Abraham Lincoln in McLean County

The land we call McLean County is the ancestral land of many Native groups, beginning with the Paleoindians 12,000 years ago, and most recently Algonquin-speaking groups, including the Kickapoo, who were forced west from this area in the 1830s. Other groups in this area include (but are not limited to) the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascouten, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Lenape, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations. These lands were and are the traditional territory of these Native Nations prior to their forced removal; and these lands continue to carry the stories of these Nations and their struggles for survival and identity.

This statement was drafted in collaboration with Lester Randall, Tribal Chairman of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, and Nichole Boyd, Director of the Native American House at UIUC.

“Mr. Lincoln has been so well known personally, to so large a number of our people, and has so long been regarded as one of our own citizens, that his death seemed to fall with the most crushing severity upon our inhabitants.
— The Pantagraph, April 18, 1865, On Lincoln’s Assassination

From 1837 until he left for Washington, D.C. in early 1861, Abraham Lincoln spent more time in Bloomington than anywhere else other than his hometown of Springfield.

Here he earned a living as an attorney on the Eighth Judicial Circuit, representing everyone from regular folk to powerful corporations.

Here he came to know Bloomington and its people, developing professional and personal relationships.

Here Lincoln returned to politics with renewed vigor, reawakened by the threat of slavery’s expansion.

And it was here, assisted by a group of devoted McLean County friends, that Lincoln was vaulted to national prominence as the leader of the reinvigorated anti-slavery movement – the new Republican Party.

Exhibit Sections

Lincoln and the Eighth Judicial Circuit

For more than two decades, the Eighth Circuit brought Lincoln to McLean County and its seat of Bloomington.

Expansion of Slavery

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 threatened to extend slavery into northern territories. This danger thrust Lincoln back into the political spotlight where he would lead a new anti-slavery movement all the way to the White House.

Lincoln's Lost Speech

On May 29, 1856, delegates from across Illinois gathered at Bloomington's Major's Hall to oppose the expansion of slavery. They were part of a national movement that became the newly organized Republican Party.

Friends and Allies

During his years on the Eighth Circuit, Abraham Lincoln came to trust and depend on several leading citizens of McLean County. These men were members of the Whig Party who believed in government support for economic and industrial growth, especially railroads. They also opposed the expansion of slavery. But when their Whig Party collapsed over the issue of slavery, Lincoln, with support from his Bloomington friends, became the leader of the new Republican Party.

The Varied Caseload of A. Lincoln, Attorney

Lincoln took legal work where he could find it. His cases ranged from murder trials to mundane civil actions, and most everything in between.

The Lincoln Autobiography

Despite his loss to Douglas in 1858, Lincoln’s supporters did not give up on him. In fact they began looking ahead two years to the U.S. presidency.

Correspondence

Before telegraph lines connected Central Illinois communities in the early 1850s, most of Lincoln’s correspondence and legal documents were written using a quill or nib pen dipped in ink.

National Exposure

In 1858 Lincoln faced Stephen Douglas in an epic U.S. Senate race highlighted by seven debates. The expansion of slavery was at the forefront of these debates.

The Dark Horse Candidate

Led by his Bloomington friends, Lincoln captured the 1860 Republican nomination for president.

From Candidate to President and Beyond

Lincoln won the presidency in 1860 largely over the issue of slavery’s expansion.

Real or Not Real?

Can you tell the genuine items from the pretenders? Sometimes it is difficult for museum professionals to know.

Looking for Lincoln

Bloomington-Normal is one of the richest communities for Abraham Lincoln-related sites—some of which look much as they did during his lifetime!