Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln to the Editors, Chicago Tribune, 8 June 18581
Bloomington, June 8, 1858.Editors Tribune:—
A correspondent from this place does Judge Davis great injustice in a communication which appeared in the Tribune of the 4th inst., over the signatury of “Fair Play.”2 His cognomen is a misnomer, and I am confident that Mr. Lovejoy himself, when he reads it, will censure its statements, and regret the indiscretion of the writer. It certainly will not meet with his approval.

Judge Davis is my friend. I have known him for many years, and think I know his views. I am certain that no plot or movement against Lovejoy’s re-nomination was led on by him, or that he was cognizant to anything of the kind, though he has some friends who were opposed to him, but he is not responsible for their opinions.3 The charge that he has no sympathy for the vitalising [principle of Republicanism is based on your own] radical and progressive views, as advanced in the editorials of the Tribune.

I believe he did not vote for Lovejoy in 1856; but I do not believe he tried to keep a single other vote from him.4 That he feigned sickness and lay at his rooms to have voters brought to him and persuaded to vote against Lovejoy, is certainly an untruth, and gains no credence in this community. I[nd]eed it is not one of his characteristics to feign [an]ything. As to the approaching canvass, Judge [Dav]is expects Lovejoy to be nominated, and int[ends] to vote for him, and has so stated without h[esit]ation or reserve. He does not pretend to co[nce]al his preference for another candidate, not [him]self as insinuated by “Fair Play;” but th[is is] his undoubted right and privilege.

I have good [reaso]n to know that on a recent occasion, he [expre]ssed his decided disapprobation of a schem[e con]cocted by certain influential persons, to [bring ou]t a stump candidate without a nomina[tion, fo]r the purpose of ensuring Lovejoy’s defeat.

[“No,] gentlemen, said the Judge, I will not lend my sanction to any such movement. If Mr. L. is nominated, it is the duty of all good Republicans to give him their support. He has proven himself to be a Republican, and is entitled to our votes if a Republican district convention places him before the people for re-election.” This was the substance if not the exact words of Judge Davis. He also expressed his opinion that L.[Lovejoy] would be nominated.

Hoping that you will extend to me the favor of giving the foregoing an insertion in your paper,
I remain, yours truly,A REPUBLICAN.5

1This letter is attributed to Abraham Lincoln, but the original document in his hand has not been located. David Davis confirmed Lincoln's authorship of this letter in a letter to Lincoln on June 14, 1858.
Part of the source text in the third and fourth paragraphs is illegible because of damage. The editors supplied the damaged text from the transcription in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln.
Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1974), 10:31-32.

2Under the headline “Opposition to Lovejoy” and dated June 1 from Bloomington, “Fair Play” accused Judge David Davis of leading a movement to defeat the renomination of Owen Lovejoy to represent the Third Illinois Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The author wrote, “Judge D. is a very fair man in his way, but has no more sympathy with the vitalizing principle of the Republican party than an Egyptian mummy.” “Fair Play” also accused Davis of aspiring toward the seat occupied by Lovejoy.
Chicago Daily Tribune (IL), 4 June 1858, 2:3; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 10.

3Despite Lincoln's protestations, some Republicans hoped to block Lovejoy's renomination. Conservative Republicans, disgruntled with Lovejoy’s abolitionism and fearful of its impact on Republican candidates in state elections, planned to block Lovejoy's renomination at the district congressional convention. Some of Lincoln’s friends—including Davis, T. Lyle Dickey, Ward H. Lamon, and Leonard Swett—supported this scheme, believing that Lincoln, who was the leading Republican candidate to unseat Stephen A. Douglas as U.S. senator in the upcoming 1858 Federal Election, could only succeed if Lovejoy was not re-nominated. Once hope of preventing Lovejoy's renomination vanished, Lamon and others pondered finding a independent candidate to challenge Lovejoy. Lamon sought Lincoln's opinion, but the latter urged against it, arguing the fissure of the Republican Party into Lovejoy and anti-Lovejoy factions would likely result in a Democratic victory and hurt his chance of being elected to the U.S. Senate.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:456; Willard L. King, Lincoln's Manager: David Davis (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960), 117-20; Ward H. Lamon to Abraham Lincoln; Abraham Lincoln to Ward H. Lamon

4Lincoln also had not been initially supportive of Lovejoy in the latter's bid for the U.S. House in the 1856 Federal Election. When Lovejoy defeated Swett for the nomination, Lincoln wrote Davis: “When I heard that Swett was beaten, and Lovejoy nominated, it turned me blind;” but due to the people’s support of Lovejoy, Lincoln concluded, “I really think it best to let the matter stand.” Lincoln wrote a similar letter to Henry C. Whitney.

5Davis thanked Lincoln for this letter to the editor in his letter to Lincoln dated June 14.
The Republicans united behind Lovejoy, who won reelection, defeating anti-Lecompton Democrat George W. Armstrong as well as Buchanan Democrat David Leroy with 57.7 percent of the vote to Armstrong’s 38.8 percent and Leroy’s 3.4 percent.
Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990, 11, 142; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 13 September 1858, 2:3.