Abraham Lincoln’s life had many twists and turns in it which ultimately led him to the White House in 1861 and immortality. One of the more interesting “what ifs” in Lincoln’s career was in 1849 when he was offered by the Taylor administration the governorship of the territory of Oregon. Lincoln was an important man in the Whig party in Illinois and he had been one of Taylor’s most ardent advocates in that state. Lincoln was out of office at the time, and the prospect of a territorial governorship might well have been attractive to him. However, Mary Lincoln had no desire to assume residence in the wild west, and she warned her husband that removal to the far off land of the Oregon Territory would remove any hope that he might have of rising to national prominence. More to the point, Lincoln had already recommended fellow Whig and Illinoisan…
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Practically Historical 