Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

William S. Frink to Abraham Lincoln, 30 July 18581
Taylorville Ill^s July 30/58Hon A LincolnDear Sir
The present political campaign seems destined to be a spirited one, and one, in which, in order to be successfull— we must exert all our energies, and also make a prudent husbandry of our resources.

I am not very well posted, as to our congressional district,2 but fear— we are a little importunate, in the names talke^d of as a candidate. I fear a want of cordiality, in the support of Matheny— from many of the republicans, and although, he may get the most of their votes— there will be a want of zeal and perseverance, such as in these times, are necessary to secure success. If however the thing has gone so far, that to disturb it would make more confusion, than the present position— it will be best to remain as we are: and if defeated (as I fear we shall be) make the best we can of it.3 I suspect, as indicate^d, in your late speech at Springf^d—4 you will have to change your original plan of the canvass with Judge Douglass; and certainly so, if the judge continues in his course of misrepresentation and demagoguary.5

In that event, and perhaps in any, those inconsistencies of the judge might be shown up a little

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by, where ^he^ is contending so very manfully, and with so much show of sincerity, the binding force of decisions of a Supreme Court, and making it almost sacrilege to even call in question the purity and justice thereof, citing his mind and recollections to events that ocurred in this state— but a few years ago— when a Supreme Court, was legislated out of existence— a new was legislated into existence— and judge Douglass— one of the members of the new Court.

Few if any— belonging to the executive or Legislative department— were more active— or more efficient— in the accomplishment of that paragon of Legislative wisdom and utility6

Excuse the liberty taken in these suggestions, and believe me anxious for the success of the right cause–7
Wm. S. Frink

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[Envelope]

TAYLORVILLE ILL[ILLINOIS].
JUL[JULY] 31Hon A. LincolnSpringfieldIlls

[ docketing ]
Lincoln, Abraham (President)

W. S. Frink.8

1William S. Frink wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name and address on the envelope shown in the third image.

2Taylorville, Illinois was part of Christian County, which was in the state’s Sixth Congressional District.
Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 140; History of Christian County, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1880), 52-53.

3Republican James H. Matheny was running against Democrat Thomas L. Harris for the Illinois Sixth Congressional District’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990, 11; The Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 9 October 1858, 2:2.

4Lincoln delivered a speech in Springfield, Illinois, on July 17, not long before Frink penned this letter. This is almost certainly the speech Frink references. In June, during the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention, the Illinois Republican Party had nominated Lincoln as their candidate to replace incumbent Democrat Stephen A. Douglas in the U.S. Senate.
Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458.

5Throughout his July 17 speech in Springfield, Lincoln drew the audience’s attention to examples of Douglas misrepresenting his arguments, at one point stating that, “It was my purpose and expectations [sic] that this canvas would be conducted upon principle, and with fairness on both sides, and it shall not be my fault if this purpose and expectation shall be given up.”
Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois.

6Frink references Douglas’ attacks of Lincoln’s criticism of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Scott v. Sandford. After Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech at the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention on June 16, Douglas had attacked Lincoln publicly and appealed to Illinoisans’ racism, claiming that Lincoln criticized the Dred Scott decision because Lincoln favored full social and political equality between the races. Douglas had also denounced Lincoln and his fellow Republicans’ criticism of the decision as disloyal, arguing that law-abiding U.S. citizens were obligated support all U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Douglas made this argument despite the fact that he had previously praised President Andrew Jackson for defying the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the 1819 case McCulloch v. Maryland, when the court declared that the U.S. Congress had the power to create a national bank. In his July 17 speech in Springfield, Lincoln asserted that, “Judge Douglas is for [sic] Supreme Court decisions when he likes and against them when he does not like them. He is for the Dred Scott decision because it tends to nationalize slavery.”
Frink also references the creation of the Illinois Supreme Court, recommending that Lincoln raise Douglas’ role in the creation of this court during the campaign of 1858. During the 1840-41 winter session of the Illinois General Assembly, Democratic leaders in Illinois—including Douglas—lobbied hard for a reorganization of the Illinois Supreme Court in the hopes of breaking the Whig Party’s hold on the bench. Lincoln, a member of the Illinois House of Representatives at the time, vigorously protested this politically-based reorganization of the court. Nevertheless, in February 1841, the General Assembly passed a bill, abolishing the existing state circuit courts, enlarging the state supreme court by adding five judges to its bench, and having the nine judges of the newly-reorganized Illinois Supreme Court hold sessions for circuit courts. Democratic Governor Thomas Carlin then nominated Douglas for a seat on the court, and, also in February 1841, the members of the Illinois General Assembly elected Douglas to the seat. Douglas held the position for three years.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:163-64, 468, 470; Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Henry M. Flint, The Life and Speeches of Stephen A. Douglas (New York: Derby and Jackson, 1860), 23; Allen Johnson, Stephen A. Douglas: A Study in American Politics (New York: Macmillan, 1908), 54-56.

7If Lincoln replied to this letter, his response has not been located. Frink wrote Lincoln one more letter related to the elections of 1858. Both Lincoln and Douglas continued discussing the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision throughout the campaign of 1858.
In the race for the state’s Sixth Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Matheny lost to Harris with 41.4 percent of the vote to Harris’ 57.6 percent.

Ultimately, in the local elections of 1858, Republicans won a majority of all votes cast in Illinois, yet pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of 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, and Douglas won reelection. Through the campaign, however, and in particular through his participation in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Lincoln gained recognition as well as standing within the national Republican Party.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:464-69, 501, 503, 510, 556-57; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990, 11; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 394, 414-16.

8Lincoln wrote this script vertically on the left side of the envelope shown in the third image.