Thomas A. Marshall to Abraham Lincoln, 22 July 18581
Charleston July 22. 1858Dear LincolnYour favor of 19 came to hand in due time2 I thank you for giving me an idea of Lawrence.3 I had heard something of the same sort from Dr Balch4 My prospects I consider good & I think we will elect the Representative, Craddock is our Candidate–5
Dr Chambers, who considers himself the American Leader here, & who really has influence, has shown me a long rigmarole of a letter, he has written you.6 If you can answer it in some way so as to conciliate & satisfy him, it is best to
do so–7 I would say some thing like this— for instance
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That as his letter does not specify the particular parts of the Chicago speech, that does not meet his approval, you do not know exactly what part to explain, & it would
exceed the bounds of a letter, & take more time than you now have at Command to enter
into a detailed defence of the whole. That you expect to visit Coles County during the canvass, (which I trust is the case) & that there you will take occasion
both in private & in public to make such explanations, as will doubtless be satisfactory–8 That you have been contending only for what you consider the fundamental principles
of our institutions. That as
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for negro equality in the sense in which the expression is used you neither believe
in it nor desire it. You desire to offer no temptations to negroes to come among
us or remain with us, and therefore you do not propose to confer upon them any further
social or political rights than they are now entitled to– As a citizen of a free state
or as a member of Congress you would have no right to interfere with slavery in the states, & you have no such
desire, and therefore you will never countenance consider, the idea of changing the Constitution so as to give Congress control over
the subject of slavery in the states as impractica
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ble & absurd–9 I think some such letter as I have here sketched would satisfy the Dr, & remove a good deal of trouble out of our way– Our enemies are preparing for
a desperate fight, we must go into with as little weight as possible– Unless they
succeed in exciting some strong prejudices against us we are safe in this quarter.
10Let me hear from you as you have time11
Yours &c[etc.]T. A Marshall<Page 5>
[Envelope]
CHARLESTON Ill.[Illinois]
JUL[JULY] 23Hon. A. LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
JUL[JULY] 23Hon. A. LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
3Although it is uncertain specifically to what Lincoln had referenced in his letter
in regard to Lawrence County, he was invited to visit the county in August 1858. The author of the invitation, Carson D. Hay, described Lawrence as one of the counties, "where something can be affected if he
has time to visit." Lincoln was the Republican candidate from Illinois for the 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, and lost to, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, the incumbent. There is no record of Lincoln speaking in Lawrence County. See 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-85, 547, 557; Allen
C. Guelzo, “House Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,”
The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392.
4It is uncertain to whom Marshall is referring. He wrote to Lincoln on September 17, 1856, listing one Alfred Balch as a member of the American Party from Coles County, but there is no evidence Alfred Balch had earned the title of
doctor.
5Republican William W. Craddock won election to the Illinois House in 1858 representing the Twenty-Fifth Illinois
House District, which included Coles and Moultrie counties. Marshall, also a Republican, won election to the Illinois Senate representing
the Eighteenth District, which included Coles, Cumberland, Edgar, and Vermilion counties. Craddock and Marshall both voted for Lincoln in the election for U.S.
Senate
John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 3 November 1858, 2:3; 13 November 1858, 2:3; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 5, 32; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 5.
6Marshall wrote a letter to Lincoln on June 2, 1858, introducing him to William M. Chambers. Marshall described the doctor as a prominent former Know Nothing who was well disposed toward both Lincoln and the Republican Party. Chambers himself
wrote to Lincoln on July 22—the letter referenced here—offering feedback on Lincoln's speech
in Chicago on July 10. Lincoln had discussed topics such as popular sovereignty, the
Lecompton Constitution, and the Dred Scott decision, responding to allegations made by Douglas in his speech the previous evening. Chambers
shared with Lincoln his ill will toward Douglas retaining his seat in the U.S. Senate,
but he also warned Lincoln not to offer support for the end of slavery or the equality
of Black Americans in speeches, lest he alienate members of the American party.
Report of Speech at Chicago, Illinois; Report of Speech at Chicago, Illinois; Report of Speech at Chicago, Illinois.
8On September 7, 1858, Lincoln spoke to an audience of 1,000 in Mattoon, Illinois, in Coles County. He also spent the day and night of September 17 in Mattoon. The
next day, September 18, the fourth of a series of debates between Lincoln and Douglas was held in Charleston, Illinois, the county seat of Coles.
History of Coles County, Illinois
(Chicago: Wm. Le Baron, Jr., 1879), 245; Edward Callary, Place Names of Illinois
(Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 218; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 7 September 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-07; 17 September 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-17; 18 September 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-18; Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois, Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois; Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois.
9In the first debate between Douglas and Lincoln on August 21, Lincoln argued, "I have no purpose directly
or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it
exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do
so. I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white
and the black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which in my judgment
will probably forever forbid their living together upon the footing of perfect equality,
and inasmuch as it becomes a necessity that there must be a difference. I, as well
as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong, having the superior position.
I have never said anything to the contrary, but I hold that notwithstanding all this,
there is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights
enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness."
First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois; First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois; First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois.
10Coles County is located in central Illinois, east of Springfield. Lincoln and Douglas
both focused their campaign efforts on the former Whig Party stronghold of central Illinois, where the state legislative races were the closest.
Among the former Whigs whose votes were courted were those who had moved into the
American Party following the dissolution of the Whig Party. Chambers and other former
members of the American Party, often referred to colloquially as "Fillmore Men" because
the national party backed Millard Fillmore in the presidential election of 1856, were an important source of votes for both Democrats and Republicans in the state
and federal elections of 1858, and both Lincoln and Douglas worked hard to garner
their support.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life , 1:476-77; Stephen Hansen and Paul Nygard, “Stephen A. Douglas, the Know-Nothings,
and the Democratic Party in Illinois, 1854-1858,” Illinois Historical Journal 87 (Summer 1994), 123-29; Tyler Anbinder, Nativism & Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings & the Politics of the 1850s (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 246-78.
Autograph Letter Signed, 5 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).