"[I]n response to numerous calls," Congressman-elect Lincoln makes a speech at the Northwestern River and Harbor Convention concerning the constitutionality of federal government funding of "internal improvement" projects. Lincoln remarks, "All agree that something in the way of internal improvement must be done. The difficulty is to discriminate, when to begin and where to stop. There is a great danger in going too far. Members of Congress will be influenced by sectional interests and sectional feelings. . . . Is there any way to make improvements, except some persons are benefitted more than others?" A newspaper reports, "We expect much from [Lincoln] as a representative in Congress, and we have no doubt our expectations will be more than realized, for never was reliance placed in a nobler heart, and a sounder judgment."Chicago Daily Journal (IL), 6 July 1847, 2:3; 7 July 1847, 2:3-6; Daily Missouri Republican (St. Louis), 12 July 1847, 2:2; N.Y. Tribune, 17 July 1847; Proceedings of the Harbor and River Convention (Chicago: R. L. Wilson, 1847), 17, 39; Mentor L. Williams, "The Chicago River and Harbor Convention, 1847," Mississippi Valley Historical Review 35, no. 4 (March 1949), 607-626; Robert Fergus, comp., Fergus' Historical Series, No. 18: Chicago River and Harbor Convention (Chicago: Fergus Printing Company, 1882), 138, 141.