Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Obadiah R. Winters to Abraham Lincoln, 3 September 18581
Marion Williamson Co Ills
Sept 3– 1858Hon A. LincolnD^r[Dear] Sir
Perry County is rather, antidemocratic. Old Whigs– Americans– Republicans– and some few Gerrit Smith abolishionists– constitute the oposition to the democratic party– But among this oposition there are quite a number who professedly hate Abolishionism about as bad as they do the Democracy– John A Logan has delivered him self up several harangues So also has Josh– Allen– they of course represent. You and your Rep-supporters as occupying the strongest kind of abolishion Grounds– they also dig up the Skeletons of all those who died in the plains of Mexico and attempt to prove by the use of Volcanic thunder— ignoring sound argument— that they all died at the hands of Abe Lincoln 2

I think one Speech properly advertised and delivered at Du Quoin would set the oposition of Perry County all right– I wish you would during the campaign Show them ^in Perry^ really what Republicanism really is— that is provided your calls to other places are not all-observant I reside in Perry County— but as you see have written from Marion—Williamson—Where I shall remain for a few weeks it is all one side here thats– Douglass–

I am the only Rep[Republican]– in the County^of Williamson^3
Respect[Respectfully].O. R. Winters

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[Envelope]

MARION ILL[ILLINOIS].
SEP[SEPTEMBER] 6Hon A. LincolnSpringfieldIllinois

[ docketing ]
Lincoln, Abraham (President)

Not now
O. R. Winters4

1Obadiah R. Winters wrote and signed this letter to Abraham Lincoln. He also wrote Lincoln’s name and address on the envelope shown in the second image.

2At the time of this letter, John A. Logan was the pro-Stephen A. Douglas candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives for Illinois’s Ninth Congressional District. He stumped throughout the district during the campaign of 1858. William Joshua “Josh” Allen also supported Douglas and also delivered public speeches in support of Democratic candidates during the campaign season.
During the election of 1858, some Democrats ran as pro-Douglas and others pro-Buchanan due to rifts in the Democratic Party that emerged after Douglas spoke out against the Lecompton Constitution and criticized President James Buchanan for supporting it. These pro-Douglas and pro-Buchanan factions caused considerable trouble for Douglas during the 1858 Federal Election, in which he ran for reelection to the U.S. Senate. Lincoln ran as the Republican Party’s candidate to unseat him. Both men canvassed the state throughout the summer and fall of 1858, delivering speeches in support of candidates for the Illinois General Assembly in their respective parties. 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 highly relevant to the outcome of the U.S. Senate race. See the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention.

One strategy Douglas and his supporters used during the campaign in an attempt to discredit Lincoln was to claim that, during his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, Lincoln voted against supplies for American troops fighting in the Mexican War. Douglas and other Democrats insinuated that this placed American troops in greater peril and constituted Lincoln taking the enemy’s side. In reality, although Lincoln opposed the Mexican War and questioned its constitutionality during his time in the U.S. House, he nevertheless always voted in favor of supplies for U.S. troops serving in the field.
Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 7 September 1858, 2:3; The Salem Advocate (IL), 4 August 1858, 2:1; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 5 October 1858, 2:3; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:265-68, 445, 454-55, 526-27; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-94; Daily Chicago Times (IL), 23 June 1858, 2:1-2; ‘‘Spot’’ Resolutions in the United States House of Representatives; ‘‘Spot’’ Resolutions in the United States House of Representatives; Speech in United States House of Representatives: The War with Mexico; Speech in United States House of Representatives: The War with Mexico.

3There is no record of Lincoln delivering a public address in Du Quoin, Illinois, or anywhere in Perry County, Illinois, during the campaign of 1858. Lincoln and Douglas both focused their campaign efforts on central Illinois, where the state legislative races were the closest. Perry County is in southern Illinois, which was a Democratic stronghold in 1858.
Logan won election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Voters in the Ninth Congressional District awarded him a strong majority of 84.2 percent of the vote. His Republican rival, David L. Phillips, won just 14.8 percent of the vote.

Perry County was in the Twenty-Fourth Illinois Senate District and the Seventh Illinois House District. Democrat Elzey C. Coffey, elected to the Illinois Senate in the Twenty-Fourth District in 1856, held over in 1858. Voters in the Seventh Illinois House District elected Democrat John D. Wood to the Illinois House.

Williamson County was in the Twenty-Third Illinois Senate District and the Third Illinois House District. Democrat Samuel H. Martin, elected to the Illinois Senate in the Twenty-Third District in 1856, held over in 1858. Voters in the Third Illinois House District elected Democrat James D. Pulley to the Illinois House.

In the 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. When the members of the General Assembly voted on who would represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate, Coffey, Wood, Martin, and Pulley each cast their ballots for Douglas, who 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.
Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 11; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219, 222; The Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 17 November 1858, 2:4; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 30; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:556-57; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” 403, 406, 414.

4Lincoln wrote this docketing in pencil vertically on the left side of the envelope shown in the second image.