Salmon P. Chase; and Lincoln, a lawyer and former one-term congressman who was at the time considered vice-presidential material — felt confident of a Republican victory in November. Meanwhile, Northern pro-slavery Democrats worked to persuade the public of a link between Brown and the Republican Party. This majority demanded a stop to slavery’s advance but also sought out a new face to manage the crisis of Brown’s raid. On the day of the Cooper Union address, photographer Mathew Brady captured that face in a now-famous image: It was Abraham Lincoln. The post How Lincoln became president material appeared first on Washington Post.