No one who has not seen the sordidness,
misery, and apparent hopelessness of the life of the "poor
whites" even today, in the Kentucky and southern Indiana hills,
can fully comprehend the chasm which separated the boy Lincoln
from every sort of progress and distinction.
All three men prepared for public life by embracing the
profession that has always, in this country, proved the surest
avenue to preferment--the law. But, whereas Cass arrived at
maturity just in time to have an active part in the War of 1812,
and in this way to make himself the most logical selection for
the governorship of the newly organized Michigan Territory,
Douglas saw no military service, and Lincoln only a few weeks of
service during the Black Hawk War, and both were obliged to seek
fame and fortune along the thorny road of politics. Following
admission to the bar at Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1834, Douglas
was elected public prosecutor of the first judicial circuit in
1835; elected to the state Legislature in 1836; appointed by
President Van Buren registrar of the land office at Springfield
in 1837; made a judge of the supreme court of the State in 1841;
and elected to the national House of Representatives in 1843.
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