Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/11

 740612 Edward Dickinson Baker. 3 of a brigade at Cerro Gordo, and at the close of the war removed to Galena, Illinois, and was elected to the thirty- first Congress, serving from December 3, 1849, to March 31, 1851, when he declined a re-election. While he was a Whig, and his party as such opposed the prosecution of the war. Baker was in favor of its vigorous prosecution. As a slight token of the esteem in which he was held by the people of his state, and as showing approval of his conduct and position in favoring the war with Mexico, the State of Illinois presented him with a sword. As some evidence of the natural bent of his genius, and as a forecast of the fervid patriotism which distinguished his life, it must be noted that his first public career began in the volunteer service in the defense of the pioneer-settlers of his adopted state, and for the protection of the homes of its people from savage warfare ; and that his next decisive step indicating his willingness to serve his country first in the perils of war, was his resignation as a member of Congress that he might raise a regiment in his state for the Mexican War. On the 4th of July, 1837, Mr. Baker delivered the oration at the laying of the cornerstone of the old State House in Springfield, and on this occasion his remarkable powers as an orator first came to public notice. In 1843 it is recorded that Lincoln and Baker were com- petitors for the Congressional nomination from the Spring- field district; both resided in Sangamon County, both were self-made, earnest and able men. After a close contest Baker finally secured an instructed delegation in his behalf, and Mr. Lincoln was one of the delegates to nominate his com- petitor. Neither, however, was successful, for John J. Hardin was nominated and elected. Baker, however, was elected to succeed Hardin, and Lincoln to succeed Baker. He was the only Whig representative from the State of Illinois at the time, and Stephen A. Douglas was one of his Democratic colleagues. At that time the question of national importance claiming the attention of Great Britain and the