And it turned out well for Lincoln, too, because if he had been elected Senator at that time he would never have taken the part he did in the organization of the Republican party, he would never have had the joint debate with Senator Douglas, and in all probability would not have been elected President. Lincoln resumed the practice of his profession, but did not retire from politics again. He took an active interest in every campaign, devoting much of his time to committee work and to the preparation of political literature, extending his acquaintance and increasing his popularity. In the winter of 1855 he attended a meeting of Free-Soil editors at Decatur, who decided upon organizing a Republican party in Illinois and called a convention of all who believed in resisting the extension of slavery to meet at Bloomington in May. Lincoln was present, made a remarkable speech, which is described in Chapter III., was sent as a delegate to the First National Republican Convention at Philadelphia, and, much to his surprise, received 110 votes for Vice-President on the ticket with Frémont. He was made an elector, canvassed the State thoroughly, making more than fifty set speeches during the campaign, and served as a member of the State Committee. Mr. Horace White, editor of the _New York Evening Post_, then connected with the _Chicago Tribune_, gives his recollections of Lincoln in the campaign: "I was Secretary of the Republican State Committee of Illinois during some years when he was in active campaign work. He was often present at meetings of the committee, and took part in the committee work. His judgment was very much deferred to in such matters. He was one of the shrewdest politicians in the State. Nobody had more experience in that way, nobody knew better than he what was passing in the minds of the people. Nobody knew better how to turn things to advantage politically, and nobody was readier to take such advantage, provided it did not involve dishonorable means. He could not cheat people out of their votes any more than he could out of their money. Mr. Lincoln never gave his assent, so far as my knowledge goes, to any plan or project for getting votes that would not have borne the full light of day. "I never heard him express contempt for any man's honest errors, although he would sometimes make a droll remark or tell a funny story about them. Deference to other people's opinions was habitual to him. There was no calculation, no politics in it. It was part and parcel of his sense of equal rights. His democracy was of the unconscious kind--he did not know anything different from it."