whig votes gave him the necessary majority. The man who started in with
five votes won the prize. Lincoln not only failed to get into the
senate, but he was out of the legislature.

In commenting on this defeat of Lincoln for the United States senate,
the present writer wishes first of all to disavow all superstitions and
all belief in signs. But there is one fact which is worthy of mention,
and for which different persons will propose different explanations. It
is a fact that in all the history of the United States no person has
been elected direct from the senate to the presidency. This is the more
interesting because the prominent senator wields a very powerful
influence, an influence second only to that of the President himself.
When one considers the power of a leading senator, one would suppose
that that was the natural stepping-stone to the presidency. But history
does not support this supposition. It teaches the opposite.

Many prominent senators have greatly desired to be president, but no
one has succeeded unless he first retired from the senate. Among the
more widely known aspirants to the presidency who have been
unsuccessful, are Jackson (his first candidacy), Clay, Webster,
Douglas, Morton, Seward, Sherman, and Blaine. So many failures may be a
mere coincidence. On the other hand there may be a reason for them.
They seem to teach that the senate is not the best start for the
presidential race, but the worst.

The history of ethics teaches that the most determined hostility
against the best is the good, not the bad. So it may be that in the
politics of this country, the greatest obstacle to the highest position
may be the next highest.