Summary of Chapter Ten of TEAM OF RIVALS

Now that he had become president, Abraham Lincoln had to decide who his cabinet would consist of.

And by cabinet, I don't mean what clothes he would be wearing during his presidency. I mean who would be the secretary of state and other things like that.

When choosing members of his cabinet, Lincoln had three main people that he would choose to be on it. Those three people were Chase, Seward and Bates.

Well, you might be thinking something along the lines of, "Why in the world would he choose them?!" Well, when Lincoln was asked that same question, he replied better than I could explain it.

"We needed the strongest men of the party in the cabinet. We needed to hold our own people together. I had looked the party over and concluded that these people were the very strongest men. Then I had no right to deprive the country of their services."

It must be a weird party where the strongest people there are politicians.


NOTE: Chase, Seward and Bates all accepted.

Summary of Chapter Nine of TEAM OF RIVALS

Yes, I know. If you just simply glance down the page, you will see that there is a lot less writing than there normally is. I'm aware of that. I guess you'll just have to deal with that.

Abraham Lincoln, who was sometimes mistakenly called 'Abram', shocked the country, but especially the Eastern Republicans when he was elected. At first, nobody expected Lincoln to be that good and they thought he was just an accidental candidate. But when he started doing what he did, people were all like, "Wow. This guy is good. We should vote for him."

Lincoln had a secretary named John Nicolay. He was 28 years old and he was an immigrant from Germany. Nicolay was said to help Lincoln answer letters and help with visitors. I honestly don't know why I added that. I just felt that this really short summary needed some beefing up.

Seward was planning to go on a tour, which started in Michigan, went west to Wisconsin and Minnesota, south to Iowa and Kansas, then finally east to Illinois and Ohio. In Detroit, 50,000 people gathered to hear him speak, and in Kalamazoo, there were thousands that gathered to hear him speak. When the tour finally ended on October sixth, a noisy throng welcomed him back to Auburn.

Well, I guess that's it. That's the end of the really short summary. I'm sorry if it was painfully short. I didn't want to cause any pain... or so you think.

Summary of Chapter Eight of TEAM OF RIVALS

In May 1860, 40,000 visitors flocked to Chicago, most of them for the same reason. To see the new president being elected.

On Wednesday, May 16,  people started swarming around the new Convention Hall. At noon, the New Yorkian (somebody from New York) made the opening address, which announced the starting of the presidential election thing.

The first two days "credential battles were settled, and an inclusive platform, keyed to Northern interests, was enthusiastically adopted."

When voting began, Seward and Lincoln were in the lead by a lot. Out of the total of 233 votes, Seward had 173.5 votes, Lincoln had 102, Chase had 49 and in last place, Bates with 48 at the end of the first ballot.

At the end of the second ballot, Lincoln got 17 more votes, Delaware switched six votes from Bates to Lincoln, and Pennsylvania gave 44 votes to Lincoln as well. Lincoln's total was 181, now only 3.5 votes behind Seward.

During the third ballot, Lincoln got 4 more votes from Massachusetts, 4 from Pennsylvania, and 15 from Ohio. His total was 231.5- only 1.5 votes shy of winning.

In roughly ten seconds, David D Carter stood up and announced that he would  switch four votes from Bates to Lincoln, which caused Lincoln to win by 2.5 points. All of the Lincoln supporters stood, threw their hats in the air and cheered, whereas Seward supporters cried.

People said that in the end it was political smarts, not luck that caused Lincoln to win and become president.

Summary of Chapter Seven of TEAM OF RIVALS

In the last few months before the nomination, small mistakes could often be deadly. That's why Lincoln, as smart as he is, didn't reveal a thing of what he was doing before he did it. Seward, being not as smart as Lincoln, took an eight month trip to Europe, which caused Chase to secure more votes for himself, rather than Seward.

When Seward finally returned after his eight month trip to Europe, He delivered a big speech in Washington. Once his speech was over, Seward got loads of applause and praise in newspapers. When it was printed in pamphlet form, around half a million copies of it were sold. And though people didn't enjoy the speech as much as others, Seward just claimed that to be because he was trying "not to rally the faithful, but disarm the opposition."

As Seward and Bates were repositioning themselves toward the middle of the Republican Party, Lincoln stayed steady. And even though at first Lincoln wasn't expecting to become a candidate, after a while it seemed a bit more probable.

At Cooper Union, nearly 1,500 people had gathered to hear Abraham Lincoln speak. At first everybody thought'

"This guy looks messy. His clothes are dirty, so why would we trust him to make a good speech?"

But, even though Lincoln's suit was wrinkled from traveling, his coat too big, one pant leg too long, his legs too long for his pants and his hair messy, everybody was captivated by his speech. His speech was so popular that it was reported about in newspapers and he was wanted in New England. (For his speeches, not for a crime he committed... I hope.)

Summary of Chapter Six of TEAM OF RIVALS

On January 20, 1855, the worst blizzard in over two decades struck Springfield, which "isolated it from the rest of the state." Snowdrifts stopped trains and mail for a week. Once the snow storm passed, legislature continued.

Sounds like a normal winter day in Michigan.

In the summer of 1855, about six months after the big snow storm that stopped the legislature, there was an important case. A guy named George Harding wanted to patent a reaping machine (whatever that is) but the John Manny Company claimed they claimed the patent before Harding did. Two people who were good with patents (their names were Edward Dickerson and Reverdy Johnson) sided with McCormick and Harding sided with Manny. The outcome would be decided a lot later.

Edward Stanton married Mary Lamson and had 2 kids who were named Lucy and Edward Jr. Stanton's daughter Lucy died after an attack of scarlet fever and three years later in 1844, Mary died from Bilious fever at age 29. Stanton's brother Darwin (a doctor) got "a high fever that impaired his brain", then he later took a sharp, pointy object that only doctors could use and stabbed himself with it and bled to death "in a few moments". Stanton was brought in to see that, and after that he got really sad and depressed.

At the Republican Convention, Lincoln received 110 votes for vice president, only beaten by William Dayton.

In Baltimore, Whigs gathered to support Millard Fillmore for the president.

The general election was a three way tie between a guy named Fremont (the E was supposed to have a thing over it, but I don't know how to do that), James Buchanan, and Millard Fillmore. After all the votes were counted, James Buchanan became the president.

While Seward and Chase were trying to become president, Lincoln ran again for U.S. Senate. The seven debates against Lincoln's rival, Douglas lasted for three hours each. The three hours were split up like this: the first contestant spoke for an hour, the next contestant spoke for an hour and a half, and to conclude, the first contestant would speak again for a half hour. That's a long time.

Summary of Chapter Five of TEAM OF RIVALS

In the America of 1850, there were 23 million people living there, and it was largely rural. Three quarters of the American citizen who were aloud to vote participated in the two elections that happened in that century. Issues of politics were told to people by newspaper, because nobody had iPhones back then.

WHAT? NOBODY HAD PHONES? HOW DID THEY SURVIVE?

By reading newspapers, of course.

On their phones?

No. They used real newspapers. Made from real paper. Crazy, huh?

I'M FREAKING OUT SO MUCH I'M FREAKING IN!! AAAAAAAH!!

Anyways, what I was saying before-

AAAAH!! PAPER! WHAT'S THAT? IT'S PROBABLY SOME STRANGE, INHUMAN SUBSTANCE, AM I RIGHT? WHAT EVER IT IS, WE NEED TO DECONTAMINATE THE EARTH OF THIS HORRID SUBSTANCE BY SENDING IT TO THE MOON! AAAH! CALL THE PRESIDENT! CALL THE GOVERNMENT! CALL THE FBI! CALL WHOEVER IS IN CHARGE OF SPACE STUFF SO THEY CAN SEND IT TO THE MOON, NOT THAT I WOULD KNOW! Oh, wait. I have my phone here. I can just Google it. I'll get back to you.

-that person so rudely interrupting, there was a guy named Henry Clay. He was a big man in Congress. But not a big man as in fat, but a big man as in popular. He once saved the Union, which could be why he was a big man. (Again, not big fat, but big popular). Clay once made two resolutions. The first was that they would admit the state of California immediately, leaving the decision regarding slaver's status within California's new state legislature's borders. This decision favored favored the North. The second decision that favored the South was to divide the remainder of Mexican accession into 2 territories (New Mexico and Utah) with no restrictions on slavery. Oh, no. Here comes the-

BY JOVE, I THINK I'VE GOT IT! I THINK I FOUND WHO THE BEST SPACE LAUNCHING PEOPLE ARE! YAY! I turns out that the best paper launching people are NASA! I thought they made satellites. Even though they launch monkeys into space, they could launch paper, too, right? MONKEYS IN SPACE!! Wow! You learn something new every day! I wonder how much it would cost to launch all of that darned paper into space, maybe a few pennies? A few dollars? How much would a MONKEY IN SPACE cost? A lot? I hope not! I WANT ONE SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH!!

That could get annoying.

At the Circuit, many of the lawyers slept two or three to a bed because there was such little room for them to go otherwise. When the court closed on Saturday afternoons, most lawyers traveled home to visit their family, to return again to the circuit on Sunday night or Monday morning, however, Lincoln didn't.

Frances Seward, the daughter of William Seward, had many nervous disorders such as nausea, temporary blindness, insomnia, migraines, mysterious joint or muscle pains, crying spells, and sustained bouts of depression. No matter how many doctors tried, they couldn't pinpoint exactly where all of those things came from.

If Kate Chase's grades were not acceptable to her father, she would have to go back to her school, Miss Haines' School, over the summer. At Miss Haines' School, there was a strict schedule. They rose at 6 am and studied for an hour and a half. After that, they would take a walk outside (no skipping) until breakfast. After breakfast, there were classes like literature, french, Latin, English grammar, science, elocution (not electrocution), piano and dancing.

Well, I guess that's it. I made it all the way through with only minor interruptions. I hope I can make it through this last sentence without a single interrup-

HI! IT'S ME AGAIN! YIPPEE! WHY IS THIS GUY WRITING SO LONG? I CAN'T EVEN DO A LONG TASK LIKE THAT!

-tion.

Summary of Chapter Four of TEAM OF RIVALS

In December of 1847, the Lincoln family moved to Washington for the opening of the congressional session. Since the Lincolns couldn't find any place to stay in Washington, they decided to stay at Mrs. Sprigg's boarding house, which is now where the current Library of Congress is. Lincoln, with nothing else to do, took up bowling with some other people at Mrs. Sprigg's boarding house, even though he was incredibly clumsy. Others who bowled with him said that if Lincoln won or lost, he would still be happy about it (and not because he was listening to 'Happy').

Chase, Lincoln and Seward all wanted to ban slavery from entering the newly claimed land from Mexico, however, Bates believed something a little different. He supported the Wilmot Provisco, which meant that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in said territories aquired from Mexico," but for practical reasons rather than moral. Bates believed that "if southerners brought their slaves into the west in large numbers, he feared the migration of whites would come to a halt, thereby receding growth and progress in that region."

In June of 1848, Lincoln joined other whig in Philadelphia to nominate the Mexican war hero General Zachary Taylor for president. Seward was not happy about that.

A Buffalo delegate asked Bates to be a candidate for vice president, but he turned it down. Later, the Buffalo Convention nominated Martin Van Buren president and Charles Francis Adams vice president.

When voting time came around, the Whigs triumphed and Zachary Taylor became president.

On February 1, 1850, Lincoln's three year old son Eddie died from tuberculosis. After that, Mary went into such a deep depression that she rarely ever ate, and when she did, Abraham had to pretty much shove it down her mouth, because he was the only one who could coax force her into eating.

Once Abraham took up law practice again, he became less interested in politics. While Lincoln's political ambition slowed down, Seward and Chase's gained momentum. By the end of the 1840's, Chase and Seward were closer to the summit of their political power than they've ever been, and Bates was a respected national figure.