o speak in Cooper Union Institute in
New York City, where he delivered a notable speech before a large and
distinguished audience presided over by William Cullen Bryant. Lincoln
says that he felt uncomfortable and "imagined that the audience noticed
the contrast between his western clothes and the neat fitting suits of
Mr. Bryant and others who sat on the platform." He spoke with great
earnestness, and the next day in the Tribune, Horace Greeley said: "No
other man ever made such an impression in his first appeal to a New York
audience." From New York he went on a speaking trip through New England
where he made a deep impression. He went home with a national
reputation. The strange story of his early life appealed to the masses
of the people of the North; he was the subject of conversation and of
inquiry. A friend sought data for a biography.

He said, "I admit that I am ambitious and that I would like to be
President. I am not insensible to the compliment that you pay me and the
interest that you manifest in the matter, but there is no such good luck
in store for me as the Presidency of the United States. Besides, there
is nothing in my early history that would interest you or anybody else."
He also added, "I do not think that I am fitted for the Presidency"; and
that, "men like Seward and Chase were entitled to take precedence." But
the editor of the Central Illinois Gazette brought him out and after
that the movement spread strongly.

Such friends as Davis, Sweet, Logan and Palmer and also his faithful
partner, Herndon, continued to urge him to become an active candidate.
He finally consented and became busy at the work of marshalling the
support of his friends. He used all his well-known skill as a politician
to forward his campaign, though nothing derogatory is to be inferred
from these words concerning his methods, which were entirely honorable.
He wrote a friend: "I am not in a position where it would hurt me much
not to be nominated on the national ticket; but it would hurt me not to
get the Illinois delegation ... can you help me a little in this matter
at your end of the vineyard?" The allegiance of his own state was soon
assured. At Decatur, May 9 and 10, 1860, the Republican state convention
met in the big Wigwam, and Governor Oglesby, who presided, said, "A
distinguished citizen whom Illinois is delighted to honor is present and
should be invited to a place on the platform." Amid tumultuous applause
Lincol