Lincoln’s Home
Abraham already was familiar with Springfield
when he moved there in 1837. As you will learn from the section on the Old
State Capitol, he was a strong force behind the decision in February of 1837
to move the capital from Vandalia to Springfield.
When Lincoln arrived in Springfield he was very poor. Joshua Speed, a
storekeeper, became friends with Lincoln and let Lincoln live with him over
his store.
Lincoln practiced law and began to associate with the political and social
leaders who gathered in Springfield.
Lincoln and Mary Todd
One of the people Lincoln met in Springfield was Mary Todd. She was the
daughter of a wealthy banker in Lexington, Kentucky. She came to Springfield
to live with her sister, Elizabeth, and her brother-in-law, Ninian Edwards,
the son of a former Illinois governor.
When Lincoln and Mary Todd became engaged in late 1840, her parents in
Lexington were not pleased. Mary’s sister, Elizabeth Edwards, was especially
opposed to the marriage. She felt Mary was from too high a social class to
marry a common man like Lincoln.
Lincoln began to doubt that he could be a proper husband for Mary Todd. Soon
he broke off the engagement.
They avoided each other for more than a year, but friends secretly got the
couple back together. They were married in November of 1842.
The Only Home Lincoln Owned
For a year the Lincolns lived in a room on the second floor of the Globe
Tavern. In those days a tavern served as a meeting place, restaurant and
boarding house. After their first son, Robert, was born, they briefly rented
a house.
In January of 1844 they moved into the home that you will visit in
Springfield. This is the only home the Lincolns ever owned.
When the Lincolns bought the house it did not have a complete second floor.
They added a second floor to make room for their growing family.
The Lincolns had three more sons. All were born in the house you will visit.
The family pet was a dog named Fido.
Robert, the oldest son, was the only Lincoln child to live to adulthood.
Edward, the second child, died before turning 4. Willie died at age 11 while
Lincoln was president. Tad, the youngest, died of tuberculosis at age 18, a
few years after Lincoln’s death.
Home Restoration
When you visit Lincoln’s home it will look much as it did when Lincoln lived
there. It was quite comfortable. Except for the lack of some modern
conveniences such as a refrigerator, television and indoor bathroom, you
probably won’t find it much different than houses today.
Compare Lincoln’s home in Springfield with the log homes in New Salem. In
which would you rather live?
As you go through the home you will see several horsehair chairs and sofas.
This furniture is covered with a black material that is actually made of
hair from the manes and tails of horses. It was a popular furniture fabric
in Lincoln’s day and lasts a long time.
You also may see some of the types of toys Lincoln’s boys played with in the
house. The boys had a reputation for being very active – even a little wild.
Lincoln sometimes let the younger boys run loose in the law office. A law
partner wrote that he often “wanted to wring the necks of those brats and
pitch them out the windows.”
Major restoration was done on the house in the 1980s. The building was
strengthened so it can withstand the footsteps of some 300,000 visitors each
year.
Congressman Lincoln
Lincoln was a successful lawyer. He traveled
throughout central Illinois presenting cases in the county courthouses. But
he still had political ambitions.
In 1846 the voters sent Lincoln to Congress. He spent two years in
Washington, D.C. While in Congress he opposed the Mexican War, which began
over a dispute about the border between the United States and Mexico.
Lincoln’s opposition to the war was not popular in central Illinois, and
Lincoln was not reelected. He returned to his law practice in Springfield.
President Lincoln
The most heated national political issue of the 1850s was whether slavery
should be extended westward into new states. Lincoln was very much against
extending slavery. In 1858 he ran for the U.S. Senate against Stephen
Douglas.
Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates around the state.
Newspapers throughout the country carried reports of the debates between the
two great speakers. Douglas won the Senate seat, but Lincoln became known
across the nation for his logic, his strong speeches and his high moral
ideals.
Lincoln continued traveling and speaking after he lost the Senate election.
In 1860, the young Republican Party nominated Lincoln for president. All
sorts of bands and floats paraded past the Lincoln home during the campaign.
As you visit the Lincoln home area, try to imagine the excitement that
filled the house and the city during that time.
Three other candidates ran for president. One was Stephen Douglas, his foe
in the Senate race two years earlier. This time Lincoln won. The boy born in
a log cabin had grown up to be president of the United States.
Lincoln faced a difficult challenge as president. Before he left for
Washington, D.C., seven southern states had broken away from the United
States. His speech at the train depot upon leaving Springfield for
Washington, D.C., included these words, “I now leave, not knowing when, or
whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that upon
Washington.”
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