What if Lincoln were a Wisconsin State Legislator -- Chicago Tribune blogging columnist E. Zorn

Published online at www.chicagotribune.com/

Events in Wisconsin -- particularly the indignation of Republicans who are now seething at the Democratic state senator's parliamentary trick of running away to avoid a legislative quorum -- prompts me  (Eric Zorn )to reprint this passage from Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And other frequently asked questions about Abraham Lincoln by my long-time friend Gerald J. Prokopowicz, history department chairman at East Carolina University and former historical director of the Lincoln Museum in Fort Ft. Wayne, Ind.

In the 1840s. the Whigs’ grandiose plans to build canals and railroads across Illinois were in ruins, victim of the economic downturn that historians call the Panic of 1837.
The Democrats in the state legislature, who had opposed the plan, now had an opportunity to destroy one of the most important elements in the Whig plan for centralized economic development, the State Bank of Illinois.
Previous legislation had specified that the state bank would be required to pay its debts in gold instead of paper money, starting with the end of the next legislative session. The bank did not have nearly enough gold on hand to meet its obligations, so the requirement to pay specie was tantamount to the ruin of the bank.
The Whigs thought that they had until March, 1841, when the regular legislative session normally ended, to find a solution. But the Democrats cleverly moved to adjourn the legislature in December, 1840, which would trigger the bank’s demise, after which they would immediately begin a new session.
There was only one way that Lincoln and his fellow Whigs could find to stop the Democratic majority from passing a motion to adjourn: Don’t show up.
With the Whigs absent, there would be no quorum. The Democratic Speaker sent the sergeant at arms into the streets and saloons of Springfield to round up any nearby Whig legislators, while Lincoln and two comrades sat in the back of the room making sure that their strategy was working.
Whatever satisfaction they felt at having pulled off their parliamentary trick evaporated when the Speaker recognized them as present and announced that a quorum had been met.
Lincoln and his fellow Whig enforcers quickly tried to leave, and, finding the chamber doors locked, resorted to climbing out of a window and dropping to the ground. Their self-defenestration was in vain, however, as the motion to adjourn passed, with the predicted consequences for the state bank. Lincoln was afterward embarrassed by what he had done and did not speak of it.