John Mathers to Abraham Lincoln, 19 July 18581
Jacksonville July 19. 1858Dear Sir.Haveing read the speech made by Mr Douglass in Chicago, & your reply to the same, and feeling a deep interest in the result of the contest just commenced, I have concluded, although a stranger to you, to take the liberty
of making a few suggestions for your consideration.2 I discovered on reading Mr Douglass’ “cunningly devised,” & sophistical speech, that his main object was, & doubtless will be, to put & keep you at the “labouring oar,” by placeing you on the defensive.3 All debators know that it is much easier to assail than to defend, & if Douglass can only succeed in keeping you defending yourself all the time, he will have accomplished his object— he will in this way
keep public attention away from his past conduct, & fix it upon his assaults & your defence– What I wish to suggest is, this— would it not be better, only so far as may be
^absolutely^ necessary, to cease to defend, & occupy the side of the assailant, and keep this position until the close of the fight, & not let Dug, by any stratagem drive you from it.4 If you have read the Debate which took place a few years since between Campbell & Rice, doubtless you noticed the great advantage which Rice had throughout the whole contest
in this way– He always kept on the side of the assailant, & kept Campbell constantly
<Page 2>
defending his doctrines or his writings & left him little or no time to assault the doctrines of Rice–5 Well, the past conduct of Douglass as a politician is known– Hold that conduct up to public View.— keep it before the people & keep it all the time, & soon he will forget to assail & commence to defend, and if he can only be kept defending himself all the time, we will beat him— and the only way to do this, is to assail & keep assailing & not stop long to defend ourselves. In thus writing, I do not wish to be understood,
as being dissatisfied with your speech— without intending to flatter, I think it was
unanswerable— it was a first rate defensive speech,– But you know, from what I have intimated, that I go for carrying the war into Africa. alias, Douglass.61st He repealed the Mo. Compromise, not to establish, as as he professed, popular sovernty, but to extend slavery— and still glories in the deed.
2d He is the enemy of popular sovernty in the Territories, from the fact that he endorses the Dred Scott decission, by which slavery can go into all our territoris, & Congress, nor even the dear people of the territoris, cannot, while in a territorial state, keep it out. This is popular sovernty “with a vengence,” and yet he hypocritically talks in his Chicago
<Page 3>
speech about popular sovernty in the states & Territories.7 I deem it unnecessary to allude to the various points upon which Mr Douglass can be assailed & his conduct held up to public gage– On these points doubtless
you are fully posted up.
Their is an other point to which I desire to refer— viz– The state senators who hold over— who are
they & what No are republicans– What ^Which^ Districts elects this fall state senators? Which of these districts do the parties
stand nearly equally divided– These are the districts, where the parties stand nearly
equally divided, whether they sent Democrats or Republicans before, should special efforts be made. No doubt you have thought of this, but ought not the leading men in such districts be posted up
on this subject in a private way, & in a private manner go to work, & work hard until after the election. The same point should be examined into as to the representative districts. The relative strength of the parties can be seen by examing the vote in each county & district 2 or 6 years ago for President of the United States. perhaps it would be well to examine
the vote cast 2 & 6 years ago–8 Pardon the liberty I have thus taken in addressing you this scrawl. My only apology
for so doing is the interest I feel in the cause of freedom.
Your friend &c[etc]Jno. Mathers9<Page 4>
[Envelope]
JAC[KSO?]NVILLE Ill.[Illinois]
JUL[JULY] 19 1858Abraham Lincoln Esqr[Esquire]SpringfieldIllinois
JUL[JULY] 19 1858Abraham Lincoln Esqr[Esquire]SpringfieldIllinois
2Abraham Lincoln had recently been nominated at the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention to run against incumbent Stephen A. Douglas to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate. Douglas had commenced his reelection campaign with a speech in Chicago on July 9,
1858, and Lincoln followed with a speech in Chicago on July 10.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-58; 467-72; Robert W.
Johannsen, ed., The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965), 22-36; Report of Speech at Chicago, Illinois; Report of Speech at Chicago, Illinois; Report of Speech at Chicago, Illinois.
3The “laboring oar” is that which requires the most effort to use, thus to be put to
the laboring oar is to be given the greatest share of work.
James A. H. Murray, ed., A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908), 6:1:7.
4Several other correspondents wrote Lincoln during the election campaign of 1858 to encourage him to attack Douglas offensively in his speeches, rather than speak
defensively.
John Trible to Abraham Lincoln; Johnson H. Jordan to Abraham Lincoln; Leander Munsell to Abraham Lincoln; David Davis to Abraham Lincoln; Joseph Medill to Abraham Lincoln.
5Clergymen Alexander Campbell and Nathan L. Rice debated from November 15 through December
2, 1843 in Lexington, Kentucky, with Henry Clay acting as moderator over portions of the debate. Among the topics that the pair debated
were the significance and practice of baptism and the role of the Holy Spirit in conversion.
Rice used his knowledge of Campbell’s writings to argue that the latter’s ideas had
changed over time and were self-contradictory. Following the debate both sides claimed
victory. The debate was published as a monograph the following year.
Edward H. Sawyer, “Campbell-Rice Debate,” The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement, ed. by Douglas A. Foster, et al. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, [2012]),
145-47; A Debate Between Rev. A. Campbell and Rev. N. L. Rice on the Action, Subject, Design
and Administrator of Christian Baptism (Lexington: A. T. Skillman & Son, 1844).
6To “carry the war into Africa” is to attack rather than acting defensively. The phrase
is associated with Scipio Africanus, the Roman consul and general who mounted a successful military campaign in Africa
against the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War.
J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner, eds., The Oxford English Dictionary, 2d ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), 2:920; Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth,
eds., The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd ed. rev. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 398.
7In his July 9, 1858 speech in Chicago, Douglas expounded on his belief in the doctrine
that states and territories should be governed by popular sovereignty, and argued
that his opposition to the Lecompton Constitution and his role in creating the Kansas-Nebraska Act furthered this aim. He asserted that Lincoln’s statement in his June 16, 1858 speech
at the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention that “A house divided against itself cannot
stand" was a call for uniformity in local law and domestic institutions across all
states and territories, and thus a denial of popular sovereignty.
Robert W. Johannsen, ed., The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858, 22-31.
8At 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 Senate were of importance to Lincoln’s campaign.
Under the 1848 Illinois Constitution state senators served staggered four-year terms. The twenty-five senate districts
were divided roughly in two, with elections occurring biennially, and half of Illinois’s
state senators on the ballot at a given election, and half holding over until the
next election two years later.
In preparing for the election of 1858, Lincoln compiled strategy notes based on the Illinois county-level results of the 1856 presidential and state treasurer elections and analyzed the likely outcome of Illinois House of Representatives and Senate races
by district, taking into account which senate districts held over. Lincoln and Douglas
both focused their 1858 campaign efforts on the former Whig Party stronghold of central Illinois, where the state legislative races were the closest.
Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of
1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 394, 400-401; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:476-77; Ill. Const. of 1848, art. III, § 5-6.
Autograph Letter Signed, 4 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).