Ichabod Codding to Abraham Lincoln, 13 November 18541
Chicago Nov. 13 1854
Hon. A Lincoln,Dear Sir,By request of those members of the Republican State Central Committee, residing in Chicago
& vicinity, I hereby inform you that there will be a meeting of said committee in
this city this week Friday (17th inst) at the office of J E Farnsworth opposite the Sherman House at 2 oclock P.M. Your attendance is
requested2
yours trulyI. Codding.[Envelope]
CHICAGO Ills[Illinois]
NOV[November] 14
3 PAIDHon. A. Lincoln.SpringfieldIllinois
NOV[November] 14
3 PAIDHon. A. Lincoln.SpringfieldIllinois
2Abraham Lincoln responded to Codding in a letter of November 27, 1854, noting that he had never been invited nor agreed to be a member
of the Republican State Central Committee.
Codding’s request came in the aftermath of the state and congressional elections of 1854, which witnessed Lincoln’s return to politics after a brief hiatus concentrating
on his law practice. Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and its effective repeal of the Missouri Compromise had reawakened Lincoln’s passion for politics, and he threw himself into the election
campaign in the fall of 1854, crisscrossing Illinois to deliver speeches against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and in support of anti-Nebraska candidates.
David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (New York: Touchstone, 1995), 167-73; Autobiography of Abraham Lincoln Written for John L. Scripps.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s),
Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).