Don't pre-judge me
We find the following paragraph in the Washington Star:
“A gentleman of this city (a well-known lumber merchant) visiting Springfield, Ill., lately, on some land business, was taken to see Mr. LINCOLN by a citizen of Springfield, a former resident of this city. The interview took place on the night previous to the election, and our townsman was introduced to Mr. L. as “a Bell and Everett man who didn’t want an office.” Mr. L., who received his visitors with much cordiality, said they were all the more welcome for that fact. The conversation turned upon the excited state of the public mind in the South, at the anticipation of his election, (of which he expressed no doubt,) and he went on to say that in his part of the country, when a man came among them they were in the habit of giving him a fair trial, to show his merits or demerits. This was all he wished from the South. The South had always professed to be law-abiding and Constitution-loving; placing their reliance on the Constitution and the Laws. So far as he could be instrumental these should be sustained to the fullest extent.”
Note:
The image of A. Lincoln and many more Public Domain Images are available at Karen’s Whimsy
