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Opinion
Lincoln's journey to his first inauguration
Monday, February 2, 2009
In 2009, President-elect Obama made a noteworthy one-day journey from Philadelphia to Washington for his inauguration as President. He had already moved to Washington, even into Blair House, some two weeks before, and his days in Washington had been filled with numerous, friendly meetings with proposed staff members.
He had even had visits with members of the outgoing Bush administration. Yet, his journey to the Capital was nonetheless filled with historic significance, hearkening back to Abraham Lincoln's train trip from Illinois to Washington in 1861.
Obama's old- fashioned 1930s blue rail car, complete with speakers' platform, draped with red/white/and blue bunting, was added to a 10-car Amtrak train for the 150 mile journey from Philadelphia, through Delaware and Maryland, to Washington D.C. for his inauguration (recreating the last part of Lincoln's inaugural journey).
Obama's journey was peaceful, and he strived to make the trip a positive experience, as he bolstered the hopes of a nation, weary of war, frightened of recession, and searching for better days. The only negative of the trip was the cold, which nevertheless failed to keep large crowds away from the whistle-stops he made for his speeches in Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore. In each city he talked about America's future, while reflecting on the past, invoking words of the Declaration of Independence, of Lincoln, and John F. Kennedy, among others.
In Philadelphia he noted the risks taken by the men who declared American independence from the British. In Wilmington he applauded the state that was the first to ratify the Constitution. In Baltimore he hailed troops at Fort McHenry who beat back the British Navy and inspired the poem that became the Star Spangled Banner. He also used the trip to warn Americans about the severity and difficulty of the challenges ahead.
Obama's trip was an abbreviated re-creation of his hero, Abraham Lincoln's trip to his first inaugural trip from Springfield, Ill., to Washington in 1861. Obama's trip was without incident, and was, rather, a triumphal entry into the nation's capital for the president Elect. The crowds, which greeted him were enthusiastic, and his listeners, Democrats and Republicans alike, were united in wishing him success in his quest.
Lincoln's journey from Springfield to Washington was quite different. The journey was a whistle-stop tour, stopping at 70 cities and towns, and took some two weeks, from Feb. 11th to the 24th. The route taken was chosen in part because it would bypass southern states which lay on the direct path of Springfield to Washington. It was intended that the tour would give people a chance to see and hear the president-elect and give Lincoln a chance to mend a few fences along the way, and bolster support in northern states, whose voters had put him into office.
But feelings ran strong, both in the north and the south. The southern states were already talking of secession and there had been threats on Lincoln's life before the journey ever began.
Lincoln realized the gravity of the political climate, and some believe that he even had a premonition about his future in Washington. To bolster this point of view, scholars offer Lincoln's farewell address at Springfield, upon his departure for Washington:
"My friends, no one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter century; here my children were born and one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is, perhaps, greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded except for the aid of Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I believe that I cannot succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him ... In the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support, and I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain, I bid you all an affectionate farewell."
Railroad officials, concerned about Lincoln's safety, had hired Allan Pinkerton, the founder of America's first detective agency, to protect the president elect.
(Allan Pinkerton came to Chicago from Scotland in 1842, to avoid imprisonment at home. He was often a controversial figure. During the Civil War his reports, for the North, inflated the size and location of the Confederate Army, leading to Gen. McClellen's procrastinating (hence losing) the Peninsular Campaign in 1861. At other times during the war Pinkerton made mistakes, which adversely affected the Union Army. Yet he had a knack for self-promotion that served him well and he came through the war with a glorified reputation, as the "World's Greatest Detective."
He was named chairman of the panel, which was selected to form the new office of "Federal Secret Service" (which later became the FBI).
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Brian Hale of the FBI in Washington points out that the "secret service" with which Pinkerton was involved was formed to obtain information on the Confederacy, ran its course with the end of the Civil War and was not actually a direct precursor to the FBI.]
After the war, Pinkerton was a hated man in the South. He had spied on Confederate troops, an act which Southerners never did forget or forgive. Later, his detective agency was assigned to track down the railroad robber, Jesse James. When Pinkerton thought he had James cornered, he ordered the James home blown up. Jesse James was absent and unhurt, but the bombs badly wounded his mother and killed his 8-year-old brother. In the South, Jesse James was considered a kind of Robin Hood.
Pinkerton was not popular in the North either. He was known as a tool of Big Business (mainly the railroads), and his success in breaking Unions caused widespread disapproval among the rank-and-file northern workers.
Nevertheless, Pinkerton did innovative detective work and his methods (notably his method of keeping records on known criminals) were widely copied in later years, and his Pinkerton Detective Agency thrived, to become one of the best known agencies in the world, even after more than 150 years.)
Pinkerton was convinced that the most likely spot for danger to Lincoln would come when Lincoln changed trains in Baltimore, from the Calvert Street Station of the Northern Central Railroad to the Camden Street Station of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. He claimed that he had information that an ambush would be attempted at that time. Reports indicated that numerous individuals would be armed with knives and when Lincoln changed trains at least one of the assassins would be able to reach the future president.
Against the probable assassination attempt, Pinkerton ordered that the presidential party arrive unannounced, by an earlier train and with Lincoln disguised in a shawl, beard, and walking with a cane, to make the train switch secretly to avoid crowds and potential assassins. This was done, though Lincoln objected strenuously, saying that at his height a shawl would be a poor disguise, and that the whole act of "sneaking through Baltimore in the middle of the night would make him look cowardly."
Nonetheless, Pinkerton prevailed and Lincoln made his trip through Baltimore without incident, prompting Pinkerton's coded report to railroad officials, "Plums delivered nuts safely."
The press seized upon this whole exercise as proof that Lincoln was indeed a coward. For Pinkerton's part, he felt that he had done his duty, delivering the president elect safely to Washington -- (postponing Lincoln's assassination for another day).