Abraham Lincoln: Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of the State of Pennsylvania, Memorial Meeting, February 14, 1912 (Classic Reprint)

By Companion Captain John Pugh Green. In November, i860, A braham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. For seventy-two years since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, successive Presidents had been re-elected, had sworn to observe its provisions, had faithfully executed the laws, and peace had reigned within our borders. But with the formation of the Republican party and the election of Mr. Lincoln, a cloud, at first no bigger than a mans hand, had overcast the heavens, and the minds of men began to be full of visions of disaster and fraternal strife. Mr. Buchanan, the Democratic President and the representative of a party, which since the days of Thomas Jefferson, with three exceptions, had elected the Chief Executive, and largely controlled the policy of the Government, had to face conditions such as had never before existed, and to meet problems which involved the very existence of the Government and the preservation of the Union. On the very night that Mr. Lincoln was elected, the streets of Charleston rang with cheers for the Southern Confederacy. The disunion sentiment which had had its beginning in South Carolina in 1832, whilst sleeping for a number of years, had not been stifled, but had begun to dominate the feeling of the other Southern States through strong appeals to their interest and their honor; and while the views of that State were far in advance of those generally prevailing throughout the South, it was clear that her course would be a powerful lever in controlling the action of the Cotton States and, to a large extent, the Border States of the Union. On the 10th and 12th of November, the two United States Senators from that State resigned their positions, and men showed their intense feeling when they met in the streets of Charleston, by hand-shaking and thanking God that at last their destinies were in their own hand
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)