Simple typographical errors were corrected.

Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

"fugitive slave law" and "fugitive-slave law" both appear in the original book; regularized to "fugitive-slave law" in this eBook.

"proslavery" and "pro-slavery" both occur in the original book; unchanged here.

Letter facing page 168: in handwritten date "October 3, 1861", "3" (rather than "5") is based on examination of other samples of Lincoln's handwriting.

Page 289: "Ben: Perley Poore" did abbreviate his first name with a colon. His name also appears without a colon on page 98.