"What President Lincoln Thought about Slavery"

Vocabulary Word:

Avow

TRANSITIVE VERB:
a·vowed , a·vow·ing , a·vows
  1. To acknowledge openly, boldly, and unashamedly; confess: avow guilt. See Synonyms at acknowledge.
  2. To state positively.

Under great pressures, President Lincoln stated that he avows to protect and preserve the Constitution and the Union. 

Read the following from the  Abraham Lincoln Classroom: Abraham Lincoln and Public Opinion and answer the questions after it:

President Lincoln received many delegations, often clergymen, often seeking to pressure him on emancipation policies. One day, Mr. Lincoln received such delegation whose “spokesman, fired with uncontrollable zeal, poured forth a lecture which was fault-finding in tone from beginning to end. It was delivered with much energy, and the shortcomings of the Administration were rehearsed with painful directness,” recalled Lincoln friend Ward Hill Lamon, who said that Mr. Lincoln delivered his response with “unusual animation”:
"Gentlemen, suppose all the property you possess were in gold, and you had placed it in the hands of Blondin to carry across the Niagara River on a rope. With slow, cautious, steady step he walks the rope, bearing your all. Would you shake the cable, and keep shouting to him, ‘Blondin! stand up a little straighter! Blondin! stoop a little more; go a little faster; lean more to the south! Now lean a little more to the north!’ – would that be your behavior in such an emergency? No; you would hold your breath, every one of you, as well as your tongues. You would keep your hands off until he was safe on the other side. This government, gentlemen, is carrying an immense weight; untold treasures are in its hands. The persons managing the ship of state in this storm are doing the best they can. Don’t worry them with needless warnings and complaints. Keep silence, be patient, and we will get you safe across. Good day, gentlemen. I have other duties pressing upon me that must be attended to.”

1.  Who was this Blondin that Lincoln is talking about?   Click here for a Cartoon Corner (from Abraham Lincoln Classroom) to find out.  How did the President know of this Blondin?