The Life of Abraham Lincoln (Volume 2); Drawn from Original Sources and Containing Many Speeches, Letters, and Telegrams Hitherto Unpublished, and Ill (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1900. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XVIII THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES "The greatest speech ever made in Illinois, and it puts Lincoln on the track for the Presidency," was the comment made by enthusiastic Republicans on Lincoln's speech before the Bloomington Convention. Conscious that it was he who had put the breath of life into their organization, the party instinctively turned to him as its leader. The effect of this local recognition was at once perceptible in the national organization. Less than three weeks after the delivery of the Bloomington speech, the national convention of the Republican party met in Philadelphia June 17, to nominate candidates for the presidency and vicepresidency. Lincoln's name was the second proposed for the latter office, and on the first ballot he received one hundred and ten votes.yThe news reached him at Urbana, 111., where he was attending court, one of his companions reading from a daily paper just received from Chicago, the result of the ballot. The simple name Lincoln was given, without the name of the man's State. Lincoln said indifferently that he did not suppose it could be himself; and added that there was "another great man" of the name, a man from Massachusetts. The next day, however, he knew that it was himself to whom the convention had giver so strong an endorsement. He knew also that the ticket chosen was Fremont and Dayton. The campaign of the following summer and fall was one of intense activity for Lincoln. In Illinois and the neighboring States he made over fifty speeches, only fragments of which have been preserved. One of the first important ones was delivered on July 4, 1856, at a great mass meeting at Princeton, the home of the Lovejoys and the Bryants. The people were still irritated by the outrages in Kansas and by the attack on Sumner in the Senate, ...