Mark W. Delahay to Abraham Lincoln, 13 August 18581
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Alton, Ill.,August 13th 1858Hon Abraham Lincoln,Dr[Dear] SirPUBLISHED
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I think Trumbull has hit the right cord, from the uneasiness & fluttering which is discoverable among
the Douglass bolters,2 allow me to call your attention to another thing in Douglass past history; it is a fact known by many some of whom now support him (such as Hays of Chicago) that when Pierce came into office there were many in Illinois who looked for appointments, Calhoun, you will remember wanted to be Gov of Origan, Hays wanted to District Atty[Attorney] &c[etc] Douglass had as much influence with that administration as any one or at least he was supposed
to have; but he being then as usual a Presidential aspirant prefered to pitch in for his friends for office from other states, with a view to secure friends
out side of Illinois, regarding Illinois as sure for him under any and all circumstances &
neglected his friends at home; this became notorious so much so that Hays & others
made a demonstration towards getting up a rebellion and even did go so far as to demonstrate
some hostility, the Defection included
Very Truly yoursM. W. Delahay<Page 2>
Col[Colonel] Dick Taylor & many others; it was charged that Illinois go[got] nothing from the Pierce administration, except two Van Buren Free soilers in the North, ToWit, Hoyne & Moloney—3 would it not be well enough by way of arousing these old prejudices to charge him
with neglecting his Democratic friends in the way I have indicated & for ambitious purposes; The Extravigance of the Party is monstrous, & tells well upon them now because it is a ripe season for such a subject
to be made as pecuniary recklessness will now catch the public Ear; better by far
than if made in times of prosperity, or rather "flush times;4 the charge that Douglass struck out the submission clause in the Tombs Bill seems to be somewhat new to many; yet I always knew it to be the fact ever since
it was done; it seems to me that after a while he will begin to defend these charges
and when ever he does you have got the "word on him;5 the Plan is to misrepresent him by his press in this way, when fine carriages go
from Alton to Edwardsville his organ6 here says there were fifty carriages; & that sort of humbug— goes along hand in hand with his "ostentation, and miscalled orations, every where—7 if I were in your place after charging
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him with a total neglect of the aspirations of his Democratic friends in Illinois,
by reason of his big ambition, I would intimate to my friends that it would be a duty
first of all with you, if placed in the situation of a Senator from Illinois, to give
your active influence (when we get the Administration) in serving and elivating those to whom you owed your elivation, and say that inasmuch as you did not aspire to the high reward of a nations Chief
you would not have & could not have any higher duty & pleasure than to take care of
your friends at home–8 I[In] my Experience goes to satisfy me that nothing will better tend to create for you
enthusiasm and stimulate organization every where by establishing the detail of a thorough local organization by way of Lincoln Clubs,
&c.9 Now Sir, I think I know & appreciate your ability to manage well and ably this campaign,
but the humblest friend may call to mind sometimes a suggestion important of its self in some particular which ^without^ with which, might be overlooked, I am so anxious & feel so confident of your success,
is my only plea or Excuse, for thus intruding upon you– We need here in this office a political Editor, Brown knows it & admits it, and says he cant afford to pay the Price of
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a good writer, cant there be something done for this region by sending some one to assist the Courier, Brown could himself make a good paper but he has his hands more than full of other
things & consequently does nothing for his paper himself;10 Kansas has done all that could be expected of her as you have seen; every thing is going on right as far as I can see, and by November Buckhanan will have the largest party in certain parts of the state— Douglass envoy outside of his state is looked upon as a disorganizer & a Bolter, the Democracy are a unit in all the other states and he will and his party be "Played out, in November, do you understand the Phrase "Played out, it is a common one in Kansas, for instance to elis illustrate it, after Calhoun had rendered him self in favour by his election frauds &c & after getting the office of surveyor Genl[General] removed from Kansas to Nebraska, because he was affraid to risk his scalp in Kansas, he was then pronounced a Defaulter & turned out of office–
After all of which, we say, Calhoun is "Played out'11 that will be the fate of traitors generally & it will include the Judge in November; I think now that Trumbull has made & proved his charges this Re Eteration will tell will[well] in the Race;12<Page 5>
[Envelope]
ALTON Ill[Illinois].
AUG[AUGUST] 14Hon Abraham LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
AUG[AUGUST] 14Hon Abraham LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
1Mark W. Delahay wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name
and address on the envelope shown in the fifth image.
2Lyman Trumbull delivered an address in Chicago, Illinois, on August 7, 1858. In the
speech, he discussed the history of slavery within the United States as well as the
impact of the Kansas-Nebraska Act upon the nation. He asserted that Stephen A. Douglas and other members of the Democratic
Party were disingenuous in their claims that their primary political goal was to allow
the nation’s people to decide the slavery issue for themselves. Trumbull cited the
Lecompton Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Scott v. Sandford as evidence that elements of the Democratic Party were conspiring to nationalize
slavery. The latter was a charge Lincoln also made, including during his so-called
“House Divided” speech at the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention.
At the time of this letter, Lincoln was running as the Illinois Republican Party’s candidate to replace incumbent Douglas in the U.S. Senate. Throughout the 1858 Federal Election Lincoln, Douglas, and Trumbull each canvassed the state, delivering speeches in support of candidates for the Illinois General Assembly in their respective parties. At the time, members of the General Assembly voted for
and elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate; therefore, the races
for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate were highly relevant to the outcome of the state’s race for the U.S. Senate seat.
“Bolters” is what Douglas and his political allies called those members of the Illinois
Democratic Party who favored President James Buchanan and his national Democratic allies’s positions with regard to the Lecompton Constitution
and popular sovereignty. See Bleeding Kansas. President Buchanan and his political allies, in turn, accused Douglas and his supporters
of being the true “bolters.”
Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 11 August 1858, 2:1-3; 12 August 1858, 2:1-3; 13 August 1858, 2:1-3;
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; 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), 392-94; Daily Illinois State Register (Springfield), 5 July 1858, 2:1; 19 August 1858, 2:2; 26 October 1858, 2:4; 8 December
1858, 2:1.
3Delahay is discussing political patronage appointments after Franklin Pierce won election
as president in the federal election of 1852. Douglas had promised fellow Illinois Democrats that he would use his influence to
ensure that those who “fight the battles” on behalf of the party received appointments,
but President Pierce prioritized patronage as a tool to ease divisions within the
party. Douglas had less influence with Pierce than he originally assumed, and Pierce
ultimately appointed a mixture of Free Soil Democrats and states’ rights advocates
to both his cabinet and important federal positions throughout the nation—including
in Illinois. Douglas had some success swaying Pierce with regard to lower-level appointments.
For instance, he successfully convinced Pierce to appoint Thomas Hoyne district attorney
for Illinois. This angered many Illinois Democrats since Hoyne had supported Martin
Van Buren under the Free Soil ticket during the election of 1848. Pierce also awarded Free Soil Democrat Richard S. Molony a patronage position: register of the U.S. General Land Office in Danville, Illinois. Douglas faced accusations that, by pushing for and supporting such appointments,
he was rewarding party disloyalty. Samuel S. Hayes, for example, penned an open letter
to the public that was highly critical of Douglas. Like Pierce, Douglas insisted that
his strategy would advance party unity. Pierce and Douglas’ conciliation of the Free
Soilers within the party after the federal election of 1852 led many Democrats to
feel slighted, and major fissures emerged in the party not just in Illinois, but
throughout the nation.
Lincoln referenced Molony’s appointment to the Danville land office as a Democrat
during the third iteration of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, claiming that he “never heard anything of Judge Douglas’ instrumentality in this.”
Lincoln also noted, however, that he saw a handbill in Freeport, Illinois, announcing that Molony was to give “a Democratic speech in favor of Judge Douglas”
after the conclusion of the second Lincoln-Douglas Debate, which was held in Freeport.
In his reply to Lincoln during the third debate, Douglas denounced Molony as “no Democrat.”
Robert W. Johannsen, Stephen A. Douglas (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), 375-81, 387-88; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the
United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1853 (Washington, DC: Robert Armstrong, 1853), 259; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the
United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1855 (Washington, DC: Robert Armstrong, 1855), 164; Chicago Daily Tribune (IL), 23 April 1853, 2:3-5; 15 September 1854, 2:4; Third Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Jonesboro, Illinois; Third Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Jonesboro, Illinois; Third Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Jonesboro, Illinois.
5In June 1856, Robert A. Toombs introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate aimed at quelling
the escalating political violence in Kansas by providing a pathway for a state constitutional convention in the Kansas Territory. The Senate referred the measure to the Committee on Territories, which Douglas chaired.
When the committee reported on the bill, it no longer included a provision for the
residents of Kansas to vote on any proposed constitution. Trumbull asserted that Douglas
had made the change. In a speech Douglas gave in December 1857, he claimed that both
he and Toombs “modified” the bill in consultation with one another, but stopped short
of admitting that he removed the provision in question.
For a time, when speaking on the Toombs bill, Lincoln merely attested to Trumbull’s
honesty on the subject. Later, including during the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, he openly charged Douglas with making the change.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:519; Cong. Globe, 35th Cong., 1st Sess., 15 (1857); Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois; Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois; Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois.
6This may be a reference to the National Democrat, a pro-Kansas-Nebraska Act Democratic newspaper published in Alton, Illinois.
History of Madison County, Illinois, With Biographical Sketches of Many Prominent
Men and Pioneers (Edwardsville, IL: W. R. Brink, 1882), 211.
7Throughout the senatorial campaign of 1858, Douglas traveled to and from speaking
events with conspicuous pageantry that included elaborately-decorated trains, wagons,
and carriages, a large entourage, marching bands, fireworks, and artillery demonstrations.
He traveled in private railcars, well-stocked with liquor, and even toted with him
a platform car with a small cannon named “Popular Sovereignty.”
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:469, 473, 478, 488.
8There is no evidence that Lincoln made promises in his public speeches of 1858 or
during the Lincoln-Douglas Debates to award offices and appointments to his political
supporters.
9Members of the Republican Party had organized clubs to socialize, organize, and provide
support for candidates since the party’s inception. Sometimes the clubs were new,
and sometimes they emerged from existing clubs that were originally organized for
the Whig Party or the American Party. Some of these Republican clubs called themselves Lincoln clubs; others were simply
local Republican Party clubs. It was not until the 1860 Federal Election that members of the Republican Party created successful mass clubs of supporters
in the form of the Wide Awake marching clubs. The Wide-Awakes, as they were known at the time, were locally organized
but highly active in various parts of the nation during the campaign of 1860. Most
members were young men and many were first-time voters. They wore military-style uniforms
complete with black caps and capes, held enthusiastic torchlight political marches
and parades at night, and played a significant role in Lincoln’s election as president.
For an example of a Lincoln club that was active during the campaign of 1858, see
the Lincoln Republican Club of McLean County.
Robert F. Engs and Randall M. Miller, eds., The Birth of the Grand Old Party: The Republicans’ First Generation (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), 55-56; Bruce Chadwick, Lincoln for President: An Unlikely Candidate, An Audacious Strategy, and the Victory
No One Saw Coming (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2009), 147-49; Lewis L. Gould, Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans (New York: Random House, 2003), 2, 28.
10No correspondence from Lincoln discussing a new political editor for the Alton Courier has been located in all of 1858. George T. Brown and Lincoln exchanged just two pieces
of correspondence that year that have been located, but neither was related to the
Courier’s editorial staff.
11The phrase “played out” is thought to have originated in the Americas around 1856.
It means out of date or fashion, exhausted from overuse.
In the summer of 1854, at Douglas’ urging, President Pierce appointed John Calhoun
surveyor general of the Kansas and Nebraska territories. Calhoun was a strong supporter
of Douglas and updated him regularly on political conditions in the Kansas Territory.
Through this connection, Douglas was able to exert some influence over political developments
in the territory. He had hoped to use political patronage as a way to bolster the
Democratic Party’s presence there. Together, he and Calhoun tried to unite pro-slavery
Democrats in the territory with states’ rights Whigs and free-state Democrats. This
task proved very challenging, however, and many free-state Democrats in the territory
eventually drifted into the Republican Party. Calhoun became deeply entangled in the
controversy over the Lecompton Constitution, and was implicated in and condemned
for the election fraud that took place in December 1857 and January 1858. Facing widespread
accusations of misconduct and intense scrutiny, he eventually fled to the Nebraska
Territory. President Buchanan removed Calhoun as surveyor general of the Kansas and
Nebraska territories in the summer of 1858.
For additional information on the progression and conclusion of political conflict
in the Kansas Territory, see Bleeding Kansas.
“Played out,” Merriam-Webster.com, Merriam-Webster, 19 May 2025, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/played%20out#h1; Ebenezer C. Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (New York: Cassell, 1900), 986; John S. Farmer, Americanisms—Old and New (London: Thomas Poulter, 1889), 426; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 5 August 1854, 3:1; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the
United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1855 (Washington, DC: Robert Armstrong, 1855), 80; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the
United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1857 (Washington, DC: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1857), 83; Robert W. Johannsen, Stephen A. Douglas, 468, 561-62, 595-96; History of Sangamon County, Illinois (Chicago: Inter-State, 1881), 511-12; Chicago Daily Tribune (IL), 20 January 1858, 2:2-3, 5; 8 March 1858, 2:1-2; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 19 January 1858, 3:1; 10 February 1858, 2:3; 12 February 1858, 2:2;
2 March 1858, 1:1-2; 24 March 1858, 2:3; 31 July 1858, 2:3.
12Delahay wrote Lincoln at least one other letter related to the 1858 race for the U.S. Senate.
In the end, in Illinois’ local elections of 1858, Republicans won a majority of all
votes cast in the state, but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of the Illinois
General Assembly and Douglas won reelection to the U.S. Senate. 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, 1:556-57.
Autograph Letter Signed, 5 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC). .