Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

William D. Henderson to Abraham Lincoln, 12 July 18581
Oquawka Ill July 12^th 1858Friend Lincoln
Your favour of June 26^th was received in due time2 and I carefully noted its contents & I Still think that if you could come over here Say dureing our court week which I think meets on the Second Monday of September that it might be the means of saveing this Representative district3 I believe I did not mention in my former letter that in addition to other causes of trouble there is a local question in our county that I fear will have an influence in detrimental to the Republican cause herethere is a Strong party in this County in favor of the Removal of the county seat from Oquawka4 and the democracy have on former ocaisions.— succeeded in electing Some of the county officers on that Isue and the action of our county court lately in Relation to the isuing Some Rail Road Bonds5 &C[etc] has Stired up this Local question Stronger than it has been for the last ten years and I know that the democracy are prepareing to take advantage of this question and if they Suceed in Secureing this man Phelpses cooperation they will certainly defeat us & he is unprincipald and will go into any arrangement that he can make pay now as you are an outsider in this

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local contest if you Should come here I think that after a consultation with the Republican friends here you could make a Speech without of Alludeing to our local affairs that would defeat their Engineering on the local question. I have no Idea that your appearance here would drive the Democracy to any more vigorous Efforts than they are now makeing for I have never Seen them so Industrious as they are at the Present time they (the Democracy) had a convention on last Saturday to apoint delegates to the congressional Senatorial & Representative nominating conventions, and I learn this morning that to each of these conventions they sent one Buchanan Democrat. So you See the two wings here are likely to harmonize.6 I do not think there are over fifty Buchaneers in this County and they have no leader here worth a cent hence I fear they will unite. I think this Senatorial district a hopless one for the Republicans, at our last fall election in this & Warren County the Democracy & Knownothings united cordially there ticket being made up from Boath parties and carried the election in boath Counties7 now I have no doubt that they will unite this fall & if they do you See that there is no hope for the senatorial District to Result favourably to the Republicans8

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Another Reason why I would like to See you here is that the democracy Say that Douglass will be here Some time this fall and there fugleman here H Rose tells his friends here that Lincoln is very ordinary fellow and does not begin to compare with Dougl Douglass neither in point of Tallent nor as a Speaker now if you would come over here I know that you can & will disprove these stories9

But if I thought that your appearance here would be the means of Stiring up the Democracy to greater Efforts I would not advise you to come but I do not think it will & I know it would Stir up the Republicans and they need Stiring to greater dilligence to secure the defeat of the little Giant

let me hear from you again as soon as convenient & if you can get hold of Douglasses Grand Jury Speech & your own in Reply I wish you would send me a copy of each of them10
Truly yours &CW D Henderson

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[Envelope]

OQUAWKA Ill.[Illinois]
JUL[JULY] [13?]Hon A. Lincoln Esq[Esquire]Springfield Ill

[ docketing ]
07/12/1858
Lincoln, Abraham (President)

W. D. Henderson.
July 12. 1858.11

1William D. Henderson wrote and signed this letter, including the address on the envelope.

2Abraham Lincoln's letter to Henderson dated June 26, 1858, has not been found. However, it undoubtedly was a response to Henderson's letter to Lincoln from June 19, when Henderson invited Lincoln to Oquawka during his 1858 campaign for the U.S. Senate. Lincoln was the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. In the summer and fall of 1858, he crisscrossed Illinois delivering speeches and campaigning on behalf of Republican candidates for the Illinois General Assembly. At this time the Illinois General Assembly elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate, thus the outcome of races for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate were of importance to Lincoln’s campaign. He ran against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, the incumbent. See the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-85; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-93.

3The September term of the Henderson County Circuit Court was the third Monday--September 20 in 1858.
Oquawka and Henderson, County were part of the Fifth Congressional District in 1858. Henderson County gave a large majority of its voters to Jackson Grimshaw, the Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Fifth District, but it was not enough for Grimshaw to defeat Isaac N. Morris, the Democratic incumbent, who retained the seat.
"An Act to Establish the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Judicial Circuits, and for Other Purposes," 12 February 1851, General Laws of Illinois (1851), 82; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” 393; "Illinois Congressional Districts, 1858," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/16278, accessed 8 August 2023; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 10, 11, 142.

4Henderson is likely referring to the effort to move the Henderson County seat from Oquawka to a more central location, the town of Warren, twelve miles south of Oquawka.
History of Mercer County (Chicago: H. H. Hill, 1882), 910.

5In order to fund the creation or expansion of railroad lines, railroad companies issued bonds that would mature in years or in decades. For example, the Peoria and Oquawka Rail Road Company issued $750,000 worth of bonds—each worth $1,000—in 1857, payable twenty-five years later in 1882.
Peoria and Oquawka Rail Road Co.: Contracts and Agreement with the Illinois Central Rail Road Co. (New York: Chatterson & Brother, 1857), 3.

6Henderson is referencing the recent split of the Democratic Party into pro-James Buchanan and pro-Stephen A. Douglas factions. The split occurred after Douglas, in December 1857, spoke out against the Lecompton Constitution and criticized President Buchanan for supporting it. See Bleeding Kansas.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:445.

7Henderson, Hancock, and Schuyler counties comprised the Eleventh Illinois Senate district in 1858. While Henderson leaned Republican, Hancock and Schuyler were old Whig counties.
In the election for Eleventh Illinois Senate District in 1856, Henderson ran against Hiram Rose, a Democrat. Henderson County voters gave Henderson a majority, but Rose won the seat. Although Rose was the incumbent, Douglas Democrat John P. Richmond was elected to the Illinois Senate for the Eleventh District in 1858. Richmond voted for Douglas in the election for U.S. Senate.
Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” 392; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219, 222; Louis L. Emerson, ed., Blue Book of the State of Illinois, 1923-1924 (Springfield: Illinois State Journal, 1923), 681, 682; Oquawka Spectator (IL), 14 November 1856, 2:6-7; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 5 January 1857, 2:2; 3 November 1858, 2:2; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32.

8Henderson and Warren counties made up the Fortieth Illinois House District in 1858. William C. Rice, a Republican, won the seat and voted for Lincoln in the election for U.S. Senate, but Douglas won the election and retained his seat. However, Lincoln achieved a national prominence that was essential for his campaign for the presidency in 1860. See 1858 Federal Election.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:545-57; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968, 220, 222; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 3 November 1858, 2:2; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32.

9Douglas spoked in Oquawka on Monday, October 4, 1858. On October 9, Lincoln visited the home of Stephen S. Phelps in Oquawka and then spoke for several hours.
Oquawka Spectator (IL), 7 October 1858, 2:1; 14 October 1858, 2:1; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 9 October 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-10-09.

10Stephen A. Douglas' so-called "Grand Jury Speech" occurred in Springfield, Illinois, on June 12, 1857. Members of the grand jury of the U.S. Circuit Court, Southern District of Illinois, invited Douglas to speak on the affairs in Kansas and Utah, and the Dred Scott decision. Lincoln and other leading Republicans attended the speech. Lincoln delivered a detailed response to Douglas's speech on July 26. See Bleeding Kansas; Utah War; Scott v. Sandford.
James Sheahan, Life of Stephen A. Douglas (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1860), 423; Remarks of the Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, on Kansas, Utah, and the Dred Scott Decision (Chicago: Daily Times Book and Job Office, 1857), 3-15; Daily Illinois State Register (Springfield), 15 June 1857, 2:1; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 9 October 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1857-06-26.

11Lincoln wrote this docketing.