Thomas Corwin to Abraham Lincoln, 27 August 18521
W city 27th Aug 52Private Strictly
Dear SirI rd[received] yr[your] note this morning2 asking whether in my opinion Ohio will give it's vote for Genl Scott,
I can only give you what as far as I know is the general opinion of those who are
much better in formed on the subject than I can pretend to be This general opinion is that Ohio can & will be carried for Genl[General] Scott,
I do not deem it proper while I am here to take any part in popular elections & therefore
write this, only to answer your inquiry & not by that you will in no way make it public3
Yrs[Yours] trulyTh0 CorwinA LincolnSpringfieldIll<Page 2>
[Envelope]
3During their convention in June 1852, the Whig Party nominated Winfield Scott as their candidate for president and William A. Graham as their candidate for vice-president in the presidential election of 1852, hoping that a Scott-Graham ticket would enable the party to remain bisectional and
appealing to both Northern and Southern Whigs. Scott was the favorite candidate of
most Northern Whigs, and Graham was a slaveholder from North Carolina. Ultimately, although many Southern Whigs were pleased with Graham’s nomination,
they were far less enthusiastic about Scott. The contest was fairly close in Ohio:
the total Democratic vote was 169,193, the Whigs garnered 152,577 votes, and the Free Soil Party received another 31,133 votes. Yet the Whig Party suffered a devastating defeat
on the national stage. The Democratic Party’s candidate, Franklin Pierce, won 254 electoral votes to Scott’s 42.
Michael F. Holt, The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of
the Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 724-25, 754; John L. Moore, Jon P. Preimesberger,
and David R. Tarr, eds., Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections, 4th ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2001), 1:651.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, Allen County Public Library (Ft. Wayne, IN).