Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Carson D. Hay to William H. Herndon, 15 August 18581
Newton Jasper Co. Ills
Aug 15^th 1858W^m H. Herndon Esqr[Esquire]D^r[Dear] Sir
As Mr Lincoln is rarely at home these times, I take the liberty of dropping you a few lines.2

We are desirous of having him to visit our section of the state and Speak for us, if he could do so consistent with what he may think his duty and interest– I will mention the names of the counties where something can be affected if he has time to visit them, to wit, Jasper, Clay Richland, Lawrence, Wabash,

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Edwards, Wayne & White. The Following list of counties are so utterly hopeless, so blinded with ignorance & prejudice that it is (as yet) useless to spend time among them—viz Cumberland, Effingham, Jefferson, Hamilton Franklin, Williamson, Saline, Pope, Johnson & Massack. There are 3 members sent to the legislature from the first named counties (leaving out Lawrence) and there is a possibility that one of the 3 may be secured for Lincoln, though I must acknowledge the chances are very slim, still if he has the time to spare it is worth a trial– I am endeavoring to get Mr Kitchel of Olney to run for the legislature, & if he should run we may possibly elect him–

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Please present these facts to Mr Lincoln at as early a period as may3 be convenient, and if he can pay this part of the state a visit, drop me a line at what time he will be hear, and I will have it published–

Let me know on receipt of this whether you think he will come or no–4
Very Truly yoursC. D. Hay

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[ docketing ]
Lincoln, Abraham (President)

C. D. Hay5

1Carson D. Hay wrote and signed this letter.

2In May 1858, Hay wrote Lincoln two letters. No responses from Lincoln to either letter have been located.
Abraham Lincoln was rarely at home because, throughout the summer and fall of 1858, he was canvassing Illinois delivering speeches in support of candidates for the Illinois General Assembly. He was the Illinois Republican Party’s candidate to replace Democratic incumbent Stephen A. Douglas in the U.S. Senate. Since members of the Illinois General Assembly voted for and elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate, the races for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate were highly relevant to the outcome of the 1858 Federal Election. See the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention.
Carson D. Hay to Abraham Lincoln; Carson D. Hay to Abraham Lincoln; 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, 394.

3“may” written over “is con-”

4If Lincoln wrote a response to this letter, it has not been located.
Southern Illinois was a Democratic stronghold and northern Illinois was a Republican stronghold; therefore, Lincoln and Douglas both focused their campaign efforts on central Illinois, where the state legislative races were the closest. The only exceptions were the third Lincoln-Douglas Debate, which was held in Jonesboro, in far southwestern Illinois, and Douglas’s visits to Chester, Cairo, and Benton—in west central Illinois, deep southern Illinois, and central southern Illinois, respectively. Lincoln did not deliver a public address in Jasper County, Illinois, or any other county in southern Illinois during the 1858 campaign season. In some notes he wrote about campaign strategy in 1858, he concluded that the majority of the Illinois House and Illinois Senate districts in southern Illinois were not, in a political and strategic sense, worth fighting for.

In Illinois’s local elections of 1858, voters elected Democrats as their representatives in the Illinois Senate and the Illinois House in each county Hay discusses in this letter with the exception of voters in Illinois’s Eighteenth Senate district, who elected Republican Thomas A. Marshall to office. (The Eighteenth Illinois Senate district included Cumberland County at the time, as well as Coles, Edgar, and Vermilion counties.) Edward Kitchell of Olney in Richland County was a candidate for the Illinois House, but lost to Democrat William J. Stephenson.

Republicans ultimately 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. Marshall was the only state representative elected from the counties that Hay mentions in this letter that voted for Lincoln; all the other representatives cast their ballots for Douglas. Although Lincoln’s attempt to unseat Douglas was unsuccessful, his involvement in the campaign—particularly the Lincoln-Douglas Debates—catapulted him to national prominence.
John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219-20, 222; The Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 17 November 1858, 2:4; Olney Times (IL), 29 October 1858, 2:2; 6 November 1858, 2:2; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 30; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:476, 556-57; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” 403, 406, 414.

5Lincoln wrote this docketing. See the fourth image.