Lincoln Meets Old Colleagues — from Oregon & Pennsylvania

Monday, December 24, 1860

Lincoln meets with his old Illinois friend, Edward D. Baker, the newly elected senator from Oregon. They once had been rivals for Springfield congressional seat – before Baker moved to California.

Edward D. Baker

Lincoln walked to the home where Baker was staying and walked over rather than through the front gate. He told the new senator that there was no one he would rather see in the Senate. “I was coming to call on you, Mr. President” Baker told Lincoln, who replied with his customary disdain for titles: “None of that between us, Baker.”

Lincoln also visited Pennsylvania Congressman David Wilmot at the St. Nicholas Hotel in Springfield – presumably to discuss Pennsylvania’s inclusion in the cabinet. When Lincoln had served in Congress, he had repeatedly voted for the “Wilmot Proviso” which would have barred slavery from any new territories. Earlier in the month, Lincoln had asked Wilmot to come to Springfield. Lincoln had extended invitations to a number of Pennsylvania leaders and some had come unbidden.

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