I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. — Abraham Lincoln, from a speech made June 16, 1858.
Johnson did not feel well before the inauguration, so he downed three glasses of “medicinal” whiskey before entering the Senate chamber. As Johnson walked into the chamber, he was leaning on Hannibal Hamlin’s arm and appeared to be unsteady. Abraham Lincoln’s new vice-president was drunk on inauguration day.