Firm, resonant, earnest, it announced the coming of a man, of a leader of men; and in its tone and style the gentlemen whom he had invited to become members of his political family--each of whom thought himself a bigger man than his chief--might have heard the voice and seen the hand of one born to rule.

Whether they did or not, they very soon ascertained the fact.

From the hour Abraham Lincoln crossed the threshold of the White House to the hour he went thence to his death, there was not a moment when he did not dominate the political and military situation and his official subordinates.

The idea that he was overtopped at any time by anybody is contradicted by all that actually happened.
I was a young Democrat and of course not in sympathy with Mr.Lincoln or his opinions.

Judge Douglas, however, had taken the edge off my hostility.