Josiah M. Lucas to Abraham Lincoln, 15 June 18581
Washington CityJune 15. 1858Dear Sir.
I intend sending you now and then such papers and documents as may fall under my observation
that I may conceive to contain articles which may assist you in the approaching canvass.
Douglas left yesterday for Illinois via N. York. He says his intention is to thoroughly canvass the state.2
His last speech, in Executive session gave his "bolting" friends fits– I suppose you have seen it.3 I will send you any documents you may want, if they can be obtained here.
T. Campbell, of California, is here– he tells me he has left said state for good and intends settling somewhere in the west– he further said that he was
going to Illinois to help his old friend Douglas out— that he was going to put on
the harness for the campaign.4 I was told the other day that Douglas was advised that the probability was that a
man would be elected in Kane County, that would go for him. Look to it in time–5 I believe there will
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be all sorts of jockeying to secure the legislature for Douglas. It is no less singular than true, that almost every political move
that is being made in Illinois, however trivial, is known here in certain quarters. Club rooms, for almost every state are in full blast— conducted
principally, by the clerks of the different States.6 Illinois ^club club^ at present has suspended operations. I was formerly invited by the Presidents private Secretary, to sign patents &c[etc.]. to assist their club in sending documents to Illinois–To satisfy my curiosity I
went once and but once. They said they had a million to send off. The matter was
principally composed of Buck's special message,7 Greens report, 8 English's report and Stevens report–9 I stuffed a copy of each in my pocket and bowed myself out of the buzzards roost,
and that is the last time they will see this child there– I have scarcely got clear
of the smell yet. These documents, I think are intended to beat Mr. D. Colby Young (a good and true man) and myself, refused to assist them, for which we receive an
additional spot, I suppose. The corruption & tyranny, prevailing here is perfectly appalling, and
should the powers that be, succeed in perpetuating their dominion for four years more it will be nothing
less than a reign of terror.10 Unfortunately for the country, there is no opposition paper here. The "Intelligencer", has no taste for such a foray— their dignity has "struck in"– The "States"
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which I occasionally send you, is doubtless in the interest of Douglas— but their ^its^ great fort is "our foreign relations" and fillibustering generally.
Every thing here smells of nigger— and if a man ^in office^ is heard to denounce the incroachments of the South, or speaks in kind terms for the Republicans he is immediately denounced as a spy, an abolitionist, and the cry is ^instantly^ raised, turn him out,— "crucify him" &c. I well know that I am obnoxious, and should not be surprised that at any moment to receive a "yaller kiver", or an invitation to resign.–11
I wish that you would tell the "Journal" men to send me their paper during the campaign. Of course my letters must be considered private.
I think I will furnish the Journal some items occasionally?
I hope to be home in October
Yours trulyJ M. LucasPS Send me the paper containing the proceeding of the convention12Hon. A. LincolnSpringfieldIllinois<Page 4>
[Envelope]
WASHING[TON D.C.?]
[JUN[JUNE]] 23Hon: A. LincolnSpringfieldIllinois13
[JUN[JUNE]] 23Hon: A. LincolnSpringfieldIllinois13
2Lucas is discussing canvassing related to Illinois’s local elections of 1858, which
had a bearing on the 1858 Federal Election. Voters in Illinois were set to elect members of the Illinois General Assembly. At the time, members of the General Assembly voted for and elected the state’s representatives
in the U.S. Senate, so the races for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate were highly relevant to the outcome of the race for the U.S. Senate. Just one day
after Lucas wrote this letter, delegates to the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention unanimously selected Abraham Lincoln as the party’s candidate to supplant Democratic
incumbent Stephen A. Douglas in the U.S. Senate. During the summer and fall of 1858,
both Lincoln and Douglas canvassed the state, delivering speeches in support of candidates
for the General Assembly in their respective parties.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses
Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392, 394.
3Lucas references a speech Douglas gave in the U.S. Senate on June 15. In the speech,
Douglas argued that a June 9 gathering of Illinois members of the Democratic Party
was not a legitimate Democratic convention and was instead a gathering of “bolters”
from the Democratic Party. He asserted that the authentic 1858 Illinois Democratic
Convention was held April 21, and that the delegates to that convention endorsed him
as the legitimate Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. Douglas furthermore accused
the “bolters” of being “in a secret alliance with the leaders of the Republican Party,”
claiming that Charles Leib was acting on behalf of the Republican Party and pressuring Democratic postmasters
throughout Illinois to back Lincoln over Douglas for U.S. senator in the upcoming
election of 1858. Douglas claimed that Leib was pressuring Democratic postmasters to withdraw their
support from Douglas by insinuating that any who supported Douglas would be removed
from their posts by President James Buchanan.
Douglas was correct that the Democratic Party held its official state convention
in Springfield, Illinois, on April 21. Tensions were high within the party due to
President Buchanan’s recent support of the Lecompton Constitution and Douglas’ denunciation of the constitution as well as Buchanan. Pro-Buchanan delegates
bolted the April convention and held their own convention on June 9, during which
they strongly denounced Douglas.
To Douglas’s other charge, although it is unclear whether a formal alliance ever existed
between Leib and his pro-Buchanan political allies and the Illinois Republican Party,
Leib was outspoken in his disdain for Douglas and actively promoted pro-Buchanan interests
within the Illinois Democratic political establishment—including among patronage appointees
such as postmasters. Moreover, in the aftermath of the controversy regarding the Lecompton
Constitution, President Buchanan did, in fact, purge many Douglas supporters from
federal patronage appointments throughout Illinois as part of a concerted effort to
politically punish Douglas for his opposition to the Lecompton Constitution and public
criticism of Buchanan.
Lincoln almost certainly would have heard about Douglas’s June 15 speech in the U.S.
Senate by the time he received this letter from Lucas. On June 16, Lyman Trumbull also wrote Lincoln a letter about Douglas’s speech. In a June 23 reply to Trumbull, Lincoln stated that he had seen a telegraph report “of Douglas’ general
onslaught upon every body but himself.” On June 24, the Daily Illinois State Register reported that it had received a copy of Douglas’s speech in pamphlet form and, on
June 25, the paper reprinted a full copy of the speech for its readers. Other papers
in Illinois also covered the speech and printed excerpts.
Cong. Globe, 35th Cong., Special Sess., 3055-58 (1858); Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:445, 454-55; Rodney O. Davis, “Dr. Charles Leib: Lincoln's Mole?,” Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 24 (Summer 2003): 24-27; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and
the Political Landscape of 1858,” 395-96; Daily Illinois State Register (Springfield), 24 June 1858, 2:2; 25 June 1858, 2:2-6; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 10 June 1858, 2:2-5; 21 June 1858, 2:1; 24 June 1858, 2:1-2; Chicago Daily Tribune (IL), 19 June 1858, 2:3.
4Lincoln mentioned Thompson Campbell during his third debate with Douglas, in Jonesboro, Illinois. He noted that Campbell was a political ally of Douglas’s and that Campbell had been
present during his second debate with Douglas, in Freeport, Illinois, Campbell having traveled all the way from California to support Douglas.
Third Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Jonesboro, Illinois; Third Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Jonesboro, Illinois; Third Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Jonesboro, Illinois.
5The Republicans of Kane County, Illinois, nominated William B. Plato as their candidate for a seat in the Illinois House. He won election to the seat
during the local elections of 1858.
Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 24 September 1858, 2:4; 13 November 1858, 2:3; John Clayton, comp.,
The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac 1673-1968
(Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 222.
6This is most likely a reference to clerks serving in the U.S. General Land Office or some other federal office in Washington, DC. Although it is unclear what federal
position Lucas held in the District at the time of this letter, he worked as a clerk in the U.S. General Land Office
during the reign of Democratic administrations.
Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the
United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1853 (Washington, DC: Robert Armstrong, 1853), 134; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the
United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1855 (Washington, DC: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1855), 78; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the
United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1857 (Washington, DC: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1857), 79.
7This is most likely a reference to President Buchanan’s February 2, 1858 message to
the U.S. Congress, in which he urged passage of the Lecompton Constitution.
Cong. Globe, 35th Cong., 1st Sess., 533-35 (1858).
8On February 18, 1858, James S. Green of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Territories
reported bill S. 161, “A bill for the admission of the State of Kansas into the Union,”
to the Senate. He also submitted a report on the topic, which the Senate ordered to
be printed. The latter is what Lucas refers to as “Green’s report.”
U.S. Senate Journal. 1858. 35th Cong., 1st sess., 201; S. 161, 35th Cong. (1858).
9This is a reference to a report that both William H. English and Alexander H. Stephens
submitted to the U.S. Senate on April 23, 1858 alongside fellow committee members
Green and Robert M. T. Hunter. English, Stephens, Green, and Hunter were all members of a special committee the
Senate created to consider bill S. 161, the aforementioned bill related to the admission
of the Kansas Territory into the Union as a state. William H. Seward and William A. Howard were also members of the special committee, but they “did not
agree” with the report.
S. 161 became known as “the English bill.” The English bill provided for an up or
down vote on the Lecompton Constitution in the Kansas Territory and avoided a direct
resubmission of the constitution to the people of Kansas by attaching it to an adjusted
land grant. On April 30, the English bill passed in both houses of the U.S. Congress,
but Kansans overwhelmingly voted against it on August 2.
U.S. Senate Journal. 1858. 35th Cong., 1st sess., 379; S. 161, 35th Cong. (1858); Nicole Etcheson, Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2004), 179-81; David M. Potter and Don E.
Fehrenbacher, The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861
(New York: Harper & Row, 1976), 322-25.
11“Yaller” was American slang for “yellow” and “kiver” was slang for “cover.” Notices
of dismissal from government employment were usually delivered in yellow envelopes,
so “yaller kiver” became slang for such a dismissal notice.
Since federal jobs were controlled by the political party in power and awarded on
a patronage basis, as a Whig Lucas was constantly in danger of losing his appointment to someone loyal to the
Democratic Party. Although it is unclear exactly how long Lucas retained his position,
according to his correspondence with Lincoln he remained in Washington, DC until at
least mid-1860, having been elected postmaster of the U.S. House of Representatives early that year. His coworker Coleby Young served as a clerk in the U.S. General
Land Office until 1864.
John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded as Peculiar
to The United States (Boston: Little and Brown, 1877), xl, 770; 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), 416-18; Josiah M. Lucas to Abraham Lincoln; Josiah M. Lucas to Abraham Lincoln; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the
United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1859
(Washington, DC: William A. Harris, 1859), 81;
Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the
United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1861
(Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1862), 75;
Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the
United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1863
(Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1864), 99;
Andrew Boyd, comp., Boyd's Washington and Georgetown Directory
(Washington, DC: Hudson Taylor, 1864), 74.
12If Lincoln replied to this letter, his response has not been located. Lincoln and
Lucas corresponded at least four other times during the campaign of 1858.
In the end, Republicans won a majority of all votes cast during Illinois’s local elections
of 1858, but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of the Illinois General Assembly.
Despite Plato and others casting their ballots for Lincoln, Douglas won reelection
to the U.S. Senate. Through the campaign, however, and in particular through his participation
in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Lincoln gained recognition as well as standing within the national Republican Party.
Josiah M. Lucas to Abraham Lincoln; Abraham Lincoln to Josiah M. Lucas; Josiah M. Lucas to Abraham Lincoln; Josiah M. Lucas to Abraham Lincoln; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:556-57.
Autograph Letter Signed, 4 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC). .