FOR PRESIDENT IN 1860.

Two rails from a lot of 3,000 made in 1830 by
Thos. Hanks and Abe Lincoln-whose
father was the first pioneer of
Macon County.

This incident was the means of enlarging the soubriquet "Honest Abe" to
"Honest Old Abe, the Rail-splitter." The enthusiasm over the rails
spread far and wide. That he had split rails, and that he even had done
it well, was no test of his statesmanship. But it was a reminder of his
humble origin, and it attached him to the common people, between whom
and himself there had always been a warm feeling of mutual sympathy.

The democratic convention had, after the bolt of the extreme
southerners, adjourned to Baltimore, where they duly nominated Douglas.
What any one could have done for the purpose of restoring harmony in
the party, he did. But the breach was too wide for even that astute
politician to bridge over. Lincoln grasped the situation. It was what
he had planned two years before, and he confidently expected just this
breach. "Douglas never can be President," he had said. He fully
understood the relentless bitterness of the slave power, and he well
knew that whatever Douglas might do for the northern democrats, he had
lost all influence with the southern branch of that party. So Lincoln
told his "little story" and serenely awaited the result.

The second republican national convention met in Chicago, May 16, 1860.
A temporary wooden structure, called a wigwam, had been built for the
purpose. It was, for those days, a very large building, and would
accommodate about ten thousand people.