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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: notes in payment. Lincoln and Berry could not foresee that the
town of New Salem had already lived through its best days, and
was destined to dwindle and grow smaller until it almost
disappeared from the face of the earth. Unduly hopeful, they
accepted the offer, and also bought out, on credit, two other
merchants who were anxious to sell. It is clear that the
flattering vote Lincoln had received at the recent election, and
the confidence New Salem felt in his personal character, alone
made these transactions possible, since not a dollar of actual
money changed hands during all this shifting of ownership. In the
long run the people's faith in him was fully justified; but
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