19th United States presidential inauguration
The
first inauguration of Abraham Lincoln
as the
16th
president of the United States
was held on Monday, March 4, 1861, at the East Portico of the
United States Capitol
in
Washington, D.C.
This was the 19th
inauguration
and marked the commencement of the first, and eventually only full term of
Abraham Lincoln
as president and the only term of
Hannibal Hamlin
as
vice president
. The
presidential oath of office
was administered to Lincoln by
Chief Justice
Roger B. Taney
.
[2]
John C. Breckinridge
became the first outgoing vice president to administer the
vice-presidential oath of office
to his successor.
This was the first time Lincoln appeared in public with a beard, which he had begun growing after being elected president, in response to a written request by 11-year-old
Grace Bedell
. This effectively made him the first president to have any
facial hair
beyond sideburns.
On Inauguration Day, Lincoln's procession to the Capitol was surrounded by heavily armed cavalry and infantry, providing an unprecedented amount of protection for the President-elect as the nation stood on the brink of
war
. During the 16 weeks between Lincoln's victory in the
1860 presidential election
and Inauguration Day, seven slave states had declared their
secession
from the
Union
and formed the
Confederate States of America
.
Train ride to Washington
[
edit
]
An entourage of family and friends left
Springfield, Illinois
, with Lincoln on February 11 to travel by train to Washington, D.C. for the inauguration. This group including his
wife
, three sons, and brother-in-law, as well as
John G. Nicolay
,
John M. Hay
,
Ward Hill Lamon
,
David Davis
,
Norman B. Judd
,
Edwin Vose Sumner
,
[3]
as well as his African-American valet and bodyguard,
William Henry Johnson
.
[4]
Just before leaving, he gave
his farewell address
, which was one of Lincoln's most emotional as he and the public knew that he might be killed before he could return to Springfield. Such fears would be realized in 1865
when he was assassinated
; he never would return to Springfield alive after his address.
[5]
[6]
[7]
For the next ten days, he traveled widely throughout the country, with stops in
Indianapolis
,
Columbus
,
Pittsburgh
,
Cleveland
,
Buffalo
,
Albany
,
New York City
, and south to
Philadelphia
, where on the afternoon of February 21, he pulled into Kensington Station. Lincoln took an open carriage to the Continental Hotel, with almost 100,000 spectators waiting to catch a glimpse of the President-elect. There he met
Mayor
Alexander Henry
, and delivered some remarks to the crowd outside from a hotel balcony.
[3]
Lincoln continued on to
Harrisburg
. Then, because of an alleged
assassination conspiracy
, Lincoln traveled through
Baltimore
,
Maryland
, on a special train in the middle of the night, transferring from the President Street Station to the Camden Station at 3:30 a.m.,
[8]
[
full citation needed
]
[9]
[
full citation needed
]
[10]
[
full citation needed
]
before finally completing his journey in Washington. Johnson was the only person from the Illinois entourage to travel with Lincoln from Baltimore to Washington.
[4]
Plot to seize the District of Columbia and install Breckinridge as president
[
edit
]
Stephen Douglas, Lincoln's rival from Illinois, who defeated him for Senator and was defeated by him in the
1860 U.S. presidential election
, warned in January 1861 that "a widespread and intricate conspiracy" was planning to seize the District of Columbia and install Breckinridge as president (Lincoln having never arrived in Washington).
The most intense excitement exists in certain Congressional circles In consequence of the fact leaking out that the Howard Select Committee of the House have positive evidence before them of a conspiracy existing in this city and vicinity to overthrow the government, in which certain prominent officials and citizens in Washington and elsewhere flgure. Decisive action will be taken to relation to the matter, and every man, from ex-Cabinet officers down to the humblest department clerk or Senate employe[e], will be held to the strictest account. In this emergency it is gratifying to know that, while there may be many citizens in Maryland who, when they can honorably do it, if they cannot consistently remain In the Union will go out [leave it], [but] have determined that while they do remain in it they will be loyal citizens, and when they go out will not do so dishonorably.
The existence of the conspiracy has been known to certain officials in Washington for some time.
[11]
See also
[
edit
]
Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875. Senate Journal --SATURDAY, March 2, 1861"
.
American Memory
. Library of Congress
. Retrieved
May 17,
2020
.
- ^
"The 19th Presidential Inauguration: Abraham Lincoln, March 04, 1861"
. United States Senate. Archived from
the original
on January 12, 2017
. Retrieved
May 17,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Hoch, Bradley R. (2001).
The Lincoln Trail in Pennsylvania: A History and Guide
.
Penn State University Press
.
ISBN
978-0-271-02119-5
.
- ^
a
b
Paradis, James M. (August 7, 2012).
African Americans and the Gettysburg Campaign
. Scarecrow Press. p. 82.
ISBN
978-0-8108-8336-9
.
- ^
"Broadside, "President Lincoln's Farewell Address to His Old Neighbors, Springfield, February 12, 1861" - The Henry Ford"
.
www.thehenryford.org
. Retrieved
December 5,
2020
.
- ^
"The Unsuccessful Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln"
.
Smithsonian Magazine
. Retrieved
December 5,
2020
.
- ^
"Lincoln's Farewell Address ? Illinois History & Lincoln Collections"
. January 27, 2018
. Retrieved
December 5,
2020
.
- ^
The Thwarted Plot to Kill Lincoln on the Streets of Baltimore, Boundary Stones, WETA's Washington DC History Blog
- ^
The Unsuccessful Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln, Smithsonian magazine, Daniel Stashower
- ^
The Baltimore Plot, The First Conspiracy to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln, Michael J. Kline, Chapter 16, An Unexpected Arrival, pg. 258-259
- ^
"The Revolution"
.
New York Herald
. January 28, 1861. p. 1 – via
newspapers.com
.
External links
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19th century
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20th century
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21st century
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*Intra-term inaugurations
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