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had cleared away, he would ever be remembered as one “whose name honored defeat and gave it a glory which victory could not have brought.”
In Lincoln's case his disappointment was no greater than that of any other Whig.
Many persons have yielded to the impression that Mr. Lincoln visited Clay at his home in Lexington and felt a personal loss in his defeat, but such is not the case.
He took no more gloomy view of the situation than the rest of his party.
He had been a leading figure himself in other campaigns, and was fully inured to the chilling blasts of defeat.
They may have driven him in, but only for a short time, for he soon evinced a willingness to test the temper of the winds again.
No sooner had Baker been elected to Congress in August 1844, than Lincoln began to manifest a longing for the tempting prize to be contended for in 1846.
Hardin and Baker both having been required to content themselves with a single term each, the struggle among Whig aspirants narrowed down to Logan and Lincoln.1 The latter's claim
1 The Whig candidates for Congress in the Springfield district “rotated” in the following order: Baker succeeded Hardin in 1844, Lincoln was elected in 1846, and Logan was nominated but defeated in 1848. Lincoln publicly declined to contest the nomination with Baker in 1844; Hardin did the same for Lincoln in 1846--although both seem to have acted reluctantly; and Lincoln refused to run against Logan in 1848. Many persons insist that an agreement among these four conspicuous Whig leaders to content themselves with one term each actually existed. There Is, however, no proof of any bargain, although there seems to have been a tacit understanding of the kind — maintained probably to keep other and less tractable candidates out of the field.
The Herndon's Lincoln Pubishing Company, Springfield, Ill., 1888.
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