The Story of American History Part 28

The "pony express" was worth to the nation a hundred times its cost.

Why? Because just at that time our Civil War was beginning to darken the land, and the South was making desperate efforts to entice the vast Pacific region to unite with the seceding states. This "pony express"

line proved to be the first strand of a strong cable to unite the East and the West.

=297. More Rapid Means of Communication between the East and the Pacific Coast urgently needed.=--For many years before 1860 there was talk of the urgent need, and finally of the absolute necessity, of closer connection between the old East and the new West. There were plenty of reasons for a railroad; but in 1861 there came another overpowering reason that eclipsed all others. The war for the Union had begun, and it was a matter of supreme importance that the Pacific states should be saved in the Union. No step could lead more surely toward this result than to have a railroad for constant and swift travel.

=298. The Railroad over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast rapidly built.=--In 1863 the great work was begun. The government was wonderfully generous and contributed money and land freely, for it was felt that the railroad must be built as quickly as possible. The completion of the gigantic undertaking in 1869 at Ogden, Utah, was gayly celebrated. Two trains, loaded with pa.s.sengers from New York and San Francisco, approached each other at this place. The last rail was laid, the last rivet clinched, the last spike, a spike of gold sent from California, was driven, when the locomotives moved up and saluted, amid the cheers of the enthusiastic throngs!

In seven years' time, from 1849 to 1856, the gold found in California was worth nearly five hundred millions of dollars! Imagine the effect of such an output of the precious metal upon the industries and commerce of our country!

California is still rich in its gold, but it is still richer in its wonderful climate and its marvelous scenery; in the wealth of its grain fields; its sheep and cattle; its orange groves and its vineyards. These make California the real El Dorado,--the real land of gold, and ensure the prosperity and happiness of its people.

CHAPTER XXIII.

LINCOLN AND THE WAR FOR THE UNION.

=299. Abraham Lincoln; the Abiding Influence of his Good Mother.=--The early settlers in the Western states were generally very poor. It was the honorable poverty of the pioneer, who bravely begins with only his axe and a few tools, with which he builds his log cabin, clears the forest, and works his way to competence and comfort.

So lived in Larue County, in the state of Kentucky, about fifty miles south of Louisville, Thomas Lincoln and his wife Nancy, in a rude log cabin with no windows, a dirt floor, and only a flapping bearskin for a door! In this humble abode, which they called home, there was born to them on February 12, 1809, a son, Abraham.

The father was a strong and kindly man, and the mother was a woman rather above her lowly position in life, and well educated for the time and place. As her boy grew up she read to him stories from the Bible and taught him to read for himself.

In after years, when Abraham Lincoln had gained the people's ear, men noticed that he scarcely made a speech or wrote a state paper in which there was not an 'ill.u.s.tration or a quotation from the Bible. He had been thoroughly instructed in it by his mother. It was the one book to which she, being a woman of deep religious feeling, turned for sympathy and guidance. Out of it she taught her boy to spell and read, and with its principles she so familiarized him that they always governed his after life.

When Abraham was eight years old the family moved to Indiana, where, in about a year, his mother died. This was an unutterable grief to him, for he loved her most deeply and tenderly. Throughout his life he revered her memory, and when he was in his prime he said, "All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my mother."

=300. How Lincoln learned to read Good Books.=--Young Lincoln attended school only six weeks. He was a tall, gaunt lad, and his long, stout arms were very useful to his father on the farm.

Like Franklin, he had a hunger for books, and having none himself, he used to walk miles to some family to borrow them. Every evening he used to read by the log fire _Pilgrim's Progress_, the poems of Robert Burns, _The Life of Was.h.i.+ngton_, or _Plutarch's Lives_. Think of that boy sitting before the cabin fire, reading over and over the story of Was.h.i.+ngton; and then think of what he came to be.

When the family went to bed he used to climb, on a rude ladder of stout pegs driven in the logs, up to his bed made of hay, and there, by the light of his tallow candle, would read over and over his precious books.

He bought a biography of Was.h.i.+ngton with three hard days' work at twenty-five cents a day. He carried the book with him to the field, and read it at the noon hour and while the horse rested.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LINCOLN READING HIS FAVORITE BOOKS BY THE FIRESIDE.]

=301. Some Things Lincoln did when a Young Man.=--When Lincoln was about twenty-one, the family moved to Illinois. The young man was rugged and tall, six feet and four inches, but very strong. In feats of running, jumping, and wrestling he easily surpa.s.sed the best men in the county.

He was hired at ten dollars a month to go down to New Orleans on a flatboat loaded with farm produce. On the trip he saw gangs of slaves chained together, and he attended a slave auction, where men, women, and children were bid off like cattle. The painful sight sank deep into his heart, and he never forgot it. He was a soldier in the Black Hawk war, and was chosen by his comrades captain of the company, for all the men loved and respected him.

=302. Makes up his Mind to become a Lawyer.=--Young Lincoln grew rapidly in public esteem. People took kindly to him, for he was himself kind and unselfish. Though awkwardly tall and homely, there was a something tender and friendly about him, which made every one feel that he was honest and sincere.

As the years pa.s.sed Lincoln kept on steadily educating himself by devoting every leisure hour to his books. He took regular studies, such as grammar, arithmetic, geometry, which he exceedingly enjoyed.

He was a thoughtful reader of a few of the great English cla.s.sics. He could repeat numerous scenes from Shakespeare and many of the poems of Robert Burns. Whatever he read was read thoroughly--to understand it.

His need of money led the ambitious young man to study surveying, as Was.h.i.+ngton did--a very desirable attainment in a new country. He surveyed well Everything he did, he did well.

Visiting a courthouse one day, he heard for the first time the argument of a lawyer. He was absorbed and delighted. Never before had anything so captivated his imagination. From that day he made up his mind to be a lawyer. Too poor to waste any money on shoes, he walked twelve miles barefoot once to borrow a law book; and he came home reading it as he walked.

=303. His Early Studies and Rapid Advancement in his Profession.=--The struggling young lawyer now carefully studied the art of the clear and exact expression of thought. He attended that nursery of American oratory, the country debating club, and was a faithful student of the best method of speaking, making rapid progress by long and patient practice.

We no longer think of him as the boy of the log house, the homespun clothes, the c.o.o.n-skin cap, and the bare feet, but rather as the brave young lawyer, studious, honest, persevering, self-reliant, and always faithful to duty.

After this Lincoln's advancement is rapid. His worthy traits draw to him many and strong friends. At twenty-five he is elected to the legislature. He discharges the duties of the office so well that two years later he is chosen again. Now an older lawyer invites him to be his partner.

He has become a man of note. People come from far to consult him. His growing fame daily widens. The people next call him to a higher place.

At thirty-nine he is honored by being chosen a member of Congress. He fills the place with credit and honor. He is now the rising man of his state.

=304. Slavery as a Menace to the Country.=--There had always been one serious trouble in our republic--slavery. It began early. About a year before the Pilgrims came over in the Mayflower a Dutch s.h.i.+p brought twenty negroes from Africa to Virginia, and they were sold as slaves to the planters.

As years pa.s.sed the traffic rapidly increased, and paid an enormous profit. Some of the colonists tried to stop this, but in vain; it was profitable. Soon slavery spread all over the country; mostly in the South, but somewhat even in New England. In the South, slaves were very useful in raising tobacco and rice, and, later, cotton and sugar cane.

At the formation of the republic all the Southern states came in as slave states. To this most of the Northern people, though they held slavery to be a great wrong, and feared that it would some day bring serious trouble, did not strenuously object, because it had long existed throughout the colonies. But as years pa.s.sed the North strongly opposed the extension of slavery into new states or free territory. The South, however, had come to believe that slavery was right. When Missouri asked admission to the Union, the South claimed that it should be received as a slave state. The North said, No! There was a great discussion over this question, which was finally settled in 1821 by allowing Missouri to come in as a slave state. After this it was understood that slavery should never be introduced north of the line of its southern boundary.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.]

=305. Lincoln chosen President of the United States.=--In 1854 an effort was made to bring in Kansas and Nebraska as possible slave states. This at once aroused a storm of indignation throughout the North. Mr.

Lincoln stood forth as a champion of freedom, and Stephen A. Douglas, popularly known as "the little giant of the West," supported the claims of the South. They held public debates all through Illinois, being rival candidates for the United States Senate.

These great debates were listened to by thousands. Lincoln's speeches especially attracted much attention. They were printed and read in all sections. Many a voter said, "How plain he makes it all! He says it far better than I could." This contest raged in 1859. Douglas won the smaller prize of senator; but Lincoln, suddenly lifted into national fame by his splendid defense of freedom, was next year chosen President of the United States.

He was elected because of the firm determination of the North that, while they would not disturb slavery where it already existed, it should not extend any farther into free territory. This resolve was not unfriendly to the Southern people. It did not invade their rights as the North understood them. It was not intended as a threat to the people of that section; but they chose so to regard it and immediately took a hostile att.i.tude.

In December, 1860, South Carolina seceded, then other states; so that before Mr. Lincoln began his duties as President the seven cotton states had seceded. Believing that they had a right to do so, they formed a government of their own and a.s.sumed a warlike att.i.tude to the general government.

=306. The Momentous Responsibilities of the Position.=--We have traced the poor boy of the Western cabin step by step up to the highest office of the nation, to rule as the chief magistrate of thirty millions of people. It was not a nation in peace, but torn asunder, each half in deadly conflict with the other. Upon him were to rest the control of vast armies, of a great navy, the decision of questions of unspeakable importance, and the solution of most perplexing international problems.

Can this self-trained lawyer from the Western prairies bear all this sudden and tremendous burden, and bear it with courage, credit, and success? Surely no man of modern times ever faced a greater or more difficult task.

=307. War begins; the Effect at the North and in the South.=--The next month (April 12, 1861) after Lincoln's inauguration, Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, was attacked by a circle of nineteen hostile batteries. After thirty-six hours of furious bombardment, Major Anderson, his powder and food being exhausted, his flagstaff shot away, his fort crumbling and on fire, felt that he could do nothing but surrender. He and his little force, carrying with them their tattered flag, were taken on board a Union s.h.i.+p to New York.

The shots fired at Sumter kindled another fire all through the North. A conflagration of patriotic zeal flamed up all over the loyal states. The people accepted instantly the awful challenge and sternly resolved to defend the endangered Union at every hazard.

Both sides had been deceived. Vast numbers through the North had not believed the slave states would really carry out their threat of secession. Vast numbers through the South had always believed the North would never fight, but at the last moment would consent to some sort of compromise.

Northern men felt that they had in no way wronged the South, that no act of theirs and no word of President Lincoln had given cause for precipitating the horrors of a civil war.

Southern men claimed that according to the Declaration of Independence all governments derive their power from the consent of the governed, and that the South had a right to withdraw its consent and establish a government of its own. Although there were some disloyal men all through the North, political parties vied with each other in the fervor of general devotion to one country and one flag. The President's call for seventy-five thousand volunteers was answered by the enthusiastic enlistment of the whole number.

In the South the excitement was equally great, but different in character. The ma.s.ses went wild with pa.s.sionate delight; but very many thoughtful people lamented the bombardment of Sumter as hasty, reckless, and ruinous. Some of the states were at first unwilling to secede, and finally went out reluctantly; but a belief that they were right swept them along, and, once out, they were as active as any.

=308. Vigorous Efforts to preserve the Union.=--Neither side was prepared for a long war, but the South was much better prepared to begin it than the North. Instantly every effort was put forth by the government to preserve the Union. Scores of wars.h.i.+ps blockaded the Southern ports to prevent cotton from being sent to England, and to cut off English s.h.i.+ps from bringing in supplies, especially military stores.

The governments of Europe, except the Russian, were unfriendly to us.

Four more states soon seceded, making eleven out of the fifteen slave states. Thousands of troops were gathered for the defense of the National Capital.