Lincoln As A Polished Politician
1836
On December 5, 1836 Abraham Lincoln attended the opening session of the Tenth Gereral Assembly in Vandalia. This session was held in a new building just recently completed by the citizens of Vandalia to serve as the State Capitol. It was located in the middle of the public square on the north side of Gallatin Street between Third and Fourth Street. The people of Vandalia had constructed this building in hopes of keeping the state capital in Vandalia. The former capitol on Fourth Street had been poorly constructed and was in need of repair almost from the start. The Fourth Street building ws demolished and some of the materials were reused in constructing the new capitol. The building you see before you is that capitol.
Lincoln was joined by eight other members of the legislature from Sangamon County. They were to become known as the “long nine,” since they were all over six feet tall. One of their chief objectives for this session was to move the state capital to Springfield. They also wanted to pass a bill providing for a system of internal improvements. Lincoln and the other members of the Long Nine were successful in achieving both of these goals.
Less than twenty years before, in March of 1819, six commissioners meeting in Kaskaskia picked Vandalia to become the new state capital. The commissioners did not pick a site farther north because that area, including the future site of Springfield, was still considered Indian Territory.
The Building that Lincoln and the other legislators entered on that December day in 1836 looked substantially different from the building of today. That building did not have the back or front porticoes. The cupola at the at the top of the building was octagonal and featured a rounded roofline. Since the building was made of brick, it was not originally painted white as it is today. Workmen had just completed the building, so the plaster was still wet. The interior was said to be humid and damp.
Marker is on Kennedy Boulevard (3rd Street) (U.S. 40/51) near Gallatin Street, on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
