Election Results and Voter Reactions in New Salem
Mentor Graham:
Abe carried New Salem by 205 votes to 3.
Jack Armstrong:
My boys are out tryin to find the 3 skunks who voted wrong.
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Politicians and Public Support in Illinois
Mary Todd Lincoln: [Contemptuously as she hears crowd noises from outside]
Stephen Douglas has arrived. Listen to them cheering for him!
Abraham Lincoln:
They ought to cheer. He paid em enough for it.
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A Tense Moment Between Lincoln and Mary Todd
Abraham Lincoln:
Why do you take every opportunity you can to make a public fool out of me and yourself? It's bad enough when you act like that in the privacy of our own home, but here in front of people! You're not to do that again, do you hear? You're never to do that again!
Mary Todd Lincoln:
You never spoke to me like that before. You lost your temper, Abe... you've never done that before.
Abraham Lincoln:
I'm sorry. I still think you should go home rather than stay here and endure the strain of this Death Watch.
Mary Todd Lincoln:
This is the night I dreamed about when I was a child... when I was an excited young girl and all the gay young gentlemen of Springfield were courting me... and I fell in love with the least likely of them. This is the night I'm waiting to hear that my husband is become President of the United States... and even if he does, it's ruined for me. It's too late.
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The Art of Political Persuasion
Mr. Crimmin:
Gentlemen, I may not know as much as you about economics and theology, but I do know politics and what is the essential quality that we demand in our candidate. It is simply this: that he be able to get himself elected.
Politician:
Well, there's something in what you say.
Politician:
And do you think he can do it?
Mr. Crimmin:
I tell you, gentlemen, in that uncouth rail splitter you may observe one of the slickest, smoothest politicians that ever hoodwinked a yokel mob.
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Familiarity Breeds Confidence in Unknown Adversaries
Aide to Stephen Douglas:
You don't mean to say you're afraid of Abe Lincoln. Why, the country doesn't know him!
Stephen Douglas:
Maybe the country doesn't... but I do.
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Ignorance as an Advantage in Politics
Ninian Edwards: [after he withdraws from politics]
What'll yuh do, Abe?
Abraham Lincoln:
Judge Stuart's offered me a chance to work in his law office in Springfield. Course I don't know much about the law, but there's one thing I've learned here in politics... that ignorance is no obstacle to advancement. In fact, in some cases it's quite an advantage.
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The Enduring Nature of Faith and Action
Sarah Bush Lincoln:
Wherever you go, whatever you do, you remember what the Good Book Says: "The world passeth, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
Abraham Lincoln:
I'll remember, maw.
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Occupations for the Failed: Teaching and Politics
Mentor Graham:
Well, Abe, there are always two occupations open to those who have failed at everything else: school teaching and politics.
Lincoln's Cook:
President of the United States! If they get him back there into Washington, he won't ever come out alive.
Jack Armstrong: [to the crowd]
I tell you, you all ought to listen to the judge. He got a round belly but a level head. No one can do nothin with me without lickin me first!
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A House Divided Cannot Endure
Abraham Lincoln:
A house divided against itself cannot stand. The government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.
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Warning Against Quenching Inner Passion
Abraham Lincoln: [to Billy Herndon]
Careful. Billy, you've got great fires in yuh, but you're puttin em out fast.
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Desire for Solitude Over Ambition
Abraham Lincoln: [discussing why he can't face Mary Todd before his marriage to her; [Stephen A. Douglas|Stephen Douglas]
I'd have to tell her that I have hatred for her infernal ambition. That I don't want to be ridden and driven onward and upward through life with her whip bashing me and her spurs digging in me. If her poor little soul craves importance in life let her marry ]. He's ambitious too. I want only to be left alone.
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