Unknown to Abraham Lincoln, 18 August 18581
Petersburgh IllsAug 18th 58Hon. A. LincolnRespected Sir
I have just finished reading your speech which was delivered, in Springfield on the 18th of July 1858. If ever there was a man cut to pecies by another in ^an^ argument it was Douglas used up by your Honorable self.2
Nothing would be more gratifying, nothing would be better welcomed, than yourself
to come to the city of Petersburgh and make us a good speech. I know you can convert a great many to Republicanism You can gain a great many votes down, by coming down and giving Douglas a good cinging, for Gods sake come, and come as soon as possible, without much delay. Let me hear from you
immediately
(Republicans of Menard)(by [order?]) Address
Petersburgh Ills[Illinois] Box 181
Petersburgh Ills[Illinois] Box 181
<Page 2>
For Gods sake come is the voice of Menard3<Page 3>
[Envelope]
PETERSBURGH Ill[Illinois].
20 AUG[AUGUST]Hon. A. LincolnSpringfieldIlls
20 AUG[AUGUST]Hon. A. LincolnSpringfieldIlls
1This letter is signed “Republicans of Menard,” but Abraham Lincoln wrote docketing
on the envelope shown in the third image noting that the letter was from an “Anonymous”
source.
2Lincoln delivered a speech in Springfield, Illinois, on July 17, 1858, roughly a month
after the members of the Illinois Republican Party nominated him as their candidate to replace Democratic incumbent Stephen A. Douglas as Illinois’s representative in the U.S. Senate. See the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election. Many hailed Lincoln’s speech as an effective rebuttal of Douglas’s racial demagoguery.
The Illinois State Journal published the speech. Lincoln also arranged for his speech to be published in pamphlet
form earlier in August, and he personally sent copies of the pamphlet out for distribution.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458, 474-75; Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Abraham Lincoln to Gustave P. Koerner; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 20 July 1858, 2:1-6; The Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 21 July 1858, 2:4-7, 3:1; Speech of Hon. Abraham Lincoln, Delivered in Springfield, Saturday Evening, July 17,
1858 ([Springfield?]: n.p., [1858?]); Abraham Lincoln to Daniel A. Cheever.
3There is no evidence that Lincoln replied to this letter. In fact, the docketing he
wrote on the right side of the envelope for this letter—shown in the third image—indicates
that he decided not to respond.
Lincoln delivered an address in Petersburg, Illinois, on October 29. Despite his efforts,
however, in Illinois’s local elections of 1858 Menard County’s voters sent Democrat
Samuel W. Fuller to the Illinois Senate and Democrat William Engle to the Illinois House of Representatives. At the time, members of the Illinois General Assembly voted for and elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate, so the races
for the Illinois House and Illinois Senate were highly relevant to the outcome of
the race for the U.S. Senate.
In the final results tally, Republicans won a majority of all votes cast during Illinois’s
local elections, but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of the Illinois General
Assembly and Douglas eventually 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.
Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of
1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392, 394, 400-401, 408; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 29 October 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-10-29; Summary of Speech at Petersburg, Illinois; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac 1673-1968
(Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219-20, 222; The Biographical Encyclopedia of Illinois of the Nineteenth Century (Philadelphia: Galaxy, 1875), 481-82; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 9 September 1858, 2:3; The Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 22 September 1858, 1:4; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 5 November 1858, 1:3; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:556-57.
Handwritten Letter, 3 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC). .