Lincoln on Democracy

"Not Much of Me": Lincoln's ''Autobiography,'' Age 50

Lincoln's ''Autobiography'' "NOT MUCH OF ME" Lincoln's ''Autobiography,'' Age 50 [DECEMBER 20, 1859] xlix Abraham Lincoln wrote this "little sketch" ofhis jirst jifty years just jive months before his nomination to the presidency. He composed it as a research toolfor a newspaperfeature designed to introduce the still largely unknown western politician to the East. "There is not much of it," Lincoln apologized in a cover letter, "for the reason, I suppose, that there is not much of me." Predictably, it was sumptuously embellished when adapted by the Chester County (Pennsylvania) Times on February 11, 1860, even though Lincoln wanted something "modest" that did not "go beyond the materials." The article was widely reprinted in other proRepublican organs. But it is the original Lincoln text that remains a principal source of our knowledge about the guardedly private public jigure his own law partner complained was "the most shut-mouthed man I knew." In truth, the sketch rarely travels beyond perfunctory facts toward the realm of insight, and it ends with the vaguest of personal descriptions ofthe face that would soon become the most recognizable in America. Although he authored more than a million words altogether, Lincoln wouldproduce nothingfurther about himselfexceptfor a slightly longer account ofhis early days written in 1860 as the basis ofa campaign biography. Even though democracy could claim no more convincing validation than his own rise, Lincoln the writer hardly ever illuminated Lincoln the man. Where Lincoln is concerned, history comes no closer to autobiography than this. I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families-second families , perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now reside in Adams, and others in Macon counties, Illinois. My paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham County, Virginia, to Kentucky , about 1781 or 2, where, a year or two later, he was killed by indians, not in battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest. His ancestors, who were quakers, went to Virginia "NOT MUCH OF ME" from Berks County, Pennsylvania. An effort to identify them with the New-England family of the same name ended in nothing more definite, than a similarity of Christian names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham, and the like. My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age; and he grew up, litterally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer county, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new home about the time the State came in the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, so called; but no qualification was ever required of a teacher, beyond "readin, writin, and cipherin , " to the Rule of Three. If a straggler supposed to understand latin, happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizzard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education . Ofcourse when I came ofage I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the Rule of Three; but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education, I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity. I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was twenty two. At twenty one I came to Illinois, and passed the first year in IllinoisMacon county. Then I got to New-Salem, (at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard county[)], where I remained a year as a sort of Clerk in a store. Then came the Black-Hawk war; and I was elected a Captain of Volunteers-a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went the campaign, was elated, ran for the Legislature the same year (1832) and was beaten-the only time I have been beaten by the people. The next, and three succeeding biennial elections, I was elected to the Legislature. I was not a candidate afterwards. During this Legislative period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield to practice it. In 1846 I was once elected to the lower House of Congress. Was not a candidate for re...