3. Lincoln’s congressional career consisted of one term largely because he opposed the Mexican War
Abraham Lincoln was elected to a single congressional term as a member of the Whig Party, serving from 1847 to 1849. Though he carried little influence as a freshman congressman he was vocal in his denunciation of the Mexican War, which he believed an unnecessary land grab, and described it as President James K. Polk’s quest for military “glory – that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood”. He presented a series of resolutions, eight in all, which questioned the border between Texas and Mexico and demanded to know the spot on which the first conflict of the war took place, whether in Texas, Mexico, or the disputed border region. They were known as the Spot Resolutions, and though they were never passed, they made clear Lincoln’s and most Whig’s opposition to the war.
In another measure Lincoln and his supporters sent a bill unrelated to the war back to committee, demanding that it contain the words, “war unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States.” The bill never reemerged from committee, but word of Lincoln’s staunch opposition made it back to his Illinois district, where the popular support for the war was strong, and became yet stronger as word of American military successes aroused patriotic spirit. Lincoln’s popularity declined, he was obliquely referred to in a resolution in the state legislature as part of, “treasonable assaults of guerrillas at home; party demagogues; slanderers of the President…” Faced with the likelihood of a humiliating defeat if he stood for re-election, which would destroy his political career, Lincoln chose not to run for another term.