James A. Briggs to Abraham Lincoln, 30 August 18581
New York. August 30. 1858.2 S[South] William st.[Street]Hon. A. Lincoln,Dear Sir.
Enclosed I send you a Speech made by Gov. Chase in the Senate of the U. State March 26/50[1850].2 In the tirades of Senator Douglas, I had read that he calls Gov[Governor] Chase an abolitionist, &c.[etc.] He is not one, for Gov. C. says "We have no power to legislate on the subject of Slavery in the States &c–"3
If Senator Douglas refers again to Gov. C. will you have the kindness to correct him
from Gov. Chase own speech.
I think the last paragraph but one of Gov. C. speech, is very fine. He is for the
Union.4
There is a deep interest felt here in the Illinois contest. I hope you will ^win^ a great
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and a glorious victory.5 Judge Douglass last winter had a noble position.6 He has lost it now. He was not the man for the Hour.
I sent you, last week, a pamphlet that I thought would be of service to you. "The
Southern Platform on Slavery," with extracts from Southern men, &c–7
You will find many excellent things in the speech of Gov. Chase, & he is one of the men, true & faithful, of our Republicans–
With my best wishes for your Success.8
Yours truly,James A. Briggs.<Page 4>
2The enclosure Briggs references was not with this letter and has not been located.
Salmon P. Chase delivered a lengthy speech in the U.S. Senate on March 26 and March
27, 1850 in which Chase opposed the compromise measures offered by Henry Clay. Chase provided an overview of the history of slavery within the United States and
traced federal policies and law related to slavery up to 1850, arguing that while
U.S. citizens could not interfere with slavery “beyond the sphere of our constitutional
powers” they “were bound by allegiance to democratic principle to condemn, to mitigate,
to abolish slavery wherever we can constitutionally do so.”
Cong. Globe, 31st Cong., 1st Sess., Appendix, 469 (1850); John Niven, Salmon P. Chase: A Biography (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 137-38.
3Chase spoke these words toward the beginning of his speech.
Cong. Globe, 31st Cong., 1st Sess., Appendix, 468-69 (1850).
4In the second to last paragraph of Chase’s speech, he declared that Ohio was faithful to both the Union and to freedom as enshrined in the Northwest Ordinance.
Cong. Globe, 31st Cong., 1st Sess., Appendix, 480 (1850).
5Briggs is referring to the Illinois local elections of 1858 as well as their bearing
on the 1858 Federal Election. Abraham Lincoln was the Illinois Republican Party’s candidate for the U.S. Senate.
He was running against Democratic incumbent Stephen A. Douglas. Members of the Illinois General Assembly voted for and elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate at the time;
therefore the outcome of the races for the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate were critical to the race for the senate seat. See the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention.
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.
6This is a reference to Douglas’s stance with regard to the Lecompton Constitution. In December 1857, Douglas spoke out against the Lecompton Constitution and criticized
President James Buchanan for supporting it. This caused a rift in the Democratic Party, splitting it into
pro-Douglas and pro-Buchanan camps. Some Republicans were excited by Douglas’s repudiation
of the Lecompton Constitution to the extent that they considered supporting his reelection
to the U.S. Senate. Although he later denied it, for a time Douglas actively courted
political support from Republicans.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:445-48.
7No other correspondence from Briggs to Lincoln in all of 1858 has been located aside
from this August 30 letter.
The pamphlet Briggs references was published in 1858 and addressed southern sentiments
regarding slavery through a collection of letters, reports, debates, and editorials
on the topic. See Daniel R. Goodloe, The Southern Platform: Or, Manual of Southern Sentiment on the Subject of Slavery (Boston: John P. Jewett, 1858).
8If Lincoln replied to this letter, his response has not been located.
During the first and second Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Douglas labeled Chase an abolitionist. In addition, both he and Lincoln discussed
Chase’s proposed amendment to the Kansas-Nebraska bill in the U.S. Senate in 1854, in which Chase had moved that the people of the Kansas Territory be given the power to exclude slavery if they so chose. Senators rejected Chase’s
amendment at the time by a vote of 10 in favor to 36 opposed. In the third, fourth,
and seventh debates, which took place after this letter, Douglas repeated his claim
that Chase was an abolitionist. Lincoln never directly confronted Douglas on the topic.
Ultimately, in Illinois’s local elections, 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.
First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois; First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois; First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois; 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; U.S. Senate Journal. 1854. 33rd Cong., 1st sess., 231; 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; Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois; Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois; Seventh Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Alton, Illinois; Seventh Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Alton, Illinois; Seventh Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Alton, Illinois; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:556-57; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political
Landscape of 1858,” 414.
Autograph Letter Signed, 4 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC). .