Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln, 27 July 18581
Norwich, Chenango Co. N.Y.
July 27th 1858My Dear Sir,—
You will not consider it an unfavorable reflection on your antecedents, when I tell you that you are like Byron, who woke up one morning and found himself famous.2 In my journey here from Chicago, and even here— one of the most out-of-the-way, rural districts in the State, among a slow-going and conservative people, who are further from railroads than any man can be in Illinois— I have found hundreds of anxious enquirers burning to know all about the newly raised-up opponent of Douglas— his age, profession, personal ap-

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pearance and qualities &c [etc.] &c, I have been, among my old acquaintances, obliged to answer more question relative to you, your prospects in the fight and your chances of a victory, than about all other things beside. In fact, you have sprung at once from the position of a "capital fellow" and a "leading lawyer" in Illinois, to the enjoyment of a national reputation. Your speeches are ready with great avidity by all political men, and, I need not say commented upon in a way that would minister abundantly to the appetite for praise, which, I presume, you possess in common with all the world and the rest of mankind.

I tell you all this that you may know that interest in your

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fight is not confined to Illinois, and to put you on your mettle for other and higher efforts in the oratorical way. You certainly owe it to yourself and not less certainly to your party friends who have honored you by an unanimity of choice that is without parallel except in the histories of Clay, Th Benton and Calhoun, to leave nothing undone which may promise to give you a vote. The reputation you have already acquired by entering the lists against a "Giant," will be made permanent by success which no false delicacy must keep you from trying to win by any legitimate means in your power. You have a chance which comes to but few men of each generation. It

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is for you to make the most of it.3

You may have sent me those notes which I have teased you about so frequently. If you have not, I beg you, do not delay their preparation an hour beyond the time necessary to give them completeness and an intelligible shape. They will be forwarded to me here.4

Your Bloomington speech is admirable— more popular than the Convention speech at Springfield; hence, better for the hour.5 Homely illustration, ad captandum hits and striking comparisons are what the people want.6

Excuse my freedom of suggestion and advice, and believe me7
Yours Very SincerelyC. H. Ray.Hon A Lincoln

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[Envelope]

NOR[W]ICH N.Y. [NEW YORK]
JUL[JULY] 2[8?] [1?]Hon. Abm. Lincoln,Springfield,Illinois,

[ docketing ]
Lincoln, Abraham (President)

D^r C. Ray.8

1Charles H. Ray wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name and address on the envelope shown in the fifth image.

2In 1812, after learning that the first two cantos of his Childe Harold's Pilgrimage received critical acclaim, Lord George G. Byron reportedly exclaimed, “I awoke one morning and found myself famous.”
Fiona MacCarthy, Byron: Life and Legend (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2002), x.

3In June, delegates to the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention had unanimously nominated Lincoln as the party’s candidate to replace incumbent Stephen A. Douglas in 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 the time, members of the General Assembly voted for and elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate. The outcome of races for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate were therefore of great importance to Lincoln’s campaign. See the 1858 Federal Election.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 394, 404-409.

4Ray is either referencing a legal opinion he requested of Lincoln in the spring of 1858, or biographical information that he wanted Lincoln to provide for campaign purposes. It is most likely the latter, given both the content and context of this letter as well as the fact that Ray requested the biographical information closer to the date of this letter.
No biography or autobiography of Lincoln appeared in the Chicago Press and Tribune in 1858 or 1859. However, Lincoln sent Charles Lanman biographical information in August 1858. He also composed a brief biography for Jesse W. Fell in December 1859, and collaborated with John L. Scripps on a lengthier biography in the summer of 1860.
Ray asked Lincoln for legal advice, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), https://lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=141837; Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln; Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln; Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln; Ray, Medill & Company to Abraham Lincoln; Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln.

5Lincoln delivered a speech in Springfield, Illinois at the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention, accepting the party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate. This became popularly known as his “House Divided” speech. Lincoln did not, however, deliver a speech in Bloomington, Illinois in the summer of 1858. Douglas delivered an address in Bloomington on July 16, which Lincoln attended, but when members of the audience requested that Lincoln deliver a reply to Douglas, Lincoln respectfully refused, stating, “This meeting was called by the friends of Judge Douglas, and it would be improper for me to address it.” By “Your Bloomington speech,” it is possible Ray actually meant a speech that Lincoln delivered in Springfield on July 17—the day after Lincoln declined to speak in Bloomington.
Lincoln later delivered a speech in Bloomington on September 4.
Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Fragment of A House Divided Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Remarks at Bloomington, Illinois; Report of Remarks at Bloomington, Illinois; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 16 July 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-07-16; 17 July 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-07-17; 4 September 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-04; Report of Speech at Bloomington, Illinois; Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois.

6Ad captandum is a Latin phrase meaning an action designed to capture or stir popular feeling.
John Devoe Belton, A Literary Manual of Foreign Quotations: Ancient and Modern (New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1891), 4.

7Ray and Lincoln exchanged at least ten other letters regarding politics and the elections of 1858 between March and November 1858.
In the end, in the local elections of 1858, Republicans won a majority of all votes cast in Illinois, but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of the Illinois General Assembly, and Douglas ultimately won reelection. The campaign, however, and in particular the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, catapulted Lincoln onto the national political scene, setting the stage for the 1860 Federal Election.
Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln; Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln; Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln; Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln; Abraham Lincoln to Charles H. Ray; Abraham Lincoln to Charles H. Ray; Ray, Medill & Company to Abraham Lincoln; Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln; Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln; Abraham Lincoln to Charles H. Ray; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:556-57; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” 416-17.

8Lincoln wrote this script vertically in the left margin of the envelope shown in the fifth image.