George W. Rives and Others to Abraham Lincoln, 4 August 18581
Paris IllinoisAugust. 4th 1858.A LincolnSpringfield Ills.Sir—
We are anxious that you Should Should visit our place before the Nov.[November] election, and address the people on the "issues of the day”–! Can you be at our Circuit Court. It begins on 1st Monday in Sept.[September]2 Provided, you cannot be with us some time during the term (of 2 weeks)! Can you
be here in Octr[October]–3 If you can come, please let us know, as long before the time as possible. We are
determined to beat the Douglas meeting on last Saturday it was a rehash of his old Speech. and abuse of you.4 With a Small dash at, Wendell & the Union5.
–He made no visable impresion upon the people— no changes reported— or Strength added–
please let us hear from you at your earliest Convenience–6 We are in fine spirits & high hopes Our friends were never more united & Sanguine of Success.
Yours Truly| G. W. Rives | } | |
| Wm P. Dole | ||
| A. J. Baber | Central Committee | |
| S York &. | ||
| W. B. [Baily?] |
<Page 2>
[Envelope]
PARIS Ill.
AUG[AUGUST] 5Abe. Lincoln, SpringfieldIllinois
AUG[AUGUST] 5Abe. Lincoln, SpringfieldIllinois
1George W. Rives wrote and signed this document, including the address on the envelope.
Co-authors William P. Dole, Asa J. Baber, and Shubal York also signed the document.
The last signatory could not be identifed.
2The first Monday in September was the sixth. Abraham Lincoln spoke in Paris, Illinois, on Tuesday, September 7, from 3 to 5 p.m., focusing on popular
sovereignty.
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 .
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 6 September 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-06; 7 September 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-07; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-85, 547, 557; Allen
C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,”
The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392.
3There is no record of Lincoln visiting Paris or Edgar County, Illinois, in October 1858.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, October 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarMonth&year=1858&month=10.
4Douglas spoke in Paris on Saturday, July 31, 1858. One newspaper reported, “There
was an evident lack of enthusiasm manifested after the people had heard him for some
three hours.... We heard one man say that he had been a Douglas man until he heard
the speech, but that he was no longer a Douglas man.”
The Salem Advocate (IL), 28 July 1858, 2:4; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 9 August 1858, 2:4.
5In the second Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Freeport, Douglas denied a claim brought forth by Lincoln that Douglas had accused the Washington Union, President James Buchanan, and the framers of the Lecompton Constitution of a conspiracy to nationalize slavery. Douglas announced, “The Washington Union, under that most corrupt of all men, Cornelius Wendell, is advocating Mr. Lincoln’s claim to the Senate. Wendell was the printer of the
last Black Republican House of Representatives; he was a candidate before the present Democratic House, but was ignominiously kicked
out, and then he took the money which he had made out of the public printing by means
of the Black Republicans, bought the Washington Union, and is now publishing it in the name of the Democratic party, and advocating Mr.
Lincoln’s election to the Senate.”
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 507-8; Second Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Freeport, Illinois; Second Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Freeport, Illinois; Second Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Freeport, Illinois.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).