Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln to Charles L. Wilson, 1 June 18581
Springfield, June 1. 1858.Charles L. Wilson, Esq.[Esquire]My dear Sir
Yours of yesterday, with the inclosed newspaper slip, is received–2 I have never said, or thought more, as to the inclination of some of our Eastern republican friends to favor Douglas, than I expressed in your hearing on the evening of the 21^st April, at the State Library in this place–3 I have believed— do believe now— that Greely, for instance, would be rather pleased to see Douglas re-elected over me or any other republican; and yet I do not believe it is so, because of any secret arrangement with Douglas– It is because he thinks Douglas’ superior position, reputation, experience, and ability, if you please, would more than compensate for his lack of a pure republican position, and therefore, his re-election do the general cause of republicanism, more good, than would the election of any one of us little undistinguished ^pure^ republicans– I do not know

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how you estimate Greely, but I consider him incapable of corruption, or falsehood– He denies that he is ^directly^ taking part in favor of Douglas, and I believe him– Still his feeling constantly manifests itself in his paper, which, being so extensively read in Illinois, is, and will continue to be, ^a^ drag upon us–4 I have also thought that Gov^r Seward too, feels about as Greely does; but not being a newspaper editor, his feeling, in this respect, is not much manifested. I have no idea that he is, by conversations or by letters, urging Illinois republicans to vote for Douglas–5

As to my myself let me pledge you my word that neither I, nor any friend of mine ^so far as I know,^ has been setting stake against Gov– Seward– No combination has been made with me, or proposed to me, in relation to the next Presidential candidate. The same thing is true in regard to next Governor of our State– I am not directly or indirectly committed to any one; nor has any one made any advance to me upon the subject– I have had many free conversations with John Wentworth; but he never dropped

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a remark that led me to suspect that he wishes to be Governor– Indeed, it is due to truth to say that while he has uniformly expressed himself for me, he has never hinted at any condition–6

The signs are that we shall have a good convention on the 16^th and I think our prospects generally, are improving some every day– I believe we need nothing so much as to get rid of unjust suspicions of one-another–
Yours very trulyA. Lincoln.7

1Abraham Lincoln wrote and signed this letter.

2Charles L. Wilson’s letter to Lincoln of May 31, 1858 enclosed a newspaper article from the Chicago Democrat which accused William H. Seward and other eastern Republicans of conspiring to support Democrat Stephen A. Douglas’ reelection to the U.S. Senate rather than supporting Lincoln for the office.
Douglas had criticized the Lecompton Constitution and President James Buchanan’s support of it in December 1857, causing a rift in the Democratic Party. Douglas’ repudiation of the Lecompton Constitution led some Republicans to consider embracing him. Although Douglas later denied it, he courted Republican support—meeting in person with prominent men such as Horace Greeley and hinting in correspondence to Republicans that he was finished with the Democratic Party. Lincoln and other Republicans were concerned by these developments and urged fellow party members to remain loyal in the upcoming senatorial election. In Lincoln’s view, Douglas disagreed with the Buchanan administration over whether the Lecompton Constitution accurately represented the will of Kansans, but did not repudiate the overall goal of admitting Kansas as a slave state.

Chicago Democrat editor John Wentworth had visited New York in the spring of 1858 and on his return to Chicago reported to Lincoln in April that he feared that Seward, Thurlow Weed, and their allies were supporting Douglas.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:445-50; Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814-1879, vol. 6 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 52.

3On April 21, 1858, the Douglas and Buchanan factions of the Democratic Party in Illinois held separate conventions in Springfield. Lincoln and other Illinois Republican leaders observed the proceedings and held a conference that same evening at the Illinois State Library.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 21 April 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-04-21.

4Lincoln’s legal partner, William H. Herndon, had met with Greeley in March of 1858 and reported to Lincoln his sense that Greeley desired Douglas’ reelection. In addition to advocating for Douglas’ reelection in the New York Tribune, Greeley also wrote to Republicans leaders in Illinois urging them to support him.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:446-48.

5Although Seward joined with Douglas in opposing the Lecompton Constitution, he strongly denied that he supported Douglas himself, despite rumors suggesting an alliance between the two men with the goal of electing Douglas to the U.S. Senate in 1858 and Seward to the presidency in 1860.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:452-54; Glyndon G. Van Deusen, William Henry Seward (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), 191-92.

6In the letter to which this is a response, Wilson stated that the public impression was that Wentworth was denouncing Seward in the Chicago Democrat in support of Lincoln’s candidacy for U.S. Senate in exchange for Lincoln backing him for governor of Illinois.
Wentworth had earlier in the spring of 1858 apparently harbored hopes of receiving the nomination for U.S. Senate himself, calculating that continued division in the Democratic Party could result in Buchanan Democrats forming an anti-Douglas coalition with Republicans which might support him. The weakness of the Buchanan Democrats at their April 21, 1858 convention made this possibility seem unlikely, and he soon endorsed Lincoln in the Chicago Democrat.
Don E. Fehrenbacher, Chicago Giant: A Biography of Long John Wentworth (Madison, WI: The American History Research Center, 1957), 153-57.

7Wilson's response to this letter, if he wrote one, has not been located. He wrote Lincoln another letter related to the election of 1858 following the Lincoln-Douglas Debate held in Ottawa on August 21, 1858.