Author: David J. Kent

David J. Kent is an Abraham Lincoln historian, a former scientist, and an avid traveler. He is the author of books on Abraham Lincoln, Nikola Tesla, and Thomas Edison. His website is www.davidjkent-writer.com.
No comments

Abraham Lincoln Meets with Frederick Douglass

  By

Lincoln Douglass DebateOn August 10, 1863, Abraham Lincoln met with Frederick Douglass in the White House. Douglass had arrived unannounced, accompanied by Kansas Senator Samuel Pomeroy. They found the waiting room filled with people seeking an audience with the president, so Douglass, dressed in a dark suit on this sweltering August morning, assumed he would have a long wait. Instead, Lincoln’s secretary John Hay came quickly out to greet him and usher him into the inner sanctum.

Douglass described the meeting in his memoir:

“I entered [the room] with a moderate estimate of my own consequence, and yet there I was to talk with, and even to advise, the head man of a great nation. Happily for me, there was no vine pomp and ceremony about him. I never was so quickly or more completely put at ease in the presence of a great man, than in that of Abraham Lincoln….The room bore the marks of business, and the persons in it, the president included, appeared to be much overworked and tired.”

After describing the “long lines of care” already “deeply written on Mr. Lincoln’s brow,” Douglass writes that:

“As I approached and was introduced to him, he rose and extended his hand, and bade me welcome. I at once felt myself in the presence of an honest man – one whom I could love, honor, and trust without reserve or doubt.”

Douglass then told him of the object of his visit, which was to assist in the raising of African American troops for the war effort, an option now available after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863. Douglass reported that Lincoln “listened with patience and silence to all that I had to say.” He asked pertinent questions and answered Douglass’s complaints with respect and honesty.

John Hay notes the meeting in his diary, adding that Douglass “intends to go south and help the recruiting among his people.” Later that day, Lincoln endorsed the idea as set forth in a letter signed by Secretary of the Interior and Senator Pomeroy indicated that Douglass is “a loyal, free, man, and is, hence, entitled to travel, unmolested. We trust he will be recognized everywhere, as a free man, and a gentleman.” The trip fell through for lack of a commission and intransigence among military leaders, but three of Douglass’s sons served in the Union army.

Douglass would visit Lincoln twice more in the White House. The final time was on the day of Lincoln’s second inaugural speech, which Douglass professed to be “a sacred effort.”

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

No comments

Lincoln Wins Seat in Illinois State Legislature

  By

Candidate LincolnOn August 4, 1834, at the age of 25, Abraham Lincoln was elected to the Illinois State Legislature. This was two years after he ran the first time – and lost.

After failing at his first attempt at political office, Lincoln fell into co-ownership of the store that would later wink out. When the election of 1834 came around, he again ran for the state legislature. This time he took advantage of the wanderings facilitated by his postmaster and surveying duties to meet as many voters in the county as possible. His Black Hawk War service had also given him important contacts, including leading attorneys John Todd Stuart, John Hardin, Edward Baker, and Joseph Gillespie.

Once again, Lincoln supported the Whig position of internal improvements, a strong central bank, protective tariffs, and readily available public education. He favored construction of a canal between Beardstown and the Sangamon River, which would improve health conditions by eliminating stagnant pools and create a way for New Salem–area farmers to transport produce to the Illinois River, their primary route to eastern and southern markets. Mostly, however, Lincoln focused on making himself better known in the county.

On one occasion, in Island Grove, Lincoln came upon a group of men harvesting crops. They told him he would gain their support if he helped with their work. “Well, boys,” Lincoln said, “if that is all then I am assured of your votes…” He then picked up some tools, and jumped in to help for several hours. He got their votes.

Lincoln was in his element, touring on horseback the farms spread around the county, telling humorous stories and chatting about the farmer’s hopes and dreams, crops and planting practices, and the schools their children attended. Because of his own experience on farms he could ingratiate himself with all manner of potential voters, from rich to poor. He also had an affinity for children, often picking them up and telling jokes to keep them happy while he conversed with everyone in the family. All of this retail campaigning worked in his favor; Lincoln won 1,375 votes, the second-highest total of any of the candidates. Fellow canvasser and Black Hawk War Major John T. Stuart also won a seat. Lincoln was reelected in 1836, 1838, and 1840, serving eight years in the legislature over four terms. He later noted that “members of the legislature got four dollars a day, and four dollars a day was more than I had ever earned in my life.” He was about to become one of the leading Whigs in the state of Illinois.

[Adapted from Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

No comments

Lincoln Calls for Higher Pay for Women During the Civil War

  By

Washington Arsenal memorial, Congressional CemeteryOn July 27, 1864, Abraham Lincoln called on Edwin Stanton to increase the pay of women working in the cause of the Civil War. He wrote:

“I know not how much is within the legal power of the government in this case; but it is certainly true in equity, that the laboring women in our employment, should be paid at the least as much as they were at the beginning of the war. Will the Secretary of War please have the case fully examined, and so much relief given as can be consistently with the law and the public service.”

This endorsement was on the back of a letter he had received from Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, a strong supporter of Lincoln and the Union war effort. He was the principal force behind establishment of a National Cemetery at Gettysburg following the 1863 battle won by Pennsylvanian General George Meade. Curtin had forwarded to Lincoln a petition highlighting the plight of “twenty thousand working women of Philadelphia,” which noted:

“At the breaking out of the rebellion that is now deluging our land with blood, and which for a time threatened the destruction of the Nation, the prices paid at the United States Arsenal in this city were barely sufficient to enable the women engaged upon Government work to earn a scanty respectable subsistence. Since the period referred to, board, provisions, and all other articles of female consumption, have advanced to such an extent as to make an average of at least seventy-five per cent.,—while woman’s labor has been reduced thirty per cent. What need of argument? To an intelligent mind, the result must be apparent; and it is perhaps superfluous to say, that it has produced great suffering, privation, and, in many instances, actual hunger. Such, however, is the truth.”

The petition asked that “To alleviate this misery, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and house the houseless, we appeal to those in authority for a just and reasonable compensation for our labor.” They wanted a raise.

Curtin thought the request was “just and reasonable.”

Lincoln agreed. He had recently attended the burial of 21 women killed in the Washington Arsenal explosion that occurred on June 17, 1864, so Lincoln knew well the dangerous conditions women worked under to support the war effort.

The petition went further than a simple pay raise. It pointed out how the procurement system depressed prices paid to the arsenal while enriching the men with cozy connections to the halls of power.

“We also desire to call your attention to the fact, that there are a large number of men in this city who are making immense fortunes off the Government by their contracts; and who, instead of entering into an honorable competition as to who is willing to work for the smallest profit, seem to go upon the principle, who can pay the lowest prices. We ask you to so modify the contract system as to make it obligatory upon every person taking a contract to pay the Arsenal prices for making the articles for which they put in their bids. This would remedy the evil effectually.”

The petition, and Lincoln’s endorsement of higher pay, highlighted the tremendous contributions of women during the war, much as they contributed during each war in our nation’s history. They demonstrated through action that women were perfectly capable of participating in the work force. Today, of course, it has become a virtual necessity for women to work, as two-income families are the norm. Women still get less pay for the same work as men, so despite addressing the point more than 150 years ago, the struggle remains for equal pay under the law.

[Photo: Washington Arsenal Memorial, Congressional Cemetery, Washington DC, by David J. Kent, 2018]

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

9 Comments

Abraham Lincoln, College Guy?

  By

Illinois College Lincoln statueFamously, Abraham Lincoln wrote that he the “aggregate of all his schooling did not amount to one year.” He added that he “was never in a college or Academy as a student; and never inside of a college or academy building til since he had a law-license.” And yet, Lincoln is a college guy, of sorts.

Lincoln’s formal schooling was “by littles.” As was common on the frontier, children attended school only during the winter months – after the fall harvest and before the spring planting. That is, if there was a teacher available, usually by subscription. Teachers were scarce despite no qualifications beyond “readin, writin, and cipherin’ to the Rule of Three.” The state of education on the frontier was so limited that “if a straggler supposed to understand Latin, happened to so-journ in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizzard.” Of course, Lincoln did what he could to “pick up from time to time under the pressure of necessity” any other education. To give him proper credit, that included teaching himself English grammar, Euclid geometry, surveying, and the law. No small achievements.

But he never went to college. To become a lawyer on the frontier, all he needed to do was pass an oral exam (done informally while walking with his mentor) and have someone vouch for his personal character (done by another mentor). He joked that the only time he walked the halls of college was during the Lincoln-Douglas debate in Galesburg, Illinois, held on the campus of Knox College. To reach the platform Lincoln, Douglas, and other dignitaries needed to enter the building and crawl out a window. The self-taught Lincoln, according to tradition, noted that “At last I have gone through…college.”

All this said, because of his life’s work, Lincoln has been awarded several honorary degrees. Two years after he debated Douglas on its campus, Knox College awarded Lincoln an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1860. The following year, Columbia College (now Columbia University) awarded him the Doctor of Laws, as did the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) in 1864. More recently, Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois, awarded an honorary Bachelor of Arts degree in 2009 concurrent with the dedication of a statue of Lincoln. Lincoln’s law partner, William Herndon, is an alumnus of the College.

Lincoln’s son Robert attended Harvard College (now Harvard University), graduating in 1864. He attended Harvard Law School from September 1864 to January 1865, but dropped out to join the army as an aide to General Ulysses S. Grant. Never returning, Robert was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1893.

So yes, Abraham Lincoln, College Guy.

 

[Photo: Lincoln statue on campus of Illinois College, by David J. Kent 2019]

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

2 Comments

Lincoln named “Best Lincoln Biography for Young People”

  By

Reading Lincoln book cover

 

 

Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, which was published by Fall River Press in 2017, has been named “Best Lincoln Biography for Young People” by Tom Peet and David Keck, authors of Reading Lincoln.

I’m back from my post-manuscript submission break. I took a week to decompress, which turned into a week of long-haul driving and visiting with family. I hadn’t seen my immediate family for over a year. I also met up with extended family and one friend I hadn’t seen since I was about 20 (in one case, probably a young teenager).

Immediately upon my return (driving through a tropical storm, no less), I ordered the Peet and Keck book. I had bought the first edition when it came out several years ago. The current volume is listed as the 3rd Edition, but Tom tells me that this edition as actually been revised six times since it was released. It now is a whopping 766 pages containing 550 reviews of books about Abraham Lincoln. I read a ton of Lincoln books – 25 to 35 a year – but this volume is an amazing achievement in itself. Unlike some reviewers who skim books, Peet and Keck read deeply into each book and write insightful reviews. I can appreciate their effort since I take copious notes on most Lincoln books I read and write book reviews for The Lincolnian (the Lincoln Group of DC newsletter) and the Lincoln Herald, as well as for Civil War Times and other outlets.

In their review, Peet notes that with the book I have “accomplished something never done before,” adding that I have “created the Swiss-army knife of Lincoln biographies and much, much more.” In reaching their recommendation as the best biography for young people, Tom notes “there are pictures, pictures, and more pictures. Hundreds of them (paintings, lithographs, newspapers, maps, tintypes, sketches).” He ends the review with:

“There is nothing like this book on the market and I highly recommend it.”

Tom also notes in his review a few lines that he thinks could be controversial, and indeed, two or three readers have referenced the same short paragraph near the end of the book. I’ve addressed this point before, and plan to revisit it a future post, but Tom notes that what I argue is “objectively true.”

The Peet and Keck volume, of course, reviews more than my book. With over 1,500 Lincoln books on my shelves as I write this, I’m eager to see how many they have reviewed that I’m missing. This volume is a wonderful resource to check before buying new Lincoln books. Tom mentions that its size has reached a maximum capacity for binding, but I’m hopeful he’ll start a new volume containing only books not already included in this edition. He can include my forthcoming book, tentatively due out in February 2022. More on that soon.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

 

No comments

Catching Up on Lincoln, The Book

  By

David at Lincoln MemorialI often check The Lincoln Log to catch up on what was happening this day in Abraham Lincoln’s life. And today I can also update where things stand on my new Lincoln book.

Among other events listed for June 30, 1864 is that Lincoln abandons the idea of colonizing freed black men to Chiriqui, a coal region in what is now southwestern Panama. I discuss both colonization and the role of coal in the Civil War in my forthcoming book. I doubt whether it is truly accurate to say that Lincoln abandoned colonization on any given day, or that he even was as big a proponent of it that history has made him. I discuss that in the book too.

So what is the status of this book?

I submitted the full manuscript to the editor at Rowman & Littlefield last week. I’m currently in my “take a breather” phase, which means I’m desperately working to catch up on all the other obligations I backlogged while busy writing. With the July 4th holiday starting this weekend, the editor has told me that I won’t hear anything for a while. My guess is that by late July I’ll have the editor and copy editor’s edits (e.g., to edit sentences like this one). Barring any major disagreements, the book will be into cover design and layout by August. Our tentative plan is to release the book around February 2022. I’ll provide updates when the publisher settles on a date, and especially when the pre-ordering can begin. Some background on the book is in this earlier post. I’m hesitant to jinx myself by revealing more until the manuscript has been accepted, but expect more this summer. Stay tuned.

The aforementioned backlog included the first Lincoln Group of DC Board meeting I’ve chaired as President. While I’ve been president of scientific organizations four times in my career, this is the first Abraham Lincoln organization for which I’ve carried that responsibility. Luckily, the Lincoln Group Board is exceptionally capable of making the process as efficient as it is active. We have some big issues on the table. First, there is the return to in-person dinner/lunch lectures, which we tentatively are working on to accomplish in October with none other than renowned Lincoln expert Ron White. Second, we are beginning to plan our own Lincoln Memorial Centennial for next May. And we won’t forget all those who have been able to join us on our monthly virtual events – expect to see a continuing schedule of virtual lectures, discussions, and possibly even some hybrid events. You can keep up on Lincoln Group events and Lincoln news on our website at Lincolnian.org.

This summer should also bring more books to review for the Abraham Lincoln Institute book award. I serve on that committee and act as Treasurer for ALI. Unless there is a major COVID setback, we plan to go back to our normal in-person full-day symposium at Ford’s Theatre in March 2022. Videos of previous symposia speakers can be found on the ALI website.

I’m also looking forward to getting in some travel again after more than a year’s hiatus. More on that as it happens.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

One Comment

Lincoln Sues the Railroad Hand That Feeds Him

  By

Abraham Lincoln photoOn June 23, 1857, Abraham Lincoln sued the Illinois Central Railroad. The Railroad had hired him on many occasions to defend their interests, but on this occasion they balked at the unusually high fee Lincoln charged – $5000. Lincoln had served the railroad well over many years, often taking limited fees, for example he had drawn only $150 for a year’s worth of work encompassing “at least fifteen cases (I believe one or two more) and I have concluded to lump them off at ten dollars a case.” This time, the McLean County Tax Case, he wanted to get paid the value of the work.

After jockeying around to ensure Lincoln was free to represent them, the railroad had paid him a retainer to get him started. The case was complicated, involved several trials, including the Illinois Supreme Court. Lincoln won the case and submitted his bill for $5,000, an amount more than the annual salary of the Illinois governor. After a week he wrote to the railroad’s counsel requesting status, who indicated it had been sent to the company president and attorney, who refused to pay it. Lincoln sued. Knowing he needed to justify such a large amount, Lincoln included an affidavit providing for the depositions of other prominent lawyers, all of them his friends—Norman Judd, Isaac Arnold, Grant Goodrich, Archibald Williams, and his former law partner, Stephen T. Logan—each of whom vouched for the appropriateness of the fee.

In his own brief, Lincoln wrote:

“Are, or not the amount of labor, the doubtfulness and difficulty of the question, the degree of success in the result; and the amount of pecuniary interest involved, not merely in the particular case, but covered by the principle decided, and thereby secured to the client, all proper elements, by the custom of the profession to consider in determining what is a reasonable fee in a given case.

That $5000 is not an unreasonable fee in this case.”

When the case came up for trial, no representative for the railroad was present and the judge awarded Lincoln the five thousand dollars. John Douglass, the Illinois Central railroad’s attorney, did show up the next day and begged for a new trial, which Lincoln did not resist. Setting aside the earlier verdict, they retried the case and the jury again decided for Lincoln. This time they awarded him $4,800 because Lincoln had received $200 as a retainer (in fact, the records show he had received $250). As with all fees received by the firm, Lincoln shared this fee equally with William Herndon.

[Adapted from my forthcoming book, due out in February 2022]

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

No comments

A House Divided – Lincoln Takes a Stand

  By

Lincoln Douglas DebatesAbraham Lincoln lost his 1856 Senate campaign, but in 1858 he had another opportunity to run for Senate, this time against his old rival Stephen A. Douglas. In June Lincoln gave what is perhaps one of his most cited oratories, the “House Divided” speech. Once again he warned that the Kansas-Nebraska Act had opened the country to expansion of slavery—not just in the territories, but throughout the nation. Beginning with a paraphrased line from the Bible (Mark 3:25), Lincoln notes:

A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become lawful in all the states, old as well as new—North as well as South.

Lincoln was not using hyperbole; he firmly believed slavery was in danger of becoming a national institution. The Kansas-Nebraska Act could allow all of the remaining territories to welcome slavery. The Fugitive Slave Act required the federal government and all states to actively capture any slaves who had escaped into free states and return them to the South. And the Dred Scott decision had effectively invalidated any rights of citizenship even for free blacks, no matter where they lived. One more Supreme Court decision like Dred Scott could result in the right of slave owners to move to any free state and legally bring their slaves, thus making all of the United States open to slavery.

The night before giving his speech, Lincoln asked Republican friends to read it and offer advice. Unanimously they begged him to tone down the passage cited above, fearing it was too inflammatory. Lincoln listened, then told them he would keep it in: “I think the time has come to say it, and I will let it go as is.” Those who felt slavery was wrong had been compromising for decades, with all compromises resulting in continued political strength to slave owners. For Lincoln, the time had come to make a stand.

[Adapted from Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America]

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

2 Comments

Lincoln Sees a New Weapon He Likes

  By

Lincoln testing a SpencerAbraham Lincoln had an interest in technology, and on June 10, 1861 he sees a new weapon he likes. I write about this and other incidents in my forthcoming book:

A few weeks into the war, he pressed Captain James Dahlgren on a new gun presented by Orison Blunt. After encouraging Dahlgren to “please see Mr. Blunt,” Lincoln wrote “What do you think of it? Would the government do well to purchase some of them?” When Dahlgren replied positively the same day, Lincoln endorsed the envelope with another prod for action: “I saw the gun myself, and witnessed some experiments with it,” Lincoln wrote, adding “I really think it worthy the attention of the government.” Presumably these were the Enfield-patterned rifles Blunt made for the Army a year later.

Pursuing another promising new rifle, Lincoln wrote to Ripley “to introduce you to Mr. Strong who has what appears to be an ingenious and useful Carbine” and asked Ripley to give it a service test. Strong was an unlikable man with dubious ethics, but his breechloading carbine provided the advantage of faster loading at the base of the shorter barrel compared to the longer barreled, muzzle loading muskets most commonly in use. Ripley was unimpressed. While admitting that the new system was “novel and ingenious,” he told Lincoln that it was no better than any of the other breechloading rifles available, which Ripley found to be too complicated to employ in service. Keep it simple was Ripley’s motto, and he preferred old muskets to simplify supply of guns and ammunition to thousands of green troops.

The above is just a teeny snippet from the new book. I’m doing the final editing for submission to the publisher within the next few weeks. Over the next several months I’ll have more information to release about the book, including a stellar Foreword by a well-known author, a cover reveal, and much more.

Stay Tuned!

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

 

 

No comments

Stephen A. Douglas Dies

  By

Stephen A. DouglasAt 9:10 am on Monday, June 3, 1861, Stephen A. Douglas died in Chicago at the age of forty-eight. Thus ended a remarkable life, both as a leader in the antebellum Democratic party and as a foil to Abraham Lincoln’s rise. Douglas had fallen ill weeks before while headed back to Illinois to lobby for Democratic support of the newly elected President Lincoln once the Civil War started. Lincoln immediately directs that government offices be close on the day of the funeral and that the Executive Mansion (aka, the White House) and departments be draped on mourning for thirty days. On June 4th, Secretary of War Simon Cameron issues a circular to Union armies, announcing “the death of a great statesman…a man who nobly discarded party for this country.”

Douglas’s legacy is a complicate one. He rose to great influence in the Senate, perhaps single-handedly pushing through passage of a series of bills that became known as the Compromise of 1850. He also pushed through the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which voided the Missouri Compromise of 1820, thus putting the United States on a path to ultimate civil war. He was a horrific racist, who used blatant racism as a tool to defeat Lincoln in the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates during his Senate reelection campaign. He became the catalyst of the split between northern and southern Democrats in the 1860 election. As I wrote in Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America:

As expected, northern Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas. Because of Lincoln’s clever positioning on slavery during the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates—especially coaxing Douglas into the Freeport Doctrine—the Democratic Party had split into two factions, and Douglas represented only the North. Southern Democrats from the eleven slave states nominated their own candidate, John C. Breckinridge, the sitting Vice President under James Buchanan. To split the vote further, John Bell was nominated for a new Constitutional Union party, the main goal of which was that everyone just get along.

 

Lincoln again stayed in Springfield, as it was considered inappropriate for candidates to personally hit the campaign trail. Instead, Seward, Davis, and others made the case for him. Stephen A. Douglas, in contrast, campaigned extensively, spending a large amount of time in the South warning against disunion. Douglas race-baited as usual, insisting that government was “made by white men for white men” forever, but did try to convince southerners that they were better off working within the Union than trying to separate.

 

Because the Democratic Party had split, Republicans felt confident that Lincoln would win the election. Indeed, he won with about 40 percent of the popular vote and 180 of the 303 electoral votes available; 152 were needed to win. He won all the northern states plus the two new states of California and Oregon. John Breckinridge came in second, gaining 72 electoral votes from most of the southern slave states. Bell got 39 electoral votes by capturing the three border slave states of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Douglas, once considered the likely winner, received only 12 electoral votes from the two states of Missouri and New Jersey. Lincoln was president-elect.

 

And yet, after the election, and after the Civil War began, it was Stephen A. Douglas who tried to rally the country to support Lincoln’s efforts to retain the Union. His life would come to an early end, but Douglas was a major influence – for good and for bad – on the antebellum nation. Douglas is buried in Chicago.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.