Never over-confident of his own powers, his mind must at times
have been full of misgivings; but it was only on the night of the
election, November 6, 1860, when, sitting alone with the
operators in the little telegraph-office at Springfield, he read
the messages of Republican victory that fell from the wires until
convinced of his election, that the overwhelming, almost crushing
"weight of his coming duties and responsibilities fell upon him.
In that hour, grappling resolutely and alone with the problem
before him, he completed what was really the first act of his
Presidency--the choice of his cabinet, of the men who were to aid
him. People who doubted the will or the wisdom of their
Rail-splitter Candidate need have had no fear. A weak man would
have chosen this little band of counselors--the Secretary of
State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the half-dozen others
who were to stand closest to him and to be at the head of the
great departments of the government--from among his personal
friends. A man uncertain of his own power would have taken care
that no other man of strong nature with a great following of his
own should be there to dispute his authority. Lincoln did the
very opposite. He had a sincere belief in public opinion, and a
deep respect for the popular will. In this case he felt that no
men represented that popular will so truly as those whose names
had been considered by the Republican National Convention in its
choice of a candidate for President.
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