4. He turned down the opportunity to be governor of the Oregon Territory
Zachary Taylor, one of two American generals to become national heroes as a result of the Mexican War (the other being Winfield Scott) was the Whig nominee for president in the election of 1848. Despite his own opposition to the war which had elevated Scott to national acclaim, Lincoln supported the party nominee (though it was Taylor who had reported the first conflict of the war, the subject of Lincoln’s Spot Resolution). Lincoln personally recommended to the general that he campaign on issues other than those of the war, such as his character and leadership abilities. Lincoln campaigned for Scott in Boston and throughout New England in the fall, planting some political seeds of his own as he reminded abolitionist New England that the Whigs opposed slavery.
The election featured a third party, the Free Soil Party, and its candidate was former president Martin Van Buren. Lincoln argued that the Free Soil Party could not win, and a vote for Van Buren weakened the Whig party, which stood against the expansion of slavery. When Scott won election, party leaders recognized that Lincoln had skillfully expanded his own reputation nationally, and that his known propensity for crossing the aisle and voting his conscience could be troublesome. So could his past criticism of Taylor. Rather than offer the outgoing congressman an office within the administration as a reward for his support of the candidate, Lincoln was offered the governorship of the Oregon Territory. Having no desire to entire political exile in the far-off Oregon country, Lincoln returned to his law practice in Illinois.