Charles L. Wilson to Abraham Lincoln, [22 August to 26 August 1858]1
ALL DESCRIPTIONS
—of—
JOB PRINTING!
Neatly Executed.
Office, —50 Dearborn St.
—of—
JOB PRINTING!
Neatly Executed.
Office, —50 Dearborn St.
DAILY EVENING JOURNAL OFFICE,
The resolutions Senator Douglas quoted at Ottawa as having been passed at Springfield were adopted at Aurora by what was then called a Peoples Convention. He probably will affirm in making the
conection, that they notwithstanding embodied the Republican Sentiment at that day.2 I enclose you the platform adopted by the Whig convention (of which I was a member) held at Aurora on the Same day, of the Peoples Convention. Those who are now Republicans then are three candidates,
Blackwell, Woodworth and Judge Mayo. The latter is now openly advocating negro equality and the election of Judge Douglas as editor
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the De Kalb Sentinel, published at Sycamore. Perhaps you may have occasion to use the resolutions or the facts.3I think in answering the questions propounded by Douglas4 you have a right to demand an answer to an equal number Such as
If elected will you support the present democratic Administration?
Are you opposed to extending Slavery on to soil now free? or any of the Series enclosed.5 I much regret that I cannot be present at Freeport. I forward this by my Associate Mr Sherman, who will take full notes of proceedings6
In hasteRespectfully & very TrulyCharles L Wilson
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[ enclosure
]
Lincoln Refuses to Answer.—Lincoln refuses to answer the following questions:
1. Will you, if elected to the Senate, vote to admit a State whose constitution authorizes slavery?
2. Will you vote for the acquisition of territory from which slavery has not been
excluded by law?
3, Will you vote for the repeal of the Fugitive Slave law?
4. Will you?
People of Illinois, the man who asks your votes for Senator, refuses to answer how he will vote on these
questions, if elected.—Times
Inasmuch as everybody knows, Douglas and the editor of the Times included, how Mr. Lincoln would vote on these questions, this catechising is as nonsensical, as the Douglas faction is hard pushed for material out of which
to make political capital.
These questions were first propounded by Douglas at Ottawa, and Mr. Lincoln very properly
refused to be thus interrogated by the man who himself gives no explicit or satisfactory
answers to more important interrogations than the above, touching his political views.7
Among many other questions, which have been propounded to Senator Douglas, and which
he and his organs have not deigned to notice at all, are the following, which we now
put to him again, promising that as soon as he answers them, Mr. Lincoln will gratify
him and the Times by answering those printed above:
1. Do you believe that the people of a Territory, whilst a Territory, and before the
formation of a State constitution, have the right to exclude slavery?
2. Do you believe or pretend to affirm that the Republican party do or ever have denied
the constitutional right of the people of a Territory, in the formation of a State
constitution, to form a free or slave constitution, as they choose?
3. Do you believe the slaveholder can lawfully take his slaves and hold them in any and every Territory of the United States?
5. Do you indorse and approve the doctrine of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case, that the constitution of the United States protects slavery in the Territories?
If yes, in what manner and how, except by changing the constitution, can slaves be
lawfully excluded from the Territories?
5. If the Constitution of the United States protects slave property in a Territory,
so that the people cannot, whilst a Territory, exclude it, how can they exclude it
in the formation of a State constitution? Is the constitution of the United States
less potent in a State than in a Territory?
5. Is the prohibition of slavery in the constitution of Illinois valid?
7. You once said in the United States Senate that the question whether the people
of a Territory had a right to exclude slavery therefrom, was a question for the Supreme
Court,8 Now, sir, have the Supreme Court decided that question in the Dred Scott case? If
yes, how have they decided it, and do you indorse and approve that decision?
8. If the dictum of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case be true, that the Constitution
of the United States directly recognized and protects slave property the same as any
other property and knows no difference between that and any other property possessed
by the citizens of the United States, and if the people of a State or Territory have
the right to exclude slave property, have they not an equal right to exclude all other
kinds of property?
In the language of the Times, we exclaim: "People of Illinois, the man who asks your votes for Senator, refuses
to answer how he will vote on these questions, if elected."9
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[ enclosure
]
WHIG PLATFORM,
Adopted by the Whig Congressional Convention, Second District, at Aurora September
20, 1854.
Whereas, One of the oldest and most cherished of our National Compromises has been ruthlessly overthrown in the passage of the bill commonly called the "Kansas-Nebraska bill," and whereas this utter disregard of a solemn compact by those who aided in its
formation, and who now seek to propogate and perpetuate slavery in the Union, absolves us from all other compromises between
Freedom and Slavery in the administration of the federal government and compels every
lover of truth and justice, to return to those great and redeeming principles by which
the patriots of the revolution were governed;—promulgated by the "Declaration of Independence,"
and practically carried out in the celebrated and time-honored "Ordinance of 1787." And whereas, as it is desirous that all who are opposed to the Kansas-Nebraska
bill should act in concert upon the great and controlling question of slavery extension;
Therefore we, as freemen, make the following declaration of principles by which we will be
governed in the coming contest.
1st Slavery in the States where it now exists is local in its character, over which
Congress possesses no constitutional control.
2nd, That the Federal Government ought not to aid, by its power and patronage, or
in any manner whatever, the nationalization of slavery, but on the contrary to use
all constitutional means to confine that institution to its present limits.
3d. That the portion of the Kansas-Nebraska bill which declares inoperative the slavery
prohibition, contained in the so-called Missouri Compromise, ought to be forthwith repealed, and those territories restored to freedom.
4th That we are in favor of the abolition of slavery in all territory over which Congress has exclusive jurisdiction.
5th That we are in favor of such an amendment of the Fugitive Slave law, as shall
secure to the slave the right of trial by jury in the State in which he is taken,
and the privilege of habeas corpus, as to his right to his freedom, and at the same
time remove that legal compulsion upon the citizens of free States of this Union, which compels them to be "slave catchers."
6th That River and Harbor Improvements, Homestead Grants, and cheap inland and oceanic
postage, are measures which the people of the West have a right to demand at the hands
of the Federal Government.
Resolved, That in furtherance of these principles we use such constitutional and lawful means
as shall seem best adapted to their accomplishment, and that we will support no man
for office under the general or state government who is not positively and fully committed
to the support of these principles, and whose personal character and conduct is not
a guarantee that he is reliable.
Resolved, That we cordially invite persons of all former political parties whatever, in favor
of the objects expressed in the above resolutions to unite with us in carrying them
into effect.
Resolved, That we now take our stand upon these principles, and further declare that all territory
hereafter acquired by the United States, must be free territory.
Resolved, That we are in favor of the repeal of the laws of this State, known as the Black
Laws.10
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[Envelope]
Hon. A. LincolnFreeportIllinois
Favor of Mr Sherman
1Charles L. Wilson wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name
and address on the envelope shown in the sixth image.
Wilson addressed this letter to Lincoln at Freeport, Illinois, because Lincoln was
away from Springfield, Illinois, much of the summer and fall of 1858 delivering public speeches in support of Republican
candidates for the Illinois General Assembly and participating in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. At the time, he was the Illinois Republican Party’s candidate to replace Democratic
incumbent Stephen A. Douglas in the U.S. Senate. Both Lincoln and Douglas were highly
attuned to the state legislative races in 1858 because members of the Illinois General
Assembly voted for and elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate; therefore
the outcome of the races for the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate were critical to the U.S. Senate race. See the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election.
Wilson does not provide an exact date for this letter; therefore, the exact date he
wrote it in August 1858 is unknown. However, because Wilson discusses the August 21
Lincoln-Douglas Debate at Ottawa, Illinois, and offers Lincoln advice for the August
27 debate in Freeport, the editors have supplied the inferred date range of August
22 to August 26, 1858.
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.
2During the first Lincoln-Douglas Debate at Ottawa, Douglas read resolutions aloud
from what he claimed was the Republican Party’s first convention in Illinois at Springfield.
He claimed that Lincoln had helped draft the resolutions and that they constituted
proof that Lincoln was a radical abolitionist. Douglas also posed a series of questions
to Lincoln in Ottawa, pressing him to either endorse or repudiate the antislavery
positions of the resolutions. In reality, the resolutions Douglas read aloud at Ottawa
were from an 1854 Illinois Anti-Nebraska Convention that was held in Aurora, Illinois, in October 1854 and Lincoln was neither involved
in their drafting, nor did he attend the convention.
Lincoln did not catch Douglas’s misrepresentation of the radical Aurora platform for
the more moderate Springfield platform during the Ottawa debate and therefore did
not correct Douglas at the time, aside from noting that he had not helped create the
platform that Douglas read aloud. During later debates, however, after consulting
with Republican allies, he confronted Douglas on the issue. Douglas eventually claimed
that his mistake was an honest one, even though he made the same misrepresentation
in an 1856 speech in the U.S. Senate and Lyman Trumbull took him to task for it at the time.
Wilson was correct that, even when confronted on the error, Douglas doubled down on
his assertion that the Republican Party was radically abolitionist. During the debate
in Freeport, rather than utilize the Illinois Republican platforms of either 1856
or 1858, he read aloud the platform that the Republicans of the Freeport district
adopted in 1854—another thoroughly antislavery platform. He elided personal responsibility
for these misrepresentations and false claims through the fall of 1858.
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; Abraham Lincoln to Ebenezer Peck; Joseph Medill to Abraham Lincoln; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:388, 490, 492, 503, 507, 513, 531-33; David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (New York: Touchstone, 1995), 216; 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.
3The copy of the Whig platform dated September 20, 1854 that Wilson enclosed in this
letter to Lincoln is shown in the fifth image. Copies of the Daily Chicago Journal are not known to be extant for September 1854, but the paper most likely initially
printed the platform within days of the September 20 meeting. A copy of the platform
also appears in the October 14, 1854 edition of the paper.
Controversy surrounding the Kansas-Nebraska Act fractured existing political parties and complicated the elections of 1854. Districts often witnessed multiple political conventions as the parties in play
presented both pro-Nebraska and anti-Nebraska candidates. Anti-Nebraska citizens in Illinois’s Second Congressional District held
two separate conventions on September 20, 1854: a Republican Convention and a Whig
Convention. Delegates to the Republican Convention nominated James H. Woodworth as
their candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, and delegates to the Whig Convention nominated Robert S. Blackwell for the U.S.
House. Democrats in the Second Congressional District also held two conventions. Delegates
to the anti-Nebraska Democratic Convention nominated Edward L. Mayo for the U.S. House,
while delegates to the pro-Nebraska Democratic Convention nominated John B. Turner.
Voters in the Second Congressional District ultimately elected Woodworth to the U.S.
House in 1854, giving him 53.1 percent of the vote to Turner’s 19.5 percent, Blackwell’s
19.8 percent, and Mayo’s 7.6 percent.
Chicago Daily Tribune (IL), 21 September 1854, 2:7; Daily Chicago Journal (IL), 14 October 1854, 2:1; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 7 October 1854, 3:1; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 9.
4This is a reference to the series of questions Douglas posed to Lincoln during the
Ottawa debate in an effort to get him to either endorse or repudiate the antislavery
positions of the aforementioned Aurora platform. See 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.
5The enclosure Wilson references is shown in the third and fourth images. It originally
appeared in the August 24, 1858 edition of the Chicago Daily Journal.
Chicago Daily Journal (IL), 24 August 1858, 2:2.
6Mr. Sherman could not be positively identified. The Chicago Daily Journal devoted a large portion of its August 28, 1858 issue to coverage of the August 27
Lincoln-Douglas Debate at Freeport. The edition contains no mention, however, of a
Mr. Sherman contributing notes for the paper’s debate coverage.
If Lincoln replied to this letter, his response has not been located. The only other
letter in all of 1858 between Wilson and Lincoln that is known to be extant is a letter Wilson wrote Lincoln May 31, 1858, discussing potential opposition to Lincoln’s candidacy
for the U.S. Senate. The next letter between the two that has been located, aside
from this August 1858 letter, is a letter Wilson wrote Lincoln March 3, 1859. In that letter, Wilson discusses the campaign
of 1858 and notes that he returns “as per your request” the letter “made to me when
at Springfield.” It is therefore possible that Lincoln wrote Wilson one or more replies,
but then requested the letter or letters returned.
Chicago Daily Journal (IL), 28 August 1858, 2:2-4.
7During the Ottawa debate, Lincoln noted that he had already provided Douglas with
his views on some of the above issues and stated that he would not respond to Douglas’s
questions “one after ano[t]her” again “unless he reciprocates.”
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.
8In mid-1856, in relation to the contentious topic of the Kansas Territory’s admission to the Union as a state, members of the U.S. Senate debated whether the
Kansas Territorial Legislature had the right “at any time to exclude slavery or allow it,” or whether that right
was reserved for states. Senator Douglas argued that the issue was something for the
U.S. Supreme Court to decide.
Cong. Globe, 34th Cong., 1st Sess., Appendix, 796-98 (1856).
9Issues of the Chicago Daily Times from August 1858 are not known to be extant; therefore, it is unclear precisely which
issue of the Chicago Daily Times after the August 21 debate at Ottawa contained this quote. However, The Weekly Chicago Times for August 26, 1858 contains the above quote verbatim after a brief piece discussing
how Lincoln “refuses to answer” certain questions related to slavery.
Lincoln responded to Douglas’s “interrogatories,” as he called them, during his opening
remarks at the Freeport debate. He then posed his own series of questions, including
several that were directly related to those Wilson suggested above and to those in
Wilson’s first enclosure, taken from an article the Chicago Daily Journal published after the Ottawa debate. As noted above, Lincoln formulated his questions
to Douglas at Freeport after consultations with Republican allies other than Wilson
as well.
The Weekly Chicago Times (IL), 26 August 1858, 2:1; 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; Chicago Daily Journal (IL), 24 August 1858, 2:2; Abraham Lincoln to Ebenezer Peck; Joseph Medill to Abraham Lincoln.
10States throughout the U.S., including Illinois, passed so-called “Black Laws” throughout
the nineteenth century. These laws restricted the rights of free African Americans
living within, passing through, or immigrating to various states—even if those states
prohibited slavery within their borders, as Illinois did, per the 1818 Illinois Constitution.
The Illinois General Assembly passed restrictive Black Laws in 1819, 1829, 1831, and
1833.
In the end, in Illinois’s 1858 local elections as a whole, Republicans won a majority
of all votes cast in the state, but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of the
Illinois General Assembly, and Douglas ultimately 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 and respect within the national
Republican Party.
Edward Channing, A History of the United States (New York: Macmillan, 1925), 6:375-76; Paul Finkelman, ed., Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 264; “An Act Respecting Free Negroes,
Mulattoes, Servants and Slaves,” 30 March 1819, Laws of Illinois (1819), 354-61; “An Act Respecting Free Negroes, Mulattoes, Servants and Slaves,”
17 January 1829, Revised Laws of Illinois (1829), 109-11; “An Act to Amend An Act, Entitled ‘An Act Respecting Free Negroes,
Mulattoes, Servants and Slaves, Approved January 17, 1829,’” 1 February 1831, Laws of Illinois (1831), 101; “An Act to Amend An Act Entitled ‘An Act Respecting Free Negroes, Mulattoes,
Servants, and Slaves, Approved March 30, 1819,’” 1 March 1833, Revised Laws of Illinois (1833), 466; 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, 6 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC). .