John L. Scripps to Abraham Lincoln, 23 June 18581
Chicago June 23rd 1858My Dear SirThe Chicago Times of this morning contains a violent attack upon you, charging you with having voted
against a bill for supply the American Army in Mexico with medicine and nurses— and, without saying so in as many words— striving to fasten
the impression upon the public that you uniformly voted in Congress against supplies for the army in Mexico.2
I have not been able to get the Congressional Globe of that session, and shall therefore deny the charge generally tomorrow morning,
upon the my recollection of the facts in the case. Will you
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please furnish me with proper data for setting the matter at rest, or will you see
that the State Journal publishes what will supply us with the requisite materials for making a defence.3Sheahan expresses his determination ^privately^ of making the contest a personal one as between yourself and Douglas. He and the pack he leads should be met promptly at every point.4
Respectfully and Truly Your FriendJno. L. Scripps<Page 3>
[Envelope]
CHICAGO Ill[Illinois]
JUN[JUNE] 25 1858Hon. A. LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
JUN[JUNE] 25 1858Hon. A. LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
1John L. Scripps wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name
and address on the envelope shown in the third image.
2The article Scripps references appeared in the June 23 edition of the Daily Chicago Times.
Daily Chicago Times (IL), 23 June 1858, 2:1-2.
3Joseph Medill and Henry C. Whitney also wrote Lincoln informing him of the Daily Chicago Times’ attacks on his congressional record related to the Mexican War and asked him to supply a response. Lincoln replied to Whitney on June 24 and replied to Medill on June 25, but no reply to this letter from Scripps has been located.
In his reply to Medill, Lincoln supplied detailed information to counter the Daily Chicago Times’ attack.
Although Lincoln opposed the Mexican War and questioned its constitutionality during
his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, he nevertheless voted in favor of supplies for U.S. troops on at least two occasions:
February 17 and March 8, 1848. In both instances, the bills Lincoln voted for passed
the U.S. Senate and became law, funneling aid in the form of money, food, clothing, medical supplies,
and the like to U.S. military personnel serving in Mexico.
The Chicago Daily Tribune published a general defense of Lincoln in its June 24 edition, while also admitting
that the editors did not then know whether Lincoln “did or not vote against that war.”
The Daily Illinois State Journal published a refutation of the Daily Chicago Times’ attack on Lincoln in its June 25 edition, and the Chicago Daily Tribune printed a more thorough refutation of the attack in its June 26 issue.
Joseph Medill to Abraham Lincoln; Henry C. Whitney to Abraham Lincoln; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:264-68, 526-28, 554-56;
‘‘Spot'' Resolutions in the United States House of Representatives; ‘‘Spot'' Resolutions in the United States House of Representatives; Speech in United States House of Representatives: The War with Mexico; Speech in United States House of Representatives: The War with Mexico; Mark E. Neely, Jr., Lincoln and the Triumph of the Nation: Constitutional Conflict in the American Civil
War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 33; U.S. House Journal. 1848. 30th Cong., 1st sess., 426-27; 520-21; An Act Further to Supply Deficiencies in the Appropriations for the Service of the
Fiscal Year Ending the Thirtieth of June, 1848; An Act to Authorize a Loan not to Exceed the Sum of Sixteen Millions of Dollars; Chicago Daily Tribune (IL), 24 June 1858, 2:1; 26 June 1868, 2:3; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 25 June 1858, 2:1.
4James W. Sheahan was a strong ally of Stephen A. Douglas during the election campaign of 1858 and was known to employ less than scrupulous tactics to support Douglas’ bid for
reelection to the U.S. Senate. Lincoln was running against Douglas as the Illinois Republican Party’s candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Lincoln and Scripps exchanged at least two other letters regarding the 1858 Federal Election prior to this letter.
Despite publication of the facts surrounding Lincoln's voting record in the U.S. House
in the Illinois press as early as June 25, 1858—including by Democratic newspapers—Douglas
repeated the Daily Chicago Times' claims throughout the election campaign. In speeches he delivered during the campaign,
including during the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln repeatedly refuted the charges and cited congressional records to back up
his voting record in the U.S. House.
Ultimately, in the local elections of 1858, Republicans won a majority of all votes
cast in Illinois, but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control 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, and Douglas won reelection. 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.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:458, 467, 554-56; John L. Scripps to Abraham Lincoln; Abraham Lincoln to John L. Scripps; Report of Speech at Clinton, Illinois; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 25 June 1858, 2:1; Daily Illinois State Register (Springfield), 26 June 1858, 2:2; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas,
and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 394, 414-16.
Autograph Letter Signed, 3 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).