From 1816 to 1819 he was a delegate to
Congress from Ohio; from 1825 to 1828, a United State Senator; and in
1828 and 1829, United States Minister to Colombia. In 1836 he was the
Whig candidate for the Presidency, but was defeated. Four years
later (1840) he was elected, but lived for only one month after his
inauguration.]
"Mr. Lincoln stood in a wagon, from which he addressed the mass of
people that surrounded it. The meeting was one of unusual interest
because of him who was to make the principal address. It was at the
time of his greatest physical strength. He was tall, and perhaps a
little more slender than in later life, and more homely than after he
became stouter in person. He was then only thirty-one years of age,
and yet he was regarded as one of the ablest of the Whig speakers in
that campaign. There was that in him that attracted and held public
attention. Even then he was the subject of popular regard because of
his candid and simple mode of discussing and illustrating political
questions. At times he was intensely logical, and was always most
convincing in his arguments. The questions involved in that canvass
had relation to the tariff, internal public improvements by the
federal government, the distribution of the proceeds of the sales
of public lands among the several States, and other questions
that divided the political parties of that day.
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