In the national convention at Philadelphia, in 1848, Mr. Lincoln was a
delegate and advocated the nomination of General Taylor.
After the nomination of General Taylor, or “Old Zach,” or “rough and
Ready,” as he was called, Mr. Lincoln made a tour of New York and
several New England States, making speeches for his candidate.
Mr. Lincoln went to New England in this campaign on account of the
great defection in the Whig party. General Taylor’s nomination was
unsatisfactory to the free-soil element, and such leaders as Henry
Wilson, Charles Francis Adams, Charles Allen, Charles Sumner, Stephen
C. Phillips, Richard H. Dana, Jr., and Anson Burlingame, were in open
revolt. Mr. Lincoln’s speeches were confined largely to a defense of
General Taylor, but at the same time he denounced the free-soilers for
helping to elect Cass. Among other things he said that the free-soilers
had but one principle and that they reminded him of the Yankee peddler
going to sell a pair of pantaloons and describing them as “large enough
for any man, and small enough for any boy.”
It is an odd fact in history that the prominent Whigs of Massachusetts
at that time became the opponents of Mr. Lincoln’s election to the
presidency and the policy of his administration, while the free-soilers,
whom he denounced, were among his strongest supporters, advisers and
followers.
At the second session of Congress Mr. Lincoln’s one act of consequence
was the introduction of a bill providing for the gradual emancipation
of the slaves in the District of Columbia. Joshua R. Giddings, the great
antislavery agitator, and one or two lesser lights supported it, but the
bill was laid on the table.
After General Taylor’s election Mr. Lincoln had the distribution of
Federal patronage in his own Congressional district, and this added much
to his political importance, although it was a ceaseless source of worry
to him.