"On Saturday, nearly 150 years later, another President-elect from Illinois..."

[DeepModem Mom]

Philadelphia Inquirer: Jan. 11, 2009
Relics of President-elect Lincoln's Philadelphia visit
By Jeff Gammage, Inquirer Staff Writer


(Free Library of Philadelphia/Westholme Publishing)
President-elect Abraham Lincoln reviews troops at Independence Hall; the photograph was taken Feb. 22, 1861. Lincoln stopped in Philadelphia on his trip by train to Washington for his inaguration. President-elect Barack Obama will partially re-create that trip, starting here next Saturday.

....On Saturday, nearly 150 years later, another president-elect from Illinois will partly re-create (Abraham Lincoln's 1861 "epic journey" that took him through Philadelphia), traveling by train to his inauguration.

Barack Obama plans to hold an event in Philadelphia that morning, then head south through Wilmington and Baltimore, joined in those cities by Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. They are to arrive in Washington that evening....(Obama's) partial retracing of Lincoln's route seeks to highlight his inaugural theme, "Renewing America's Promise," through events in Philadelphia, where the promise was realized in 1776; Baltimore, where it was defended in the War of 1812; and Washington, where it is to be renewed....

Lincoln's convoluted journey lasted 12 days and covered 1,600 miles, taking him north and south and east and west. Trains were slower then, requiring stops for fuel and water. River crossings, which often relied on ferries, could be major undertakings....Lincoln wanted to see and be seen, to draw on the energy of the crowd. In the age before radio, presidents communicated through speeches, and the serpentine route allowed Lincoln to speak out before his March 4 inauguration....

***

The president-elect arrived in Philadelphia about 3:45 p.m. on Feb. 21, his Lincoln Special train greeted by a cannon salute as it rolled into the Kensington station. "Philadelphia welcomed Lincoln," (Michael J.) Kline writes..., "like the Second Coming."...

Lincoln rode three blocks to Independence Hall, emotionally moved to be in the building where the Founders had labored, where the Declaration of Independence had been signed, where the Liberty Bell was housed. Outside, an estimated 30,000 people were gathering, drawn despite the cold of the morning and the chill of the times. Like much of the country, Philadelphia was suffering terrible unemployment and economic turmoil. Talk of civil war was rife. And while Philadelphia was a staunch Union town, it was influenced by Delaware, a slave state.

At Independence Hall, Lincoln was met by Theodore Cuyler, president of the city Select Council. Cuyler lectured the president-elect about the sacrifice of the Founders and the sanctity of the hall, telling Lincoln that the Union must "be preserved by every concession short of eternal principle itself." In the parlance of the era, concession was shorthand for compromise over slavery with the Southern powers. "You have kindly suggested to me that in my hands is the task of restoring peace to our distracted country," Lincoln answered. "I can say in return, sir, that all the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn . . . from this hall in which we stand."...

One (photo) shows (Lincoln) bareheaded, holding his familiar black stovepipe hat, which he had removed for a prayer. Across from Lincoln stands his youngest son, 7-year-old Tad. The boy is not watching his father. He gazes instead at the soldiers arrayed in formation....

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090111_Relics_of_President-elect_Lincoln_s_Philadelphia_visit.html