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Abraham Lincoln to Richard Yates, 10 December 18471
Washington, Decr 10. 18472Friend Yates:
I presented your claim to Douglass this morning; he says it is all right, and that he will pay it in a few days–3 When he shall have done so, you shall hear from me at once–
Things have not advanced far enough, to enable me^to^ tell you much in the way of politics, more than you see in the papers– I believe Mr Calhoun, and what force he can control, are preparing to support Genl Taylor for the Presidency– I get this impression from conversations with Duff Greene, who boards at the same house I do–4 There are, however, a great many whigs here who do not wish to go for Taylor, and some of whom, I fear can not be brought to do it– There are still many others of them who are strong for him, among whom I class Mr Crittenden, although he does not expressly say so–5 I shall be pleased to have a line from you occasionally–
Yours truly.A. Lincoln
1Abraham Lincoln wrote and signed the letter.
2On December 2, 1847, Lincoln arrived in Washington, DC to start his one term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:257.
3Stephen A. Douglas owed the St. Louis Perpetual Insurance Company $337.49. Lincoln collected $167 of the debt for the company on December 21, 1847. Richard Yates was likely engaged as an attorney on behalf of the company.
Lincoln collected debt for St. Louis Perpetual Insurance Co., Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=141520; Bank Draft of Stephen A. Douglas to Abraham Lincoln.
4While in Washington, DC, Lincoln and Duff Green both stayed in Mrs. Ann G. Sprigg’s boarding house two blocks east of the Capitol.
Charles O. Paullin, “Abraham Lincoln in Congress, 1847-49,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 14 (April-July, 1921), 85.
5In 1848, John J. Crittenden resigned from the U.S. Senate to run for governor of Kentucky and campaign for Zachary Taylor to win the Whig Party’s nomination for president in the 1848 presidential election.
Thomas E. Stephens, “Crittenden, John Jordan,” American National Biography, ed. by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 5:741.

Copy of Autograph Letter Signed, 1 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Association Files, Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL).