Men of
either wealth or position were still too few to fill its ranks. Energy,
ambition talent, were necessarily the standard of admission; and
Lincoln, though poor as a church mouse, was as welcome as those who
could wear ruffled shirts and carry gold watches. The meetings of the
legislature at Springfield then first brought together that splendid
group of young men of genius whose phenomenal careers and distinguished
services have given Illinois fame in the history of the nation. It is a
marked peculiarity of the American character that the bitterest foes in
party warfare generally meet each other on terms of perfect social
courtesy in the drawing-rooms of society; and future presidential
candidates, cabinet members, senators, congressmen, jurists, orators,
and battle heroes lent the little social reunions of Springfield a zest
and exaltation never found--perhaps impossible--amid the heavy,
oppressive surroundings of conventional ceremony, gorgeous upholstery,
and magnificent decorations.
It was at this period also that Lincoln began to feel and exercise his
expanding influence and powers as a writer and speaker. Already, two
years earlier, he had written and delivered before the Young Men's
Lyceum of Springfield an able address upon "The Perpetuation of Our
Political Institutions," strongly enforcing the doctrine of rigid
obedience to law.
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