Abraham Lincoln.
1860. They call him “Uncle Abe,” “Old Abe,” “Honest Old Abe,” “The old rail-splitter,” “The flat boatman,” &c. I never did know an individual with these or similar sobriquets attached to his name, that was good for anything but to get up a sensation over, and hardly good for that.—Mr. Morris of Illinois, June 19: Cong. Globe, p. 462, App.
1861. I know [Mr. Lincoln] has too much regard for the common appellation by which he is known, of “Honest Old Abe,” ever to believe that he will betray the principles of the Republican party.—Mr. Owen Lovejoy of Illinois, House of Repr., Jan. 23: id., p. 86/1, App.
1862. In Tenniel’s cartoon for Punch, Aug. 9, “Old Abe” offers weapons to Sambo.
