s
from the time of his graduation at Harvard in 1802 until the
close of the War in 1865. There is, so far as I know, no
memoir of him in existence, except one or two brief sketches
which appear in the proceedings of some local societies of
which he was a member.

His father, Levi Lincoln the elder, was an intimate friend
and correspondent of Mr. Jefferson, and Attorney-General
in his Cabinet. He was nominated Judge of the Supreme Court
of the United States by Mr. Madison and confirmed by the Senate
and actually appointed, but was unable to take the office
because of failing sight. He did more, probably, than any
other man to organize and bring to success the political revolution
in New England which followed Jefferson's accession to the
Presidency in 1801. Many letters to him are found in Mr.
Jefferson's published works, and there are many letters from
him to Mr. Jefferson in the Jefferson papers in the archives
at Washington. Some of the correspondence on both sides is
enough to make the hair of the civil service reformer stand
on end. The son adopted his father's political opinions and
was an enthusiastic supporter of Jefferson in his youth. Jefferson
wrote a letter, which I think is now in existence, praising
very highly some of young Mr. Lincoln's early performances.
He delivered an address at Worcester, March 4, 1803, a few
months after he left college, in which he proposed that the
Fourth of March, the day of Mr. Jefferson's accession to
the Presidency, should be celebrated thereafter instead of
the Fourth of July. He says: "Republicans no longer can hail
the day as exclusively theirs. Federalism has profaned it.
She has formed to herself an idol in the union of Church and
State, and this is the time chosen to offer its sacrifice."
He sets forth "the long train of monstrous aggressions of
the Federalists" under Washington and Adams; declares that
they "propose a hereditary executive and a Senatorial nobility
for life," and says that the "hand would tremble in recording,
and the tongue falter in reciting, the long tale of monstrous
aggression. But on the Fourth of March was announced from
the Capitol the triumph of principle. Swifter than Jove on
his imperial eagle did the glad tiding of its victory pervade
the Union. As vanish the mists of the morning before the
rays of a sunbeam, so error withdrew from the inquiries of
the understanding. The reign of terror had passed," etc.,
etc. But there ne