what important office did abraham lincoln hold?
United States Representative President of the United States Member of Illinois House of Representatives
entailment
 The usual tradition was for the leading figure of the winning party to be offered the position of Secretary of State , the most senior Cabinet post . Seward was that man and around December 12 , the vice president @-@ elect , Maine Senator Hannibal Hamlin , offered Seward the position on Lincoln 's behalf . At Weed 's advice , Seward was slow to formally accept , doing so on December 28 , 1860 , though well before Inauguration Day , March 4 , 1861 . Lincoln remained in Illinois until mid @-@ February , and he and Seward communicated by letter . 

neutral
 For President Abraham Lincoln the proclamation created a difficult situation , as he tried to balance the agendas of Radical Republicans who favored abolition and slave @-@ holding Unionists in the American border states whose support was essential in keeping the states of Missouri , Kentucky and Maryland in the Union . 

entailment
 Historians agree that it is impossible to predict exactly what Lincoln would have done about Reconstruction if he had lived , but they make projections based on his known policy positions and political acumen . Lincoln biographers James G. Randall and Richard Current , according to David Lincove , argue that : 

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 In 1846 , Lincoln was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives , where he served one two @-@ year term . He was the only Whig in the Illinois delegation , but he showed his party loyalty by participating in almost all votes and making speeches that echoed the party line . Lincoln , in collaboration with abolitionist Congressman Joshua R. Giddings , wrote a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia with compensation for the owners , enforcement to capture fugitive slaves , and a popular vote on the matter . He abandoned the bill when it failed to garner sufficient Whig supporters . 

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 Lincoln faced three major opponents . A split in the Democratic Party had led northerners to nominate Senator Douglas , while southerners chose Vice President John C. Breckenridge . The Constitutional Union Party selected former Tennessee senator John Bell . As Lincoln would not even be on the ballot in ten southern states , he needed to win almost every northern state to take the presidency . Douglas was said to be strong in Illinois and Indiana , and if he took those , the election might be thrown into the House of Representatives . Seward was urged to undertake a campaign tour of the Midwest in support of Lincoln and did so for five weeks in September and October , attracting huge crowds . He journeyed by rail and boat as far north as Saint Paul , Minnesota , into the border state of Missouri at St. Louis , and even to Kansas Territory , though it had no electoral votes to cast in the election . When the train passed through Springfield , Seward and Lincoln were introduced , with Lincoln appearing " embarrassed " and Seward " constrained " . In his oratory , Seward spoke of the U.S. as a " tower of freedom " , a Union that might even include Canada , Latin America , and Russian America . 
