what political experience did abraham lincoln have?
United States Representative President of the United States Member of Illinois House of Representatives
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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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 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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 On May 9 – 10 , 1860 , the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in Decatur . Lincoln 's followers organized a campaign team led by David Davis , Norman Judd , Leonard Swett , and Jesse DuBois , and Lincoln received his first endorsement to run for the presidency . Exploiting the embellished legend of his frontier days with his father ( clearing the land and splitting fence rails with an ax ) , Lincoln 's supporters adopted the label of " The Rail Candidate " . In 1860 Lincoln described himself : " I am in height , six feet , four inches , nearly ; lean in flesh , weighing , on an average , one hundred and eighty pounds ; dark complexion , with coarse black hair , and gray eyes . " His biographers added that he had a : 

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 Lincoln 's first romantic interest was Ann Rutledge , whom he met when he first moved to New Salem ; by 1835 , they were in a relationship but not formally engaged . She died at the age of 22 on August 25 , 1835 , most likely of typhoid fever . In the early 1830s , he met Mary Owens from Kentucky when she was visiting her sister . 

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 Abraham Lincoln lived in Indiana from 1816 until 1830 , age 7 to 21 . It was during these years that Lincoln first encountered slavery and began to form his opinions . Growing up in a climate where the state politics were run by men like Jennings and Pennington would have much influence on the development of Lincoln 's views . 
