Norman B. Judd to Abraham Lincoln, 27 July 18581
Chicago 27 July 1858Hon A. LincolnDear Sir—Enclosed I send you Judge Douglass reply–2 It is a clear dodge, but he has made the best case he could–3 Browning has seen it and thinks you should accept his proposition as to the places named,
if he will make a fair arrangement–4 I would put in writing my negotiation with him– I enclose you herein a pass sent
me by Capt. Turner5 I suppose you will make the proper arrangements for answering Douglass at his present the places he proposes to speak as it is to a great extent the debateable ground–6 I have
Yr.[Your] FriendN B Judd<Page 2>
a letter from Judge Trumbull received this morning– He says he hopes to be in Chicago on his way home this week–7 I cannot see that we have any thing to fear if D. is properly attended to
2Abraham Lincoln wrote Stephen A. Douglas on July 24 inviting him to participate in future debates . Both men were running for U.S. Senate in the 1858 Federal Election. Judd delivered Lincoln’s letter to Douglas, and Lincoln authorized Judd to receive
the reply. Judd included this note when he returned to give Lincoln the letter from
Douglas.
Judd was serving as the head of the Republican State Central Committee at this time. Some party members blamed Lincoln’s ultimate senatorial defeat on Judd’s
mismanagement.
Abraham Lincoln to Stephen A. Douglas; Abraham Lincoln to Stephen A. Douglas; Stephen A. Douglas to Abraham Lincoln; Stephen A. Douglas to Abraham Lincoln; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:553.
3Judd is referring to the various excuses Douglas included in his reply to Lincoln.
Douglas noted that he had already met with the Democratic state central committee to plan his future campaigning, and Lincoln had simply waited too
long to ask him to include debates. In a veiled reference to the split in the Democratic Party into pro- James Buchanan and pro-Douglas factions over the Lecompton Constitution, Douglas also invented a fictional third Buchanan/National Democratic candidate and
accused Lincoln of conspiring to sneak that candidate into the debates to injure
Douglas’s chances in the election. Douglas finally proposed having seven debates at
one prominent point in seven of the nine congressional districts in the state, excluding
the second (Chicago) and sixth (Springfield) districts, where the two had already effectively debated, with Douglas speaking
at Chicago on July 9 and Lincoln answering on July 10, and with Douglas speaking at
Springfield on July 17 and Lincoln answering the same day. Lincoln agreed to the following
proposed locations: Freeport, Ottawa, Galesburg, Quincy, Alton, Jonesboro, and Charleston.
Stephen A. Douglas to Abraham Lincoln; Stephen A. Douglas to Abraham Lincoln; Abraham Lincoln to Stephen A. Douglas; Abraham Lincoln to Stephen A. Douglas; Abraham Lincoln to Stephen A. Douglas.
4Orville H. Browning, an Illinois Republican, was mentioned as a candidate to run for U.S. Congress in 1858 but declined to run no matter the circumstances.
The Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 4 August 1858, 3:1.
6Lincoln responded on July 29 agreeing to Douglas’s proposal, and on July 30, Douglas
offered Lincoln the following schedule, which Lincoln accepted: Ottawa on August 21, Freeport on August 27, Jonesboro on
September 15, Charleston on September 18, Galesburg on October 7, Quincy on October
13, and Alton on October 15.
Abraham Lincoln to Stephen A. Douglas; Abraham Lincoln to Stephen A. Douglas; Abraham Lincoln to Stephen A. Douglas; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:484.
7Senator Lyman Trumbull was likely returning from Washington, DC. The first session of the Thirty-Fifth Congress ended on June 14, 1858, and Trumbull also attended a special session on June 15 and
16.
Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 31 July 1858, 1:1; U.S. Senate Journal. 1858. 35th Cong., 1st sess., 719, 721, 723, 727.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).