Abraham Lincoln to Lyman Trumbull, 23 June 18581
Springfield, June 23. 1858Hon. Lyman TrumbullMy dear Sir:Your letter of the 16th reached me only yesterday– We had already seen, by Telegraph, a report of Douglas’ general onslaught upon every body but himself–2 I have this morning seen the Washington Union, in which I think the Judge is rather worsted in regard to that onslaught–3
In relation to the charge of an alliance between the Republicans and Buchanan
^men^ in this state, if being rather pleased to see a division in the ranks of the democracy,
and not doing anything to prevent it, be such alliance, then there is such alliance—
at least
that is true of me– But if it be intended to charge that there is any alliance by
which there is to be
any concession of principle on either side, or furnishing of the sinews,4 or partition of offices, or
swopping of votes, to any extent; or the doing of anything, great or
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small, on the one side,
for a consideration, express or implied, on the other, no such thing is true so far
as I know or
believe–5Before this reaches you, you will have seen the proceedings of our Republican State Convention– It was
really a grand affair, and was, in all respects, all that our friends could desire–
The resolution in effect nominating me for Senator I suppose was passed more for the
object of closing
down upon this everlasting croaking about Wentworth, than anything else–6
The signs look reasonably well– Our State ticket, I think, will be elected without
much difficulty– But,
with the advantages they have of us, we shall be very hard run to carry the Legislature–7
We shall greet your return home with great pleasure–
Yours very trulyA. Lincoln82Lincoln is referring to Stephen A. Douglas’s speech in the U.S. Senate on June 15, 1858, which Trumbull summarized in his letter to Lincoln of June 16, 1858. Douglas had criticized the Lecompton Constitution and President James Buchanan’s support of it in December 1857, causing a rift in the Democratic Party. Among the allegations Douglas made in his speech was that Buchanan Democrats and
Republicans in Illinois were working in concert to defeat him in his bid for reelection to the U.S. Senate
in the election of 1858.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:445-47; Cong. Globe, 35th Congress, Special Sess., 3055-58 (1858).
3An article entitled “The Postmaster General and Senator Douglas,” published in the
June 18, 1858 edition of the Washington Union, responded to Douglas’s speech of June 15. The article dismissed Douglas’s accusations
that the Buchanan administration was purging federal offices in Illinois of Douglas
supporters, and suggested that any diminished support Douglas observed among Democratic
officeholders in the state was due to his own actions and anti-Lecompton stance. The article also repudiated Douglas’s criticism of Illinois special mail
agent Charles Leib, whom Douglas identified in his speech as having been a leader of the Buchanan Democrats
who had held a party convention in Illinois on June 9, 1858, separate from the organizing
efforts of Democrats who supported Douglas. Douglas accused Leib of having been involved
in antislavery agitation in Kansas Territory, and the Washington Union printed numerous testimonials supporting Leib.
The Washington Union (DC), 18 June 1858, 2:2-4.
4When used in the expression “sinews of war”, the word “sinews” refers to money. More
generally, it describes the principle supporting force or mainstay of something.
James A. H. Murray, Henry Bradley, W. A. Craigie, C. T. Onions, eds., A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1919), 9:1:75.
5Although Lincoln denied any knowledge that Illinois Republicans were working in alliance
with Buchanan Democrats to defeat Douglas, William H. Herndon and other Republicans were engaged in such efforts behind the scenes.
Abraham Lincoln to Samuel Wilkinson; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:455-56.
6At the Illinois Republican Convention in Springfield on June 16, 1858, Charles L. Wilson introduced a resolution stating: “That Abraham Lincoln is the first and only choice
of the Republicans of Illinois for the United States Senate, as the successor of Stephen
A. Douglas.” The resolution was reportedly “greeted with shouts of applause” and passed
unanimously.
In the spring of 1858 John Wentworth had apparently harbored hopes of himself running
to replace Douglas in the U.S. Senate, 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
a convention they held on April 21, 1858 made this possibility seem unlikely, and
Wentworth afterwards endorsed Lincoln in the Chicago Democrat. Wilson, who introduced the resolution effectively naming Lincoln as the Republican
Party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate, was one observer who remained suspicious of Wentworth’s
political ambitions.
Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 17 June 1858, 2:5; Don E. Fehrenbacher, Chicago Giant: A Biography of Long John Wentworth (Madison, WI: American History Research Center, 1957), 153-57; Charles L. Wilson to Abraham Lincoln.
7The state positions up for election in Illinois in 1858 were treasurer and superintendent
of public instruction. Illinois Republicans nominated James Miller and Newton Bateman respectively for these offices at their convention on June 16. Both men won election
in November 1858, with Miller receiving 3,821 more votes than his nearest competitor,
and Bateman garnering a 2,143-vote majority over his closest competitor.
At this time the Illinois General Assembly elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate, thus the outcome of races
for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate were of importance to Lincoln’s campaign. The Democrats ultimately retained control
of the Illinois General Assembly in the election of 1858, with a majority of forty
to thirty-five in the Illinois House of Representatives, and of fourteen to eleven
in the Illinois Senate. Douglas was reelected to the U.S. Senate by the General Assembly
on January 5, 1859.
Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 17 June 1858, 2:4-5; 27 November 1858, 2:1-2; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses
Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 394, 416.
8The next extant letter between Lincoln and Trumbull is a letter from Trumbull dated July 19, 1858. The pair exchanged several further letters during
the course of the election of 1858.
Lyman Trumbull to Abraham Lincoln; Lyman Trumbull to Abraham Lincoln; Lyman Trumbull to Abraham Lincoln; Abraham Lincoln to Lyman Trumbull; Lyman Trumbull to Abraham Lincoln.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Huntington Library (San Marino, CA).