Nathan C. Geer to Abraham Lincoln, 2 August 18581
DAILY TRANSCRIPT
STEAM PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT,
NO. 4, FULTON St.[Street], Near Corner of Water--Transcript Buildings.
Peoria, Ill.Aug 2 1858Hon A LincolnDear SirSTEAM PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT,
NO. 4, FULTON St.[Street], Near Corner of Water--Transcript Buildings.
| NATHAN C. GEER, | } | Editors. | NATHAN C. GEER, Publisher. | ||
| LYSANDER R. WEBB. | |||||
Yours of the 30th is rec'd[received]2 and the bills will be out announcing you to be here on the 19, with others We shall try to have a crowd here.3
The Buchites4 are trying to get Breckenidge here on the 17 to head Douglass &c[etc.] you the 19 to give "him fits"5
Yours in hasteN C Geer<Page 2>
[Envelope]
AU[G?] 3 1858Hon A LincolnSpringfieldIll
TRANSCRIPT
PRINTING
ESTABLISHMENT,
PEORIA, ILLINOIS.
N. C. GEER,
Book, Card, and Ornamental
JOB PRINTER,
No. 4 Fulton St.,
CORNER OF WATER.
LETTER PRESS PRINTING
OF EVERY DESCRIPTION
Executed at a Moment's Warning,
And on Reasonable Terms.
CALL AND SEE THE SPECIMENS.6
PRINTING
ESTABLISHMENT,
PEORIA, ILLINOIS.
N. C. GEER,
Book, Card, and Ornamental
JOB PRINTER,
No. 4 Fulton St.,
CORNER OF WATER.
LETTER PRESS PRINTING
OF EVERY DESCRIPTION
Executed at a Moment's Warning,
And on Reasonable Terms.
CALL AND SEE THE SPECIMENS.6
PEORIA DAILY TRANSCRIPT
Is published every morning (except sundays) and is afforded at six dollars per year, in advance, and has double the circulation of any other daily in this city.
Is published every morning (except sundays) and is afforded at six dollars per year, in advance, and has double the circulation of any other daily in this city.
The Weekly Transcript
Is a large eight column paper, Published every Thursday Morning
TERMS. - -Single Copies $2; Clubs of fifteen $1.50; of fifty $1.7
PEORIA Ills[Illinois]. Is a large eight column paper, Published every Thursday Morning
TERMS. - -Single Copies $2; Clubs of fifteen $1.50; of fifty $1.7
AU[G?] 3 1858Hon A LincolnSpringfieldIll
1Nathan C. Geer wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name
and address on the envelope shown in the second image.
3Geer had written Lincoln on July 26, asking Lincoln to speak in Peoria, Illinois, on August 19 and
promising to advertise the event well and draw a larger crowd by holding the Republicans of Illinois’ Fourth Congressional District convention earlier that day. At the time of this letter,
Lincoln was running for a seat in the U.S. Senate as the Illinois Republican Party’s candidate to supplant incumbent Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. See the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election.
Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 21 August 1858, 2:3; Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996
(Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 155; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458.
4This is a reference to Democratic supporters of President James Buchanan. During the election of 1858, the Democratic Party was fractured into pro-Buchanan and pro-Douglas factions. The
split occurred after Douglas, in December 1857, spoke out against the Lecompton Constitution and criticized President Buchanan for supporting it.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:445.
5On September 13, Geer wrote Lincoln another letter related to the election campaign of 1858.
John C. Breckinridge wrote public letters supporting Douglas’ 1858 reelection bid,
but there is no indication that he spoke in Peoria on August 17. Newspaper coverage
of Douglas’ campaign address in Peoria on August 18 made no mention of Breckinridge.
Lincoln delivered a speech the next day, August 19, after the adjournment of the congressional
convention of the Republicans of Illinois’ Fourth Congressional District. During that
convention, delegates unanimously nominated William Kellogg as their candidate for the district’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Kellogg addressed the crowd after Lincoln.
In the local elections of 1858, Kellogg won election to the U.S. House of Representatives
with 52.8 percent of the vote compared to his pro-Douglas Democratic rival James W. Davidson‘s 45.7 percent, and the 1.5 percent that his pro-Buchanan Democratic opponent, Jacob Gale, won. In the races for the Illinois General Assembly, Republicans won a majority of all votes cast in Illinois, but pro-Douglas Democrats
retained control of the 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
ultimately 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.
Daily Illinois State Register (Springfield), 21 July 1858, 2:1; 23 August 1858, 2:3; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 19 August 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-19; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 21 August 1858, 2:3; 27 September 1858, 2:2; Summary of Speech at the Congressional Convention of the Fourth District, Peoria,
Illinois; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 11; Michael
Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:541, 556-57; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political
Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 394, 414-16.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).