Country lawyer Abraham Lincoln desired his oldest son Robert to have the formal education he never had.

 

Would Robert’s prairie education in Springfield IL be sufficient for a

acceptance into Harvard?

 

Robert was confident when he knocked on Harvard’s president door in the fall of 1859.

 

After all, Robert figured Harvard would want him because of his father. A year earlier, the Lincoln and Douglas debates garnered nationwide attention. 

 

Furthermore, Lincoln had risen to become the leading railroad lawyer in Illinois.

 

However, Harvard’s president, although familiar with Illinois’ esteemed Senator Stephen A. Douglas, was to Robert’s surprise, unfamiliar with his father.

 

Robert had thought this connection would grant him admission thus bypassing Harvard’s entrance exams.

 

Robert took the entrance exams; he flunked 15 of the 16 exams! He was devastated! How could he let his father down?

 

As Robert packed for his return to Springfield, he was summoned by Harvard’s president.

 

He urged Robert to enroll at Phillips-Exeter, a prestigious preparatory school in New Hampshire, and retake the entrance exams next fall.

 

After consulting with his father, Robert enrolled in the preparatory school. Many prominent New England families sent their sons to Phillips-Exeter.

 

As Robert would later write, this is where he transitioned from a “Westerner” to a “Yankee”.  

 

Meanwhile, Abraham, very concerned about his son’s emotional well being, yearned to visit Robert. However, Abraham’s finances were insufficient to travel to the East Coast.  In addition, he had two young boys still at home.

 

Then, in the fall of 1859, the New York Republicans invited Abraham to speak

at Cooper Union Hall in New York City.

 

Lincoln viewed the speech as just another opportunity to share his views on 

the major issue of the day: slavery.

 

More importantly, however, as the New York Republicans were going to pay his travel expenses, he could visit Robert.

 

Lincoln gave an amazing speech in New York City at the Cooper Union Hall. This speech is credited with propelling him to the Republican presidential nomination in 1860.

 

Many years later, Robert Todd Lincoln, would take credit for his father’s presidential nomination.  

 

“Outside of Illinois, who would have known the name of Abraham Lincoln if he hadn’t given his Cooper Union speech?” asked Robert. The very fact that his primary reason for traveling to the East Coast was for my benefit turned out to propel him to the presidency.

 

Who knows how history might have unfolded iif Robert had chosen

to return to Illinois to continue his education after being denied admission to Harvard.