The termination of Lincoln's legislative career, his marriage and his increasing legal practice did not stay his hunger for political distinction. Music, society or nature did not allure him. His range of interest was limited. His pleasure was not in his fame as a counselor. He was impatient of the tiresome devotion to detail demanded of the lawyer. Longing to be a leader in the world of events, he sought a wider field of activity for the full expression of his personality, splendidly realizing that his greatest service to himself and his fellows was in guiding and interpreting a righteous public opinion.

Lamon has portrayed Lincoln's political ambition with merciless vividness, claiming that he was never agitated by any passion more intense than his thirst for distinction; that it governed all his conduct, from the hour when he astonished himself by his oratorical success in the back settlements of Macon County, to the day when the assassin marked him as the first hero of the restored Union; that he was ever ready to be honored, and struggled incessantly for place.[176] Politics was his world,—a world filled with enchantment. "In his office," says Mr. Herndon, "he sat down, or spilt himself on his lounge, read aloud, told stories, talked politics,—never science, art, literature, railroad gatherings, colleges, asylums, hospitals, commerce, education, progress, nothing that interested the world generally except politics."[177]

Yet Lamon and Herndon missed the deeper unity in his life. Neither politics nor distinction was the end with him. They were the paths leading to his palace, not the palace itself. It is not too much to say that love of his kind transcended his love of distinction. At the time when he seemed lost in the maelstrom of partisanship, as Burns in the storm thought of the "ourie" cattle, so Lincoln thought of those hapless sons of misfortune who were biding the "bitter brattle" of slavery. Thus in a letter to his friend Speed, he said, "In 1841 you and I had together a tedious low-water trip on a steamboat from Louisville to St. Louis. You may remember, as I well do, that from Louisville to the mouth of the Ohio there were on board ten or a dozen slaves shackled together with irons. That sight was a continued torment to me, and I see something like it every time I touch the Ohio or any other slave border."[178]

The extent to which he mingled in political affairs is shown by his activity at a mass meeting in March, 1843, at Springfield. He was the master of ceremonies. In a careful statement, he uttered the cardinal principles of his party. He was materially steeped in the party spirit of his day. For the fifth resolution recommends that a Whig candidate for Congress be run in every district, regardless of the chances of success. "We are aware," it continued, "that it is sometimes a temporary gratification, when a friend cannot succeed, to be able to choose between opponents; but we believe that that gratification is the seed time which never fails to be followed by a most abundant harvest of bitterness. By this policy we entangle ourselves."[179]

Though Lincoln, at first, fought the convention system for the nomination of candidates, as undemocratic, his conversion to its championship further exposes his training in the school of practical politics. The statement declared that the Whigs should not stop to inquire whether the system was just, but that while their opponents used the plan it was madness in them not to defend themselves with it.[180]

The conclusion of this address is also a sure sign of prolonged association with the hue and cry of party spirit: It stated with assurance that the Whigs were always a majority of the nation, and that if every Whig would act as though he knew the result to depend upon his action, that surely a Whig would be elected President of the United States.[181]

Political office being the reward of party service, Lincoln was a zealous worker in the ranks. He was ever at the call of the party managers for speeches or other personal work. They could not charge him with being a laggard in the day of defeat. He did not wait for waves of advancement. He was not in accord with the policy that the office should seek the man. He slowly toiled his way to the eminence he reached. While Lincoln was in Congress, Herndon wrote to him complaining of his sluggard progress in politics, and carped at the old men for usurping all the places of power and profit. In an intimate reply to his associate, we find the plain paths he trod: "You must not wait to be brought forward by the older men. For instance, do you suppose that I should ever have got into notice if I had waited to be hunted up and pushed forward by older men? You young men get together and form a 'Rough and Ready Club,' and have regular meetings and speeches. Take in everybody you can get. Harrison Grimsley, L. A. Enos, Lee Kimball, and C. W. Matheny would do to begin the thing; but as you go along gather up all the shrewd, wild boys about town, whether just of age or a little under age,—Chris. Logan, Reddick Ridgely, Lewis Swizler, and hundreds such. Let every one play the part he can play best,—some speak, some sing, and all 'holler.' Your meetings will be of evenings; the older men and the women will go to hear you; so that it will not only contribute to the election of 'Old Zach,' but will be an interesting pastime, and improving to the intellectual faculties of all engaged. Don't fail to do this."[182]

Lincoln no sooner completed his long term in the Legislature than he cast his eye on a seat in Congress. "Now, if you should hear" he wrote a friend, "any one say that Lincoln don't want to go to Congress, I wish you, as a personal friend of mine, would tell him you have reason to believe he is mistaken. The truth is I would like to go very much. Still, circumstances may happen which may prevent my being a candidate. If there are any who be my friends in such an enterprise, what I now want is that they shall not throw me away just yet."[183]

Lincoln's race for the nomination was full of excitement. When he began his canvass, he was a member of the firm of Logan and Lincoln. Besides Hardin, Baker and Lincoln, Logan also was a candidate. Logan deemed his long service as entitling him to the honor, while Lincoln regarded his legislative career as his claim to distinction. It is not amazing that concord did not dwell in this home of political rivalry. Herndon says he was not, therefore, surprised to have Lincoln rush into his quarters and with more or less agitation tell him that he had determined to sever the partnership with Logan; and Herndon states that although painfully aware of his want of ability and experience, when Lincoln remarked in his earnest, honest way, "Billy, I can trust you if you can trust me," he felt relieved and accepted the generous proposal of legal partnership.[184]

The most dramatic incident in this fight was the contest between Baker and Lincoln. It was a battle between brilliancy and solidity. No man of his time surpassed Baker in dashing eloquence. Handsome, of winning personality, he was the idol of the young men of Springfield. Lincoln was no longer, as at New Salem, the leader of the gang. His alliance with aristocratic Mary Todd, the demands of his profession and a settled life largely sundered the partnership. It was a natural, not a sudden, intentional separation. Strange rumors were afloat that he was no more a friend to the lowly and that he was seeking new ways. Not free to mingle with the people, he could not readily combat the suspicion. And they were ever demanding a perfect embodiment of their conception of heroism. They found it fully in one of the most dramatic heroes and charming personalities in the panorama of American politics—Edward D. Baker.

When the friends of Baker first put forth the charge that Lincoln belonged to a proud family, he was amused. He met it with a laughing remark: "That sounds strange to me, for I do not remember of but one who ever came to see me, and while he was in town he was accused of stealing a Jew's harp."[185] But as the campaign developed in intensity, and he realized that the shameless report was scattered to his harm, he thought bitterly of the false charge. The injustice of the accusation and his incapacity to meet it, quite crushed him. He could meet an open foe with a giant's strength, but the gnat of malignant rumor defied him. Thus the humblest politician that ever trod the soil of the Western continent was not saved from the charge of being "puffed up," and the leader of the lowly traveled in the domain of bitter experience. The enthusiasm of the young men carried the day for Baker in Sangamon County.

After his defeat, Lincoln took his old friend Jim Matheny far into the woods. He unburdened himself, protesting that he was anything but aristocratic and proud. "Why, Jim," he said, "I am now and always shall be the same Abe Lincoln I was when you first saw me."[186]

The story of the defeat as told by Lincoln to Speed, shows much of his political training: "Baker beat me, and got the delegation instructed to go for him. The meeting, in spite of my attempt to decline it, appointed me one of the delegates; so that in getting Baker the nomination I shall be fixed a good deal like a fellow who is made a groomsman to a man who has cut him out and is marrying his own dear 'gal'."[187]

Yet, Lincoln did not at once reconcile himself to the selection of Baker. A letter from his friends in Menard County led him still to contemplate possibilities and induced him to skirmish on the frontier of his duty to the choice of Sangamon County. He wrote to a supporter: "You say you shall instruct your delegates for me unless I object. I certainly shall not object. That would be too pleasant a compliment for me to tread in the dust. And besides if anything should happen (which, however, is not probable) by which Baker should be thrown out of the fight, I would be at liberty to accept the nomination if I could get it."[188]

In this same letter, he gave an account of the factors that conspired to his defeat, saying that it would astonish the older citizens to learn that he (uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flatboat at $10.00 per month) had been put down there as a candidate of pride and wealth; that there was, too, the strangest combination of church influence against him; that Baker was a Campbellite, and with few exceptions got all that church; that his wife had some relations in the Presbyterian churches, and some with the Episcopal churches, and wherever it would tell, he was set down as either one or the other, while it was everywhere contended that no Christian ought to go for him, because he belonged to no church, was suspected of being a deist, and had talked about fighting a duel.[189] In the long letter Lincoln did not even mention the personal strength and popularity of his opponent, or suggest that Baker was the victor by his own merit.

Though Lincoln returned to the practice of his profession with increased devotion, he kept his interest in local and national events. He still remained a student of the whims of individual voters as well as a keen observer of political affairs of general moment. A letter to Hardin at Washington illustrates this: "Knowing that you have correspondents enough, I have forborne to trouble you heretofore; and I now only do so, to get you to set a matter right which has got wrong with one of our best friends. It is old Uncle Thomas Campbell of Spring Creek—(Berlin, P. O.). He has received several documents from you, and he says that they are old newspapers and documents, having no sort of interest in them. He is, therefore, getting a strong impression that you treat him with disrespect. This, I know, is a mistaken impression; and you must correct it. The way, I leave to yourself. Robert W. Canfield says that he would like to have a document or two from you.

"The Locos here are in considerable trouble about Van Buren's letter on Texas, and the Virginia electors. They are growing sick of the Tariff question; and consequently are much confounded at V. B.'s cutting them off from the new Texas question. Nearly half the leaders swear they won't stand it."[190]

As early as 1837, Webster publicly declared that it could not be disguised that a desire, or an intention, was already manifested to annex Texas to the United States.[191] Under the nursing of Tyler and Calhoun, a treaty of annexation was concluded and the scheme almost consummated. The Senate, in 1844, alone stood in the way. The proposal of annexation overtopped all other issues in the campaign of that year. It proved at the time a dominating incident and left abundant traces on American history. Van Buren, rising to the solitary eminence of statesmanship, uttered a firm and subdued protest against the southern policy. But the edict of the Calhoun democracy, that Texas must be annexed was remorseless, and their old friend, Martin Van Buren, in the homely language of Lincoln, was "turned out to root."[192] It proved the beginning of the cleft on the slavery question that in less than twenty years hopelessly divided the successors of the triumphant Jackson party.

In June, 1844, Clay fairly represented the views of the Whigs declaring that the annexation of Texas, at this time, without the consent of Mexico, as a measure compromising the National character, involving war with Mexico, probably with other foreign powers, dangerous to the integrity of the Union, inexpedient in the present financial condition of the country, was not called for by any general expression of public opinion.[193] Later coquetting with southern sympathies on this issue, he modified his opposition to the present annexation of Texas with the fatal statement that he had no hesitation in saying that, far from having any personal objection to the annexation of Texas, he should be glad to see it—without dishonor, without war, with the common consent of the Union and upon just and fair terms.[194] This seeming retreat, despite all explanation, insured his defeat. The diversion gained him no strength in the South and alienated needed support in the North.

The Southern States openly put forth their reasons for annexation. To keep pace with the northern growth they needed new States, otherwise they saw the doom of the institution that they deemed the very palladium of their prosperity and happiness. The unresting Calhoun finally triumphed in awakening dormant fears and sentiments.[195]

The main contention in the famous letter of Jackson was better calculated, than this southern claim, to appeal to the northern democracy, and was more in harmony with the substantial trend of the national destiny. "I do not hesitate to say that the welfare and happiness of our Union require that it should be accepted. If, in a military point of view alone, the question be examined, it will be found to be most important to the United States to be in possession of the territory.

"Great Britain has already made treaties with Texas; and we know that far-seeing nation never omits a circumstance, in her extensive intercourse with the world, which can be turned to account in increasing her military resources. May she not enter into an alliance with Texas?"[196]

While the Texan issue stirred the Garrisonian Abolitionists, it did not allay their hostility to organized political action, they declared that they would open no road to political preferment; that the strength of their cause was in the humble, fervent prayer of the righteous man, which availeth much, and the blessing of that God who had chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty; that it was to be expected that some political wolves would put on the clothing of Abolitionism, and seek to elevate themselves and manage the anti-slavery organization for their own purposes.[D] The political Abolitionists, however, named James G. Birney for President.

There was then, already, a complexity of opinion on the slavery question that shadowed forth the future alignment of parties. While many were confounded by wavering lights, Lincoln picked his way with sure footed precision through maze and pitfall. His unprejudiced mind wondered at the conduct of the "Liberty men" that deprecating the annexation of Texas, deliberately promoted its success by indirection. Their application of the proposition "we are not to do evil that good may come of it" he reduced to plain sophistry, saying that if by their votes they could have prevented the extension of slavery, it would have been good, and not evil, so to have used their votes, even though it involved the casting of them for a slaveholder, and he earnestly asked if the fruit of electing Clay would have been to prevent the extension of slavery, could the act of electing him have been evil?[197] He held that it was a paramount duty of the free States to let the slavery of the other States alone, while it was equally clear that they should never knowingly lend themselves, directly or indirectly, to prevent slavery from dying a natural death—to find new places for it to live in, when it could no longer exist in the old.[198] Here, is clearly announced the seeming paradox that, though slavery was an evil, there still remained the duty to let it alone in the States where it then existed. This further piles up evidence that his views suffered little change with years.

Lincoln boldly participated in the campaign of 1844; Clay was the political hero of his youth and manhood as Washington was of his boyhood. Like many other Whigs, he, too, was enthralled by the magic of the far famed eloquence of the name, that, in the words of the orator who nominated Clay, expressed more enthusiasm, that it had in it more eloquence than the names of Chatham, Burke, Patrick Henry, and, more than any other and all other names together.[199]

During the campaign, Lincoln encountered his former employer, John Calhoun, and other old antagonists. It is said that Calhoun came nearer whipping Lincoln in debate than Douglas did.[200] Nothing survives of those speeches. Still, his enthusiasm and skill in the controversies of the campaign awakened a demand for his services throughout the State. His name as an orator even invaded Indiana. In the closing hours of the contest his voice was heard on the soil that he hastened from some fifteen years before as an adventurer. While speaking at Gentryville, his old friend Nat Grigsby entered the room. Lincoln stopped and crying out "There's Nat," scrambled through the crowd to his modest associate of former days. After greeting him warmly, he returned to the platform. When the speech was done, he passed the rest of the evening with Nat. Then Lincoln insisted that they should sleep together; and long into the night, they talked over old times and were once more Abe and Nat.[201]

The appearance of Clay's August letter stirred the political Abolitionists to fateful activity. They insisted that his antagonism to annexation, not being founded on anti-slavery convictions, was of no account.[202] They polled enough votes to elect pro-slavery Polk. Mingled with the ribaldry, the din and howl of abandoned politicians over the election of Polk, were the exultant shouts of the sober and respectable men of the Liberty Party. They celebrated in unison the victory they both promoted.

The solemn selection of James K. Polk instead of Henry Clay as President, was a discordant incident that the Whig patriot did not linger over willingly. That a pigmy should sit in the seat of the statesman, that a puppet should stand in the place of the nature-dowered son of American policies,—this opinion made Clay's followers doubt the wisdom of republican government. To them this defeat was more than a partisan grief, it was a national loss. From loyal supporters hurried a grand tribute to their uncrowned champion in his retreat: "We will remember you, Henry Clay, while the memory of the glorious or the sense of the good remains in us, with a grateful and admiring affection which shall strengthen with our strength and shall not decline with our decline. We will remember you in all our future trials and reverses as him whose name honored defeat and gave it a glory which victory could not have brought. We will remember you when patriotic hope rallies again to successful contest with the agencies of corruption and ruin; for we will never know a triumph which you do not share in life, whose glory does not accrue to you in death."[203]