Lincoln's Campaign Biographies

1. Texts, Contexts, and Contests: Politics and Print in the Age of Lincoln

6 c h a p t e r o n e Texts, Contexts, and Contests: Politics and Print in the Age of Lincoln On May 15, 1860, the day before the opening of the Republican national convention in Chicago, arriving delegates who happened to peruse that day’s Chicago Press and Tribune were greeted by the paper’s spirited endorsement of Abraham Lincoln for the Republican nomination for president of the United States. The endorsement , the editors asserted, was not motivated by a “great love and esteem for the man, by any open or secret hostility to any other of the eminent gentlemen named for that high office, nor by a feeling of State pride or Western sectionalism,” rather by “a profound and well-matured conviction that his unexceptional record, his position between the extremes of opinion in the party, his spotless character as a citizen, and his acknowledged ability as a statesman will, in the approaching canvass, give him an advantage before the people which no other candidate can claim.” The paper assured its readers that its support was not encouraged by Lincoln, for he was not, “by his own motion,” a candidate for the office. “He has never sought, directly or indirectly, for the first or second place on the ticket.” Rather, the paper was giving voice to a “spontaneous” movement of the people that “has sprung up suddenly and with great strength.”1 Republican delegates as well as seasoned politicians who read the Chicago Press and Tribune’s advocacy of Lincoln would not, of course, have taken it on face value. After all, the paper was known Texts, Contexts, and Contests | 7 for its strong ties to Lincoln and the Illinois Republican Party. John Locke Scripps, one of the paper’s editors, was not only a friend and ardent supporter of Lincoln but would soon write a campaign biography promoting his candidacy. Moreover, few would have believed that Lincoln was, against his wishes, being pushed by the people to seek the presidency. In accordance with tradition, Lincoln had to show in public a disinterest in office. In private, however , he and his supporters were working hard for the nomination. His admission to Illinois senator Lyman Trumbull a few weeks earlier that “the taste is in my mouth a little” was an exercise in extreme understatement.2 A newspaper’s blatant partisanship and a presidential candidate’s public disclaimer of interest in the office were widely accepted—and expected—practices in Lincoln’s time. In the nineteenth century, presidential candidates rarely campaigned personally. Actively seeking votes by giving campaign speeches, visiting towns and cities to participate in rallies and parades, and granting interviews to reporters did not become commonplace until the twentieth century. Thus, with candidates on the sidelines and out of view, it was up to the political parties to promote them and to craft and disseminate a message to energize and mobilize voters. By the 1860 election, political parties had become quite adept at these essential tasks, aided enormously by decades of party organization, a communications infrastructure supported by advances in technology and transportation, and the growth of a literate middle class. The development of political parties as we know them today was not envisioned by the Founding Fathers when drafting the Constitution . In fact, parties, or factions as they were often called, were denounced by the nation’s founders as antithetical to the tenants of classical republicanism, which espoused the virtue of the public good over the private interests of individuals or groups. Party alignments emerged during George Washington’s presidency, however, as Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and their followers split over differing interpretations of the Constitution, the role of the central government, and foreign affairs. But even as they formed opposing factions, Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans 8 | Texts, Contexts, and Contests (later becoming Democratic-Republicans) continued to condemn political parties as harmful to the nation. For example, Jefferson once wrote that if he “could not go to heaven but with a party,” he would “not go there at all.” The multi-tiered structures (national, state, and local) created to manage party affairs, articulate and communicate a national program, enforce loyalty, and identify and mobilize voters were not developed until decades later. The Federalist Party of Hamilton and Adams did not survive the War of 1812 and the Democratic-Republican Party of Jefferson was transformed into the Democratic Party of Andrew...