Not sure that this is the right topic to post this under, but it is a review of what was happening that preceded Lincoln's election in 1860.

I don't know how I ended up on the email list of something named "Quora," but every now and then they send a topic and post of interest (or semi-interest) to me. The one I received today has a pretty good opinion (and easy to follow!) on why the Civil War was unavoidable. It will be interesting to know if some of you have differing opinions or can add to this:

"First of all, before the lecture let me advise you to do some serious reading. As Shelby Foote put it, and I’m paraphrasing here; no one can understand the United States of America without a solid and thorough understanding of this horrendous tragedy in the middle of the 19th century. The resources are many and ubiquitous; as the old saying goes, 'Knowledge is power and the libraries are free.'

"If you go north from Leavenworth Kansas along the Missouri river road (KS 7), you will come to the charming village of White Cloud. Just to the north is the Nebraska state line. Stop there and climb up the low bluff on the west side of the road, and you will find an iron obelisk about seven or eight feet tall. It is solid cast iron and is a survey marker. From here, a great deal of the west was surveyed all the way out to Wyoming. It can also be argued that the Civil War started here.

"When Jefferson Davis was the Secretary of War, he was pretty much in charge of the West. Being a Southerner, he was in favor of the southern route for the trans-continental railroad, from Atlanta to San Diego. He even had the army buy a string of camels in Egypt to facilitate supply in the Arizona desert and hired a camel driver named Hagi Ali (The Army men called him ‘Hi Jolly’) who is buried in Quartzite AZ.

"But the South wanted more than a railroad; they wanted to expand slavery in the West. So Davis made a deal with Senator Stephan Douglas of Illinois: if Douglas could come up with a law that would allow slavery to expand into Kansas and/or Nebraska, Davis would drop his support for the southern route and back Douglas and his plan for the 'Central Pacific' from Omaha west, which, by the way, went through Chicago.

"The resulting Kansas/Nebraska Act advocated the incredibly foolish idea of 'Free Sovereignty:' the idea that each territory would vote on whether to be slave or free. This, of course, led to the tragic 'Bleeding Kansas' uprising which many insist is the real start of the Civil War. The effect of Free Sovereignty was to cause Lincoln to make an issue of the bone-headed decision during the Lincoln/Douglas debates in 1858. And, while Douglas still retained his Senate seat, he became very unpopular with Southern Democrats which split the Democratic party into three warring groups and led to Lincoln’s minority election.

"Since there was an abolitionist plank in the Republican platform, even though Lincoln himself tried to disavow it, any Republican was unacceptable to the South, so the South seceded. Before Lincoln’s inauguration, Buchanan did little to nothing to try to keep the nation together, but he did try to re-supply Fort Sumpter. Southern cadets fired on the ship and drove it away. The people of South Carolina insisted that they would only let a ship through to remove the soldiers and turn the fort over to them. This same kind of tactic, the seizing of national assets, was going on in other places, most notably in St. Louis, where a Southern-leaning militia was formed in order to take over the St. Louis arsenal and its store of arms. There, a young captain named Nathaniel Lyon removed the arms to Illinois and then captured the militia. In the ensuing demonstrations, shots were fired and over 20 people were killed. These were the first casualties of the Civil War, since the only life lost at Fort Sumpter was a mule.

"There were many strong feelings about the war and the role of the federal government. Many young men, who did not own slaves and realistically didn’t have any hope of owning any, fought and died for the Confederacy. Many would claim, 'I aint fighting’ for no darkies, one way or the other,' and would mean it; but the truth of the matter is that slaves were considered real property and as thus were used commonly as collateral for bank loans. Large planters, who had only one pay day per year, depended on credit for the health of their large holdings. The elimination of slavery would have made them insolvent, and these were the guys running the show. They were able to whip up the passions of the ordinary folk with all kinds of talk about ‘States Rights’ and the North invading the South, but in essence the whole thing came down to money, and at the root of the money, was the slave. The greatest mistake of the Founders was the incorporation of the nation with the institution of slavery intact and no system to redress it. As long as slavery existed and continued to grow, as it was, the Civil War had to happen."

I have been reading and enjoying Charles Strozier's book on the relationship between Speed and Lincoln and William Butler's name seems to pop up often. It seems like everybody in Springfield either ate and/or lodged there. Lincoln and Butler appeared to have been very close but I think they had a falling out, but I am not sure. Does anybody have information on Butler or know where I can look? Thanks.

I love this excerpt from Lincoln’s speech in Michigan:

“We have been in the habit of deploring the fact that slavery exists among us. We have ever deplored it. Our forefathers did, and they declared, as we have done in later years, the blame rested upon the mother government of Great Britain. We constantly condemn Great Britain for not preventing slavery from coming amongst us. She would not interfere to prevent it, and so individuals were able to introduce the institution without opposition.”

I don’t recall seeing this quote before but I think it says everything on Lincoln’s view regarding slavery.

Thank you to David Lockmiller for sending this photo. David grew up in Decatur, Illinois, and he sent a photo of the plaque which commemorates Abraham Lincoln's first political speech in the summer of 1830.

We have no idea whether Lincoln suffered from syphilis.

We do know that syphilis affected a significant number of the world's population during his lifetime. The actual rate is difficult to identify. Doctors were fearful of telling wives that they were suffering from syphilis ( it was normally the husbands that were paying the medical bills). They were reluctant to state a cause of death as being syphilis.

I see one study in the UK for pre-WW1 males has the rate as being 7.8%
https://academic.oup.com/shm/article/27/3/508/1680054

All the above comment is aimed at making the point that it would be reasonable for Lincoln to concerned as to whether he had contracted syphilis before marriage. Obviously, this would have required sexual activity ... and we have no proof that he was not a virgin when he first met Mary.

A knee-jerk comment would be to assert that he was a man with the same natural urges as most other men at that time and it would have been natural for him to be sexually active. However, he was teetotal (I'm being serious) so he was able to resist peer pressure and he could have controlled his desires.
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...tongue.gif
It seems to me (and Ok I have no proof) that he would have had concerns about syphilis and the possibility of him having it. Continuing this line of surmising, it would cause a huge amount of concern for him pre-marriage and would explain his depression and peculiar behaviour.

Then I move on to his letter to Dr Drake asking for advice. He read this to his friend Speed, apparently, but (and I think it significant) he omitted a portion.

In Pox: Genius, Madness, And The Mysteries Of Syphilis
By Deborah Hayden, it is stated that William Herndon wrote that Lincoln told him that he'd contracted syphilis in 1835 or 36. Gore Vidal believed this to be true and said so on US Tv .

Having written all that I am now thinking that you've probably already discussed the issue on the forum ... I did search but couldnt find anything.

I’m seem to be in a “list” mode-so forgive me. What books did Lincoln read- and had an influence on him? The first book that comes to my mind is:
01. The King James Bible

Others?

Living or dead- before Lincoln became president. Who did he admire? Do you think at least 10 could be named?

The farm on which Abraham Lincoln was born was just over 348 acres (according to Harry E. Pratt (The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln). I know that surveying wasnt too accurate so that '348' might be an estimate. But it was obviously quite large. Pratt also says Lincoln had another farm at the same time.

It would be interesting to know what crops (if any) would have been grown on a typical Kentucky farm in 1809. I've read there were some livestock. Pigs and chickens I assume. And of course a cow or two (resulting in Nancy's death from milk fever). Any beef cattle? Sheep?

I've also read that Thomas Lincoln was a carpenter ... l'm assuming that this would not have been a full time job.

I had a small hobby farm (as they're called here) of 22 acres and maintaining that took every weekend and most evenings. I assume that Lincoln's farm wouldnt have been fenced (in any real sense ... so livestock in any numbers wouldnt have been realistic ... I guess?)

Any comments/guesses about the Lincoln farm would be good.

As noted in Lincoln Day by Day by Earl Schenck Miers (Editor-in-Chief) for the date December 24, 1848-in part:
“...John D. Johnston, stepbrother, asked for $80. Lincoln tells him his difficulty is idleness, and offers to pay Johnston a dollar for each dollar he earns to May1...”

Last week I visited the spot where Lincoln made his only visit to Michigan (in Kalamazoo). There is a Historical Marker there denoting the occasion. It is located downtown in a park. Ironically, I asked several people who were walking in the park where the Marker was located and they did not know. Mind you, we were standing about a hundred feet from it! I am now informed from a news feed on the internet that there may be plans to erect a Lincoln statue on the site, as well. Maybe that will be an attention getter!
Lincoln’s visit there was in 1856. He gave a speech that was largely unnoticed by the press at the time in support of John Fremont. Unnoticed? I see a pattern!