The Local Politics of Lincoln

A Future President and the Rise of Republicanism

Apr 28, 2008

Abraham Lincoln's early political careers shows tremendous potential, as his intelligence and devotion to his beliefs carried him up the political ladder.

Surely, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the most written-about President of the nineteenth century. A tremendous number of material has been composed on his presidency and on the war over which he presided than anything else of that era.

Indeed, it is this period of history which is almost universally declared to be, along with the period of the Revolution, the most important and defining moment ever experienced in America.

Far less has been written, however, about the life led by President Lincoln prior to his national fame - the period which saw him grow politically and ideology into that President who has survived through history and whose legacy has grown to nearly mythic proportions.

A Humble Upbringing

The early life of Abraham Lincoln is fairly well-known - especially his birth in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky. His family moved to Indiana in 1816, and finally to New Salem, Illinois, which would be the scene of Lincoln's greatest triumphs, in 1830, when the young man was already 21 years old.

Even at this point, however, Lincoln had only been moderately educated, and at the point where more affluent young men might already be set to finish their schooling and embark on their careers, Lincoln had accumulated only 18 or so months of schooling throughout his life (though through self-teaching and avid reading he had learned a great deal).

His first couple years in Illinois were spent navigating the local rivers, including a job carrying goods on a flatboat down the Mississippi all the way to New Orleans (his second such trip, actually, the first one being at the age of 19 from Indiana). One of the results of Lincoln's time on rivers, was his invention in 1848 of a device that would lift stranded flatboats off sandbars (which made him the only President ever to hold a patent), though the device was never actually manufactured.

Entry into Politics

In 1832, Lincoln ran for his first position, as a representative to the Illinois state legislature. Instead of campaigning for the position, though, the young man headed off to volunteer in the Blackhawk war which had just broken out. Elected captain of his company (which Lincoln saw as one of the great triumphs of his life), he served for a couple months, though never saw any action.

By the time he returned home to New Salem, he had little time to campaign, and thus lost the election (coming in 9th out of 13 candidates).

In between 1832 and 1834, however, Lincoln discovered a passion for teaching himself law. During this time, as well, President Jackson appointed Lincoln Postmaster of New Salem (not exactly a highly coveted position, but an honor nonetheless).

Two years after losing his first election, Lincoln tried again for the position, this time with success.

In 1836 he passed the state bar exam and in 1837 recieved his license.

Throughout his four terms in the state legislature, Abraham Lincoln firmly aligned himself with the Whig party, voting to support abolitionists (though continuing to oppose, along with the majority of Illinois residents, citizenship for free blacks), a state bank and internal improvement programs, as well as campaigning for such Whig candidates as William Henry Harrison.

A Rising Star

By the time Lincoln left the state legislature in 1841 to focus on his law practice, he had become a popular politician in Illinois, and one of the leaders of the local Whig party (a party which would not last much longer). He also married his wife, Mary Todd, in 1842.

After five years of tirelessly practicing law in Illinois, Lincoln decided to enter public life once again, this time on a national stage, running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846.

With his arrival in Washington, Lincoln would begin to further his popularity; popularity which would eventually lead him to the White House during the nation's most troubled time.