I live in Illinois and I had to pause for a second. It's kind of a trick question. Lincoln is synonymous with Illinois, but not very many people know that he wasn't born here.
Illinois didn't treat him that well - he ran for state legislature but lost, (ran again and won, but lost the attempt to become speaker,) lost his attempt to become an elector, ran for Congress and lost, ran again and won but lost again in a re-election attempt, ran for US senator and lost, tried to be the VP candidate and lost, ran again for US senate and lost, and then was elected US president - maybe someone was trying to tell him something?
Yeah, what a loser. He was also a compromise candidate for president, a former one-term Whig congressman, who was basically an unknown and wasn't even on the ballot in the 10 slaveholding states. William Seward from all-powerful NY state was the front-runner in 1860, and Lincoln then had to overcome his in-state rival, Stephen Douglas. Lincoln's victory was the catalyst for the secession of seven states, despite the official party platform not to interfere with slavery, and four more left the union prior to his inauguration, when he had to be snuck into Washington, D.C. due to death threats. I sure wouldn't put a bet on this guy!!!
Me too. It is just one of those things you'd just assume happened in New Jersey. Like, if you hear that a guy on meth attacked a convenience store worker with an alligator, you would just assume it was in Florida. A shady union leader who pissed off the mob disappeared? New Jersey, right?
Lincoln's representatives in Kentucky claimed him as a native son when they campaigned for him there in 1860 (where he finished a galactically distant fourth, with less than one percent of the vote). They did the same for him in Indiana (where he won).
i would like to thank "the irishman" for my jimmy hoffa knowledge. i'd always heard about him, and there were all those bloomsbury cartoons i read as a kid which i never understood that were always mentioning him, but i had no concept of who he was til the irishman.
edit: i realized i combined two comic strips into one, "doonesbury" by garry trudeau and "bloom county" by berkeley breathed. i never could tell them apart as a kid anyway
edit: i realized i combined two comic strips into one, "doonesbury" by garry trudeau and "bloom county" by berkeley breathed. i never could tell them apart as a kid anyway