Bulletin. [Vol. 37, no. 1]

BULLETIN oft/i
ra al&Lnco,

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December, r1_?4

07 SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS

Lincoln: Voter and Candidate
By BENJAMIN P. THOMAS
PART TWO

IN 1838, when Lincoln was elected
to the Legislature for the third
time, the Sangamon Democrats,
knowing that theirs was a forlorn
hope, advocated the election of a
divided delegation-four Whigs and
four Democrats-to the House of
Representatives and Senate. They
hoped by so doing to secure the votes
of those Whigs who resented the
''domination"~ of the ''Springfield
J unto," which was composed of Logan, Lincoln, Baker and twelve or
fifteen other Whig politicians.
In this election division of the
county was again an issue with the
Democrats generally favoring and
the Whigs opposing it. The people
of, Petersburg and vicinity were especially anxious for division, as Petersburg was the prospective county seat
of the proposed new county. Petersburg and Sand Ridge precincts went
Democratic by ten to one and New
Salem by eight to one. For the first
time Lincoln failed to carry those
precincts. In Sand Ridge, however,
to which many of the Clary's Grove

boys had moved, his 55 votes were 37
more than those of the next highest
Whig. In New Salem his 3' votes
were more than twice the number received by the next highest Whig. In
Petersburg he got 55 votes, 37 more
than any other Whig. Athens precinct went Whig, with Lincoln leading all the candidates. In Huron,
which was also carried by the Whigs,
Lincoln likewise led. For the rest,
his strength was fairly well distributed
throughout the' county.
In New Salem, Hill, Onstot, Allen,
and Clarke, who had voted for
Lincoln in 1836, now voted against
him. Alexander Ferguson, William
Greene, Sr., Felix Greene, James M.
Berry, the Presbyterian minister,
Jacob Bale and George Warburton
also voted against him. Joshua Miller, Jack Kelso, Hardin Bale, Martin
Waddell and Mentor Graham voted
for him, although all of them voted
Democratic on the remainder of the
ticket.
Lincoln himself voted the straight
Whig ticket, except that be followed