ROBERT LANG WILSON was born in Pennsylvania in 1805. In 1831 he went
to Kentucky; in 1833 removed to Sangamon County, Illinois; in 1836 was
elected to the Illinois House. He removed to Sterling, Illinois, in
1840, and died there in 1880. For some years he was paymaster in the
United States Army.

JOHN DAWSON was born in Virginia in 1791; he removed to Sangamon
County, Illinois, in 1827. He was elected to the lower house of the
legislature in 1830, 1834, 1836, 1838, and 1846. He was a member of
the constitutional convention of 1847. He died November 12, 1850.

The other members of the "Long Nine" were Abraham Lincoln, Daniel
Stone, Andrew McCormick, and Arthur Herndon.]


LINCOLN IN THE TENTH ASSEMBLY OF ILLINOIS

In December Lincoln put away his surveying instruments to go to
Vandalia for the opening session of the Tenth Assembly. Larger by
fifty members than its predecessor, this body was as much superior
in intellect as in numbers. It included among its members a future
President of the United States, a future candidate for the same high
office, six future United States Senators, eight future members of the
National House of Representatives, a future Secretary of the Interior,
and three future Judges of the State Supreme Court. Here sat side by
side Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas; Edward Dickinson Baker,
who represented at different times the States of Illinois and Oregon
in the national councils; O.H. Browning, a prospective senator and
future cabinet officer, and William L.D. Ewing, who had just served
in the senate; John Logan, father of the late General John A.