Show n Lincoln the die Legislator ii j n 1 9 P I i ai a- a td r f es y 7 r- r 4 I c Y N 4 o k s I I II Bin introduced bu Lincoln in 1640 p k Lincoln in 1848 Ira 4 By Cy ELMO SCOTT WATSON N FEBRUARY 14 12 12 1835 1815 the Illinois legislature In session In the little littletown littletown littletown town of ot Vandalla Vandall a was In the last last- minute rush of ot finishing up Its work before adjourning That day one of Its members was twenty-six twenty years old but It Is doubtful If he paid much attention to the annl aunt Nor Is It likely that his fellow fellow legIs legis legislators If it Indeed they knew about It took the trouble to congratulate him and wish him many happy returns of the day For he was just an obscure member of the lower house from Sangamon Sanga Sanga- mon don county lie He had been an honest but unsuccessful storekeeper storekeeper storekeeper store store- keeper In the little hamlet of New Salem and a captain of volunteers In the Black Hawk war But Bat he had won no particular distinction In that unimportant conflict nor had his brief military career helped him much politically An unsuccessful candidate for the legislature In the autumn au an- of 1832 he had bad split spilt rails and done various other odd jobs to make a living while stud studying law by himself Chosen postmaster of New Salem Salem Sa Sa- Salem lem lem he had been successful In his second attempt to to win a s seat at In the general assembly but durIng during dunIng dur dun ing the session now coming to a close he had bad done nothing to single him out among his fellows fellows fel lows as a comer They knew him as 88 a droll fellow who could set seta a group off ort Into a gale of laughter with one of hIs bis funny stories told in his pitched high-pitched singsong sing lOng song nasal voice Yes Abe Abc Lincoln was good company but there was no reason to believe that he would ever become famous So the fact that February 12 was his birthday didn't mean meana a thing to the men who sat beside him In a room In Ie the little two story brick building In Vandalla Van Van- dalla the lalla-the the capital of the sovereign state of IlU Illi nois If they could have llave looked Into the future and seen how that date was observed In every part of the United States how their eyes would have bulged with surprise I Cant Can't you yon hear them exclaiming In honor of Abe Lincoln Why taint possible no howl I So the celebration of Lincoln's birthday a hundred years ago was no celebration at all for forthe forthe forthe the very good reason that no one not even the theman theman theman man man himself considered It of any Importance But Dut It Is worthy of remembrance for the reason that his biographer Albert J. J Beveridge has hasp p pointed out In this paragraph from his Abraham Lincoln 1858 1809 8 Houghton MIfflin company Finally by the th light lIght of ot candles the general gen eral assembly finished Its work and sometime before midnight February 13 1835 adjourned sine Elne die Ills His first legislative experience thus thul ended Lincoln went back to New Salem and to took kup up his surveying and handling of the scanty mall mail The sum of his sojourn In Vandalla Van dalla dalia had bad been the making of ot friends lessons In 10 legislative procedure and manipulation and the the acquiring of basic procedure and constitutional constitutional principles He De had heard great questions discussed by able and Informed men He had bad met DIet cultivated women too and In short had visited a new world Small wonder that when he reached New v Salem he plunged Into study with such abandon that his health suffered and his friends thought him mentally affected Henceforth Henceforth Hence Hence- forth the log-cabin log hamlet on the Sangamon held little or nothing that was attractive to the aspiring young Lincoln So perhaps it Is not too much to say that the greatness that was to be Abraham Lincoln's dates from that February day a hundred years ago when he turned his back on the scene of his hIJ first appearance on the stage of public af at fairs Neither the scene nor his appearance upon It were especially Impressive has baa given us ua an excellent description of both He lIe writes Upon the west bluff blurt of the KaskaskIa river sixty auty feet above high Water stood In 1834 perhaps per haps Laps a hundred buildings All but two were of wood some of them frame structures but most of them log cabins A little frame Presbyterian church house without a steeple nestled on a aside side elde street while a still smaller building served for all other religious denominations as well as asfor asfor asfor for school ol purposes and und public gatherings Five or six of it It the bigger houses were taverns or boarding places two of them would accommodate accommodate accommodate date thirty or forty persons though they were not entirely finished About eight hun hundred red people Including children chil chil- children dren lived In Inthe the town and the adjacent country was scantily s 's settled but marriages were frequent fre tre- quent For the most moat part the surrounding land was heavily timbered but hut to the north and west rolling rOiling prairies stretched Into the horizon The river bottoms were covered thickly with great trees vines end and all manner of rank vegetation and from this valley came at the seasonable time clouds of mosquitoes The streets of the village were eighty feet In width deep with mud or dust according to the weather There were no sidewalks Two main roads ran through the place one the National road scarcely opened as yet et In this section from Washington sevc seven hundred and one eighty miles distant to St St. Louis two eighty miles to southwest Malls from Philadelphia and other eastern cities were between two and three w weeks on the on-the the way r I Old State House Houseal at k M The iris R Rail S s il y h ales fy hj Ch Charles rles Mulligan Such was Vandalla when on a winter day late In November 1834 the regular stage coach was driven Into the ca capital of Illinois Among the passengers was Abraham Lincoln one of the newly elected representatives from Sangamon Sanga mon county lIe He wore a new suit which made by a tailor In Springfield had cost him sixty dollars Lincoln Lin coIn coln had borrowed from Coleman Smoot two hundred dollars In order properly to equip himself himself him him- self and pay his expenses while away from New Salem on his first legislative adventure The loan was whimsically declared Lincoln when asking Smoot for tor the money a kind of penalty upon Smoot for having voted for him He lIe was better attired and had more clothes than ever before In his life During this session Lincoln played a very small part and such measures as he voted upon had comparatively little historical significance He lIe was appointed to one minor standing committee and later to two special committees The first bill he be Introduced providing for a private toll toll- bridge across Salt creek In Sangamon county was passed promptly But Dut when he branched out Into larger large fields of legislation he was not so 80 successful The disposal of public lands belonging to the United States was an Important question at that time On January 10 1835 Lincoln offered a resolution that our senators be Instructed and our representatives requested to use their whole Influence In n the congress of the United States to procure the passage of a law relative to the public lands by the operation of ot which the state of Illinois would be entitled to receive annually a sum of money money not less In amount than 20 per cent upon up the amount annually paid into the treasury of the United States for public pub lic Bc lands lying within the limits of the said state of Illinois This resolution was laid on the table without roll-call roll where It peacefully ex ax- Even mor more more Important than the public land question was the problem of ot the National bank the main Issue In the Presidential campaign of 1832 In which Andrew Jackson was re A resolution supporting Jacksons Jackson's stand on this question was Introduced In the Illinois legislature legisla ture In January 1835 1831 and precipitated a vigorous vigorous vig vig- orous dispute Says Beveridge For nearly three weeks Lincoln heard what was said on all phases of the National bank and the currency but It does not appear that he took part In the controversy But If Lincoln played an Insignificant role during hIs bis first legislative experience he was to play an active and conspicuous part In the special special ape ape- cial session of the legislature which Gov Coy Joseph Duncan called the following December This was the same Joseph Duncan who as one of MaJ George Crogan's boy lieutenants had won a vote of thanks from congress for their heroism at the defense of Fort Stephenson Stephens n durIng during dur duro ing the War of 1812 1612 During this session the state was the necessary legislation legislation legisla tion for starting work on In the Illinois and Michigan Mich igan canal was passed as were the first of the flood bills providing for other Internal Improvements Improvements improvements Improve Improve- ments which rose to such a high tide In the next legislature and played no small part In the panic of 1837 But nut more Important as 88 regards Lincoln's career was waa the fact that during this time he was helping pave paTe the way woy for removing the capital to Springfield an Incident which brought him his first real prominence elected Reelected to the legislature In 1830 at t Its opening session In December be he became the Whig floor leader and was recognized on all hands bands as a clever er parliamentary parliamentary par par- tactician and likely to become the manager In the house Ills His supreme purpose now was to achieve the removal of the capital to Springfield and upon the achievement of that design he concentrated every faculty during the next three months In 1833 the legislature had bad authorized a referendum ref vote by the people on the question of selecting a permanent site for the capital but no majority was given for any anyone one location The leaders In the voting were Alton Vandalla GOY COY Joseph Duncan I Springfield Jacksonville and PeorIa in the order named The citizens of Vandalla didn't want to lose the capital so they raised and hopefully hope hope- fully tully began to build a new state house to replace replace re re- place the tho one In which Lincoln had bad first served as 88 a legislator and which was now becoming sadly dilapidated They little realized how the manipulations of some very clever politician politicians Including lanky Abe Lincoln were to doom them to disappointment By Dy the reapportionment act of 1835 Sangamon county had seven representatives and two senatore senators sena Bena tors tore the largest delegation In the legislature Because of the height of all these men the average average aver aver- age was well over six feet they were called the theLong theLong theLong Long Nine The senators were Job Fletcher and Archer Herndon and the representatives were Abraham Lincoln John Dawson Dan Stone W W. Edwards son of a former governor William F F. ElkIn It R. L. L Wilson and Andrew Mc- Mc CormIck They voted solidly together on all questions questions questions ques ques- and held out the bait of such an Important block of votes to backers of the Internal improvements Improvements Improvements Improve Improve- ments schemes In to return for tor support of Spring Springfield Springfield field as the new capital Although Lincoln and the Springfield eld partisans partisans parti parti- sans of whom he was In command strove to delay de cle- lay Jay final action on the location of ot the capital until the passage of ot the Internal Improvement bill they could not prevent frequent consideration tion of that irritating and dangerous subject says Beveridge Sometimes they were on the very edge of defeat twice they were actually beaten His Ills colleagues were despondent hopeless hopeless hope hope- less Jess but Lincoln never despaired In the darkest darkest dark dark- est eat hours hours' hours hours-he he called the Long Nine to his room in the tavern heartened them and devised plans plana for victory That victory came on February 28 1837 Six days before adjournment aft after three months of ot management bar bargaining and Intrigue after the passage of the Internal Improvements J Jill with Its clusters of Improvident building Impossible Improvements of Impracticable streams and appropriations appropriations ap av- ap- ap of cash to Importunate counties the general assembly in Joint session chose Springfield as the permanent site lIte of the state capital The husbandry of the Long Nine had bad yielded Its Us harvest After waging their successful fight to win to-win win the capital for their home borne county Lincoln and the theother theother theother other members of the Long Nine went back to Springfield In triumph lie He was resolved to make the new capital his home henceforth and to hang out his shingle as a lawyer Jawer there for the very day after his victory for Springfield he had obtained from the Supreme court In Vandalla a certificate of admission to the bar of Illinois and was formally enroll enrolled d' d das as an attorney On April 15 11 1837 the Sangamon Journal card carried car ried a new professional card In Its advertising columns columns J J T T. Stuart k J A A. Lincoln Attorneys and Counsellors at Law will practice conjointly in the Courts of this Judicial Circuit Office No 4 Hoffman's Hoffmans Row now upstairs Springfield Toren ty eight years later to a day the columns cf tt this newspaper would appear with heavy black block borders In ta mourning for one of these Attorneys and Counsellors at Law now the Martyr President Presh dent Here ere then was Lincoln but twenty eight years old old leader of his party In the house bouse louse of representatives winner of the fight for tor Springfield Springfield Spring Spring- field as the state capital most talked of and best liked of all the Whigs of Sangamon county and now partner of one of the ablest lawyers In n Illinois Illi nois and the foremost Whig In the state Thus state Thus Albert A Astounding Beveridge Astounding progress I But yesterday pottering about New Salem In contact only with little things and crude surroundings heavily In debt and with dim prospects for advancement ad today starting on the high road of ambition and achievement I IO O C l b by r W western t rn N Newspaper r Union Vales |