"
These were prophetic words; and they were spoken by a man born in the
slave State of Kentucky. It was the truth, the fearless truth, uttered
in advance of even the acknowledged leader of the Republican party,
Governor Seward, of New York. The simple assertion of that truth cost
Lincoln a seat in the United States Senate; but it set other men's minds
to thinking, and in 1860 the PEOPLE, following the path made through the
forest of error by a pioneer in the cause of truth, came to similar
conclusions, and made "Honest Old Abe" Chief Magistrate of the republic.
On the 10th of May, 1860, the Republican convention of Illinois met
at Decatur, in Macon county, to nominate State officers and appoint
delegates to the National Presidential Convention. Decatur was not far
from where Lincoln's father had settled and worked a farm in 1830, and
where young Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Hanks had split the rails for
enclosing the old pioneer's first cornfield. Mr. Lincoln was present,
simply as an observer, at the convention. Scarcely had he taken his seat
when General Oglesby arose, and remarked that an old Democrat of Macon
county desired to make a contribution to the convention. Two old fence
rails were then brought in, bearing the inscription: "Abraham Lincoln,
the rail candidate for the Presidency in 1860.
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