came to represent skepticism in the war effort, until Illinois' Democratic leader Stephen A. Douglas changed his stance and pledged his full support to Lincoln. The Democratic Party swept the 1862 election. They passed resolutions denouncing the federal government's conduct of the war and urging an immediate armistice and peace convention in the Illinois House of Representatives, leading the Republican governor to suspend the legislature for the first time in the state's history. In 1864, Republicans swept the state legislature and at the time of Lincoln's assassination, Illinois stood as a solidly Republican state. In 1877, John W. E. Thomas was the first African American elected to the legislature. In 1922, Lottie Holman O'Neill was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, becoming the first woman to serve in the Illinois General Assembly. Future U.S. President Barack Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, serving there until 2004 when he was elected to the United States Senate. Size over time The size of the General Assembly has changed over time. The first General Assembly, elected in 1818, consisted of 14 senators and 28 representatives. Under the 1818 and 1848 Illinois Constitutions, the legislature could add and reapportion districts at any time, and by 1870 it had done so ten times. Under the 1870 Illinois Constitution, Illinois was divided into 51 legislative districts, each of which elected one senator and three representatives. The representatives were elected by cumulative voting, in which each voter had three votes that could be distributed among one, two, or three candidates. Due to the unwillingness of downstate Illinois to cede power to the growing Chicago area, the district boundaries were not redrawn from 1901 to 1955. After voters approved the Legislative Apportionment Amendment in 1954, there were 58 Senate districts and 59 House districts, which did not necessarily coincide. This new arrangement was conceived as a "little federal" system: the Senate districts would be based on land area and would favor downstate, while the House districts would be based on population. House members continued to be elected by cumulative voting, three from each House district. With the adoption of the 1970 Illinois Constitution, the system of separate House and Senate districts was eliminated, and legislative districts were apportioned on a one person, one vote basis. The state was divided into 59 legislative districts, each of which elected one senator and three representatives. The cumulative