Abraham Lincoln to Henry E. Dummer, 20 July 18581
Springfield, July 20. 1858. Henry E. Dummer, Esq[Esquire]My dear Sir: When I was in Beardstown last Spring,2 Dr Sprague said if I would leave a bill, he would pay it before long– I do not now remember
that I spoke to you about it– I am now in need of money– Suppose we say the amount
shall be $50–? If the Dr is satisfied with that, please get the money and send it to me–3
And while you have pen in hand, tell me what you may know about politics, down your
way–4
Yours as everA. Lincoln–<Page 2>
2Lincoln visited Beardstown, Illinois in early May 1858 to defend William "Duff" Armstrong in the famous "Almanac Trial" in the Cass County Circuit Court.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, May 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarMonth&year=1858&month=5; People v. Armstrong, 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), https://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=135794.
3Dummer replied to this letter after a brief delay.
The fee Lincoln requests was related to the case Sprague v. Illinois River RR et al. In August 1857, Charles Sprague, a resident of Cass County, Illinois, retained Lincoln and Dummer and sued for an injunction to prevent the county from
paying the Illinois River Railroad Company $50,000 in stock subscriptions approved by the voters. The Illinois General Assembly chartered the railroad in 1853 to build a road from Jacksonville, Illinois, through Cass County to La Salle, Illinois. In 1854, however, the General Assembly amended the charter to allow the railroad
to build a road from Virginia, Illinois to Pekin, Illinois. The railroad also held the option of extending the route north from Pekin to La
Salle. Sprague, who also was president of the Rock Island and Alton Railroad Company,
claimed that he had consulted engineers who stated that part of the railroad’s route
was an “absurd proposition” due to rough terrain and the presence of three other railroads.
Sprague also believed that the alteration of the railroad’s charter constituted a
breach of contract and voided the county stock subscription. The Cass County Circuit
Court disagreed, and dismissed the injunction. Sprague appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court, which, in January 1858, affirmed the lower court’s ruling. Chief Justice John D. Caton declared that the Illinois General Assembly’s 1854 amendment of the railroad’s charter
was “in the highest degree promotive of the interests of the company” and not a major
deviation from the charter's original intent.
Lincoln and Dummer exchanged at least three more letters related to this case.
Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Cass County, ed. by Charles Æ. Martin (Chicago: Munsell, 1915), 2:767; “An Act to Construct a
Railroad from Jacksonville, in Morgan County, to La Salle, in La Salle County,” 11
February 1853, Private Laws of Illinois (1853), 53-58; “An Act to Amend an Act Entitled ‘An Act to Construct a Railroad
from Jacksonville, in Morgan County, to La Salle, in La Salle County’”, 1 March 1854,
Laws of Illinois (1854), 207-9; Abraham Lincoln to Henry E. Dummer; Henry E. Dummer to Abraham Lincoln; Abraham Lincoln to Henry E. Dummer; Bill for Injunction, Document ID: 20515; Decree, Document ID: 20505, Sprague v. Illinois River RR et al., 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=137976; Judgment, Document ID: 73422, Sprague v. Illinois River RR et al., Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=137977.
4Dummer provided Lincoln political advice and information in his reply. At the time of this letter, Lincoln was running against Democratic incumbent Stephen A. Douglas as the Illinois Republican Party’s candidate for the U.S. Senate. At the time, members of the Illinois General Assembly voted for and elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate, so elections
to the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate were important for Lincoln's campaign.
In the local elections of 1858, Beardstown and Cass County voters elected Democratic
incumbent Samuel W. Fuller to the Illinois Senate and Democrat William Engle to the Illinois House. In the election as a whole, Republicans won a majority of
all votes cast in Illinois, but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of the General
Assembly, and Douglas won reelection, with both Fuller and Engle voting for him. Through
the campaign, however, and in particular through his participation in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Lincoln gained recognition as well as standing within the national Republican Party.
The Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 17 November 1858, 2:4; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458, 556-57; Allen C. Guelzo,
“House Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 394, 414-16; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21th G. A., 30.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s) Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL).