It seems like a new biography of President Abraham Lincoln comes out every few years, trying to discern new perspectives of his time and character. Lincoln himself didn't write much about his life, so what he did put down on paper has an outsized importance.
It was a Bloomington-Normal man who nudged Lincoln to do that.
“I was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families, second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my 10th year, was of a family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now reside in Adams and others in Macon counties, Illinois,” Lincoln wrote in December 1859.
Lincoln had promised a "letter sketch" for many months to Jesse Fell in Bloomington-Normal.
“There's not much of it, I suppose, for the reason that there is not much of me,” wrote Lincoln with winking self-deprecation.
The sketch runs just under 600 words.
“It’s not very long, even though it's called an autobiography, but it's only one of two times that Lincoln really sits down and reflects on his life and puts down some sentences. You will not read a Lincoln biography without reference to this brief autobiographical sketch,” said Bill Kemp, librarian for the McLean County Museum of History.
Jesse Fell founded the Town of Normal, helped secure the railroad route through McLean County, developed land, and convinced lawmakers to place what became Illinois State University in McLean County instead of near Peoria, or other cities competing for what was a Normal school to educate teachers. He later secured the Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Children’s Home after the Civil War.
Fell also championed Lincoln’s rise to power.
“My father at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and he grew up literally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year, we reached our new home about the time the state came into the Union," wrote Lincoln.
"It was a wild region with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, so called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond the reading, writing and arithmetic. If a straggler supposed to understand Latin, happened to sojourn in the neighborhood he was looked upon as a wizard.
"There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age, I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write and cipher to the rule of three, but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education, I have picked up from time to time under the presence of necessity.”
Fell met Lincoln during the winter of 1834-35. Lincoln was a state lawmaker at the time. Vandalia was the state capital. Fell was there lobbying on behalf of McLean County and its interests.
“And the two formed a friendship. They shared a lot of values and political inclinations, and Fell will be there with Lincoln during the formation of the Republican Party,” said Kemp.
“I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was 22. At 21 I came to Illinois, and passed the first year in Illinois, Macon County, then I got to New Salem, then at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard County, where I remained a year as a sort of clerk in a store," wrote Lincoln.
“Then came the Black Hawk War, and I was elected a captain of volunteers, a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went the campaign. Was elated. Ran for the legislature that same year, 1832, and was beaten, the only time I ever have been beaten by the people. In the next and three succeeding biennial elections, I was elected to the legislature. I was not a candidate afterwards.”
One of the more striking things about the sketch, said Kemp, is Lincoln's observation he was cycling out of politics.
“During this legislative period, I had studied law and removed to Springfield to make practice. In 1846 I was once elected to the lower house of Congress. Was not a candidate for reelection from 1849 to 1854 both inclusive. Practiced law more assiduously than ever before. Always a Whig in politics and generally on the Whig electoral tickets, making active canvases. I was losing interest in politics when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since is pretty well known,” said Lincoln.
He was referencing the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, ushered through Congress by the Democratic senator from Illinois, Stephen A Douglas, known as The Little Giant,
"The Kansas Nebraska Act was really a fire bell in the night for Lincoln and others. It was an existential threat to the Union itself because what it ... removed the Missouri Compromise line and threatened to open the institution of slavery to heretofore free western territories. And that is something Lincoln just could not abide,” said Kemp.
The furor over the measure led to the formation of the Republican Party, an anti-slavery party.
“That would bring Lincoln back center stage in Illinois. He would become the moral voice and the political leader of this new movement to halt the expansion of slavery, another just fascinating touch,” said Kemp.
It led to the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858 when the two contended for a U.S. Senate seat. Douglas won. That does not contradict Lincoln’s assertion that the "people" only voted against him once, because in that day, senators were not elected directly in a popular vote, but instead by state lawmakers.
“During the debates, Jesse Fell is traveling in the east. He's in New England. He's in the state of New York and New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. There's a lot of buzz in the East about this prairie lawyer that's holding his own against the most powerful, influential politician in the antebellum period. But not much is known about Lincoln, so [Fell] returns to Bloomington, and there he urges Lincoln to write a little bit about himself,” said Kemp.
Fell sent the sketch to Joseph Lewis, a newspaper editor in Pennsylvania. Joseph Lewis was the brother of then-Pantagraph editor Edward J. Lewis. That allowed the biography to circulate in the eastern press, said Kemp.
“Fell later remembered telling Lincoln quote, ‘If we can only get these facts sufficiently before the people, depend upon it, there is some chance for you,’ meaning the presidency. Well, I'm not sure it all played out that well, but this autobiography, biographical sketch certainly did play a role in getting Lincoln's name out there,” said Kemp.
“If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said I am in height, six feet, four inches, nearly. Lean in flesh, weighing on an average, 180 pounds, dark complexion, with coarse black hair and gray eyes. No other marks or brands recollected. Yours very truly, A. Lincoln”
Kemp said, in those closing words, Lincoln is probably again poking fun at himself and his rural roots, and more.
“A brand, right, livestock? But I believe he's also making a reference to the institution of slavery. Runaway slaves. Notices in northern papers would often indicate marks or brands to identify fugitive enslaved people. So is Lincoln here poking fun at himself, or also making a reference to the institution of slavery or a little bit of both?” said Kemp.
McHistory is a co production of WGLT and the McLean County Museum of History.
