Details
[LINCOLN -- SENATE ELECTION]. Printed document accomplished in manuscript, comprising a leaf from a Poll Book from the Bethel Precinct, Illinois, in the 1846 election, in which Lincoln was the successful candidate for Congress against Rev. Peter Cartwright. Bethel, Illinois, [3 August] 1846. 1 page, oblong folio, 315 x 380 mm. printed in column format, blanks for names of voters at left; at top are printed the various offices to be filled (Governor, Lt. Governor, "For Representative to Congress"), and the names of the candidates (in column three "Peter Cartwright" and "A.Lincoln"). In ink, the votes have been neatly tallied; at the bottom it records that Lincoln's tallied 63 to Cartwright's 59. A rare record of Lincoln's first run for Congress, in which he defeated Cartwright, a Democrat, by a resounding margin. In his only term in Congress (1847-1849), Lincoln was the sole Whig in the Illinois delegation.