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Something Solid to Rest Upon: of another kind. Keenly aware of the
vagaries of an ever-changing world, he
Abraham Lincoln’s Interest confronted the painful ambiguity of life
and death by seeking solace in the laws
in Science of physical science.
Lincoln’s interest in science and math-
William F. Hanna ematics began in 1833, when he took
a surveying job in Illinois. Wayne C.
s darkness fell on a warm summer evening Temple writes that the twenty-four-
in August 1864, Dr. Joseph Henry, the year old Lincoln mastered enough
A Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, geometry and trigonometry to earn
a reputation as a competent surveyor.
stood in the tower of a building on the grounds of William H. Herndon was Lincoln’s
the Old Soldiers’ Home, located three miles northwest longtime law partner, and his volumi-
nous correspondence has been col-
of the U.S. Capitol. Called by one historian the lected and edited by Douglas L. Wilson
greatest American scientist since Benjamin Franklin, and Rodney O. Davis. Their research
Henry was a physicist by training. His work on presents a letter in which Herndon
remembered that during the same
electromagnetism in the 1840s helped lay the period that Lincoln mastered survey-
groundwork for the first practical telegraph. ing, he also studied natural philoso-
phy, astronomy and chemistry. “His
Standing nearby was President mind,” wrote Herndon, “required and
Abraham Lincoln, whose summer lived in facts, figures and principles.”
cottage was located adjacent to the Although generally a patient man, said
Old Soldiers’ Home. The two men Herndon, his partner hated abstraction.
were together to witness an ultimately “If you wished to be cut off at the knees
successful experiment in which Morse just go at Lincoln with … glittering
code signals would be flashed by lan- generalities.”
tern light from the Soldiers’ Home with In addition to the demands of fron-
the hope of receiving an answer from a tier surveying, Lincoln also put his
signalman placed across the city in the accumulating knowledge of scientific
tower of the Smithsonian Institution. principles to another, deeply personal,
As the Civil War dragged into its fourth use. As a young man, Lincoln was an
year, Lincoln and his generals looked outspoken religious skeptic. It was
for any advantage that might bring the during this period, wrote his friend
bloodletting to a speedier conclusion, James Matheny, that Lincoln, “at least
and they hoped that improvements in bordered on absolute atheism.” He was
communication would help.
“enthusiastic in his infidelity,” and he
Over the previous three years the sci- used science to argue against scriptural
entist and the president had developed a revelation. His was “the language
highly successful working relationship, President Abraham Lincoln, November 1863 of respect,” wrote Matheny, “yet it
based in large part upon Lincoln’s life- (Photo credit: Alexander Gardner). was from the point of ridicule—[but]
long fascination with scientific prin- his ability to read, write and perform not scoff.”
ciples and their practical application. simple arithmetic, Lincoln admitted In 1834 Lincoln was elected to the
Unlike Dr. Henry, the president’s mea- that whatever education he gained Illinois legislature for the first of four
ger formal education had come through afterward had come informally and as terms, and two years later was admit-
brief sporadic attendance in frontier required during his rise to professional ted to the state’s bar. After moving
“blab schools.” In an autobiographi- and political success. “The pressure to Springfield in 1837 he became
cal sketch written during his 1860 of necessity,” he called it. And yet, as a familiar figure within legal and
presidential campaign, he noted that he Lincoln matured, he also felt pressure political circles. As a loyal member
went to school only “by littles.” Beyond

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