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In this indispensable account of Abraham Lincoln's earliest political years, Ron J. Keller reassesses Lincoln's arguably lackluster legislative record during four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives to reveal how the underpinnings of his temperament, leadership skills, and political acumen were bolstered on the statehouse floor. Due partly to Lincoln's own reserve and partly to an unimpressive legislative tally, Lincoln's time in the state legislature has been largely neglected by historians more drawn to other early hallmarks of his life, including his law career, his personal life, and his single term as a U.S. congressman in the 1840s. Of about sixteen hundred bills, resolutions, and petitions passed from 1834 to 1842, Lincoln introduced only about thirty of them.