elligently. It
was a remarkable volume for a thoughtful lad whose mind had been
fired already by the history of Washington; for it opened with that
wonderful document, the Declaration of Independence, a document
which became, as Mr. John G. Nicolay says, "his political chart
and inspiration." Following the Declaration of Independence was the
Constitution of the United States, the Act of Virginia passed in 1783
by which the "Territory North Westward of the river Ohio" was conveyed
to the United States, and the Ordinance of 1787 for governing this
territory, containing that clause on which Lincoln in the future based
many an argument on the slavery question. This article, No. 6 of the
Ordinance, reads: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of
crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: provided
always, that any person escaping into the same, from whom labour or
service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States,
such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person
claiming his or her labour or service, as aforesaid."

[Illustration: LINCOLN'S SADDLE-BAGS--PHOTOGRAPHED FOR McCLURE'S
MAGAZINE.

These saddle-bags, now in the Lincoln Monument at Springfield, are
said to have been used by Lincoln while he was a surveyor.]

Following this was the Constitution and the Revised Laws of Indiana,
three hundred and seventy-five pages of five hundred words each of
statutes--enough law, if thoroughly digested, to make a respectable
lawyer. When Lincoln finished this book, as he had probably before
he was eighteen, we have reason to believe that he understood the
principles on which the nation was founded, how the State of Indiana
came into being, and how it was governed. His understanding of the
subject was clear and practical, and he applied it in his reading,
thinking, and discussion.

[Illustration: REPORT OF A ROAD SURVEY BY LINCOLN--HITHERTO
UNPUBLISHED.

Photographed for McCLURE'S MAGAZINE from the original, now on file
in the County Clerk's office, Springfield, Illinois. The survey
here reported was made in pursuance of an order of the County
Commissioners' Court, September 1, 1834, in which Lincoln was
designated as the surveyor.]

It was after he had read the Laws of Indiana that Lincoln had free
access to the library of his admirer, Judge John Pitcher of Rockport,
Indiana, where undoubtedly he examined