It was an "ill-kept and dirty rickety concern," according to presidential secretary John G.Nicolay. "I wonder how much longer a great nation, as ours is, will compel its ruler to
live in such a small and dilapidated old shanty, and in such a shabby-genteel style." A
Nicolay associate in the President's office was less critical, describing the White House as
"a very respectable building of brick and stone, painted white, built in the form of a
parallelogram, two stories high fronting north; but, owing to the declivity, three stories
fronting south toward the Potomac."
President Abraham Lincoln himself once called it "this damned house," and when he was
besieged by office seekers and afflicted by bad news from the war front, the White House
must have seemed truly damned. But, despite its drawbacks, the White House was a clear
improvement on the family's previous living accommodations. Indeed, the President also
declared it was "better than any house they have ever lived in." For the four years and one
month of Mr. Lincoln's presidency from March 1861 to April 1865, it was home to the
Lincoln family and the center of efforts to restore the Union and abolish slavery.
Buy Your Copy of Lincoln at Peoria Today 
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| From the Founder of the Lincoln Institute |
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Lincoln at Peoria
The Turning Point
by Lewis E. Lehrman
Book review from author Jay Winik, from The National Review —
"Throughout Lincoln at Peoria, Lehrman shows a journalist's eye for the telling detail. [Stephen A] Douglas spoke with 'polished elegance' while Lincoln spoke with a 'thin, high-pitched' voice. Lehrman also demonstrates a scholar's appreciation for the ambiguities surrounding Lincoln. He quotes one womam's asking upon Lincoln's election, 'Is it certain Mr. Lincoln is an uncompromising anti-slavery man?' And finally, Lehrman keenly appreciates the poignancy of his story: We see Lincoln strolling in Springfield with a colleague in 1849, when the friend ruefully observes, 'Lincoln the time is coming when You & I would have to be Democrats or Abolitionists'.
"Lincoln at Peoria is a marvelous hybrid of a book. Beyond the narrative and an extensive analysis of the speech itself, Lehrman draws out the rest of Lincoln's career, his political resurrection and America's political realignment, the coming of the war and Lincoln's surprise election as president, and his presidency itself, never losing sight of that magical moment at Peoria when Lincoln became Lincoln. Lehrman's editorial hand is light, and he is careful to judge Lincoln by the standards of his own day, rather than of ours. He also goes to great lengths to quote succeeding generations of distinguished Lincoln scholars. In this sense, more than simply a fascinating exegesis, Lincoln at Peoria stands as a rich resource for scholars."
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