Plotting our trip back west, of course with it being the
height of summer, we were trying to stay north ish and find things to do that
were along our route. Given the weather, hiking is pretty much out. It’s been
over 90 almost every day and the humidity has been soaring.
That had us looking for indoor things to do and since
presidential libraries seem to be sort of a theme this summer, we looked to see
which ones were at least semi along our path.
Lincoln was one of them.
Although Lincoln was born in Kentucky, he lived much of
his pre-presidential adult life in Springfield Illinois.
Growing up very poor, in a one room cabin, he had very little access to formal education. Nonetheless he taught himself to read and write well enough that he was able to secure an apprenticeship to an attorney and was himself admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1836.
As a young man he arrived in Springfield with his brand
new law degree, no money, and no place to live.
Luckily he immediately made friends and soon flourished
in town, beginning a job as a lawyer in a law firm. He met his wife Mary, and
after a courtship, they married, and had 4 children. Before leaving Springfield
he had become quite successful as an attorney, and had served as both a state
legislator and a member of the U.S House of Representatives.
Of course, the situation was much more complicated than I would want to get into but in 1854 the Missouri Compromise, which prohibited slavery in all remaining territories was essentially overturned, opening all territories to slavery. He was so outraged, he made the decision to run for president. So, he arrived in Springfield a pauper, and 25 years later he left as the president elect.
The museum was clear to point out that from the moment of his assassination, Americans have not seen Lincoln clearly. He wasn’t a popular candidate for president….he ran against 3 other people and only received 39% of the popular vote- but he did secure the majority of the electoral college votes and became the first Republican president.
One of the displays is a TV news show starring Tim Russert, reporting on the election as if it was taking place in modern times. Very entertaining.
Many Americans were upset that Lincoln won, in fact, before he
even took office, several states had seceded from the union, with South Carolina
leading the way.
Lincoln vowed that the “Union” would not be an aggressor
in a conflict and that if the southern states wanted a war, they were going to
have to fire the first shot. And so they did.
What followed was 4 years of intense conflict and bloody battles, resulting in over 750,000 casualties. In 1865 it was finally over and the country started the process of rebuilding.
But they did it without Lincoln. He was assassinated just 5 days after the end of the war.
One of his most
famous acts as president took place January 1 1863, during the height of the
war, when he signed the Emancipation proclamation which declared that all
persons held as slaves within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward
shall be free”. So, technically, no slaves were actually freed at the time of
its writing because it only referred to slaves in the states that formed the
confederacy and of course, they didn’t recognize his authority.
The house where Lincoln lived with his wife and children, and the only house he ever owned, is now part of the national park service. In fact, the whole neighborhood is, which gives you a good sense of what the area would have looked like in the 1800s.
Lincoln is also buried in Springfield, along with his wife and three of his children….the three that did not survive to adulthood. His oldest son Robert is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
We actually visited the tomb twice- once during their usual daytime operating hours, and once in the evening.
Although the tomb closes at 5 pm, every Tuesday in the summer, at 7 pm there is a flag lowering ceremony, complete with with musket firing and period music. Usually.
Only lightning causes cancelation, and wouldn’t you know it, in the 2 hours before the ceremony we got over 2.5 inches of rain. With the occasional flash of lightning we debated going, but decided to bundle up and check it out.
The only thing that was canceled was the musket firing- the music-provided by the 114th Illinois volunteer infantry-still took place and luckily the rain had stopped. Once the flag lowering ceremony is complete, the flag that has been flown for the past week is given to one of the audience members. I had my fingers crossed, but the flag went to someone else. Oh well.
For the 3-4 people who still read this blog, you may have noticed that this post is a year late. My bad. I only posted it because I wrote the basics a year ago, in real time, so it was easy enough to throw it up here.
We also went to the Eisenhauer Presidential Library, in Abilene KS, which was fantastic, but I didn't do a draft of a post back then and it's too much to try and put it together now.
