Abraham Lincoln to Hezekiah D. Sharpe, 8 December, 18581
Springfield, Dec. 8. 1858H. D. Sharpe, Esq[Esquire]Dear SirYour very kind letter of Novr[November] 9th was duly received.2 I do not know that you expected or desired an answer; but glancing over the contents
of yours again, I am prompted to say that while I desired the result of the late canvass
to have been different, I still regard it as an exceedingly small matter– I think
we have fairly entered upon a durable struggle as to whether this nation is to ultimately
become all slave or all free;3 and though I fall early in the contest, it is nothing, if I shall have contributed,
in the least degree, to the final rightful result–
Respectfully YoursA. Lincoln.2Hezekiah D. Sharpe wrote Lincoln on November 9, 1858, voicing support for Lincoln
in the aftermath of the Illinois state elections held on his November 2, 1858. Lincoln,
the candidate of the Republican Party, was challenging Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic incumbent, for Douglas’s seat in the U.S. Senate. Both men canvassed the state throughout the summer and fall of 1858, delivering
speeches in support of candidates for the Illinois General Assembly in their respective parties. Members of the General Assembly voted for and elected
the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate at the time; therefore the outcome
of the races for the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate were critical to the race for the Senate seat. Lincoln and Douglas also debated at seven Illinois towns during the campaign.
In the state’s 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 and Douglas ultimately won reelection to the U.S. Senate. Douglas's victory
was confirmed in the election held on January 5, 1859. 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. See 1858 Federal Election; 1858 Illinois Republican Convention.
Hezekiah D. Sharpe to Abraham Lincoln; Hezekiah D. Sharpe to Abraham Lincoln; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 3 November 1858, 2:1; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458-60, 492-540, 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, 414-16; George Fort Milton, "Lincoln-Douglas Debates,"
Dictionary of American History, rev. ed. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976), 4:155-56; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 30; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32.
3Reference to Lincoln’s speech--the famous “House Divided” speech--delivered to delegates
to the Illinois Republican State Convention on the evening of June 16, 1858. When
Abraham Lincoln had his scrapbook of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates published as a book in 1860, the House Divided speech
was the first item.
Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Fragment of A House Divided: Speech at Springfield; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Political Debates Between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas (Columbus: Follett, Foster, 1860), iii-iv, 1-5.
Autograph Letter Signed, 1 page(s), Volume Volume 2, Edward S. and Mary Stillman Harkness Collection, New York Public Library (New York, NY) .