The selection of Butterfield for the General Land Office did not shake the efforts of the friends of Lincoln to secure recognition of his valiant services in the Whig ranks. He was tendered the governorship of Oregon by Fillmore. The new land held forth enticing political promises, it was soon to become a state and a senatorship was a fair prospect. Close associates advised acceptance. Lamon says that Lincoln saw it all, and would have accepted "if his wife consented," but she refused to do so; and that time has shown that she was right.[264] What part Lincoln would have played in history if he had become a senator from Oregon may be interesting but none the less vain speculation. If the Lincoln and Douglas debates had been shifted from the prairies of Illinois to the national arena at Washington, who can say that Lincoln and Douglas might not have become rivals for the Presidency? It has been quite the fashion to assume that the Senate would have been destructive to the future of Lincoln, overlooking the plain fact that the National Assembly was the home of the renown of Douglas and his ladder to the Presidential nomination. Lincoln was not spoiled by the highest office in the land and there is no surety that the senate would have proved the grave of his career.
Two scant years of Congressional life worked a change in the politician from Illinois. He had come in a subdued mood to mingle in national affairs. Shrinkingly, he measured his humble equipment with that of illustrious legislators in Washington. While he left a respectable, but not an eminent record of achievement, he departed with a store of confidence in his worth. His intimate association with northern and southern leaders, his sure, inner knowledge of national legislative methods, his insight into the uncompromising character of the slavery controversy were not wasted in the part he was soon to play in events that would shake the very foundation of the nation.
Still, he returned to Springfield unhonored. In the opinion of his constituency, he made a series of blunders. His attitude on the war lost the district to the Whig party. His "Spot Resolutions" had become a by-word in the community, they were liberally satired in song and story. The political career of Lincoln had seemingly come to an inglorious conclusion.
CHAPTER X
THE SCHOOL OF SOLITUDE
Upon his return from Washington, Abraham Lincoln attended to a growing legal practice. He apparently lost his interest in communal matters, having tasted the allurements and bitterness of public service. He had largely outgrown the passion for ordinary official distinction. He was ready to go back to the circuit with its hardships and rudeness. To win renown as a lawyer now seemed his sole ambition.
Still as the compromise measures of 1850 ended another national crisis, he readily renewed his interest in the march of events. A loyal Whig, still, he acceded to the Clay and Webster solution of the perturbed political conditions with some misgiving. He poorly tolerated the burdens added to the yoke of the fugitive slave—the premium placed upon bondage rather than freedom. During this stormy period of general controversy, in his lonely way he settled the main issue. A story told by a close friend is significant of the seriousness of the struggle. As they were coming down a hill, Herndon said to Lincoln that the time was coming when they should all have to be either Abolitionists or Democrats. Lincoln thought a moment and then answered ruefully that when that time came his mind would be made up, for he believed the slavery question could never be successfully compromised.[265]