Andrew W. Metcalf to Abraham Lincoln, 14 August 18581
Edwardsville Aug. 14 1858Hon Abraham LincolnDr[Dear] SirThis morning I received a letter from J. F. Alexander of Bond, desiring that a change be made in your appointments to address the people in Bond
and Madison Counties. you are advertised to be at our place on the 13th and Greenville on the 11th the change he wishes is, our place the 11th and Greenville the 13th as their court will then be in session and more people will be in attendance2 I have talked with our citizens and the change will be agreeable to them. you will
have it altered– Douglass was here I dont think he made much of an impression3 if our county is properly organised and the requisite Labor done it is sure to return the right sort of men4
yours trulyA W Metcalf<Page 2>
[Envelope]
AUG[AUGUST] 16Hon Abraham LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
A.W. METCALF,
ATTORNEY & COUNSELLOR AT LAW.
Office Rooms, St. Louis Street,
SOUTH SIDE COURT-HOUSE,
EDWARDSVILLE,
MADISON COUNTY,
ILLINOIS.
EDWARDSVILLE Ill.[Illinois]ATTORNEY & COUNSELLOR AT LAW.
Office Rooms, St. Louis Street,
SOUTH SIDE COURT-HOUSE,
EDWARDSVILLE,
MADISON COUNTY,
ILLINOIS.
AUG[AUGUST] 16Hon Abraham LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
Charge Box 37
2Jediah F. Alexander was among the delegates representing Bond County at the 1858 Republican State Convention and wrote Abraham Lincoln on August 5 asking him to change his schedule to visit Greenville
on September 13. 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 Federal Election.
Prior to August 20, 1858, Lincoln’s list of appointments advertised his visit to Greenville
on September 11 and his visit to Edwardsville on September 12. On August 20, the dates
shifted to Lincoln visiting Edwardsville on September 13. Finally, as requested in
this letter, on September 3 Lincoln’s visits were advertised for a speech in Edwardsville on September 11 and a speech in Greenville on September 13, the actual dates.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-85, 547; Allen C. Guelzo,
“Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392; Alton Daily Courier (IL), 9 August 1858, 2:1; 11 August 1858, 2:1; 17 August 1858, 2:1; 20 August 1858,
2:1; 3 September 1858, 2:1; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 11 September 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-11; 13 September 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-13.
3Douglas spoke in Edwardsville on Friday, August 6.
Alton Daily Courier (IL), 7 August 1858, 2:1; The Weekly Chicago Times (IL), 12 August 1858, 4:2.
4Madison County was vital to the election of 1858, partially due to the strong presence of members
of the American Party there in the 1856 Federal Election. In elections for the Illinois General Assembly, Democrat Samuel A. Buckmaster from Madison County beat Joseph Gillespie by 184 votes in the Senate race. The men elected to the House in Madison County—Zephaniah B. Job (over Republican Isaac Cox) and Joseph H. Sloss (over Republican Curtis Blakeman) — both voted for Stephen A. Douglas for U.S. Senate in the 1858 Federal Election,
as did Buckmaster.
No response from Lincoln to Metcalf has been found.
Bruce Collins, “The Lincoln-Douglas Contest of 1858 and Illinois’ Electorate,” Journal of American Studies 20 (Dec. 1986): 408-9; Louis L. Emmerson, ed., Blue Book of the State of Illinois, 1923-1924 (Springfield: Illinois State Journal, 1923), 682; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 1st sess., 32; W. T. Norton, ed., Centennial History of Madison County, Illinois and Its People, 1812 to 1912 (Chicago: Lewis, 1912), 1:81; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:547.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).