Page "Abraham Lincoln" Paragraph 20

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.

On foreign and military policy, Lincoln spoke out against the Mexican – American War, which he attributed to President Polk's desire for " military glory — that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood ".

Lincoln also supported the Wilmot Proviso, which, if it had been adopted, would have banned slavery in any U. S. territory won from Mexico.