James Aiken to Abraham Lincoln, 16 August 18581
Lewisburg, Union Co. PennaAug 16th 1858Dear Mr Lincoln:
I take the deepest interest in your contest with Douglas, and with all my heart, I wish you success. I send you a story clipped from a news-paper. Could you not use it as an illustration of the relative position of yourself and
of the “Giant”? Did’nt the Republicans churn out freedom in Kansas? And has’nt Douglas been churning butter-milk ever since last winter?2 You can apply the Parable better than I can3
I send you also, a few humble rhymes, as my greeting to Kansas.
Would it be poss^i^ble for you in the midst of your mighty labors, to write me only three or four lines
to say how goes the battle?4
The eyes of freemen here are on you
yours in hasteJames Aiken<Page 2>
[ enclosure
]
“Kansas”
“Kansas”
KANSAS.5
BY JAMES AIKEN.
KANSAS ERECT! she will not bow
Her head to dark Corruption’s power:
Her head to dark Corruption’s power:
She spurn’d[spurned] its threats, and see her now,
In this her great, triumphant hour!
In this her great, triumphant hour!
“If thou fall down and worship me,”
Said Satan to the Holy One,
Said Satan to the Holy One,
“Thine are earth’s kingdoms stretching fair
From Orient to the setting sun.”
From Orient to the setting sun.”
’Twas then the great incarnate “Word”
Quoted God’s awful “higher law,”
Quoted God’s awful “higher law,”
And holy Truth, Omnipotent,
Could make e’en[even] Satan shrink in awe.
Could make e’en[even] Satan shrink in awe.
“If ye fall down and worship me,”
Said the great Slave-power through its tools,
Said the great Slave-power through its tools,
“Then rich in fertile lands ye’ll be—
Now pray don’t be ‘fanatic’ fools!”
Now pray don’t be ‘fanatic’ fools!”
Said Kansas freemen, “Those are wise
Who take stern Justice for their guide;
Who take stern Justice for their guide;
Who do as they would be done by,
And all are wretched slaves beside!”
And all are wretched slaves beside!”
Happy the young and rising State,
Which catches e’en one heavenly ray
Which catches e’en one heavenly ray
From the great “Sun of Righteonsness,”
To guide her feet—to light her way!
To guide her feet—to light her way!
O, fair young Kansas! She has spurned
The dark, corrupt, insidious “boon;”
The dark, corrupt, insidious “boon;”
And she demands her equal right,
Clear as the brilliant rays of noon!
Clear as the brilliant rays of noon!
And she shall have her equal right!
Ho, freemen! ye’re the jurors now:
Ho, freemen! ye’re the jurors now:
Let your stern, righteous verdict, light
With joy her pure majestic brow!
With joy her pure majestic brow!
<Page 3>
[ enclosure
]
“A Husband’s Confession”
“A Husband’s Confession”
A HUSBAND’S CONFESSION.6
I never undertook but once to set at naught the authority of my wife. You know her
way—cool, quiet and as determined as ever grew. Just after we were married, and all
was going on nice and cozy, she got me in the habit of doing all the churning. She
never asked me to do it, you know, but then she—why, it was done in just this way.
She finished breakfast early one morning, and slipping away from the table, she filled
the churn with cream, and set it just where I could’nt help seeing what she wanted. So I took hold regularly enough, and churned until
the butter came. She didn’t thank me, but looked so nice and sweet about it that
I felt well paid. Well, when the churning day came along she did the same thing,
and I followed suit and fetched the butter. Again, and it was done just so, and I
was regularly in for it every time. Not a word was said, you know, of course. Well,
bye-and-bye, this became rather irksome. I wanted she should just ask me, but she
never did, and I could’nt say anything about it, so on we went. At last I made a resolve that I would not
churn another time, unless she asked me. Churning day came, and when my breakfast—she
always got nice breakfasts—when that was swallowed there stood the churn. I got up,
and standing a few minutes, just to give her a chance, put on my hat and walked out
of doors.
I stopped in the yard to give her a chance to call me but not a word said she, and
so with palpitating heart I moved on. I went down town and up town, and all over
town, and my foot was as restless as Noah’s dove7—I fet[felt] as if I had done a wrong—I didn’t exactly know how—but there was an indiscribable sensation of guilt resting on me all forenoon. It seemed as if dinner time would
never come, and as for going home one minute before dinner, I would as soon cut my
ears off. So I went fretting and moping around till dinner time. Home I went, feeling
much as a criminal must when the jury is having in their hands his destiny—life or
death. I could’nt make up my mind how she would meet me, but some sort of a storm I expected. Will
you believe it she never greeted me with a sweeter smile—never had a better dinner
for me than on that day; but there was the churn just where I had left it? Not a
word was passed. I felt cut, and every mouthful of that dinner seemed as if it would
choke me. She did not pay any regard to it, however, but went on as if nothing had
happened.
Before dinner was over, I had again resolved, and shoving back my chair, I marched
up to the churn, and went at it the old way.—Splash, drip, rattle—I kept it up. As
if in spite, the butter was never so long coming. I supposed the cream standing so
long had got warm, so I redoubled my efforts. Obstinate matter—the afternoon wore
away while I was churning. I paused at last from real exhaustion, when she spoke
for the first time:
“Come, Tom, my dear, you have rattled that burtermilk quite long enough, if it is only for fun you are doing it.”
I knew how it was in a flash. She had brought the butter in the forenoon, and left
the churn standing with the buttermilk in for me to exercise with. I never set up
for household matters after that.8
<Page 4>
[Envelope]
2Here and in his enclosed poem “Kansas”, Aiken is apparently referring to the recent
final defeat of the Lecompton Constitution, under which the Kansas Territory would have been admitted to the union as a slave state. Voters in Kansas had overwhelmingly
rejected the Lecompton Constitution at the polls on August 2, 1858. Stephen A. Douglas
had criticized the Lecompton Constitution and James Buchanan’s support of it beginning in December 1857, causing a rift in the Democratic Party. While many Republicans opposed the Lecompton Constitution out of a desire to prevent
the spread of slavery into the territory, in Abraham Lincoln’s view, Douglas disagreed
with the Buchanan administration over whether the Lecompton Constitution accurately
represented the will of Kansans, but did not repudiate the overall goal of admitting
Kansas as a slave state.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:445-50; David M. Potter
and Don E. Fehrenbacher, The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861 (New York: Harper & Row, 1976), 322-25.
3No evidence of Lincoln incorporating the enclosed anecdote into any writings or speeches
has been located.
5This clipping was likely taken from the Lewisburg Chronicle, where the poem was published on August 13, 1858.
Lewisburg Chronicle (PA), 13 August 1858, 4:2.
6The anecdote in this clipping was published in numerous Pennsylvania newspapers in 1858. Based on line endings, ornamentation, misspellings, and text
printed on the reverse page, this particular clipping appears to have been taken from
the Raftsman’s Journal of August 11, 1858. The anecdote had been circulating in U.S. newspapers since at
least 1846, with some newspapers in that year pointing to the publication in the Massachusetts
Barre Gazette of September 18, 1846 as their source. In earlier published versions, the narrator
is sometimes given the name “Tom Snoops” or “Tom Snooks”. The anecdote was also republished
in newspapers in Illinois in the 1840s and 1850s.
Barre Gazette (MA), 18 September 1846, 2:2; Gazette and Courier (Greenfield, MA), 22 September 1846, 2:3; Western Citizen (Chicago, IL), 10 November 1846, 4:1; Alton Telegraph & Democratic Review (IL), 5 March 1847, 1:6-7; The Dixon Telegraph (IL), 8 October 1853, 1:2; Monongahela Weekly Republican (Monongahela City, PA), 3 June 1858, 1:4; Carlisle Herald (PA), 9 June 1858, 1:6; Franklin Repository and Transcript (Chambersburg, PA), 16 June 1858, 6:1; The Brookville Jeffersonian (PA), 8 July 1858, 3:1; Raftsman’s Journal (Clearfield, PA), 11 August 1858, 1:5; The Sunbury American (PA), 14 August 1858, 1:6.
7In the Old Testament of the Bible, God commands Noah to build an ark in order to survive
a flood. As the flood waters stopped rising, Noah released a dove to find evidence
of dry land. In its initial exploration, the dove could find no land to rest its foot
on, but on a subsequent flight it returned with an olive leaf, which signaled that
the flood waters were receding.
Genesis 6:1-8:22.
8Other published versions of this anecdote here read “I never set up for myself in
household matters after that.” The anecdote as published in the Raftsman’s Journal of August 11, 1858 matches the text of this clipping at this sentence.
To “set up for onself” is to embark on a career on one’s own volition.
Barre Gazette (MA), 18 September 1846, 2:2; Gazette and Courier (Greenfield, MA), 22 September 1846, 2:3; Carlisle Herald (PA), 9 June 1858, 1:6; Franklin Repository and Transcript (Chambersburg, PA), 16 June 1858, 6:1; The Brookville Jeffersonian (PA), 8 July 1858, 3:1; Raftsman’s Journal (Clearfield, PA), 11 August 1858, 1:5; The Sunbury American (PA), 14 August 1858, 1:6; James A. H. Murray, ed., A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1914), 8:548.
Autograph Letter Signed, 4 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).