may indeed be called the school wherein he learned that
extraordinary skill and wisdom in statesmanship which he
exhibited in later years. In 1838 and 1840 all the Whig members
of the Illinois House of Representatives gave him their vote for
Speaker, but, the Democrats being in a majority, could not elect
him.

His campaign expenses were small enough to suit the most
exacting. It is recorded that at one time some of the leading
Whigs made up a purse of two hundred dollars to pay his personal
expenses. After the election he returned the sum of $199.25, with
the request that it be given back to the subscribers. "I did not
need the money," he explained. "I made the canvass on my own
horse; my entertainment, being at the houses of friends, cost me
nothing; and my only outlay was seventy-five cents for a barrel
of cider, which some farm-hands insisted I should treat them to."

One act of his while a member of the legislature requires special
mention because of the great events of his after-life. Even at
that early date, nearly a quarter of a century before the
beginning of the Civil War, slavery was proving a cause of much
trouble and ill-will. The "abolitionists," as the people were
called who wished the slaves to be free, and the "pro-slavery"
men, who approved of keeping them in bondage, had already come to
wordy war. Illinois was a free State, but many of its people
preferred slavery, and took every opportunity of making their
wishes known. In 1837 the legislature passed a set of resolutions
"highly disapproving abolition societies." Lincoln and five
others voted against it; but, not content with this, Lincoln also
drew up a paper protesting against the passage of such a