SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. CONTAINING HIS EARLY HISTORY AND POLITICAL CAREER; TOGETHER HIS EVENTFUL ADMINISTRATION. PUBLISHED BY JOHN E. POTTER, No. 617 SANSOM STREET. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by JOHN E. POTTER. In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. PHILADELPHIA: COLLINS, PRINTER, 705 JAYNE STREET. PREFACE. An attempt has been made in the following pages to portray Abraham Lincoln, mainly in his relations to the country at large during his eventful administration. With this view, it has not been deemed necessary to cumber the work with the minute details of his life prior to that time. This period has, therefore, been but glanced at, with a care to present enough to make a connected whole. His Congressional career, and his campaign with Senator Douglas are presented in outline, yet so, it is believed, that a clear idea of these incidents in his life can be obtained. After the time of his election as President, however, a different course of treatment has been pursued. Thenceforward, to the close of his life, especial pains have been taken to present everything which should show him as he was-the Statesman persistent, resolute, free from boasting or ostentation, destitute of hate, never exultant, guarded in his prophecies, threatening none at home or abroad, indulging in no utopian dreams of a blissful future, moving quietly, calmly, conscientiously, irresistibly on to the end he saw with clearest vision. Yet, even in what is presented as a complete record of his ad ministration, too much must not be expected. It is impossible, for example, to thoroughly dissect the events of the great Rebellion in a work like the present. Nothing of the kind has been attempted. The prominent features only have been sketched; and that solely for the purpose of bringing into the distinct foreground him whose life is under consideration. |