(C) Ohio Capital Journal
This story was originally published by Ohio Capital Journal and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Abe Lincoln took a leap long before Texas Democrats skipped town • Ohio Capital Journal [1]
['Berry Craig', 'Susan Tebben', 'Ryan Leitner', 'Charlie Hunt', 'More From Author', 'August', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline']
Date: 2025-08-18
There’s historical precedent for Texas House Democrats vamoosing to deny Republicans the quorum they need to carry out President Trump’s order and redraw the Lone Star State’s congressional map to flip five seats from blue to red before next year’s midterm elections.
Some of the Texans fled to Illinois, where in December, 1840, a 31-year-old Kentucky-born Whig state representative jumped out a window to thwart a quorum House Democrats needed to pass a bill undermining the Bank of Illinois, a Whig pet.
The solon’s name was Abraham Lincoln.
His unorthodox exit went for naught because he had been marked present. The majority Democrats corralled enough members for a quorum, and the anti-bank bill passed 46-15.
Understandably, it’s been claimed that Lincoln leapt from the Illinois statehouse, which is preserved as the Old State Capitol Historic Site. He didn’t. He bailed from a church window.
Springfield is the capital of Illinois. But in late 1840, the legislature was meeting in the old First Methodist Church while work crews were putting the finishing touches on the Capitol a block away. (The building was replaced by the current Capitol in 1876.)
The church was too small and ill equipped to adequately accommodate the lawmakers, which “added to the confusion Lincoln encountered as leader of the minority Whig party,” explains a plaque on a downtown building now on the church site.
The blue-framed “Looking for Lincoln” tablet is titled “Leaping Lincoln.”
On Dec. 5, 1840, the Democratic majority was set to approve the bank-busting bill. The Whigs decided to make themselves scarce, thus preventing a quorum. “Only Lincoln and a few lieutenants remained to observe,” according to the plaque.
When Lincoln and other Whig bigwigs discovered the Democrats had a quorum after all, they ran for the door, which was barred. In desperation, Lincoln leapt, followed by Joseph Gillespie and Asahel Gridley.
The State Register, a devoutly Democratic newspaper in Springfield, gleefully reported the incident: “A laughable circumstance took place while the yeas and nays were being called on the passage of the resolution. Mr Lincoln of Sangamon (Lincoln lived in Springfield, the Sangamon County seat), who was present during the whole scene, and who appeared to enjoy the embarrassment of the House, suddenly looked very grave after the Speaker announced that a quorum was present. The conspiracy having failed, Mr Lincoln came under great excitement, and having attempted and failed to get out of the door, very unceremoniously raised the window and jumped out, followed by one or two other members.”
It was a first floor window, said to be only 4 or 5 feet from the ground.
According to the paper, “This gymnastic performance of Mr Lincoln and his flying brethren, did not occur until after they had voted! and consequently the House did not interfere with their extraordinary feat.”
The State Register confessed, “We have not learned whether these flying members got hurt in their adventure, and we think it probable that one of them came off without damage, as it was noticed that his legs reached nearly from the window to the ground!”
The paper further lampooned the 6-foot-4 Lincoln, declaring it had heard “that a resolution will probably be introduced into the House this week to inquire into the expediency of raising the State House one story higher, in order to have the House set in the third story! so as to prevent members from jumping out of the window! If such a resolution passes, Mr Lincoln will in the future have to climb down the spout!”
The plaque also says that “an embarrassed Lincoln ever after resented references to what he called that ‘jumping scape.’ ” But he had the last laugh 20 years later when Free State voters sent him to the White House. (He polled just 1,366 votes in slave state Kentucky.)
Historians rank “The Great Emancipator” as one of our greatest presidents because he led the Union to victory in the Civil War and put slavery on the road to extinction. (Illinois towns were named for Gillespie and Gridley.)
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: [email protected].
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/08/18/abe-lincoln-took-a-leap-long-before-texas-democrats-skipped-town/
Published and (C) by Ohio Capital Journal
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/ohiocapitaljournal/
