Young Mr. Lincoln

Yes, we'll rally 'round the flag, boys

We'll rally once again

Shouting

the battle cry of freedom

We will rally from the hillside

We'll gather from the plains

Shouting

the battle cry of freedom

The Union forever

Hurrah, boys, hurrah

Down with the traitors

Up with the stars

While we rally 'round the flag, boys

Rally once again

Shouting

the battle cry of freedom

I tell you that Andrew Jackson...

that great volcano at Washington...

is belching forth

a lava of political corruption...

which is sweeping over

the length and breadth of this land...

leaving unscathed no green spot,

no living thing.

Sangamon County, take warning.

Send me, John T. Stuart,

back to the legislature...

and I'll see that everyJackson man in office

is whipped out of the place...

like a dog out of a meat house!

And now, my friends...

I bow to one of your own

citizens of New Salem...

who will address you further...

on behalf of the great

and incorruptible Whig Party.

God bless it.

Gentlemen and fellow citizens...

I presume you all know who I am.

I'm plain Abraham Lincoln.

I've been solicited by many friends...

to become a candidate

for the legislature.

My politics are short and sweet...

like the old woman's dance.

I'm in favor of a national bank...

of the internal improvement system...

and high protective tariff.

These are my sentiments...

and political principles.

If elected, I shall be thankful.

If not...

it'll be all the same.

Hey, Abe.!

Somebody wants

to do business with you.

- Howdy, ma'am. Howdy.

- Howdy.

- How you been making out?

- Right good.

We ain't hit the hard places yet.

- Won't you get down and rest yourself?

- Well, thank you.

We was aimin' to stretch a bit.

My old woman figured on

gettin' some flannel for shirts.

- I reckon that could be arranged.

- Yeah, but...

we ain't got any money.

Well, you can send it to me.

We don't aim to ask for no credit.

If it'll ease your mind any, ma'am,

the whole shebang here's worked on credit.

That's right, Abe.

Berry and me never put up a penny to start with,

and the way things look we never will.

Well, there's an old barrel in the wagon

that might be worth 50 cents to some folks.

Of course, there ain't much in it.

Just some old things laying around the house.

Along with some books

that belonged to my grandpappy.

- Books?

Yeah, in the last barrel.

Books.

Well, you folks go in the store

and help yourself.

I'll go on back and get the barrel.

"Blackstone's Commentaries".

That's law.

Law. I knew that book

was about somethin'.

Hardly a thumb mark on it either.

No, sir. We took

mighty good care of it.

Reckon you can read it, sir?

I expect I could make head or tails out of it,

if I set my mind to it.

Law.

Law.

That's the rights of persons

and the rights of things.

The rights of life,

reputation and liberty.

The rights to acquire

and hold property.

"Wrongs are violations

of those rights".

By jing, that's all there is to it.

Right and wrong.

Maybe I ought to begin

to take this up serious.

Hello, Mr. Lincoln.

- Abe.

- Well, hello, Ann.

Give me a minute

to try and untangle myself.

Aren't you afraid you'll put your eyes out

reading like that upside-down?

Trouble is, Ann, when I'm standin' up

my mind's lyin' down.

When I'm lyin' down,

my mind's standin' up.

Of course, allowin' I got a mind.

You've a wonderful mind, Abe,

and you know it.

River sure looks pretty today, ain't it?

You think a lot about things,

don't you?

Well, my brain gets to itchin' inside sometimes,

I gotta scratch it.

Father says you've

a real head on your shoulders...

and a way with people too.

He says it's not all

just making them laugh.

They remember what you say

because it's got sense to it.

Mr. Rutledge

is a mighty fine man, Ann...

but if you ask me...

I'm more like the old horse

the fella's tryin' to sell.

Sound of skin and skeleton

and free from faults and faculties.

Oh, I know how smart you are.

How ambitious you are too.

- Ambitious?

- You are, deep down underneath.

Even if you won't admit it.

Gotta have education these days

to get anywhere.

I never went to school

so much as a year in my whole life.

Oh, but you've educated yourself.

You've read poetry

and Shakespeare and -

and now law.

I just had my heart set

on your going over toJacksonville to college...

when I got to the seminary there...

and -

You're mighty pretty, Ann.

Some folks I know don't like red hair.

I do.

Do you, Abe?

I love red hair.

Pretty, aren't they?

Got 'em up at Bowling Green's place.

You never saw anything

like 'em in your life...

sittin' there in the snow

like scared rabbits.

In fact, the woods are full of'em too.

Snow's nice, ain't it,

the way it's driftin'.

Ice is breakin' up.

It's comin' in to spring.

Well, Ann, I'm still up a tree.

Just can't seem to

make up my mind what to do.

Maybe I ought to go into the law,

take my chances.

I admit, I got kinda a taste...

for somethin' different than this

in my mouth.

Still, I don't know.

I'd feel such a fool...

settin' myself up

as a-knowin' so much.

Course, I know what you'd say.

I've been hearin' it every day,

over and over again.

"Go on, Abe.

Make somethin' of yourself.

You got friends.

Show 'em what you got in ya".

Oh, yes, I know what you'd say.

But I don't know.

Ann, I'll tell you what I'll do.

I'll let this stick decide.

If it falls back toward me,

then I stay here, as I always have.

If it falls forward towards you...

then it's -

Well, it's the law.

Here goes, Ann.

Well, Ann, you win.

It's the law.

Wonder if I could've

tipped it your way just a little.

Hello, Abe.

What are you doin' in Springfield?

Figurin' on

settin' myself up as a lawyer.

- What do you know about law, Abe?

- Not enough to hurt me.

You did, durn ya.! You did.!

- That's a lie.!

- I can prove it, I tell ya.!

- Then go ahead.!

- I got the law on my side.!

I'll show ya,

y-you -you durned thief!

Ah, gentlemen,

just hold your horses and sit down.

Now, Brother Woolridge?

Yes, sir?

Brother Hawthorne here says you agreed

to furnish him two yokes of oxen...

to break up 20 acres

of prairie sod ground.

He did such.

And that were to allow him to raise

a crop of corn on another piece of land.

That's right. But he never done

one thing he promised. Not one!

He claims further that when he talked

to you about these promises...

you did

"strike, beat and knock him down...

"pluck, pull and tear

large quantities of hair from his head...

"and that with stick or fists

you did strike him many blows...

"on or about the face, head,

breast, back, shoulders, hips...

"and diverse other parts of the body...

and with violence did push, thrust

and gouge your fingers in his eyes".

Yeah.

I got witnesses to prove it.

And for that

he demands $250 damages.

Yes, I do.

Well, Brother Woolridge,

what you got to say to that?

You forgot to put in there about me

whoppin' him with a neck yoke.

Now, it says here,

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