They take rooms at Ann Sprigg’s boardinghouse, where more than twenty other Whigs are already in residence. Restless, ambitious, Lincoln wants to see and do everything. But Mary finds it hard to keep their young sons entertained. She quarrels with the other boarders, demands that Lincoln take her side in all things. He feels a guilty relief when she takes the boys to her family’s home in Kentucky.

Sprigg’s is known locally as Abolition House. Those slaves that work for Ann Sprigg disappear north with mysterious regularity. The Whigs residing there see the Mexican War as a mere ruse for expanding the slaveholding territories. James Polk is president. In a grand tradition reaching back through the centuries, he insists that war was forced upon him by unprovoked aggression. He seizes huge swaths of the West as recompense.

Lincoln takes to the floor of the House to accuse Polk of lying. He demands to know the exact spot on which the first gun was fired, the first blood shed. Wasn’t it, in fact, on Mexican soil? The word spot is repeated many times during this speech. Later he hears himself referred to as “spotty Lincoln.”

Back in Illinois, folks are surprised by his attack on Polk. Even those who opposed the war find his speeches close to treason. Lincoln is surprised in return. He supported every measure to fund and supply American troops without condition or argument. The Democrats cynically conflated that with support for the war itself.

Lincoln abhorred the war and admired the soldiers. How hard is that to understand?

There is a second principle at stake. The power to declare war rests only with Congress.

The Illinois State Register, which once supported Lincoln, now says that he has demeaned the courage and sacrifice of Illinois’ fighting men. When the Whigs lose the seat, the paper suggests Lincoln’s obituary—“Died of Spotted Fever.”

xi

Almost the first thing that happens is Edwin nearly losing his father. The month is August, the year 1848, and Father has a weeklong engagement in Albany, playing Othello one night, Iago another, Edward Mortimer, and then Sir Giles Overreach. On the 18th, he is scheduled to finish the run with Richard III, performed as a benefit. That’s when the real money should arrive.

Edwin is finding his way into this new life. He looks younger than his fourteen years, thin and pale, with hooded eyes. The women in the cast make a pet of him, treating him as more of a child than he feels, which he likes and dislikes in equal measure. These women are bold and loud and touch him often, stroking his hair, taking his hand and running a finger over his wrist. He might be less uncomfortable if his father weren’t there, one moment paying no attention and the next, seeing everything. Father either disapproves or is amused. Knowing Father, it’s probably both. Edwin can’t tell which he dislikes more.