FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   215   216   217   218  
219   220   221   222   223   224   225   226   227   228   229   230   231   232   233   234   235   236   237   238   239   240   241   242   243   >>   >|  
thy or popular relations or friends to recommend me. My case is thrown exclusively upon the independent voters of the county; and if elected they will have conferred a favor upon me for which I shall be unremitting in my labors to compensate. But if the good people in their wisdom see fit to keep me in the background I have been too familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined." But when the Indian war broke out Lincoln sacrificed his chances of being elected, preferring to fight for his country in such fighting as came his way, and the victory was won by his opponents. On his return after a bloodless campaign, he started a grocery store in the town of New Salem, Illinois, but the venture was destined to be an unlucky one. The town dwindled in size; the store finally failed; his partner ran away and then died, leaving Lincoln to shoulder all the burden of the debt. Although he had no money and could earn but little, he paid this debt to the last penny and with proper interest, but the burden saddened his young manhood and put him in poverty and difficulties from which he did not free himself for a number of years. In the year 1834, Lincoln ran once more for the State Legislature, and this time, as no obstacles beyond the ordinary came his way, he was elected. This marked the turning point in his career, for he had now embarked on the course that was to end with his election to the Presidency. He was sent back to the Legislature in 1836 and again in 1838 and 1840; and his policy was marked by broad views and great liberality. As a matter of fact, he was one of the first champions of woman's suffrage, for in preparing his platform he said that he was for allowing all whites to vote who bore the burdens of the Government, including the women. While in the Legislature Lincoln had the courage to voice a protest against slavery, and at that time the feeling ran so strongly against "abolitionists," as the would-be liberators of slaves were called, that he could only get one man beside himself to sign this protest. In it he stated that slavery in itself was evil and unjust, but that the efforts of the abolitionists only served to add to its horrors. By this statement Lincoln ran grave danger of being ruined in his political career, and only his high moral courage impelled him to make it. In 1839 the State Capitol of Illinois was moved to Springfield and Lincoln decided to live in the same town. While he had
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   215   216   217   218  
219   220   221   222   223   224   225   226   227   228   229   230   231   232   233   234   235   236   237   238   239   240   241   242   243   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Lincoln

 

Legislature

 
elected
 

burden

 

Illinois

 

protest

 

slavery

 
abolitionists
 

courage

 

marked


career

 

champions

 

liberality

 
matter
 
suffrage
 

preparing

 

whites

 
allowing
 

platform

 

burdens


policy
 

embarked

 
exclusively
 

ordinary

 

turning

 

Government

 

election

 

Presidency

 

conferred

 
statement

danger

 

ruined

 

horrors

 
efforts
 

served

 
political
 
Springfield
 

decided

 

Capitol

 
impelled

unjust

 
feeling
 
strongly
 

liberators

 

slaves

 

independent

 

stated

 
called
 
county
 

including