Abraham Lincoln: A Biography

4. Courtship and Marriage

CHAPTER IV _.Courtship and Marriage FoR S EVE R A L years after the panic of 1837 the state ot Illinois remained in a precarious condition. It had incurred obligations out of all proportion to its resources, and a period of low prices retarded tax collections. With the State Bank unable to redeem in specie, the negotiable value of its notes slipped to forty-four cents on the dollar. To avoid acceptance of tax payments in this depreciated currency, James Shields, the state auditor, ordered the collectors of revenue to take State Bank paper at no more than its actual value-an action that evoked a roar of protest. Since Shields was a Democrat, the Whigs lost no time in capitalizing on the popular discontent, and a series of letters from the "Lost Townships," expounding Whig doctrine in rural idiom, appeared in the Sangamo Journal. The third of these letters, dated August 27, 1842, dealt with Shields and his proclamation . Purporting to be written by a widow named Rebecca, it told the editor about a friend of hers, a Democratic farmer, who, when informed of Shields's abhorrent conduct, insisted that the auditor must be a Whig and not a Democrat, since no Democrat would be so faithless with the people. "I seed him when I was down in Springfield last winter," the pseudonymous farmer maintained. "They had a sort of a gathering there one night, among the grandees, they called a fair. All the gals about town was there, and all the handsome widows, and 82 ABRAHAM LINCOLN married women, finickin about, trying to look like gals, tied as tight in the middle, and puffed out at both ends like bundles of fodder that hadn't been stacked yet, but wanted stackin pretty bad.... I looked in at the window, and there was this same fellow Shields. . . . He was paying his money to this one and that one, and tother one, and sufferin great loss because it wasn't silver instead of State paper; and the sweet distress he seemed to be in,-his very features, in the exstatic agony of his soul, spoke audibly and distinctly 'Dear girls, it is distressing, but I cannot marry you all. Too well I know how much you suffer; but do, do remember, it is not my fault that I am so handsome and 80 interesting.' ... He a democrat! Fiddle-sticks! I tell you, aunt Becca, he's a whig, and no mistake: nobody but a whig could make such a conceity dunce of himself." A promising attorney and politician, Shields was Lincoln's junior by two years. A native of Ireland, quick-tempered in the manner of the men of Eire, he became infuriated by the slurs and aspersions in the anonymous letter. Demanding the name of his detractor from the editor of the Journal, he learned that it was Lincoln. Before he could take action, however, he was called out of town on business. During his absence another letter from Aunt Becca offered him her hand in marriage to solace his anger. "I know he's a fightin man," Aunt Becca said, "and would rather fight than eat; but isn't marrying better than fightin, though it does sometimes run into it?" If Shields insisted on fighting, however, Aunt Becca demanded fair play, which could be assured either by her donning breeches or by Shields wearing petticoats. "I presume that change is sufficient to place us on an equality," she concluded. Although dueling was contrary to law in Illinois, Shields, on his return to Springfield, sought Lincoln in order to challenge him, only to find that he had left for court at Tremont. Selecting John D. Whiteside as his second, Shields started in pursuit; but Elias H. Merryman and William Butler, friends of Lincoln, learning of Shields's intentions, also started for Tremont and by riding all night reached Lincoln in time to warn him. Lin- Courtship and Marriage 83 coIn, though opposed to dueling, had got himself into a plight. He would avoid a meeting if he could do so without dishonor, he decided; otherwise he would fight. The next morning Shields and Whiteside galloped into town, and Whiteside immediately presented Lincoln with Shields's demand for a confession of his authorship of the offensive letters and a complete retraction on pain of "consequences which no one will regret more than myself." Lincoln replied that Shields...