Located in downtown Springfield, the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices are in the only building that remains in which Abraham Lincoln maintained a law office. In 1967, locals purchased the building to restore it, and in 1985, the structure became a state-owned historic site. A 1967 letter by Helen Gard Hanes (copy included), wife of Murray S. Hanes, the building’s final private owner, lists items including “2 Large Pottery Ink Bottles...from the Attic of the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office...”

This 6½ inch, two-handled mold for a ¾ inch bullet was found along with other items on the Gettysburg battlefield in August 1863. Includes a photocopy of the 2 x ¾-inch label affixed to a lockplate found at the same time, which reads: “Gun lock picked / up on the battlefield / of Gettysburgh Aug. 1863 / by Isaac D-----” The lockplate is not included. The upper and lower left portions of the label are cut off and soiling in right half obliterates most of Isaac’s last name. The mold itself has slightly curved handles that are pointed at the ends, the mold’s hinge pivots easily, and sprue hole is clean and sharp.

Prior to his election as President in 1860, Lincoln was a determined party functionary, actively campaigning for Whig Presidential candidates in every general election from 1840 to 1856. Not only did he barnstorm the country giving speeches, but he was a candidate for Presidential Elector on numerous occasions - the very first being in 1840. Unlike other poll books with pre-printed pages, this has been carefully penned with listings of “Abraham Lincoln of Sangamon Co.” repeated on each page. Being a Democratic state, Lincoln failed in his attempt to be elected a Presidential Elector.

Features an in-depth report on Abraham Lincoln’s speech at Springfield, Illinois, responding to a speech by Stephen Douglas regarding the Dred Scott decision.

A politically re-energized Lincoln shrewdly plots to stop the spread of slavery after the infamous 1857 Dred Scott case.

Lincoln asks Illinois’s future governor to plant an anonymous endorsement for Congressional candidate James Matheny in local newspapers. Though Matheny was not a Republican, Lincoln explains, “he is with us” in opposing the Dred Scott decision. Broadening the base of the Republican Party, Lincoln argues, is essential to defeating pro-slavery forces.

From the year baseball stepped forward as the national sport: Lincoln, the ‘Rail Splitter,’ is depicted as a victorious player, with candidates Bell, Douglas and Breckinridge looking on. This not only is the first identified reference of baseball as the “national game,” but also can be considered the start of the tradition of sports metaphors in American politics.

A rare war-dated complete run of America’s most famous illustrated newspaper.