Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln to Henry C. Whitney, [2] August 18581
Springfield, Aug^t ^2^ [18]582Dear Whitney
Yours of the 31^st is just received–3 I shall write to B. C. Cook, at Ottawa, and to Lovejoy himself on the subject you suggest–4 Pardon me for not writing a longer letter– I have a great many letters to write– I was at Monticello Thursday evening–5 Signs all very good–
Your friend as everA. Lincoln 6

1Abraham Lincoln wrote and signed this letter.

2Manuscript torn at dateline, with loss of day and first two digits of year. Day of “2” added later in an unidentified hand, and entire date of “Aug. 2 1858.” rewritten above dateline in the same unidentified hand.

3Henry C. Whitney’s letter to Lincoln and William H. Herndon of July 31, 1858, reported a rumor of a movement to challenge Republican candidates in Bureau and La Salle counties in the state elections of 1858. According to Whitney’s informant, if the Republican Party nominated abolitionist candidates for the Illinois General Assembly in these counties, opponents of abolition intended to run an independent candidate to challenge incumbent Republican Owen Lovejoy for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Third District of Illinois and would further nominate independent candidates for the Illinois General Assembly who would likely be supporters of Stephen A. Douglas.
Lincoln himself had recently been nominated at the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention to run against incumbent Douglas to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate. 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. See 1858 Federal Election.

Despite Whitney’s concerns about the electoral races in Bureau and La Salle counties, the Republican candidates for these offices were ultimately successful. Although Churchill Coffing was put forward as an independent candidate for the Third Congressional District of Illinois, he withdrew from the race in October 1858 and Lovejoy defeated Douglas Democrat George W. Armstrong and Buchanan Democrat David Le Roy.

Republican candidates also won the three seats in the Illinois General Assembly that were up for election in these counties in 1858. Bureau and La Salle counties were both in the Seventh Illinois Senate District, where Republican Burton C. Cook held over in the election of 1858. Bureau County comprised the Forty-Seventh Illinois House District, where Republican John H. Bryant won the election with 2,570 votes, while his opponents, Buchanan Democrat Thomas Tustin (Tusten) and Douglas Democrat Benjamin L. Smith received 786 and 611 votes respectively. No evidence has been found of an independent candidate running in the Forty-Seventh House District. La Salle County was in the Forty-Third Illinois House District, in which Republicans Alexander Campbell and Richardson S. Hick earned 4,139 and 4,089 votes respectively, defeating Democratic candidates Samuel C. Collins and William Cogswell, who earned 3,383 and 3,412 votes respectively. Two other unidentified candidates named McBurney and Hoffman appeared in the election returns for the Forty-Third House District in this race. Their party affiliations are not indicated, and they received only 29 and 22 votes respectively.
Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-99, 400-401; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-58, 476-77; The Ottawa Free Trader (IL), 11 September 1858, 1:8, 2:1; 30 October 1858, 2:1; 6 November 1858, 3:2; The Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 13 September 1858, 2:1-2; 9 October 1858, 2:2; The Belvidere Standard (IL), 21 September 1858, 3:1; The Weekly Chicago Times (IL), 21 October 1858, 2:5; 11 November 1858, 2:5; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 11, 142; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 5 November 1858, 1:3; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219-20, 222; The Weekly Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 3 November 1858, 2:4; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 4 November 1858, 3:2; History of La Salle County, Illinois (Chicago: Inter-State, 1886), 1:281.

4Lincoln wrote Cook on this same day. Lincoln’s letter to Lovejoy of August 2, 1858 has not been located, but Lovejoy responded on August 4.

5Lincoln delivered a speech in Monticello on Thursday, July 29, 1858, following a speech by Douglas.
Summary of Speech at Monticello, Illinois; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 29 July 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-07-29.

6Whitney responded to this letter on August 7, 1858. Lincoln and Whitney exchanged numerous letters regarding the election of 1858.
Henry C. Whitney to Abraham Lincoln; Abraham Lincoln to Henry C. Whitney; Henry C. Whitney to Abraham Lincoln; Henry C. Whitney to Abraham Lincoln; Henry C. Whitney to Abraham Lincoln; Henry C. Whitney to Abraham Lincoln; Henry C. Whitney to Abraham Lincoln.