CHAPTER ONE LINCOLN AND LOSS It was February 20 1862 and Abraham Lincoln shook with grief The tall president sat by his son Willie’s bed in the White House guestroom The 11-year-old had just passed away After sitting for a while Lincoln walked down the hall to his secretary’s office My boy is gone he is actually gone Lincoln told him W i l l i e w a s L i n c o l n s t h i r d c h i l d W i l l i e d i e d f r o m s i c k n e s s o n February 20 1862 5
Abraham and Mary Lincoln had lost a child before But Willie was everyone’s favorite Mary was so upset she could not go to the funeral Lincoln and his son Robert were the only family members who went After the funeral Lincoln kept a picture Willie had painted for him He put it where he could see it every day Conflicted Lincoln was not new to loss He lost his mother when he was very young He lost his first love Ann Rutledge in 1835 And his son Eddie died in 1850 As a politician Lincoln did not want to see his countrymen lose loved ones in a war But he also did not want to see the United States divided Lincoln ran for president in 1860 The issue of slavery split the northern and the southern states at the time Slavery was allowed in all southern states Lincoln did not publicly oppose slavery where it was already allowed But he wanted to stop it from spreading to new US territories 6
Lincoln took part in seven debates about slavery in 1858 The other debater was Stephen Douglas who opposed Lincoln in the 1860 election Differing opinions about slavery threatened to break apart the United States also known as the Union The turning point came on November 6 1860 the day of the presidential election Lincoln did not win a single slave state But he received enough support to win the election Before he took office seven Southern states withdrew or seceded from the Union 7
