Jesse K. Dubois to Abraham Lincoln, 7 September 18581
Springfield Ill7th September 1858Dear Lincoln
This is the day for the Nationals here, and they are now holding forth in Hall of House Representatives Burke of Macoupin Presiding Carlin of Quincy Speaking. But no sort of a crowd.2 Very small indeed when our men are taken away from them I do not anticipate much
from their help.
I saw your man according to your desire, and he says they did not agree upon any thing
further than to canvass the Doubtful counties see how much was lacking, and then import
from those counties where there was no hope; or sufficienty to carry
Very TrulyJesse K DuboisN. B[Nota Bene]. I forgot to say that your man said they have about despaired of the Lower house and were concentrating their energies on the Senate [so?] as if possible Stave off the election for two years and trust to Luck6 Gallispie ought to know this7Du<Page 2>
them, and that at no time since they were a party have their men been called upon
to contribute with their mony so freely as now.3 they are drawing upon them for money in all sorts of ways.4 I send you a slip from the Tribune to same purport.5 Now how is this thing to be headed, God olny knows unless we could spir up our men to fight, and that bravely If any thing turns up we will try and post you
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[Envelope]
1Jesse K. Dubois wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name
and address on the envelope shown in the third image.
2“Nationals” is a reference to pro-James Buchanan Democrats. They were sometimes also called “National Democrats.” The Democratic Party
split between pro-Buchanan and pro-Stephen A. Douglas factions after Douglas spoke out against the Lecompton Constitution in December 1857 and criticized President Buchanan for supporting it. Pro-Buchanan
Democrats from Illinois’s Sixth Congressional District gathered in the hall of the
Illinois House of Representatives in Springfield, Illinois, on September 7 for a political
convention to nominate a candidate for Congress. Delegates to the convention elected Beatty T. Burke convention chairman, and William
H. Carlin was one of several speakers at the event. The Daily Illinois State Journal reported that “attendance was large”, but did not provide any estimates of the number
of attendees. The convention’s delegates ultimately nominated John L. McConnell as
their candidate for Congress.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:445; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 8 September 1858, 2:1-2; The Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 9 October 1858, 2:2.
3No other letters between Dubois and Lincoln have been located in all of 1858 prior
to September 7; therefore, there is no correspondence specifying the identity of Lincoln’s
“man.” Dubois co-wrote another letter to Lincoln on September 7 with Ozias M. Hatch. This letter does not, however, discuss
any person Lincoln instructed Dubois to visit or consult. It is possible Lincoln asked
Dubois to consult with William H. Herndon. Herndon’s brother and father were both pro-Buchanan Democrats, and he often provided Lincoln information on the
happenings and plans of the National Democrats as learned through his relatives.
At the time of this letter, Lincoln was running in the 1858 Federal Election as the Illinois Republican Party’s candidate to unseat Douglas
in the U.S. Senate. Both he and Douglas traveled the state throughout the summer and fall of 1858, delivering speeches in support of candidates
for the Illinois General Assembly in their respective parties. Since members of the General Assembly voted for and
elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate, 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.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:454-56, 458; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political
Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-94.
4Others wrote Lincoln around the same time as Dubois, informing him of rumors that
Douglas was promising large sums of money to prominent members of the Democratic Party
to aid him on the campaign trail.
Douglas was in debt and concerned about money at the start of the campaign of 1858.
He arranged loans that prevented his debt notes from falling into the hands of Republican
creditors, and newspaper editors who supported him appealed for funds on his behalf.
Albert Compton to Abraham Lincoln; Michael C. McLain to Leander Munsell; Robert W. Johannsen, Stephen A. Douglas (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), 620.
6This is most likely a reference to Democrats hoping to retain and use a majority in
the Illinois Senate to have their incumbent, Douglas, reelected to the U.S. Senate,
thereby avoiding a change in the state’s representation in the U.S. Senate. Per the
1848 Illinois Constitution, members of the Illinois General Assembly were elected every two years, but not all
at the same time. Roughly half were elected biennially, while the other half held
over until the next election two years later.
Ill. Const. of 1848, art. III, § 2, 5-6.
7If Lincoln replied to this letter his response has not been located. Lincoln and Joseph Gillespie corresponded with one another at least five times regarding the 1858 local elections.
None of this extant correspondence, however, contains a discussion of Democrats concentrating
their efforts on the elections for the Illinois Senate over the Illinois House.
In the state’s local elections of 1858, voters in the Sixth Congressional District
elected Thomas L. Harris to the U.S. House of Representatives. Harris ran as a pro-Douglas Democrat, triumphing over pro-Buchanan Democrat McConnell
as well as over James H. Matheny, a former Whig turned independent candidate who ran with support from the Republican Party. Voters
awarded Harris 57.6 percent of the vote, Matheny 41.4 percent of the vote, and McConnell
less than 1 percent of the vote.
In the local elections as a whole, Republicans won a majority of all votes cast, 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 visibility and admiration within the national Republican Party.
Abraham Lincoln to Joseph Gillespie; Joseph Gillespie to Abraham Lincoln; Abraham Lincoln to Joseph Gillespie; Abraham Lincoln to Joseph Gillespie; Abraham Lincoln to Joseph Gillespie; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 8 September 1858, 2:1; John M. Palmer, ed., The Bench and Bar of Illinois: Historical and Reminiscent (Chicago: Lewis, 1899), 1:192; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 11; The Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 9 October 1858, 2:2; 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, 3 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC). .