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Lengthy on Lincoln taking center stage on the debate regarding the Mexican War...



Item # 692510

January 20, 1848

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER, Washington, D.C., January 20, 1848 

* Early Abraham Lincoln
* Speech re. Mexican War


The back page has an uncommonly lengthy report on Lincoln speaking in the House of Representatives questioning President Polk's judgement on entering and prosecuting the Mexican War.
This Lincoln report takes fully 2 1/2 columns. Portions include: "...Mr. LINCOLN, of Ill. said that without wasting the time of the committee with any preliminary remarks, he would proceed at once, he said, to the consideration of the subject he proposed to discuss....He (Mr. L.) was inclined to think he wold have adhered to that view even yet, were it not that the President himself and some of his friends would not permit those to be silent...The first item was that the western boundary of Louisiana, as we purchased it of France, was the Rio Grande. The next was, that the Republic of Texas always claimed the Rio Grande to be her western boundary...He now wished to state briefly what he understood to be the true rule for the purpose of determining what was the boundary between Texas and Mexico..." and so much more.
Lincoln even got a chuckle in Congress with his comment about President Polk: "...In all this the President showed himself dissatisfied with the conclusions he had assumed...he then took up another and went through the same process and returned to the first; showing himself dissatisfied with all, and appearing like a man on a hot shovel, finding no place on which he could settle down (Laughter)...".
Additionally there are two brief mentions of Lincoln's actions in Congress (shown in photos) plus a small report on a lively debate in the Senate involving Jefferson Davis.
Quite uncommon to find such a lengthy report on Lincoln from early in his political career. He was 38 years old at the time.
Four pages, minor rubbing to the top portion of the front page, minimal foxing, good condition.

Category: Pre-Civil War