"LINCOLN BROKE A QUORUM Back in 1839, the Illinois House was meeting in special
session and hatched a plan to vote on a Democratic bill to require the state’s
central bank to make payments in gold or silver, rather than paper money. The
Whig Party strongly opposed the idea, and, led by Rep. Abraham Lincoln, decided
on the spot that the best way to kill the proposal was to deny the majority
Democrats a quorum. So, they left the building, the
Second Presbyterian
Church in Springfield. But two members were required under law back then to
demand that a quorum call be made. Lincoln and another House Whig, Joseph
Gillespie, walked into the chambers and made the motion. No quorum was present
and a vote couldn’t be taken. The next day, though, Lincoln and the Whigs made
the same attempt, but the House Speaker ordered the doors locked behind them and
summoned some members who had previously been too ill to attend the session. A
quorum was now present.
Lincoln realized the problem and he and the other
Whigs jumped out of a window to try to halt the vote, but the quorum was already
certified and the Whigs lost. According to Lincoln friend William Herndon, the
window jumping had no effect “other than to provide the Democrats with capital
material for ridicule.” "
This is a funny story about a man that we normally see historically in a very serious light.
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