of a bill which removed the seat of government to Springfield, and was regarded as a good debater.  In this session, too, he and Daniel Stone, the two representatives from Sangamon County, introduced a resolution declaring that the institution of slavery was “founded on both injustice and bad policy;” that the Congress had no power to interfere with slavery in the States; that it had power in the District of Columbia, but should not exercise it unless at the request of the people of the District.  There were no votes for these resolutions, but it is interesting to see how early Lincoln took both moral and constitutional ground concerning national action on this vexed question.

In March, 1837, Lincoln, then twenty-eight years old, was admitted to the bar, and made choice of Springfield, the new capital, as a residence, then a thriving village of one or two thousand inhabitants, with some pretension to culture and refinement.  It was certainly a political, if not a social, centre.  The following year he was again elected to the legislature, and came within a few votes of being made Speaker of the House.  He carried on the practice of the law with his duties as a legislator.  Indeed, law and politics went hand in hand; as a lawyer he gained influence in the House of Representatives, and as a member of the legislature he increased his practice in the courts.  He had for a partner a Major Stuart, who in 1841 left him, having been elected Representative in Congress, and was succeeded in the firm by Stephen T. Logan.  Lincoln’s law practice was far from lucrative, and he was compelled to live in the strictest economy.  Litigation was very simple, and it required but little legal learning to conduct cases.  The lawyers’ fees were small among a people who were mostly poor.  Considering, however, his defective education and other disadvantages, Lincoln’s success as a lawyer was certainly respectable, if not great, in his small sphere.

In 1840, three years after his admission to the bar, Lincoln was chosen as an elector in the Harrison presidential contest, and he stumped the State, frequently encountering Stephen A. Douglas in debate, with great credit to himself, for Douglas was the most prominent political orator of the day.  The heart of Lincoln, from the start, was in politics rather than the law, for which he had no especial liking.  He was born to make speeches in political gatherings, and not to argue complicated legal questions in the courts.  All his aspirations were political.  As early as 1843 he aspired to be a member of Congress, but was defeated by Colonel Baker.  In 1846, however, his political ambition was gratified by an election to the House of Representatives.  His record in Congress was a fair one; but he was not distinguished, although great questions were being discussed in connection with the Mexican War.  He made but three speeches during his term, in the last of which he ridiculed General Cass’s aspiration for the presidency with considerable humor and wit, which was not lost on his constituents.  His career in Congress terminated in 1848, he not being re-elected.