At times, said the founder of the Chicago Tribune, Lincoln seemed to reach into the clouds and take out the thunderbolts.

James Gordon Bennett said he aimed to be, "serious in my aims but full of frolic in my means.

Public sentiment is everything, said Lincoln. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

Lincoln on a desire to hear Horace Greeley speak: "In print, every one of his words seems to weigh about a ton.

The mid-19th century was noted for a partisan, rather than a consensus press, but this partisanship was able to turn out voters consistently.

I have not done enough for effect." Horace Greeley

Only a writer "with Bennett's craft and brass could manage to praise and insult his readers at the same time.