ABRAHAM LINCOLN AS SEEN BY THE MORMONS BY GEORGE U . HUBBARD
Throughout the decades which have passed since the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, the deeds and examples of his life — his fairness, his sincerity, and his firmness in pursuing any course he considered to be just — have grown into a living legend and lasting tribute to the man who was called upon to preserve the Union. And Lincoln's dealings with the Mormon people are another evidence of the truthfulness of this legend. This group of people who were hated, persecuted, and driven from their several places of settlement received from the man, Lincoln, the treatment of tolerance and impartiality which was consistent with his stated policy as President to "let them alone." In spite of the fact that most of Lincoln's time and energies were devoted to the problems of slavery and the Civil War during his tenure as President, he nevertheless took time to hear and to act in behalf of the problems of the Latter-day Saints. The number of instances of his dealings with these people were necessarily few, but they were of such a nature that he was to become loved and honored by the Latter-day Saints; and his memory is revered by them still, as it is in all the world. Lincoln's connections with the Mormons date back to the year 1840 when they were contemporaries in the State of Illinois. The Mormons, having been driven out of Missouri during the winter of 1838-39, had settled in and around Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, thus initiating the transformation of that once swampy area on the banks of the Mississippi River into what was to be for a while the largest city in Illinois. Lincoln, at this time, was living in Springfield, was a member of the Illinois Legislature, and was very active in the affairs of the Whig party. So far as can be determined, it was the political activities of both Lincoln and the Mormons that brought them into contact with each other. During the year 1840, the Whigs and Democrats were vying with each other for political control of Illinois. A presidential campaign was in the making for that year, and since the Mormon population constituted a large bloc of votes in a state that otherwise was rather evenly divided, both political parties openly courted their favor. Lincoln was no exception in desiring the support of the Mr. H u b b a r d is a statistician and computer p r o g r a m m e r with International Business Machines Corporation, San Jose, California. Besides holding master's degrees in mathematics and statistics, he has studied history at Brigham Young University and has an ardent interest in the history of the Latter-day Saints.
