''Abe'' Lincoln's Yarns and Stories - University of Macau Library

Yarns and Stories, by Alexander K. McClure 400Taylor, but at the same time he denounced the free-soilers for helping toelect Cass. Among other things he said that the free-soilers had but oneprinciple and that they reminded him of the Yankee peddler going to sell apair of pantaloons and describing them as "large enough for any man, andsmall enough for any boy."It is an odd fact in history that the prominent Whigs of Massachusetts atthat time became the opponents of Mr. Lincoln's election to the presidencyand the policy of his administration, while the free-soilers, whom hedenounced, were among his strongest supporters, advisers and followers.At the second session of Congress Mr. Lincoln's one act of consequencewas the introduction of a bill providing for the gradual emancipation of theslaves in the District of Columbia. Joshua R. Giddings, the great antislaveryagitator, and one or two lesser lights supported it, but the bill was laid onthe table.After General Taylor's election Mr. Lincoln had the distribution of Federalpatronage in his own Congressional district, and this added much to hispolitical importance, although it was a ceaseless source of worry to him.DECLINES A HIGH OFFICE.Just before the close of his term in Congress Mr. Lincoln was an applicantfor the office of Commissioner of the General Land Office, but wasunsuccessful. He had been such a factor in General Taylor's election thatthe administration thought something was due him, and after his return toIllinois he was called to Washington and offered the Governorship of theTerritory of Oregon. It is likely he would have accepted this had not Mrs.Lincoln put her foot down with an emphatic no.He declined a partnership with a well-known Chicago lawyer and returningto his Springfield home resumed the practice of law.From this time until the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which openedthe way for the admission of slavery into the territories, Mr. Lincoln