Jediah F. Alexander to Abraham Lincoln, 23 July 18581
Greenville Bond Co., Ills.July 23, 1858.Hon. A. Lincoln:Dear Sir:
The Republican County Central Committee, have made it obligatory upon me, as Secretary of the Committee,
to "request and urge" you to be here on the 4th day of August next, to reply to Mr. Douglas, who has appointed that day to speak in this place.2 The leading Democrats, also, say they will be glad to have you come when Douglas does; and I trust you
will not fail to do so. Please to let us hear from you immediately; for Douglas must be answered, and ^if^ you cannot come, we must try to get somebody else.3
Very Truly Yours,J. F. Alexander, Sec'y Cen. Com.[Secretary Central Committee]
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[Envelope]
GREENVILLE I[lls][Illinois]
JUL[JULY] 24Hon. Abraham Lincoln,Springfield,Ills.
JUL[JULY] 24Hon. Abraham Lincoln,Springfield,Ills.
2Abraham 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. See 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election
Lincoln did not speak in Greenville on August 4. He responded to Alexander on August 2 explaining that his absence was due to Douglas's statement
that Lincoln's presence would be considered an intrusion. Alexander had also invited Lincoln to Greenville on May 1, to which Lincoln responded on May 15 declining that invitation as well. Lincoln did give a speech in Greenville on September 13. Alexander was among the delegates representing Bond County at the Republican State Convention.
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; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 4 August 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-04; Daily State Illinois Journal (Springfield), 17 June 1858, 2:3.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).