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139 8. The 1840s and the Early 1850s z As the 1840s began, with his law practice and political career firmly rooted in the circuit, Lincoln began to look to bigger things, the first being the presidential race between Whig William Henry Harrison and incumbent Democrat Martin Van Buren. Lincoln gave over twenty-five speeches for Harrison, most of them in southern Illinois over a period from mid-August to mid-October, with only two in the circuit.1 He pursued this wide-ranging schedule even though he was himself again a legislative candidate and a Harrison presidential elector. On May 2, 1840, in Tremont, court adjourned at noon, and Whigs and Democrats began debate. Lincoln spoke first and gave a humorous attack on Van Buren that caused “frequent and spontaneous bursts of applause.” His many anecdotes convulsed the house with laughter, and he concluded with praise for the civil and military reputation of the Hero of Tippecanoe. Holding a copy of a Van Buren biography that William Fithian of Danville had loaned him, Lincoln attacked the president for his stand in favor of black suffrage. Fithian reported that Lincoln’s use of the book so angered Stephen A. Douglas that he seized the book from Lincoln and threw it into the crowd.2 Three weeks later, Lincoln and Douglas joined forces to successfully defend People v. Spencer Turner in DeWitt County. The largest crowd Lincoln was to address for many years was at an early June Whig convention and rally in Springfield that drew fifteen thousand to twenty thousand people (equal to 5 percent of the Illinois population) from all over Illinois and neighboring states. In solidly Democrat Shelby County, 140 Climbing the Ladder Lincoln made only two purely political appearances, the first on June 27, 1840, following the ubiquitous, Lincoln political adversary William L. D. Ewing’s well-received speech to a “thin audience.”3 Lincoln’s efforts brought little success for him and Harrison, who lost Illinois, though he won nine of the then-thirteen circuit counties. Lincoln, running as a presidential elector, ran last in a field of five, all of whom lost. His pursuit of reelection to the statehouse was successful, although he was last among the successful candidates, Harrison’s race apparently detrimental to Lincoln’s campaign.4 When the legislature convened on November 23, 1840, the Whigs again put Lincoln up as their candidate for speaker of the house against Ewing, and Ewing again prevailed. On December 5 in session, when the Democrats locked the chamber door to keep a quorum and to compel a favorable vote, Lincoln, Asahel Gridley, and Joseph Gillespie of Edwardsville jumped out the window of the First Methodist Church, the temporary quarters of the house. The chair ruled that there was still a quorum; the incident caused Lincoln embarrassment the rest of his career.5 Gillespie, later to join the Republicans, was one of Lincoln’s most steadfast friends. The two first met during the Black Hawk War. Gillespie, son of Irish-born parents, was born in 1809 in New York City and moved at age ten with his family to Edwardsville. After working in the Galena lead mines from 1827 to 1829, he began the study of law under the noted Cyrus Edwards and attended Transylvania College in Kentucky. Admitted to the bar in 1836, he soon reconnected with Lincoln as active Whigs, and they practiced law together in the circuit. Gillespie, elected in 1846 to the Illinois senate, served ten years, during which he was a strong advocate for the railroads. He supported Lincoln in his bid for the appointment as superintendent of the General Land Office in 1849 and his pursuit of the U.S. Senate seat in 1855 and 1858.6 This term, Lincoln’s last, was not as successful as the earlier ones. His leadership waned substantially during this session due in large part to his melancholy and depression over the breakup of his relationship with Mary Todd late in 1840 and on the “fatal first” January 1, 1841. He was totally absent from the house during vital sessions in January, abdicating his leadership role, and he never did return to his full effectiveness during the session.7 The eight years of legislative service, though, benefited Lincoln greatly. He mastered the art of politics and learned how to deal with issues of government , leadership, and public service. He found that he was the equal [13.59.82.167] Project MUSE (2024-04-23...

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