Although Swett did not date this letter, the editors have determined that he wrote it on Tuesday, December 12, 1854. In a December 15 letter to Abraham Lincoln, David Davis mentions speaking with Swett earlier in the week. Furthermore, Swett wrote Lincoln again on Tuesday, December 19, after completing the trip that he discusses in this letter.

Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and its effective repeal of the Missouri Compromise reawakened Lincoln’s passion for politics, and he threw himself into the congressional election campaign in the fall of 1854, crisscrossing Illinois to deliver speeches against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and in support of anti-Nebraska candidates. He even allowed himself to become a candidate for the Illinois General Assembly (albeit unwillingly at first). As the election campaign reached its climax, Lincoln’s name began to circulate as a possible nominee for one of the state’s U.S. Senate seats. In November and December 1854, he wrote confidential letters to political allies, seeking support for his candidacy and information about his prospects. He likely wrote Davis such a letter, although no correspondence between Lincoln and Davis in the whole of 1854 prior to Davis’ December 8 letter to Lincoln has been located.

Lincoln won election to the Illinois General Assembly, but, on November 25, 1854, officially declined to serve in order to run for the U.S. Senate. Per article three, section seven of the 1848 Illinois Constitution, state legislators were ineligible for election to the U.S. Senate.

Swett wrote Lincoln at least two more letters related to Lincoln’s candidacy for the U.S. Senate after this letter. According to these letters, the only two assemblymen Swett met with personally were John Strunk and Judge Gavion D. A. Parks, both of whom Swett believed would vote for Lincoln for U.S. Senator.

The Nineteenth General Assembly convened at Springfield on January 1, 1855. Voting for the state’s representative in the U.S. Senate took place on February 8. Ultimately, Lincoln did not win election to the U.S. Senate; the Illinois General Assembly selected anti-Nebraska Democrat Lyman Trumbull instead. Both Strunk and Parks cast their votes for Lincoln for six ballots, then Strunk switched his vote to Joel A. Matteson. Parks switched his vote to Trumbull on the eighth ballot. See the 1854 Federal Election. Stung and disappointed by his loss, Lincoln made no political speeches or public statements for an entire year after his defeat and reinvested his energies in his law practice.