposes”: Entry for September 22, 1829, SPC diary, reel 40, Chase Papers. The editors of the published edition of the Salmon P. Chase Papers identify the author of the novel as Edward Bulwer-Lytton. See note 65 for entry of September 22, 1829, The Salmon P. Chase Papers. Vol. I: Journals, 1829–1872, ed. John Niven (Kent, Ohio, and London: Kent State University Press, 1993), p. 24 [hereafter Chase Papers, Vol. I].
established a successful school: SPC to Trowbridge, February 10, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers; Schlesinger, “Salmon Portland Chase,” OAHQ (1919), pp. 132–33, 143.
distinct classes of society…“utter contempt”: SPC to Hamilton Smith, May 31, 1827, reel 4, Chase Papers.
“I have always thought…to achieve”: SPC to Hamilton Smith, April 7, 1829, reel 4, Chase Papers.
“saw the novelty…poor and young”: Appleby, Inheriting the Revolution, p. 7.
wrote to an older brother in 1825 for advice: Alexander R. Chase to SPC, November 4, 1825, reel 4, Chase Papers.
Attorney General William Wirt: Warden, Private Life and Public Services, pp. 124–25, 175; Fidler, “Young Limbs of the Law,” pp. 245, 276. See also Michael L. Oberg, “Wirt, William,” American National Biography, Vol. XXIII, ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, American Council of Learned Societies (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 675–76.
Wirt welcomed: Entries of January 10, 29, 30, 1829; February 9, 1829; April 8, 20, 1829; Chase Papers, Vol. I, pp. 5–9, 13–14; Schuckers, The Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase, p. 29.
to read and study…his students: SPC to Trowbridge, February 13, 1864, reel 31, Chase Papers.
“many happy hours…the stars”: SPC to Trowbridge, February 10, 1864, in The Salmon P. Chase Papers. Vol. IV: Correspondence, April 1863–1864, ed. John Niven (Kent, Ohio, and London: Kent State University Press, 1997), p. 283.
the social gulf…discouraged: Elizabeth Goldsborough to Robert Warden, quoted in Warden, Private Life and Public Services, p. 126; Niven, Salmon P. Chase, pp. 23, 40.
“thousands…universal scholar”: Alexander R. Chase to SPC, November 4, 1825, reel 4, Chase Papers.
“Day and night…my labours”: Entry for March 1, 1830, Chase Papers, Vol. I, p. 45.
“knowledge may yet…be mine”: Entry for January 13, 1829, ibid., p. 6.
“You will be…in that walk”: William Wirt to SPC, May 4, 1829, reel 4, Chase Papers.
“God [prospering]…your example”: SPC to William Wirt, June 16, 1829, reel 4, Chase Papers.
self-designed course of preparation: Niven, Salmon P. Chase, pp. 23, 26.
“his voice deep…of my toils”: Entry for February 14, 1829, diary, reel 1, Papers of Salmon P. Chase, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress [hereafter Chase Papers, DLC].
“I feel humbled…of well-doing”: Entry for December 31, 1829, diary, reel 1, Chase Papers, LC.
Chase before the bar, 1829: William Cranch, quoted in Niven, Salmon P. Chase, p. 27.
“study another year”…sworn in at the bar: SPC, “Admission to the Bar,” June 30, 1853, reel 32, Chase Papers, DLC.
“I would rather…wherever I may be”: SPC to Charles D. Cleveland, February 8, 1830, reel 4, Chase Papers.
Cincinnati in 1830: Hart, Salmon P. Chase, pp. 13–16.
“was covered by the primeval forest”: SPC, “On the Dedication of a New State House, January 6, 1857,” reel 41, Chase Papers.
“a stranger and an adventurer”: Entry for September 1, 1830, Chase Papers, Vol. I, p. 53.
shyness, speech defect: Niven, Salmon P. Chase, p. 31.
“I wish I was…provide the remedy”: William Wirt to SPC, May 4, 1829, reel 4, Chase Papers.
“awkward, fishy…little inconvenience”: SPC to Charles D. Cleveland, February 8, 1830, reel 4, Chase Papers.
“I made this resolution…excel in all things”: Entry for April 29, 1831, Chase Papers, Vol. I, p. 57.
“I was fully…a ‘crown of glory’”: Entry for March 1, 1830, ibid., p. 45.
founded a popular lecture series…berated himself: Entry for February 8, 1834, diary, reel 40, Chase Papers; Niven, Salmon P. Chase, pp. 32, 34–38; Mary Merwin Phelps, Kate Chase, Dominant Daughter: The Life Story of a Brilliant Woman and Her Famous Father (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1935), pp. 12, 35.
“I confess…terminate in this life”: Abigail Chase Colby to SPC, April 21, 1832, reel 4, Chase Papers.
death of Catherine Garniss Chase: Entries for November 21 and December 1, 1835, Chase Papers, Vol. I, pp. 87, 92–93.
“so overwhelming…has been severed”: SPC to Charles D. Cleveland, April 6, 1836, reel 5, Chase Papers.
“Oh how I accused…tempted me away”: Entry for December 25, 1835, Chase Papers, Vol. I, p. 94.
“that death was within…left but clay”: Entry for December 1, 1835, ibid., pp. 93–94.
“the dreadful calamity…care for her”: SPC to Charles D. Cleveland, April 6, 1836, reel 5, Chase Papers.
doctors had bled her so profusely: Entry for December 26, 1835, Chase Papers, Vol. I, p. 96.
he delved into textbooks: Entry for December 28, 1835, ibid., p. 99.
“Oh if I had not…now she is gone”: Entry for December 27, 1835, ibid., pp. 97–98.
“the bar of God…an accusing spirit”: Entry for December 28, 1835, ibid., p. 99.
a “second conversion”: Stephen E. Maizlish, “Salmon P. Chase: The Roots of Ambition and the Origins of Reform,” Journal of the Early Republic 18 (Spring 1998), p. 62.
death of daughter Catherine: Blue, Salmon P. Chase, p. 35; Warden, Private Life and Public Services, p. 286; Niven, Salmon P. Chase, p. 72.
“one of the…desolation of my heart”: SPC to Charles D. Cleveland, February 7, 1840, reel 5, Chase Papers.
marriage to Eliza; birth of Kate: Blue, Salmon P. Chase, pp. 25–26; Warden, Private Life and Public Services, pp. 290–91, 295, 296, 301, 302.
“I feel as if…we are desolate”: SPC to Charles D. Cleveland, October 1, 1845, reel 6, Chase Papers.
Marriage to Belle; death of wife and daughter: Blue, Salmon P. Chase, p. 74; Warden, Private Life and Public Services, pp. 311–12.
“What a vale…I rise & press on”: SPC to CS, January 28, 1850, reel 8, Chase Papers (quote); Niven, Salmon P. Chase, p. 135.
“to go West and grow up with the country”: William F. Switzler, “Lincoln’s Attorney General: Edward Bates, One of Missouri’s Greatest Citizens—His Career as a Lawyer, Farmer and Statesman,” reprinted in Onward Bates, Bates, et al., of Virginia and Missouri (Chicago: P. F. Pettibone, 1914), p. 26.
His father, Thomas Fleming Bates: For general information on Bates’s family and early years, see Cain, Lincoln’s Attorney General, pp. 1–3, 5; “Bates, Edward,” DAB, Vol. I, p. 48; James M. McPherson, “Bates, Edward,” American National Biography, Vol. II, ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, American Council of Learned Societies (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 329; Introduction, The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866, p. xi; Bates, Bates, et al., of Virginia and Missouri, p. 22; “Death of Edward Bates,” Missouri Republican, St. Louis, Mo., March 26, 1869; Elie Weeks, “Belmont,” Goochland County Historical Society Magazine 12 (1980), pp. 36–49; EB to C. I. Walker, February 10, 1859, reprinted in Collections of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan Together with Reports of County Pioneer Societies, Vol. VIII, 2nd edn. (1886; Lansing, Mich.: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., 1907), pp. 563–64.
“as distinctly…Western Europe”: Charles Gibson, The Autobiography of Charles Gibson, ed. E. R. Gibson, 1899, Charles Gibson Papers, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Mo. [hereafter Gibson Papers, MoSHi].
English manorial life…monetary wealth: James Truslow Adams, America’s Tragedy (New York and London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1934), pp. 87–88.
“enjoyable living…and their manners”: Bates, Bates, et al., of Virginia and Missouri, p. 20.
The flintlock musket…“helped to win”: Ibid., p. 22.
lured by the vast potential…Louisiana Purchase: Wiebe, The Opening of American Society, pp. 131–32.
Over the next three decades: James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988; New York: Ballantine Books, 1989), p. 42.
“too young…a buffalo!”: “Lecture by Edward Bates,” St. Louis Weekly Reveille, February 24, 1845, St. Louis History Collection, MoSHi.
“After years of family…burned brightly in him”: Cain, Lincoln’s Attorney General, p. 5.
passed his bar examination…the rest of their family there: EB to Frederick Bates, September 29, 1817; October 13, 1817; June 15, 1818; July 19, 1818; Bates Papers, MoSHi; Cain, Lincoln’s Attorney General, p. 7.
“The slaves sold…at $290!”: EB to Frederick Bates, September 21, 1817, Bates Papers, MoSHi.
expected to realize…“full-handed”: EB to Frederick Bates, September 29, 1817, Bates Papers, MoSHi.
death of his brother Tarleton…“by the delay”: Cain, Lincoln’s Attorney General, p. 6; EB to Frederick Bates, June 15, 1818, Bates Papers, MoSHi (quote).
“In those days…in the country”: Samuel T. Glover, “Addresses by the Members of the St. Louis Bar on the Death of Edward Bates,” Minutes of the St. Louis Bar Association (1869), Bates Papers, MoSHi.
“a lazy or squandering fellow”: EB to Frederick Bates, July 19, 1818, Bates Papers, MoSHi.
if accompanied only by his family: EB to Frederick Bates, September 29, 1817, Bates Papers, MoSHi.
“in a tenth part of the time…my embarrassment”: EB to Frederick Bates, June 15, 1818, Bates Papers, MoSHi.
“Mother & Sister…occasioned you”: EB to Frederick Bates, July 19, 1818, Bates Papers, MoSHi.
“friend and benefactor…wealth & influence”: EB to Frederick Bates, October 13, 1817, Bates Papers, MoSHi.
introduced him to the leading figures: Cain, Lincoln’s Attorney General, p. 4.
a partnership with Joshua Barton: Ibid., p. 7.
“more in the way…his own name”: AL, “Autobiography Written for John L. Scripps,” [c. June 1860], in CW, IV, p. 61 [hereafter “Scripps autobiography”].
Thomas had watched: A. H. Chapman statement, ante September 8, 1865, in HI, p. 95; Donald, Lincoln, p. 21.
“very narrow circumstances…without education”: AL, “Scripps autobiography,” in CW, IV, p. 61.
Nancy Hanks: Dennis F. Hanks to WHH, June 13, 1865, and John Hanks interview, May 25, 1865, in HI, pp. 5, 37; Benjamin P. Thomas, Abraham Lincoln: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952), p. 6. On Nancy Hanks’s ancestry, see Paul H. Verduin, “New Evidence Suggest Lincoln’s Mother Born in Richmond County, Virginia, Giving Credibility to Planter-Grandfather Legend,” Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine XXXVIII (December 1988), pp. 4, 354–89.
Thomas in relentless poverty: Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, p. 5; Kenneth J. Winkle, The Young Eagle: The Rise of Abraham Lincoln (Dallas: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2001), p. 13.
“Why Scripps, it is…‘annals of the poor’”: John L. Scripps to WHH, June 24, 1865, in HI, p. 57.
“was a woman…a brilliant woman”: Nathaniel Grigsby interview, September 12, 1865, in ibid., p. 113.
“read the good…benevolence as well”: Dennis F. Hanks to WHH (interview), June 13, 1865, in ibid., p. 40.
“beyond all doubt an intellectual woman”: John Hanks interview, [1865–1866], in ibid., p. 454.
“Remarkable” perception: Dennis F. Hanks to WHH, [December 1865?], in ibid., p. 149.
“very smart…naturally Strong minded”: William Wood interview, September 15, 1865, in ibid., p. 124.
“All that I am…God bless her”: AL, comment to WHH, quoted in Michael Burlingame, The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994), p. 42.
“milk sickness”: Philip D. Jordan, “The Death of Nancy Hanks Lincoln,” Indiana Magazine of History XL (June 1944), pp. 103–10.
Thomas and Elizabeth Sparrow: Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, pp. 10–11.
“I am going away…return”: Nancy Lincoln, quoted in Robert Bruce, “The Riddle of Death,” in Gabor Boritt, ed., The Lincoln Enigma: The Changing Faces of an American Icon (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 132.
average life expectancy: Appleby, Inheriting the Revolution, p. 63.
“He restlessly looked…before his gaze”: Schurz, Reminiscences, Vol. II, p. 187.
had a uniquely shattering impact: Bruce, “The Riddle of Death,” in The Lincoln Enigma, p. 132.
“a wild region”: AL, “Autobiography written for Jesse W. Fell,” December 20, 1859, in CW, III, p. 511.
“the panther’s…on the swine”: “The Bear Hunt,” [September 6, 1846?], in CW, I, p. 386.
Sarah, did the cooking…Dennis Hanks: Dennis F. Hanks to WHH (interview), June 13, 1865, in HI, p. 40.
a “quick minded woman…laugh”: Nathaniel Grigsby interview, September 12, 1865, in ibid., p. 113.
“wild—ragged and dirty”: Dennis F. Hanks to WHH, June 13, 1865, in ibid., p. 41.
soaped…“more human”: Sarah Bush Lincoln interview, September 8, 1865, in ibid., p. 106.
“sat down…to his grief”: Redmond Grigsby, quoted in Burlingame, The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln, p. 95.
“From then on…you might say”: John W. Lamar, quoted in ibid.
“It is with deep grief…ever expect it”: AL to Fanny McCullough, December 23, 1862, in CW, VI, pp. 16–17.
“He was different…great potential”: Douglas L. Wilson, “Young Man Lincoln,” in The Lincoln Enigma, p. 35.
“clearly exceptional…intellectual equal”: Donald, Lincoln, p. 32.
“soared above us…guide and leader”: Nathaniel Grigsby interview, September 12, 1865, in HI, p. 114.
“a Boy of uncommon natural Talents”: A. H. Chapman statement, ante September 8, 1865, in ibid., p. 99.
“His mind & mine…if he could”: Sarah Bush Lincoln interview, September 8, 1865, in ibid., pp. 108, 107.
“He was a strong…neighborhood”: Leonard Swett, “Lincoln’s Story of His Own Life,” in Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln by Distinguished Men of His Time, ed. Allen Thorndike Rice (1885; New York and London: Harper & Bros., 1909), p. 71.
his great gift for storytelling…fireplace at night: Sarah Bush Lincoln interview, September 8, 1865, in HI, p. 107; John Hanks interview, [1865–1866], in ibid., p. 454.
along the old Cumberland Trail: Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, p. 7.
Thomas Lincoln would swap tales: Dennis F. Hanks to WHH, June 13, 1865, in HI, p. 37.
Young Abe listened…in his memory: Sarah Bush Lincoln interview, September 8, 1865, in ibid., p. 107.
Nothing was more upsetting…that was told: Rev. J. P. Gulliver article in New York Independent, September 1, 1864, quoted in F. B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln (New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1866), p. 312.
“no small part…to comprehend”: AL, quoted in ibid., pp. 312–13.
having translated the stories…young listeners: Dennis F. Hanks to WHH, June 13, 1865, and Dennis F. Hanks interview, September 8, 1865, in HI, pp. 42, 104; Sarah Bush Lincoln interview, September 8, 1865, in ibid., p. 107.
subscription schools: Donald, Lincoln, p. 29.
“No qualification…wizzard”: AL, “Autobiography written for Jesse W. Fell,” December 20, 1859, in CW, III, p. 511.
“by littles”…pick up on his own: AL, “Scripps autobiography,” in CW, IV, p. 62.
“he could lay his hands on”: Dennis F. Hanks to WHH, June 13, 1865, in HI, p. 41; Sarah Bush Lincoln interview, September 8, 1865, in ibid., p. 107; John S. Houghland interview, September 17, 1865, in ibid., p. 130.
“a luxury…the middle class”: Fidler, “Young Limbs of the Law,” p. 249.
obtained copies of: Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, p. 15; Nathaniel Grigsby interview, September 12, 1865, in HI, p. 112; Charles B. Strozier, Lincoln’s Quest for Union: Public and Private Meanings (New York: Basic Books, 1982), p. 231.
“his eyes sparkled…could not sleep”: David Herbert Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the Civil War Era, 3rd edn. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956; New York: Vintage Books, 2001), pp. 67–68.
“the great mass…to perform”: AL, “Second Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions,” [February 11, 1859], in CW, III, pp. 362–63.
“as unpoetical…of the earth”: AL to Andrew Johnston, April 18, 1846, in CW, I, p. 378.
“There is no Frigate…Lands away”: Emily Dickinson, “There is no Frigate like a Book,” The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. Thomas H. Johnson (Boston: Little, Brown, 1960), p. 553.
the Revised Statutes…and political thought: Helen Nicolay, Personal Traits of Abraham Lincoln (New York: Century Co., 1912), pp. 66–68.
Everywhere he went: Nathaniel Grigsby interview, September 12, 1865, in HI, p. 113.
“When he came across”…memorized: Sarah Bush Lincoln interview, September 8, 1865, in ibid., p. 107.
The story is often recounted…“on a stalk”: Oliver C. Terry to JWW, July 1888, in ibid., p. 662.
Lincoln wrote poems…Crawford’s large nose: Dennis F. Hanks to WHH, June 13, 1865, in ibid., p. 41; A. H. Chapman statement, ante September 8, 1865, in ibid., p. 101.
“Josiah blowing his bugle”: AL, “Chronicles of Reuben,” as paraphrased in Herndon and Weik, Herndon’s Life of Lincoln, p. 47.
Seward had only to pick: Seward, An Autobiography, pp. 19–22, 31–35.
regarded as odd and indolent: Herndon and Weik, Herndon’s Life of Lincoln, p. 38; Dennis Hanks interview, September 8, 1865, in HI, p. 104.
“particular Care…of his own accord”: Sarah Bush Lincoln interview, September 8, 1865, in ibid., p. 108.
When he found…could continue: Matilda Johnston Moore interview, September 8, 1865, in ibid., p. 110.
destroyed his books…abused him: Burlingame, The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 38–39.
father’s decision to hire him out: Swett, “Lincoln’s Story of His Own Life,” in Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Rice, p. 70.
the “self-made” men in Lincoln’s generation: Appleby, Inheriting the Revolution, p. 231; Wiebe, The Opening of American Society, p. 271.
The same “longing to rise”: de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, p. 627.
departed…bundled on his shoulder: Swett, “Lincoln’s Story of His Own Life,” in Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Rice, pp. 71–72.
New Salem was a budding town: Benjamin P. Thomas, Lincoln’s New Salem (Springfield, Ill.: Abraham Lincoln Association, 1934; 1947), p. 15.
to “keep body and soul together”: AL, “Scripps autobiography,” in CW, IV, p. 65.
Lincoln in New Salem: Thomas, Lincoln’s New Salem, pp. 41–77; Mentor Graham to WHH, May 29, 1865, in HI, pp. 9–10; Wilson, Honor’s Voice, pp. 59–67.
“studied with nobody”: AL, “Scripps autobiography,” in CW, IV, p. 65.
He buried himself…Equity Jurisprudence: Donald, Lincoln, p. 55; Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, p. 43.
able to read and reread his books…“any other one thing”: AL to Isham Reavis, November 5, 1855, in CW, II, p. 327.
“I am Anne Rutledge…: Edgar Lee Masters, “Anne Rutledge,” in Spoon River Anthology (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1914; 1916), p. 220.
Lincoln would take…“wooded knoll” to read: W. D. Howells, “Life of Abraham Lincoln,” in Lives and Speeches of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin (New York: W. A. Townsend & Co., and Columbus, Ohio: Follett, Foster & Co., 1860), p. 31.
“it is true…of her now”: Isaac Cogdal interview, 1865–1866, in HI, p. 440.
“Eyes blue large, & Expressive,” auburn hair: Mentor Graham interview, April 2, 1866, in ibid., p. 242.
“She was beloved by Every body”: Ibid., p. 243.
“quick…worthy of Lincoln’s love”: William G. Greene to WHH (interview), May 30, 1865, in ibid., p. 21.
that they would marry…at Jacksonville: Thomas, Lincoln’s New Salem, p. 82; Tarbell, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. I, p. 119.
details of Ann’s death: Rankin, Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 73–74.
“indifferent… woods by him self”: Henry McHenry to WHH, January 8, 1866, in HI, p. 155.
“never seen a man…he did”: Elizabeth Abell to WHH, February 15, 1867, in ibid., p. 557.
“be reconcile[d]…temporarily deranged”: William G. Greene interview, May 30, 1865, in ibid., p. 21.
“reason would desert her throne”: Robert B. Rutledge to WHH, ca. November 1, 1866, in ibid., p. 383.
he ran “off the track”: Isaac Cogdal interview, [1865–1866], in ibid., p. 440.
“I hear the loved survivors tell…”: AL to Andrew Johnston, April 18, 1846, in CW, I, p. 379.
“was not crazy”: Elizabeth Abell to WHH, February 15, 1867, in HI, p. 557.
“Only people…and heal them”: Leo Tolstoy, Childhood, Boyhood, Youth, quoted in George E. Vaillant, The Wisdom of the Ego (Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Press, 1993), p. 358.
“I’m afraid…last of us”: AL to Mrs. Samuel Hill, quoted in Wilson, Honor’s Voice, p. 83.56 of any “faith in life after death”: Bruce, “The Riddle of Death,” in The Lincoln Enigma, pp. 137–39. Lincoln wrote to his stepbrother that were his father to die soon, Thomas Lincoln would have a “joyous [meeting] with many loved ones gone before; and where [the rest] of us, through the help of God, hope ere-long [to join] them.” AL to John D. Johnston, January 12, 1851, in CW, II, p. 97.
his “heart was broken”…eternal companionship: SPC to Charles D. Cleveland, October 1, 1845, reel 6, Chase Papers.
“to a higher world…with her mother”: Bates diary, November 15, 1846.
“I ought to be able…in these reflections”: WHS to Charlotte S. Cushman, January 7, 1867, Vol. 13, The Papers of Charlotte S. Cushman, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
his “experiment…never saw a sadder face”: Speed, Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, p. 21.
Speed had heard Lincoln speak: Ibid., pp. 17–18; Joshua F. Speed statement, 1865–1866, in HI, p. 477.
“You seem to be…‘I am moved!’”: Speed, Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 21–22.
description of Joshua Speed: See ibid., pp. 3–14; Robert L. Kincaid, Joshua Fry Speed: Lincoln’s Most Intimate Friend, reprinted from The Filson Club History Quarterly 17 (Louisville, Ky.: Filson Club, 1943; Harrogate, Tenn.: Department of Lincolniana, Lincoln Memorial University, 1943), pp. 10–11.
Lincoln and Speed shared: For the relationship between Lincoln and Speed, see Speed, Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln; Kincaid, Joshua Fry Speed, pp. 13–14.
as his “most intimate friend”: Kincaid, Joshua Fry Speed, pp. 10, 33 n2.
“You know my desire…to do any thing”: AL to Joshua F. Speed, February 13, 1842, in CW, I, p. 269.
Some have suggested: C. A. Tripp, The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Lewis Gannett (New York: Free Press, 2005), pp. 126–29.
sharing a bed: Rotundo, American Manhood, pp. 84–85; Strozier, Lincoln’s Quest for Union, p. 43.
The room above Speed’s store: Michael Burlingame, “A Respectful Dissent,” Afterword I, in Tripp, The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, p. 228.
attorneys of the Eighth Circuit…for a companion: Whitney, Life on the Circuit with Lincoln, pp. 63, 72.
the “preoccupation…the nineteenth”: Donald Yacovone, “Abolitionists and the ‘Language of Fraternal Love,’” in Meanings for Manhood: Constructions of Masculinity in Victorian America, ed. Mark C. Carnes and Clyde Griffen (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), p. 94.