Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln to Richard Yates, 30 September 18571
Springfield, Sep^t 30. 1857– Hon: R. Yates– Dear Sir:
Your letter, called out by the letter of J. O. Johnson, was received by me on my return from Chicago– M^r Johnson wrote the letter by concert with me; and is entirely reliable–2 He is a new-comer; but he can devote more time to getting up an organization, than any one I know, who knows as well as he, how to do it–

And now, let me say, I wish you could make up your mind to come to the Legislature from Morgan next term– You can be elected; and I doubt some whether any other friend can– It will be something of a sacrafice to you; but can you not make it?3
Yours as everA. Lincoln–

1Abraham Lincoln wrote and signed this letter.

2Richard Yates’ letter to Lincoln, to which this is a response, has not been located, nor has any letter from John O. Johnson to Yates from around this time.
Lincoln had been in Chicago from early September through at least September 24, 1857, for the trial of Hurd et al. v. Rock Island Bridge Co., the so-called Effie Afton case, in the U.S. Circuit Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, September 1857, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarMonth&year=1857&month=9.

3Yates did not run for the Illinois General Assembly in the Illinois state election of 1858. The Illinois Senate seat for district fifteen, which encompassed Morgan and Sangamon counties, was not up for election, and Cyrus W. Vanderen of the American Party continued as the district’s state senator. In Illinois House of Representatives district twenty-seven, which included Morgan and Scott counties, the Republican candidates in 1858 were Cyrus Mathews and James Leighton, both of whom were defeated by Democrats.
John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219, 222; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 28 August 1858, 2:2; 2 October 1858, 2:4; Alton Daily Courier (IL), 3 November 1858, 2:3.