There were but three other prominent Federal appointments to be made in Mr. Lincoln’s congressional district, and he waited until after his return home so that he might be better informed of the local opinion concerning them before making his recommendations.  It was nearly a month after he left Washington before he sent his decision to the several departments at Washington.  The letter quoted below, relating to one of these appointments, is in substance almost identical with the others, and particularly refrains from expressing any opinion of his own for or against the policy of political removals.  He also expressly explains that Colonel Baker, the other Whig representative, claims no voice in the appointment.

“DEAR SIR:  I recommend that Walter Davis be appointed Receiver of the Land Office at this place, whenever there shall be a vacancy.  I cannot say that Mr. Herndon, the present incumbent, has failed in the proper discharge of any of the duties of the office.  He is a very warm partizan, and openly and actively opposed to the election of General Taylor.  I also understand that since General Taylor’s election he has received a reappointment from Mr. Polk, his old commission not having expired.  Whether this is true the records of the department will show.  I may add that the Whigs here almost universally desire his removal.”

If Mr. Lincoln’s presence in Washington during two sessions in Congress did not add materially to either his local or national fame, it was of incalculable benefit in other respects.  It afforded him a close inspection of the complex machinery of the Federal government and its relation to that of the States, and enabled him to notice both the easy routine and the occasional friction of their movements.  It brought him into contact and, to some degree, intimate companionship with political leaders from all parts of the Union, and gave him the opportunity of joining in the caucus and the national convention that nominated General Taylor for President.  It broadened immensely the horizon of his observation, and the sharp personal rivalries he noted at the center of the nation opened to him new lessons in the study of human nature.  His quick intelligence acquired knowledge quite as, or even more, rapidly by process of logical intuition than by mere dry, laborious study; and it was the inestimable experience of this single term in the Congress of the United States which prepared him for his coming, yet undreamed-of, responsibilities, as fully as it would have done the ordinary man in a dozen.

Mr. Lincoln had frankly acknowledged to his friend Speed, after his election in 1846, that “being elected to Congress, though I am very grateful to our friends for having done it, has not pleased me as much as I expected.”  It has already been said that an agreement had been reached among the several Springfield aspirants, that they would limit their ambition to a single term, and take turns in securing and enjoying the coveted distinction; and Mr. Lincoln remained faithful to this agreement.  When the time to prepare for the election of 1848 approached, he wrote to his law partner: