How Abraham Lincoln became president . s,an ambition in which he was finally successful. Lincolnscareer in Congress, covering only one term, has been fre-quently pronounced a failure. And so it was, from theviewpoint of achievement in Congress, as well as withrespect to popularity at home. But the fault was charge-able less to Lincoln than to his party. Lincolns servicein Congress came during the Mexican War, and theWhig party was on the unpopular side; it had opposedthe war in the belief that it was being waged in the inter-est of the slave power. At the end of his term the Spring-field distr
How Abraham Lincoln became president . s,an ambition in which he was finally successful. Lincolnscareer in Congress, covering only one term, has been fre-quently pronounced a failure. And so it was, from theviewpoint of achievement in Congress, as well as withrespect to popularity at home. But the fault was charge-able less to Lincoln than to his party. Lincolns servicein Congress came during the Mexican War, and theWhig party was on the unpopular side; it had opposedthe war in the belief that it was being waged in the inter-est of the slave power. At the end of his term the Spring-field district sent a new Congressman to asked for a federal appointment; he wanted tobe Commissioner of the General Land Office; but hefailed to get the office. He was offered an appointmentas Governor of Oregon Territory; but he declined toaccept it, and he came home, chagrined and dejected,resolved to quit politics forever. After 1849 Lincolns retirement from politics wascomplete. In 1850 Congress enacted the famous com- 27. How Abraham Lincoln Became President. 29 promise, a series of measures designed to settle the con-flict between the North and the South with respect toslavery. Thus was removed apparently the only vitalissue that remained to divide political parties. True,there were a good many issues, but they were com-paratively unimportant; the party organizations wereheld together mainly by those who cared everything foroffice, but much less for political principles. For a half dozen years Lincoln practiced his professionassiduously. He followed the custom of the day and onhorseback, in company with other lawyers, traveled fromcounty to county, trying cases before the judges whogenerally traveled with the lawyers. Lincoln by degreesbecame one of the leading lawyers of his time in were other lawyers whose fees were larger, but itmay well be doubted if, in point of ability and of successat the bar, Lincoln had any superior among his profes-sional
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