Abraham Lincoln and Chicago Meet: A Reappraisal of the 1847 River and Harbor Convention

The 1847 River and Harbor Convention in Chicago falls somewhere between phenomenal and phantom-like on a spectrum of historical importance. On the one hand, the three-day event that took place outdoors in sweltering heat from July 5th to 7th captured the attention of the country's leading citizens. Thousands of them travelled from two-thirds of the states in the Union to Lake Michigan to be delegates at, in the words of Horace Greeley, “one of the most important and interesting Conventions ever held in the United States or any country. ”1 The convention's stated purpose was to register a full-throated protest against James K. Polk's veto of a congressional bill authorizing 1, 388, 450 in funding for forty nationwide infrastructure projects, the bulk of them for harbor improvements around the Great Lakes. The unstated purpose of the delegates in attendance was to further their own business and political agendas. On the other hand, a combination of factors—a backdrop of war with Mexico that led to bitter sectional fights over territorial expansion and slavery, the federal government's dissipated follow-up on the convention's resolutions, and a fragmented written record of what took place there—caused the event to fade rather quickly from collective memory. Among the delegates to the convention was thirty-eight-year-old Abraham Lincoln. He was making his first visit to Chicago. 2 Lincoln biographers, in the context of their subject's life, tend to cite the event only in passing or to disregard it completely. By looking more closely at the individuals involved, what brought them to the Convention or made them stay away, and the effect of those three days on subsequent events, however, a different understanding of the River and Harbor Convention's significance to Lincoln's career trajectory emerges; namely, as the moment when Lincoln first took the measure of his already established Chicago acquaintances on their home turf and of a nationwide audience, and formulated for himself how both could further his national political ambitions. Although the older cities along the eastern seaboard and New Orleans and St. Louis still dwarfed it in size, Chicago in 1847 was growing explosively. At over sixteen thousand people, it had quadrupled in population since 1840. At 4, 470 people, it had become the 97th largest American city in that year's census. The bulk of the town's activity was centered in new brick and wood buildings along planked sidewalks bordering dirt streets near the river's main branch. For a decade, Chicago leaders had focused their planning energies on two big infrastructure projects: obtaining federal funds to clear the river's mouth of sandbars that prevented large vessels from entering the harbor, and securing state funds to complete the 96-mile Illinois-Michigan Canal to connect the river to the Illinois River tributary of the Mississippi. Railroads were still in their infancy. Only one line existed in the entire state at the time, a short link between Springfield and the Illinois River to its west. Funding for Chicago harbor clearance was among the forty projects that Polk vetoed. Lincoln stood out as the sole Illinois Whig elected to represent the state in Congress. He had won election in the Seventh District almost a year earlier, on August 3, 1846. His earlier eight-year legislative career in Springfield (1836–1844) had been built on a standard Whig program of approving state government loans to fund the Illinois-Michigan Canal and other infrastructure projects, and of opposing the state regulation of banks. The newly elected congressman clearly sensed the importance of a conference on the internal improvements issue that was national in scope in his home state. In a letter from Springfield, dated June 24, 1847, to a law client and future political ally, Lincoln wrote that he was “preparing to go to the Chicago River and Harbor Convention. ”3 The day before, he had purchased several items of clothing in preparation for the trip. 4 In a final order of business on June 30 before leaving, Lincoln signed an open letter to “the People of Sangamon County, ” urging them to purchase stock subscriptions to finance a railroad from Springfield to Alton across the Mississippi from St. Louis, as a way to supplement “the chief reliance for taking the stock. . . on the Eastern capitalists” and as a demonstrative act to “convince them that we believe the railroad will succeed. ”5Why did Lincoln decide to miss the Fourth of July commemoration of Mexican War dead that Springfield had scheduled on the same date as the Chicago Convention? One reason is that such commemorations likely took place annually, whereas the convention was a singular event. Another reason, akin to having written to a supporter two years earlier that “I never was much interested in the Texas question, ” is that Lincoln in 1847 prioritized the river and harbor improvement issues directly connected to his upcoming responsibilities in Washington over whether Texas annexation would result in any newly enslaved people in Illinois. For the new Whig congressman at the time, infrastructure policy simply took precedence over the war with Mexico. An equally powerful, if intangible, motive to go Chicago was Lincoln's unending political ambition, his “little engine that knew no rest, ” in the famous words of his law partner William Herndon. 6 This would be his first time in the biggest, most bustling town in his frontier state. Thousands of the nation's most important people were about to gather there. Pre-railroad travel times are one measure of how intent Lincoln was on attending the convention. It took him four days to get to Chicago from Springfield—178 miles—by stagecoach over plank road. This was double the amount of time required for him to travel the longest, “tough two-day circuit ride” between courthouses as a lawyer in his Eighth Judicial District. 7 By way of comparison, it took the same four days (or less) for many of the other delegates to travel by water from far greater distances to the southwestern corner of Lake Michigan. Thurlow Weed of Albany, for example, chronicled four days with his New York party on the steamboat Empire, from the east shore of Lake Erie, across to the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair, then up Lake Huron and down the length of Lake Michigan to Chicago. 8 The opportunity for Lincoln to introduce himself nationwide was too important to miss. Although Lincoln was a Whig, the Chicago host committee welcomed Whig and Democrat alike to the nominally non-partisan event. Their own make-up reflected the mix. The town's wealthiest businessman, William B. Ogden, was a Democrat. So too was one of its leading newspapermen, John Wentworth of the Chicago Democrat, a future mayor who, like Lincoln, had also been newly elected to Congress. Among the committee lawyers, S. Lisle Smith, J. Young Scammon, Grant Goodrich and Justin Butterfield were Whigs. Norman Judd, Isaac Arnold, and George Manierre were Democrats. 9Most members of this first generation of leading Chicagoans had migrated to northern Illinois following two events: the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 that opened up the Great Lakes to travel from the Northeast, and the successful militia effort, in which Lincoln had taken part, to quell the 1832 Black Hawk uprising and drive indigenous tribes back out of Illinois west across the Mississippi River. These northeasterners had a strong Whig bent, although the state as a whole remained Democratic. Many state leaders in Springfield had emigrated north from Democratic strongholds in Kentucky and elsewhere in the South. Like their Whig counterparts in Chicago, they also supported internal improvements to grow the economy. Distrustful of banks, however, they preferred customs duties as the chief vehicle to finance infrastructure. 10The president whose veto gave impetus to the convention was a pure protégé of fellow Tennessean Andrew Jackson. In 1844, Polk had been nominated as the Democratic dark horse candidate to defeat Henry Clay, the Whig Party's candidate for the presidency. He combined Jackson's military adventurism—having a Southern-dominated Congress declare war on Mexico in 1846 on the dubious claim that the Mexican on American in Jackson's to federal funding of what he Polk had been in to an of Jackson's veto of the bill that would a of the between two in on the that it was on August 3, the same day that Lincoln won his congressional Polk his by the bill to fund river and harbor improvements to projects from to St. Louis to the Chicago harbor and two other Great Lakes in New three in Michigan and one in the The in the the to of internal improvement with the or to from the for that. . . the mouth of a or a. . . a harbor, the to the in its was to a of business in an of growing northern and states around the Great Lakes and Mississippi The Whig with its in the for an federal and a strong to infrastructure in new states and among those Polk's claim of as a to war funding in a way that the of the over the greater of the as a of those was William was an of the St. Lake He the states to a convention to to the for a had been the Convention of the year before in by John however, was more in It only a of the were to in St. Louis it would host the river and harbor out from east that Chicago, and other Erie Canal and Springfield, and also a strong to at a in New York along with Chicago lawyer Chicago as the convention Chicago them with their Chicago that with be at the of the and its with the to it out at the most and It a link between the different of and we believe that more of the will be by the of Chicago, in the of any other place with which we are St. about the St. Louis their city was the thousand people, St. Louis was three times Chicago, the of Mississippi River steamboat was a and the was St. Louis was to to its how much the of the Chicago was to a to the Lake Michigan town's the of 1847, to to the Chicago “the of and the of and the would be out to the mayor of the New York of and the and of in cities and the This in an and delegates from states that over people the are and the did the Like the of delegates by travel on the was at its This of is by the that of them from the states bordering the Great Lakes. the was then still of the of It did become a state The from elsewhere river like Lincoln, over plank by at those the and the by those did Lincoln's of its New the largest state in the Among in to were two Whig Weed of the and of the New York Democratic and lawyer a future congressman and Lincoln's to the Empire, and of the Whig wrote an of the three to its also as many as New Among the was Whig of the future congressman and S. delegates its Whig William and one of his a future and among its that of host state with the two largest state were and Illinois stood out by his By 1847, had become the leading in the state. years Lincoln's he had an of and the of state congressman from the District and at the same time as Lincoln's and to represent Illinois in At first to is He too for Illinois his he had to to Chicago from his District political He and his new a had a large of the town's and were in the of taking up that however, was Democrat in the the convention new Democratic likely that its was too for him to be convention's opened on July of and in from event a to several thousand people at the open near the between and Washington west of the future Michigan and for a on around the of The first order of business was to of as in that and on the of July the convention's were the record from Clay, and and other national or to one their and their of the convention and its of them a or a or two in stood was the of a An of his for the Illinois-Michigan Canal wrote that he and William fellow had two earlier a future River with St. Louis at its of had also with in as of and in the In to a by Justin Butterfield and other Chicago for his and of in his letter to the convention more In more sixteen he from three the of federal funding of internal improvements that his to the convention's are of by any by or we are of by of the he wrote in His letter was also down by to that which been a party become a national and a which one to to no of on a of such and however, the of by the Lake and new the of the of their the internal of the and by a and of the of the home to the the of an national with their at to and of Michigan a of the to the convention. He from. . . will it out of to be did his the was taking a with an almost at St. in the of new and had The in the of was that he supported federal of infrastructure improvements in and west. for the of with the or for the of the that it much and was at the of many The of was by no to Thurlow Weed made his knew about the of the had any the of the people of the his and almost letter to this Convention his order of the convention two members from of the attending states to a on This committee to to the federal government as an of the of the delegates and their to their the that was a of that the of and river and the of Congress to to for and for and to a that the between a harbor for and a harbor for was the convention's a to Polk's veto and that about the convention's purpose was sectional or The convention one of the only the three days was with to of the It stated that congressional to had been by of and understanding become as much a of that [the as any one of its most a New York Democrat, and Polk to the He in of the federal government's to of the Illinois River or a harbor a of at the same time, that Congress could to the River. Lincoln to Abraham Lincoln, a of elected to Congress from the only Whig District in the and in to It could be that was to a of Lincoln's in to of the to the Illinois River it only one state. to a Lincoln many states the River days the in St. Louis Lincoln's The did the River Lincoln was clearly to himself to his and the business for which we. . . other in the of and He “the for their different on Lincoln simply “I go for sectional are more or any way to are more improvements be made that will Whig the Lincoln out for on the day of his Abraham Lincoln, the only Whig to Congress from this we are to is in attendance the This is his first visit to the of the and we no his visit will him more if with the and a for the of much from him as a in and we no will be more a to the delegates on the to the of He urging the federal government to a to a railroad from somewhere on the River to the St. had a or the other St. Louis delegates been more to about the for their with its to the of the rather to the “one and of from the over own then St. Louis more it Lincoln had on June and as over the following were to on the of he and the Chicagoans were the delegates Chicago, the Convention's committee in New was to the and to about and in order to a to Congress that would for infrastructure The was to the and for a year of congressional and Polk was to only to the entire by that Polk did Mexican War a Whig on the improvements sixteen in In his of a congressional for and in the amount of almost a more the Polk had years had to Chicago, although he had been to One reason for his of attendance was the of the William Henry future candidate and Lincoln's of was the of New York Whig the was clearly of his to the River and Harbor He gave his of its and about Chicago and the the on his Weed Chicago is to be a large and It is with its out of the business of the it is with which will in to the a. . . are looking to the completion of the Chicago will its own in his in the New York and are among the to a of about the It was that of the event. the in his It to the that the of the Convention are over years it the reason is a a complete of what took place the of that important ever been to the on the political the of the new of and the following the successful of the Mexican in Congress out over how to them a Union that was over the of that in the of congressional about a the River and Harbor Convention and this is Lincoln of them get Lincoln's in July 1847 the event like a to his when he his congressional cite the event more as it to In of Lincoln and his convention his on the day about from an of at the time he in St. Louis the War of to a state with a population of the of his In his of Lincoln and the only passing to the of the gave to his of the as a as to his Weed and candidate the earlier of more about the event and Lincoln's In the he that Lincoln first the of the and For the first time in his life, he with the and and in of the in the from attention to and in to Chicago, or in time to the of its it to a more closely the importance of the River and Harbor Convention to Lincoln's subsequent career the disregard of the other is this are several The first is the town and the Chicago was to an on Lincoln. one had only and and Lincoln was as he out for the first time across the of that is Lake Michigan. to that a nationwide for three days the already largest town by at a Chicago and were to of delegates had to on the in the that brought be in the between the convention's purpose and and the two that Lincoln gave a year in Congress on the election of and In his of over as his preferred Whig Lincoln the same in Congress as at the convention the are for his improvement and convention host committee John and as a candidate would the for internal improvements and a veto to that in to Polk and candidate Lincoln the and over the letter by He War of record and he it his his are to be as. . . By him He will is any he and his on infrastructure and to internal improvements is to be if be a a earlier about two completion of the Illinois-Michigan Lincoln Convention He like his fellow Democrat elected. . . veto a river or harbor he his with that “the Illinois and Michigan. . . is of it is the state of before the of its In a days we were to among other that had been from New Orleans this to in New This took this it was the the in the of the of to be between and the result that the New Orleans his a and the people of their a from the to Illinois the to and New York it is Lincoln the he would formulated the on or the to the as he in the way Lincoln's were The Chicago convention was he could with he would in the federal He was much in his his and in of fellow of this is to by for the first time, the circuit lawyer from Springfield was a open of the Lincoln or at to that by 1847 he already knew many of the Chicago the convention. by one of S. Lisle Smith, is of in his convention were by B. congressman from the a Lincoln and to had been with and in the a one of the the on the corner of and Lincoln's a short of the same down to his a and a of with the by is Lincoln on the other of the at This about Lincoln by the more Smith, Lincoln's by only a decade, is only of of also of a for his more Like in Springfield, had been in Whig in Chicago committee also had made Lincoln's in Springfield over the The only federal in Illinois at the time was northern in Chicago did open two years the circuit in and elsewhere in Illinois were in between the and the leading members of the Chicago travelled and the state for in to their circuit before the Illinois or to federal At a time on the frontier when was and a for its purchase and the they were from different states federal or the of between Illinois the By 1847, with or against Lincoln and his law partner 1844, partner Butterfield had over two J. Young Grant Goodrich and Norman also Lincoln with the attention of Chicago which important to the future The Chicago which had on Lincoln's at the to be by and in the in the same as Lincoln's his at the Chicago a the the that the on the of a a plank the with and a and between Lincoln and convention acquaintances and new out in different earlier, Lincoln had written to his that he with his on their of a in New Lincoln had a more with years his the of Lincoln's congressional in the of the two for a In a letter to a Lincoln Butterfield an and Lincoln's the year before on of that he did get along with the of The was to in Lincoln's for the Chicago and brought Lincoln in on the of The the in Chicago Lincoln his famous in of railroad over Mississippi River steamboat is whether Lincoln with Thurlow Weed or Horace at the the Illinois congressman took of them Weed had much more travel to Chicago on his He was Whig and their for his candidate in the and to and himself with such a large of from around the in one place with that Like Greeley, Weed also out to the Greeley, he did Lincoln's The is The and a lawyer and fellow New were more the of a from Illinois. Lincoln still his to Weed with an visit his to Illinois from Washington the following to Lincoln's measure to the The convention to the of one of the most political in American In to New York to Weed at the to Chicago to the committee as the convention Weed it to be held in a city in a state that did a to with for the future and of such and to any of Weed to Lincoln of what in the years between the River and Harbor Convention and Lincoln's election to the any between the two or however, the is that Lincoln his Chicago further with to and the in 1847, himself of Chicago the political from his Lincoln made the most of his Chicago In he had the Chicago and of his with for nationwide act of him the of New him to at the Union in and St. Louis to grow the River and Harbor at different and by different The a nationwide railroad the as a river in the of the the with Weed and in 1847 to his own business a leading in the New York railroad that to Chicago and to St. Louis the convention. years Lincoln, would been in attendance Chicago the state to be his be the War and the over the of the nation's how Abraham Lincoln with his fellow delegates in Chicago in July 1847 was much more a of that Lincoln more the of his home state and the national Whig In years the the elected him to the the first to in that