Looking for Lincoln - Lincoln and the “Long Nine” - Vandalia, Illinois - Illinois Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Lincoln and the “Long Nine”
The delegation from Sangamon County for the 1836-1837 Session of the legislature quickly became known as the “Long Nine.”

The seven representatives and two senators were all six feet or taller. Five were lawyers, three were farmers, and one was an innkeeper. Seven were originally from the South and two from the North.

The representatives included: Abe Lincoln who at age twenty-seven was the youngest of the group: John Dawson, the oldest at age forty-five, and the father of ten children; William F. Elkin who was forty-four and the father of thirteen children; Ninian W. Edwards the aristocratic son of the former Territorial Governor Ninian Edwards who was twenty-nine; Andrew McCormick, age thirty-five, who weighed almost three hundred punds; Daniel Stone who ws a college-educated lawyer, a native of Vermont and a former Ohio legislator and Robert L. Wilson, thirty-one, who was a one-term member of the legislature and father of eight children. The senators were: Job Fletcher, the father of seven children and a resident of Sangamon County since 1819 and Archer G. Herndon, a business man and the father of William Herndon, who later became Lincoln’s law partner.

The Long Nine, who towered over the other legislators, were united in accomplishing two goals: passing a bill for internal improvements in the state and moving the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield. They were successful in achieving both of these goals. These two political objectives served to advance their own political careers – and to give the Whig Party a higher profile in the eyes of Illinois voters.

In 1836 all the members of the Long Nine were Whigs or at least “Whiggish.” Party lines were still not clearly marked. This was Lincoln’s second term in office. In the 1834 session of the legislature, he was a freshman representative and did not play a prominent leadership role. Since that first session, and at least partially because of his experiences at that session, he now became a much more effective politician and leader. The experiences and people that Lincoln was exposed to in Vandalia prepared him for his future role as the leader, not just of a delegation from Sangamon County, but of the whole country.

No photograph of Lincoln from the Vandalia years exists. This portrait was taken by Alexander Hesler in 1857 and used during the Lincoln-Douglas senatorial campaign of 1858.

County: Fayette County Historical Society: Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition Dedication Date: 2008/01/01 Location: On the grounds of the old State Capitol - East Side Website: [Web Link]

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