on, it need only be said that it was as intelligent and
beneficial to the public interest as that of the best of his colleagues.
The most serious error committed by the legislature of Illinois during
that period was that it enacted laws setting on foot an extensive system
of internal improvements, in the form of railroads and canals,
altogether beyond the actual needs of transportation for the then
existing population of the State, and the consequent reckless creation
of a State debt for money borrowed at extravagant interest and liberal
commissions. The State underwent a season of speculative intoxication,
in which, by the promised and expected rush of immigration and the
swelling currents of its business, its farms were suddenly to become
villages, its villages spreading towns, and its towns transformed into
great cities, while all its people were to be made rich by the increased
value of their land and property. Both parties entered with equal
recklessness into this ill-advised internal improvement system, which in
the course of about four years brought the State to bankruptcy, with no
substantial works to show for the foolishly expended millions.

In voting for these measures, Mr. Lincoln represented the public opinion
and wish of his county and the whole State; and while he was as
blamable, he was at the same time no more so than the wisest of his
colleagues. It must be remembered in extenuation that he was just
beginning his parliamentary education. From the very first, however, he
seems to have become a force in the legislature, and to have rendered
special service to his constituents. It is conceded that the one object
which Springfield and the most of Sangamon County had at heart was the
removal of the capital from Vandalia to that place. This was
accomplished in 1836, and the management of the measure appears to have
been intrusted mainly to Mr. Lincoln.

One incident of his legislative career stands out in such prominent
relation to the great events of his after life that it deserves special
explanation and emphasis. Even at that early date, a quarter of a
century before the outbreak of the Civil War, the slavery question was
now and then obtruding itself as an irritating and perplexing element
into the local legislation of almost every new State. Illinois, though
guaranteed its freedom by the Ordinance of 1787, nevertheless underwent
a severe political struggle in which, about four years after her
admission