Valdez daily prospector., 1917-02-12


 Ipecially English grammar. receiving assistance occasionally from the viii llage schoolmaster. The next year, l1S32, the Black Hawk war broke out, land Lincoln volunteered. He was
 elected captain by a company in Sar.-
 gamon county, and served for a term
 as a soldier. He was very popula:
 with the soldiers because of his great Istrength and agility and his story tell ling ability. In 1892 he was candi-
 date for the Illinois legislature, but
 was defeated. He was appointed post master at New Salem. The small store which he had opened at that Iplace was not a success and an oppor'
 tunity presenting itself to assist the
 county surveyor, Lincoln eagerly ac
 cepted the employment, and although he had never studied surveying he se-
 cured a treatise on the subject, and
 mastering it, did the work and did
 it well.
 1 He then took up the study of law,
 borrowing all the books available, and
 in the autumn of 1856 obta'ued a
 license to practice law, and rose r1p-
 idly in his profession. Two years be-
 fore this in 1884, he had been elected to the Illinois legislature, and was re- elected in 1886, 1888 and 1S40. Stephen A. Douglas also became a
 member of the legislature ir 1s"d,
 and the two men quickly became par ty leaders on their respective sides of
 the House, and thus their political courses and political rivalries began
 almost together.
 While a member of the legislature Lincoln first evinced his decided aver sion to slavery, taking the most deci- sive stand on the subject when some strong pro-slavery resolutions were passed by the legislature, and putting l. on the journal of the House formal protest against the resolutions.
 In April, 1886, Lincoln removed from New Salem to Springfield, the capital, which was afterward his per- manent abode. In the presidential campaign of 1S44 he made number of strong and effective speeches for Henry Clay. In this and other cam paigns his reputation as an eloquent and influential public speaker Was greatly increased. In 1846 he was elected to Congress as a Whig by | large majority. At the expiration of his term of office he devoted himself as assiduously to the study and prac- tice of law, while still doing duty in the field of politics.
 In 1S46-5O he was a candidate for United States senator before the Hi nois legislature, but was defeated. With the repeal of the Missouri Con- promise came on anew and with ad- ded force the slavery agitation. The 'Kansas-Nebraska bill, with the vio~
 lence and iniquities connected with it stirred to it's very depth the soul ot MT. Lincoln Regarding all this ac- 1 tion as a most unjustifiable breach C' political faith he sprang to the front to denounce it's injustice and wrong. He was at once the acknowledged anti-slavery leader of Illinois. His de- ates with Stephen A. Douglas on the slavery question were of masterly character. His fame began to widen ibeyond the boundaries of his Own state. In 1856 the Republican party of Illinois was formally organized. Lincoln took an active part in the or ganization of the party and was it's first candidate for United States Sen ator.
 In his great speech following the Springfield convention of 1856 1t which he was nominated as United States Senator, he said, "A house di- vided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot en- dure permanently half slave and half free. do not expect the Union to be dissolved-I do not expect the house to fall-but do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all enc thing or the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place tt where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall be- come alike lawful in all the states old as well as new, North as we'll as South." His great speech at Cooper lnsti- ute, New York City. February 27, 1860, made him lasting reputation l, |, x.> ., nh o,,t tho country and the WOrlC