Hugging History®

When Abraham Lincoln was elected President, states in the South wanted to keep slavery. They were afraid he would try to stop it. Because of this, they began to leave the United States. This is called seceding. They formed their own country called the Confederate States of America.
President Lincoln asked these states to stay in the Union and remain part of the United States. But when he sent supplies to a U.S. fort called Fort Sumter, Southern soldiers attacked this fort. This started America’s terrible Civil War. The war lasted four years, and many American soldiers died. President Lincoln gradually realized that slavery was so wrong that our righteous God was punishing America for this awful sin. He later explained this in his famous Second Inaugural Address.
He wanted to end slavery in a way that was legal and would last. He realized he could use his wartime powers to free enslaved people in the Confederate states that were in rebellion. He wrote a document called the Emancipation Proclamation. This was a temporary wartime measure to end slavery in Confederate states that were in rebellion. Many people disagreed, but President Lincoln was certain this was the right thing to do. He signed this into law on January 1, 1863.
But President Lincoln wanted to end slavery everywhere in America. So he worked very hard to persuade Congress to approve a new amendment to our Constitution. On January 31, 1865, Congress voted for the Thirteenth Amendment! After President Lincoln died, the states voted to accept this amendment, and slavery was finally abolished slavery in America.

If you do, be encouraged by Abraham Lincoln’s example. Lincoln believed that restricting slavery to the South would lead to its end, so he worked hard to stop it from spreading. That’s why he ran twice to become a U.S. Senator, but both times he lost.

In Lincoln’s first race for the Senate (1855), there was no clear winner. (Back then, Illinois lawmakers chose their state’s Senators.) After more rounds of voting, a pro-slavery candidate took the lead. Abraham Lincoln shocked everyone by telling his voters to switch from him to a trailing candidate so that an anti–slavery candidate would win. Lincoln cared more about fighting slavery than gaining power or money for himself. Would God bless his righteous actions?

In his second race (1858), he ran against the most powerful, pro-slavery Senator of all: Stephen Douglas. Lincoln spoke powerfully against slavery and gained attention nationwide. When Illinois lawmakers re-elected Senator Douglas, Lincoln thought he had failed and would be forgotten.

Then a pastor invited him to speak in New York City. Abraham Lincoln amazed that audience with his brilliant case against slavery. Several months later, the anti-slavery political party met to choose their candidate for President. Lincoln realized the leading candidate probably would not win in the first round of voting. Did he remember his first Senate loss when he planned this bold strategy? He told his friends to persuade the voters to promise that if there was no clear winner in the first round, they would switch their votes to Abraham Lincoln.

It worked! Abraham Lincoln won his party’s nomination! In the most important race of all, the lesson from his earlier defeat likely helped him create his winning strategy. So please be encouraged: as you stand for what’s right, the lessons you learn in defeat may prepare you for a greater victory.

The busy Lincolns never wrote about Fido’s arrival. Consider:

• Dogs were just becoming household pets in 1855. Many dogs were wild and carried diseases like rabies, which back then was incurable. This helps explain why Mary was afraid of dogs. When a dog bit young Robert, Mary insisted Abraham take him on a long trip to see a woman with a possible cure to prevent rabies. What a relief that Robert remained well.
• Mary probably would not have been frightened by a helpless, adorable puppy. Plus, Mary loved her family deeply and a playful puppy would have given them such joy.

For these reasons, the author believes Fido joined the Lincolns as a heartwarming pup.

Mary Todd Lincoln’s White Cake

1 cup blanched almonds, chopped in a food processor until they look like a coarse flour
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
6 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
confectionary sugar

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt cake pan.
• Cream butter and sugar. Sift flour and baking powder 3 times. Add to creamed butter and sugar, alternating with milk. Stir in almonds and beat well.
• Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into the batter. Stir in vanilla extract.
• Pour into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Turn out on a wire rack and cool. When cool, sift confectionary sugar over top.

(A basic white frosting sprinkled with almonds was also popular.)

Try baking this cake to enjoy while you read the Hugging History picture book to children! Don’t forget to include Fido, who loves “tastes”!

Source: Recipe from Lincoln’s Table by Donna D. McCreary was adapted by Janice Cooke Newman and posted with the permission of BiCast Laser Company of Williamsburg, Virginia. Used with permission.

Almost all homes in Springfield at that time had fences for protection. These fences kept a family’s chickens in and the pigs that often roamed the streets out!

Source: Susan Haake, Curator of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois, U.S. National Park Service. E-mail interview. Sept. 3, 2021.

Yes! There are many stories of his kindness to children. Children, especially those facing difficulties, held a special place in his heart.

Sometime after Fido arrived at the Lincoln home, Mrs. Lincoln hired little Lizzie Descratos’s mother to help with laundry. Lizzie remembered later how kind the Lincolns were. After a mule’s kick killed her father, Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln came to visit her mother. And once, when Lizzie’s big brother tried a dangerous prank with fireworks, Mr. Lincoln rushed over to protect her. From then on, he called her “Firecracker.”

“Firecracker” loved going with her mother to the Lincoln home. Mr. Lincoln always made her feel welcome and safe—and best of all, he gave her “Hossy” rides. She would sit on his big boot and hold his hands. First he would bounce her gently and say, “This is the way the lady rides, ‘Nim-Nim-Nim!’” Then he’d bounce her higher: “This is the way the gentleman rides, ‘Brim-Brim-Brim!’” Finally, with giant bounces and her squeals of delight, he’d laugh, “This is the way the countryman rides, ‘Giddy-up-Giddy-up-Giddy-up!’”

Source: Paull, Bonnie E. & Richard E. Hart, Lincoln’s Springfield Neighborhood. The History Press, Charleston, SC, 2015, pp. 85-86. Print.

Yes! There are so many stories of their neighborly kindnesses. The Dallman family, for instance, lived a few houses from the Lincolns, on Jackson Street. When Mrs. Dallman gave birth to a sick baby, she was too ill to nurse him. Mary Lincoln offered to feed him, and her husband carried the newborn between homes for these feedings. Often, when Abraham Lincoln returned the infant, he would tenderly place him in his cradle, then sit and rock the cradle gently with his foot. Despite their efforts and those of doctors, the child died. When the Dallmans returned from his funeral, Abraham Lincoln was waiting with a comforting meal Mary had prepared and placed on her finest tray.

Source: Paull, Bonnie E. & Richard E. Hart, Lincoln’s Springfield Neighborhood. The History Press, Charleston, SC, 2015, pp. 54-55. Print.

Beginning in 1854, Abraham Lincoln spoke often to oppose the expansion of slavery. He focused on the Declaration of Independence and its principle of equality for all. When the Supreme Court made a sad ruling in 1858 that Blacks, whether enslaved or free, were not American citizens and had no rights of citizenship, many Black Springfield citizens gathered in protest. Their statements of beliefs were similar to those of Abraham Lincoln: We take that Declaration as the Gospel of freedom; we believe in its great truth, “that all men are created equal, endowed with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” [We] claim our rights … under this “… Declaration” of the Old Thirteen [Colonies].

Following Lincoln’s death, Springfield organizers invited his best friends to walk near the front of the funeral parade. These included Billy Florville, Lincoln’s close friend and former barber and client. Billy instead chose to walk with the other Blacks at the end of the parade. He explained he wanted to be with “those who cared most” about Abraham Lincoln.
Sources:
Hart, Richard E., “Springfield’s African Americans as a Part of the Lincoln Community” in the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Vol. 20, Issue 1, Winter 1999, pp. 35-54.
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0020.104/–springfield-s-african-americans-as-a-part-of-the-lincoln?rgn=main;view=fulltext
Algeo, Matthew, Abe & Fido, Lincoln’s Love of Animals and the Touching Story of His Favorite Canine Companion. Chicago Review Press, Chicago, Ill., 2015, p. 149. Print.

Abraham Lincoln took a basket to market, where sellers often wrapped his purchases in paper. Springfield residents did not describe how Fido carried these packages. (How do you think he did this?) Illustrator Kathleen Gadeken thinks he carried them proudly like this: