Daniel G. Hay to Abraham Lincoln, 1 September 18581
"Two head better than one" sometimes2
Flora Ills Septr 1st 1858Hon A LincolnDear SirI think our friends are rather remiss in not taking more pains than they do to disabuse
the public mind with regard to the meaning and principle set fourth in the Declaration
of Independence with regard to Freedom. The "Democracy" will insist strenuously that we cannot be consistent in saying that negroes were included
in the Declaration of Independence without we at the same time say they are equal with all oth the white man politically & socially
I have examined the Declaration of Independence carefully & the result is this understanding
of it
That all men are created free and equal– That is in their creation— from the hand
of their creator— they are free & equal
That they are entitled to certain enaliable rights— rights coexistent with mans existence & though one should be deferred ^the enjoyment^ of such rights yet he is not deprived of its existence, & among those inaliable rights are life liberty & the pursuits of happiness.
That to secure these rights Laws, ^Governments^ are instituted
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among men & further on it says that in the formation of government that the powers should be
so granted as to them should seem most likely to secure their safety & happiness.3 Now it is clear that in the institution of government to secure those God given rights
it was not necessary to establish an equality of rights but the rights were to be
so granted as to them (the people) should seem most conducive to secure the enaliable rights of man
The right to be equal in government is not an inaliable right.
In the formation of the Constitution of the U.S. an inequality was established in
many respects, Viz An alien ^Foreign born citizen^ was not made equal to a ^native born^ citizen in the right to the Presidency,4 unequal rights to membership in Congress5 was made (with regard to age)6 Illinois makes inequallity in government in many respects. A citizen of Illinois who has not resided in the
state 12 months is unequal to a citizen of the state who has resided in the State over
12 mo[months].7 Negroes are not equal in in Ills politically with the white man8
But all these political inequalities are no innovations on the inaliable rights of man to to life liberty & the pursuit of happiness But are are the Governments instituted among men to secure those rightsI expect to see you at Jonesboro9
Very trulyD. G. Hay<Page 3>
I see in the Press & Tribune that you are to be at Bloomington on the 4th10 Will you do me a favor. I was in Bloomington in April last with Fruit & Feathers.
I sold a Barrel of dried fruit & a Bag of feathers to an Irishman by the name of Spellman11 & I left the articles with Messrs[Messieurs] J. J. Humfreys & Bro Grocers, for them to deliver to the Irishman & receive the pay & send to me I think the amt[amount] was abt[about] $25.00 & I have not heard from Mr Humfreys since
Will you please call on them & get the money & I can get it of you at Jonesboro or
give some friend an order to you for it if I should be prevented from being at Jonesboro12
Your cincere friendD. G. Hay<Page 4>
[Envelope]
Flora Ill[Illinois] Sept[September] 113
Hon. A LincolnBloomingtonIlls[Illinois]1Daniel G. Hay wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name and
address on the envelope shown in the fourth image.
2“Two heads are better than one” is a proverb that may have originated in the Biblical
book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 reads, “Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one
can help the other up.”
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10.
3Hays references declarations from the second paragraph of the U.S. Declaration of
Independence. He is discussing whether the principles set forth in the Declaration
of Independence applied to free and enslaved African Americans because this was a
central issue in the 1858 Federal Election. Lincoln was the Illinois Republican Party’s candidate to replace Democratic incumbent Stephen A. Douglas in the U.S. Senate, and, during the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, the two men exchanged numerous arguments on the topic. Douglas and other Democrats
had long argued that the Declaration of Independence did not apply to African Americans.
Lincoln, on the other hand, asserted that “there is no reason in the world why the
negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence,
the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Julian P. Boyd et al., eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1950), 1:429; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458; Cong. Globe, 33rd Cong., 1st Sess., Appendix, 214 (1854); David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (New York: Touchstone, 1995), 233; Robert W. Johannsen, Stephen A. Douglas (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), 570-71; 672-73; 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.
4The U.S. Constitution states that only “natural born” citizens are eligible for the
office of president of the United States.
U.S. Const. art. II, § 1.
6The U.S. Constitution also states that only U.S. citizens can be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and specifies that individuals must have been a citizen for
at least seven years in order to join the U.S. House and at least nine years to serve
in the U.S. Senate. In addition, representatives must be at least twenty-five years
old and senators at least thirty years old.
U.S. Const. art. I, § 2-3.
7The 1848 Illinois Constitution specified that members of the Illinois House of Representatives needed to be at least twenty-five years old in order to hold office and that members
of the Illinois Senate were required to be at least thirty years old in order to serve.
Ill. Const. of 1848, art. III, § 3-4.
8The 1848 Illinois Constitution also stated that only white male citizens “above the
age of twenty one years” were eligible to vote. In addition, “negroes, mulattoes,
and Indians” were not permitted to serve in the Illinois State Militia.
Ill. Const. of 1848, art. VI, § 1; art. VIII, §1.
9Lincoln was scheduled to debate Douglas in Jonesboro, Illinois, on September 15.
Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 1 September 1858, 2:1.
10Lincoln was scheduled to speak in a number of places throughout Illinois during the
1858 campaign season, including Bloomington, because he was canvassing on behalf of
candidates for the Illinois General Assembly. At the time, members of the General Assembly voted for and elected the state’s representatives
in the U.S. Senate; therefore, the races for the Illinois House of Representatives
and Illinois Senate were critical to the outcome of the U.S. Senate race.
Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 1 September 1858, 2:1; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas,
and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-94.
11Spellman could not be positively identified. By the time of the census of 1860, there
were several Irish men with the surname “Spillman” who lived in Bloomington. The “Spellman”
Hay references was most likely one of these men.
U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 3, Bloomington,
McLean County, IL, 231; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860),
Ward 1, Bloomington, McLean County, IL, 153; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of
the United States (1860), Ward 1, Bloomington, McLean County, IL, 145.
12If Lincoln replied to this letter, his response has not been located. Only one other
letter between Hay and Lincoln has been located in all of 1858.
Lincoln delivered a speech in Bloomington on September 4, and he and Douglas debated
one another in Jonesboro on September 15. During the Jonesboro debate, Douglas reasserted
that the natural rights outlined in the Declaration of Independence did not apply
to African Americans.
In Illinois’s local elections of 1858, 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 notoriety and respect within the national Republican Party.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 4 September 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-04; 15 September 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-15; 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; 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). .