Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Richard P. Stevens to Abraham Lincoln, 24 June 18581
40. Trinity Buildings
June 24. 1858Hon Abram LincolnDear sir.
Permit me to congratulate you upon the admirable hit you have made in your late speech at Springfield. Your statement of the position of Judge Douglass, is telling & truthful, and commands the admiration of all true republicans who are not yet disposed to enter into new alliances, with emasculated leaders of new & strange doctrines.2

The clique of the Tribune will not control the action of our party in this state, in the forthcoming convention.3

Within a few days I have a conversation with some of our leading men of the western part of the state, among the Pres of the Senate last winter. Your position will be endorsed by the masses, the rank & file of the state.

Although here as at Danville, I am not known

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as an active partizan politician, yet often times the man who is calm & unprejudiced, sees which way the tide is setting better than, he who is in the whirl and vortex.4
Truly Yours Doct[Doctor] R. P. StevensP.S. I see our friend M^cChesney has taken the Northern part of your state as his appropriate field It is sincerely to be wished that the new head of your survey will give the State a good report and contribute, to popularize the science of Geology among the people.5 R. P. S .

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[Envelope]

NEW-YORK
JUN[JUNE] 25Hon Abram LincolnSpringfieldIll

[ docketing ]
Lincoln, Abraham (President)

D^r R. P. Stevens6

1Richard P. Stevens wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name and address on the envelope shown in the third image.

2Stevens references Lincoln’s so-called “House Divided” speech, which Lincoln delivered at the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention on June 16. In the speech, Lincoln addressed Stephen A. Douglas’ recent conflict with President James Buchanan over the Lecompton Constitution. Some Republicans had been excited by Douglas’ repudiation of the Lecompton Constitution to the extent that they considered supporting his bid for reelection to the U.S. Senate in the 1858 Federal Election. In his House Divided speech, Lincoln asserted that despite Douglas’ actions with regard to the Lecompton Constitution, Douglas and President Buchanan remained aligned on the issue of slavery and politically loyal to the slaveholding South. Delegates to the Illinois Republican Convention unanimously nominated Lincoln to challenge Douglas for the U.S. Senate. See 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; Bleeding Kansas.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:445-46, 458-59; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Fragment of A House Divided: Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois.

3Following his split with President Buchanan over the Lecompton Constitution, Douglas courted political support for his reelection campaign among members of the Republican Party, including influential New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley. Douglas met with Greeley, who believed Douglas’ claims that he might join the Republican Party. Via editorials in the Tribune, Greeley urged voters in Illinois to support Douglas’ reelection to the U.S. Senate. The New York State Republican convention took place on September 8 and 9, 1858. Delegates made no endorsement for the Illinois senatorial race.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:446-47; New-York Daily Tribune (NY), 9 September 1858, 4:5; 10 September 1858, 4:5, 5:2-6; 8:1.

4If Lincoln replied to this letter, his response has not been located.
In the election of 1858 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.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:556-57.

5Joseph H. McChesney helped Amos H. Worthen conduct a geological survey of Illinois between April and November 1858. McChesney focused on northern Illinois starting in May. The state geological corps compiled the state geological survey into book form in December of that year.
Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 1 May 1858, 2:3; The Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 22 December 1858, 1:3.

6Lincoln wrote this docketing.