Though, at first, A-bra-ham Lin-coln thought much of An-drew Jack-son, as time went on he found that Jack-son held views that he could not hold. So he came to be known as an an-ti-Jack-son man and made his first en-try in-to pub-lic life as such. At the age of 31 he was known as the a-blest Whig stump speak-er in Il-li-nois. Two great Whigs at that time were Dan-iel Web-ster and Hen-ry Clay. Lin-coln was sent, as a Whig, in 1846, to the Con-gress of the U-ni-ted States, and he was the sole Whig mem-ber from Il-li-nois. [Illustration: DANIEL WEBSTER.] [Illustration: HENRY CLAY] Of course, friends were proud to feel that the poor back-woods lad had come to so much fame. Some of the old folks said they “knew it was in him.” Oth-ers said “I told you so!” Lin-coln had the same good sense that he had from the start. He made up his mind to watch and wait. He knew that he could learn a deal from such great men as Web-ster and Clay. When he had to speak he said just what he thought in a plain strong way. He did not want war with Mex-i-co. He was not a-lone in this. But he thought that men who fought in that war, brave sol-diers, should have their re-ward. A thing that was of great weight Lin-coln did at that time. He put in a bill which was to free the slaves in the Dis-trict of Co-lum-bia. By his vote more than once for the famed “Wil-mot Pro-vi-so” he hoped to keep sla-ver-y from the Ter-ri-to-ries gained through the war with Mex-i-co. Though some fame came then to Lin-coln, funds did not. Spring-field, home, and law work fol-lowed when the term in Con-gress was o-ver. Those who took the oth-er side from Whigs were called Dem-o-crats. They made a strong par-ty in Il-li-nois, and were led by a bright man whose name was Ste-phen A. Doug-las. His friends called him “the Lit-tle Gi-ant.” This, they thought, would make known to all that though he was small in size he was great in mind. He was well thought of as a mem-ber of Con-gress, could make a good speech, was a fine law-yer, knew how to dress well, and had a way of mak-ing folks think as he did. While hard at work in law ca-ses, all at once, the calm of Lin-coln’s life was bro-ken by a thing that took place in 1854. A plan or pro-mise had been made that sla-ver-y should not spread north of the state of Mis-sou-ri. When the new states of Kan-sas and Ne-bra-ska were a-bout to be made, this good pro-mise was thrown a-side and a bill was passed by Con-gress which said that the folks who had their homes in those states might say that there should or should not be sla-ver-y there. The man who put in that bill was Ste-phen A. Doug-las. The bill roused great rage in those who felt that sla-ver-y had gone quite far e-nough.