Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln to Benjamin C. Lundy and Others, 28 July 18561
Springfield, July 28, 1856.B. Clarke Lundy & Others:
On reaching home day before yesterday, I found your letter of the 15th.2 I regret to say I can not be with you on the 4^th of Sept.[September] I am under prior obligation to attend a meeting of our friends at Galesburg on that day, if I can possibly leave our courts, which will then be in session.3

Stand by the cause, and the cause will carry you through.4
Yours truly,A. Lincoln.

1This letter is attributed to Abraham Lincoln. The original letter in Lincoln’s handwriting is not extant.

2A letter from Benjamin C. Lundy to Lincoln dated June 15, 1856, has not been located.

3Lincoln gave a speech in Atlanta, Illinois, on September 4, 1856. He also appeared in Logan County Circuit Court and McLean County Circuit Court in September, but the majority of his time was spent that month stumping Illinois on behalf of Republican Party candidates for office in the upcoming state and federal elections.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:425-33; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 1 September 1856, http://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1856-09-01; 4 September 1856, http://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1856-09-04; 9 September 1856, http://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1856-09-09.

4Lincoln is undoubtedly referencing the upcoming presidential election. The Republican candidate, John C. Fremont, opposed Democratic candidate James Buchanan and American candidate Millard Fillmore. Despite Lincoln’s optimism, Buchanan won the presidency. In Illinois, Buchanan won 44.1 percent of the vote to Fremont’s 40.2 percent and Fillmore’s 15.7 percent. See 1856 Federal Election.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:433; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 10.