Jesse O. Norton to Abraham Lincoln, 20 January 18551
(Private & Confidential)
Washington Jany 201855.My dear Sir.
I would not be or even seem officious. But I have felt a deep interest in the Senatorial
controversy that is going on in our State. You know, and so do my friends, that I have taken clear ground for you.2 I promised a mutual friend (who is very anxious for your election & who is doing
what he can for you with one wing of our forces) that I would write you a few words.
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There are no doubt serious difficulties in the matter. Such must necessarily be the
case in ^an^ assembly constituted as ours is this winter. But it seems to me that, you might,
by some concessions, such as could be made by you without any sacrifice of principle,
bring the whole free soil element to your support. I speak of those who have hitherto been distinctive "Free
Soilers."3 Are you bound to stand by every thing in the Compromise measures of 1850? Could’nt you concede to them a modification of the Fugitive Slave act? With this & such positions as you can assume in relation to the prohibition of
Slavery in the Territories & the admission of additional Slave states, I cannot
see why these men cannot unite upon you to a man.4
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I am satisfied that there are men, in our own ranks, waiting & longing for you to be set aside, for the chance it may give them of an election.5 Shields friends here are now seemingly animated with new hopes, either that he will be elected
or that there will be no election.6 Pardon me for these very hasty suggestions, & attribute them to a desire that our
cause may triumph in your election.
Most truly,J. O NortonI will be glad to hear from you.– Let me know just how it stands–72Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and its effective repeal of the Missouri Compromise reawakened Abraham 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, Lincoln wrote confidential letters to political allies
seeking support for his candidacy and information about his prospects. When the General
Assembly met in a joint session on February 8, 1855, ten rounds of voting were needed
to finally determine a victor. Lincoln received a majority of the anti-Nebraska votes
until the tenth and final ballot, when he withdrew and urged his supporters to vote
for anti-Nebraska Democrat Lyman Trumbull in order to ensure that an anti-Nebraska politician filled the seat. With the votes
of Lincoln’s supporters, Trumbull won the seat. See 1854 Federal Election.
David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (New York: Touchstone, 1995), 167-73; William H. Randolph to Abraham Lincoln; Autobiography of Abraham Lincoln Written for John L. Scripps; Abraham Lincoln to Hugh Lamaster; Abraham Lincoln to Joseph Gillespie; Abraham Lincoln to Horace W. Fay; Abraham Lincoln to Elihu B. Washburne; Illinois Senate Journal. 1855. 19th G. A., 242-55.
3Elihu B. Washburne wrote to Lincoln on December 20, 1854, explaining the power that the Free Soil Party held
and also suggested that Lincoln emphasize his disdain for slavery and its spread to
acquire their support.
4In an October 16, 1854, speech in Peoria, Lincoln had articulated his views on the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Missouri Compromise,
and the Compromise measures of 1850. He declared the repeal of the Missouri Compromise
as “wrong” and argued that it “ought to be restored”--repudiating the Kansas-Nebraska
Act, which in effect repealed it. He also asserted his objection to the further spread
of slavery outside of its current environs. However, Lincoln acknowledged the constitutional
right of southerners to federal legislation to reclaim runaway slaves, though he believed
that law should not, “in its stringency, be more likely to carry a free man into slavery,
than our ordinary criminal laws are to hang an innocent one.” He was also unwilling
to assert that no additional slave states would be added to the Union.
According to Thomas J. Henderson, Lincoln followed a middle course, telling legislators that, if elected to the Senate,
he would not vote against the Fugitive Slave Act, but would vote to remove its more
odious features.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:396.
5On January 8, 1855, Richard Yates wrote to Lincoln, that in the event that Lincoln was an unsuccessful candidate for U.S.
Senate, that he would like to be a candidate, and would rely on Lincoln’s support.
6James Shields came in first or second in the first six rounds of voting but was unable
to acquire the fifty votes needed to be elected. In round seven of voting, Shields’
supporters plummeted to one vote, and he failed to receive any additional support
as voting continued through ten rounds.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1855. 19th G. A., 242-55.
Autograph Letter Signed, 3 page(s),
Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).