Lincoln was still traveling to the capital: his rail journey from Illinois to Washington, D.C., took twelve days. Lincoln generally won higher applause for his homespun jokes and simple manner than for his policy speeches. One speech he labored over was given while he helped raise a new flag at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall. It was a federal flag with thirty-four stars.

Clearly, neither Lincoln nor the flag’s maker wished to credit the seven states in secession with any acknowledgement of their actions. In that thirty-fourth star, however, was a particular success, because Kansas had just shed its territorial status and become the thirty-fourth state in the Union. Lincoln knew the importance of symbols, particularly where the flag was concerned, and he was all too pleased to be the first to raise the new flag over Independence Hall.