Lincoln Enters Politics, Historic 1840 Document

Autograph document signed by Douglas Spear, Clerks of Election. Menard County, Illinois, 2 November 1840. 1 page, 4to.

A rare and historic document from the earliest days of Abraham Lincoln's involvement in politics.

Dated 1840, in an "election held at New Market in the Indian Creek precinct in the county of Menard and State of Illinois,” Lincoln is listed here with nine other men and the number of votes each received as electors in the 1840 Presidential election. As a Whig elector, Lincoln is recorded as receiving 27 votes in this precinct.

This was the first year that Lincoln served as a presidential elector. In that role, he would give stump speeches on behalf of presidential candidate William Henry Harrison throughout southern Illinois, writing in 1860 that he "spent much time and labor in the canvasses" (Works, VI, p. 34). He was also involved in party management, organizing the first Whig Illinois State Convention, held in October 1839, and the Young Men's Whig Convention held in June 1840. Additionally, he was an editor and likely a financial backer of the Whig campaign publication, “The Old Soldier.”

[Politics, Abraham Lincoln, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Martin van Buren, Illinois, Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Republican Party, Whig Party, Civil War, Union]