Lincoln Heritage Museum to host
Ron Keller book signing event Thursday evening
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[June 25, 2019]
The Lincoln Heritage Museum will open its doors at 5:30 PM to allow
guests to mingle with author Ron Keller, browse the first floor of
the Museum for free, purchase Lincoln in the Illinois Legislature
and have copies signed. At 6:00 PM Keller will discuss his book and
afterwards he will be available to sign more copies.
![](../images/062519pics/Lincoln%20in%20Illinois%20Legislature%20Ron%20Keller%20book%20over%20(1)_small.jpg)
In Lincoln and the Illinois Legislature, an 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.
Of about sixteen hundred bills, resolutions, and petitions passed
from 1834 to 1842, Lincoln introduced only about thirty of them. The
issue he most ardently championed and shepherded through the
legislature—the internal improvements system—left the state in debt
for more than a generation.
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![http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/May/22/images/052219pics/Ron_Keller_H9A0992-1.jpg](../images/062519pics/Ron_Keller_H9A0992-1_small.jpg)
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/May/02/images/ads/current/guzzardo_lda022609.png)
Despite that spotty record, Keller argues, it was during these early years that
Lincoln displayed and honed the traits that would allow him to excel in politics
and ultimately define his legacy: honesty, equality, empathy, and leadership.
Keller reanimates Lincoln’s time in the Illinois legislature to reveal the
formation of Lincoln’s strong character and political philosophy in those early
years, which allowed him to rise to prominence as the Whig Party’s floor leader
regardless of setbacks and to build a framework for his future.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Jun/25/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif)
Ron J. Keller is an associate professor of history and political science and the
managing director of the Abraham Lincoln Center for Character Development at
Lincoln College. He is a coauthor of Abraham Lincoln in Logan County, Illinois,
1834–1860 and A Respect for the Office: Letters from the Presidents. A past
director of the Lincoln Heritage Museum, he serves on the board of the Abraham
Lincoln Association and is an adviser to the Lincoln Forum.
[Anne E. Moseley, CIT
Lincoln Heritage Museum, Director & Curator
Lincoln College] |