Looking for Lincoln - First Elective Office - Vandalia, Illinois
Posted by: 
gparkes
N 38° 57.664 W 089° 05.687
16S E 318501 N 4314542
This is the sixth marker of a series of ten around Vandalia, Illinois, in celebration of the 200th birthday of Abraham
Waymark Code: WM71PB
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 08/19/2009
Views: 5
First Elective Office
Lincoln was a younger man when he began his first term as a state representative. He was just twenty-five years old, having just arrived in Illinois four years earlier with his extended family. Vandalia’s statue of Abraham Lincoln presents him as he would have appeared during this time period, seated on a bench reading a copy of the Vandalia Whig newspaper.
On December 1, 1834 Abraham Lincoln entered the State Capitol that stood on this site. This was his first term as a state representative and the first time he held elective office. The Abraham Lincoln that began his political career on that December day was not yet the national hero that is brought to mind with the mere mention of his name. He had spent his life in Kentucky, Indiana, and the preceding four years, in Illinois. Lincoln had moved to New Salem just three years earlier. Many historians believe that Lincoln’s early interest in the legislature was, in part, due to the fact that it paid better than most other pursuits available to him. By serving in the state legislature, Lincoln rejected once and for all the backbreaking labor of subsistence farming as practiced by his father, Thomas Lincoln. Young Abraham had detested farm life in Kentucky and Indiana, and the Illinois legislature offered him a proven path to self-advancement.
County: Fayette County
Historical Society: Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition
Dedication Date: 2008/01/01
Location: West side of 4th Street
Website: [Web Link]
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