Summary of Chapter Three of TEAM OF RIVALS

This chapter explains mostly about how Bates, Seward, Lincoln and Chase started doing stuff with politics, which lead to them running for president. This chapter, which was named 'The Lure of Politics' was the longest chapter (58 pages) I've read so far, and maybe the longest in the book. (There's another that could be as long, but I could be wrong.)

Edward Bates was drawn to politics during the crusade for Missouri's statehood in 1820. There were many arguments going on about if the laws of slavery that were in the original states should be applied to the new states, or not. Many Northerners hoped that if slavery was contained in the South that it wouldn't spread to other states, which would eventually end slavery. Bates served two terms in the state legislature and was elected president of the River and Harbor convention. (Abe Lincoln was there.)

Bates married Julia Coalter in 1823, and soon after had a son who he named Joshua Barton Bates after his partner who was killed in a duel. After Joshua Barton, Bates had 16 more children- 17 in all. When Bates heard that he had missed the birth of his first daughter (who was named Nancy), he was really sad, because he really wanted to see what she looked like. Bate's son, (Julian) had a horrible stutter. His stutter stopped one day and nobody knew why. Bates thought that that was the most amazing thing in the world. However, the stutter did reappear six months later.

Seward entered politics with the help of Thurlow Weed after being bored with practicing law for a long time. With help from Weed, Seward got elected into the state senate at age 29. In September of 1834, Weed told some friends from the whig party at a convention in Utica, New York that Seward would be the best governor against the democrats. When the votes were tallied, Seward lost. When Seward ran for governor again in 1838, he won, but Weed helped him. He was reelected governor in 1840, but the margin of which he won was much smaller.

When Lincoln ran for the state legislature at age 23, he got in- pardon the reference to Tron Legacy, if anybody noticed- and was in it for eight years. Lincoln believed that slavery was wrong and so did his parents, despite living in the slave state of Kentucky. He believed that "if slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong." The Lincoln family eventually moved to the free state of Indiana, "partly on the account of slavery." Lincoln paid less attention to slavery than Chase or Seward, for, like I said before, If slavery was kept contained in the South, it would eventually die out. When Lincoln married Mary Todd Lincoln in front of a small group of friends and family on November 4, 1842, Mary Todd wasn't used to doing housework such as doing laundry, washing dishes, and other things because she grew up having slaves who did all of the housework for her. Abraham, on the other hand, had no difficulty doing this, because he grew up chopping wood for the fire and other manly things like that.

In 1836, James G. Birney created an antislavery newspaper called The Philanthropist. That July, a mob broke into the shop where The Philanthropist was printed and dismantled the printing press, and tore up the upcoming edition. Birney continued printing The Philanthropist until two weeks later, another mob attacked his shop, tore apart the entire office, threw TLC (tables, ladders and chairs, not tender loving care like you may think) and the printing press out the windows, which were carried out to a river nearby and were drowned by other members of the mob. (Is drowned the proper word for it?)

Chase was appalled by this. So appalled, in fact, that he decided to do stuff about it. Yes, that's right. he did stuff. Well, by doing stuff, Chase became pretty well known in the antislavery community. And as I said before, Chase made sure that slavery would be ended. Remember, kids: if you do stuff, you could end up as famous as an almost president! So keep up the good work of doing stuff, kids!

Black children were outlawed from going to school, but their parents had to pay school taxes like the white children who did go to school. Blacks were also banned from the witness box, even if their party was white. And if it couldn't get any worser, whites committed crimes in front of blacks so that they didn't get caught and get put in jail.

Well, I hope you learned something. Even if it was just to do stuff to become an almost president. At least that's something.