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Secretary of the Interior Cabel B. Smith:
To head the newest Cabinet department, Lincoln turned to this Indiana lawyer and editor, with whom he had once served in Congress. At the Chicago convention that endorsed Lincoln for president, Smith seconded Lincoln's nomination. Ordinarily this would not have been enough to land Smith a place at the Cabinet table, but Lincoln's convention managers had promised the crucial state of Indiana whatever it wanted -- and it wanted Smith.
Generally viewed as the least distinguished member of Lincoln's Cabinet, Smith contributed little to the administration before he left Washington following the 1862 mid-term election to become a federal judge. |