Abraham Lincoln to John C. Bagby, 6 September, 18581
Springfield, Sep, 6, 1858John C. Bagby, Esq[Esquire]My dear Sir:Mr Hatch tells me you write rather in a discouraged tone as to your own election–2 That wont do– You must be elected– Must is the word– Make known to the committee at Chicago the amount and nature of the help you can make available,3 and I expect they will furnish it– But, by all means, dont say "if I can"; say "I will"–
Yours trulyA. Lincoln2John C. Bagby, a Republican, was a candidate for the Illinois Senate in the Illinois Eleventh Senate District in the Illinois state elections of 1858.
Lincoln was running as the Republican Party’s candidate against Stephen A. Douglas, the incumbent Democrat, for the U.S. Senate. Members of the Illinois General Assembly voted for and elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate; therefore,
the outcome of Bagby’s election campaign and other the races for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate were highly relevant to Lincoln’s candidacy for U.S. Senate.
See the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election. John P.
Voters in the Illinois Eleventh Senate District, which included Hancock, Henderson, and Schuyler counties, elected John P. Richmond, Bagby’s Democratic opponent, to the seat by a vote of 4,578 to 4,112 votes.
In the local elections as a whole, Republicans won a majority of all votes cast in
the state, but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of the Illinois General Assembly.
When the members of the General Assembly voted on who would represent Illinois in
the U.S. Senate, Richmond cast his ballot for Douglas, who ultimately won reelection
to the U.S. Senate. Through the campaign, however, and in particular through his participation
in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Lincoln gained recognition and respect within the national Republican Party.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458, 556-57; Allen C. Guelzo,
“Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-94, 414 ; The Weekly Chicago Times (Chicago, IL), 11 November 1858, 2:6; 18 November, 1858, 2:7, 3:3; The Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 17 November 1858, 2:4; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 30; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac 1673-1968
(Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219, 222.
3The Republican Central Committee of Illinois, chaired by Norman B. Judd, organized and financially supported Republican candidates in races at all levels
across Illinois in 1858. The committee, however, struggled with funding in 1858,
running up huge debts that forced Judd to beg Lincoln and others for contributions
to discharge the debt.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:552; Harry E. Pratt, The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln (Springfield, IL: Abraham Lincoln Association, 1943), 105-6; Norman B. Judd to Abraham Lincoln Lyman Trumbull; Abraham Lincoln to Norman B. Judd
Copy of Autograph Letter Signed, 1 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Association Files, Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL).