Alfred W. Cavarly to Abraham Lincoln, 10 September 18581
Ottawa Augt 25, ^Sept 10th^ 1858Hon A LincolnDear Sir.In your speach at Ottawa on the 21st Augt[August]. You refered to a portion of history in reference to the repeal of the Circuit Court ^system^ of Illinois, and the reorganization of the Supreme Court ^by adding five Judges to that Court,^ in the session of 1840.-1. You, Trumbull & myself were members of the House of Representatives. It recalled to my recollection an incident which shewed the deep interest Mr Douglass had, ^in^ the final passage of the bill, over the objections of the Council of Revision.–2
When the discussion was brought to a close by resolution, and the final vote was taken
it required every Democratic that was prepared to vote for the measure to be in his
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seat.– Hence, if you recollect., one man from southern Illinois was brought in sick
and laid on a pallet in the North end of the Hall.– The member from Champaign county, Mr Busy with the sick man was our "forlorn hope" to carry the bill. Mr Busy was tender, and required nursing. The sick man was all right, just as the roll of
the members was about to be called,— the members were all ^mostly^ in their seats.– The Lobies crowded with an anxious and listing multitude. Mr Busy was seen standing at the banistring3 dividing the hall from the Lobby and Mr Douglass out side the Banistring with his arm around Busy's neck, who stood within the barr. The roll was called through and Busy refusing to answer & vote until the call was finished when Mr Douglass took off his arm, and Mr Busy stepped a few paces to his seat and claimed a right to vote, and to give the reasons
for his vote on the
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question.– After giving his reasons for his vote— voted aye; and the bill passed.– My recollection is that it took Busy's vote to pass the bill.4Mr Busy's seat was in the North part of the Hall, near where I sat and the incident which
I have stated was noticed by many members in that part of the hall, and within a few
feet of where I sat.–
You & Trumbul sat in the South part of the hall, and you may not have noticed it.–
If you think this little matter will be ^of^ any service to you, use it in the canvass, and if necessity requires it, you are at liberty to refer to me, Peck, McClerland ^Dougherty^5 and others of your acquaintance sat near, and may have seen it. Wishing you success
in the canvass, I am6
Truly yoursA W. Cavarly<Page 4>
2Cavarly references the first Lincoln-Douglas Debate, which was held in Ottawa, Illinois, on August 21, 1858. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen
A. Douglas debated one another as part of the competition for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Douglas was the Democratic incumbent; Lincoln was the Illinois Republican Party’s candidate to unseat him. In addition to the debates, both men also traveled the
state throughout the summer and fall of 1858, delivering public speeches in support of
candidates for the Illinois General Assembly in their respective parties. Lincoln and Douglas devoted significant time and effort
to the local elections for members of the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate because, at the time, members of the General Assembly voted for and elected the state’s
representatives in the U.S. Senate.
During the debate at Ottawa, while discussing perspectives on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Scott v. Sandford, Lincoln reminded Douglas and the gathered audience of Douglas’s role in the reorganization
of the Illinois Supreme Court.
Following their victories at the state level in 1840—and harboring resentment about
the Illinois Supreme Court Whig majority’s decision on a case related to alien voting rights as well as one related
to the Illinois Governor’s right to remove the Illinois secretary of state—Illinois
Democrats proposed reorganizing the Illinois Supreme Court and increasing the number
of Supreme Court justices as a way to solidify their position in state politics. After
bitter debate, and enthusiastic lobbying by Douglas, the bill eventually passed. Lincoln,
Cavarly, and Lyman Trumbull each served in the Illinois House of Representatives during
the Twentieth General Assembly, when this reorganization occurred. Illinois Democrats
rewarded Douglas for his lobbying by electing him to one of the five new seats on
the Illinois Supreme Court. See Illinois Judiciary Act of 1841.
For additional information on the alien voting rights case that spurred the Illinois
Democrats’s resentment and reorganization of the Illinois Supreme Court, see Spragins v. Houghton, 3 Ill. (2 Scammon) (1840), 377-417.
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; 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; Robert W. Johannsen, Stephen A. Douglas (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), 82-84, 92-96; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac 1673-1968
(Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 208-9; A Bill Reorganizing the Judiciary of the State of Illinois; An Act Reorganizing the Judiciary of the State of Illinois.
4In the final vote on the bill to reorganized the judiciary, not withstanding the objections
of the Council of Revisions, forty-six members of the Illinois House—including Mathew
W. Busey, Trumbull, and Cavarly—voted in favor of the bill and forty-three members
voted against it—including Lincoln.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 366.
5Ebenezer Peck, John A. McClernand, and John Dougherty each also served in the Illinois
House at the time of the vote upon the Illinois Judiciary Act of 1841. Dougherty voted
against the bill; both Peck and McClernand voted in favor of it.
There is no evidence in extant public speeches from the campaign of 1858 or copies
of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates that Lincoln ever mentioned Busey’s role in the passage
of the Illinois Judiciary Act of 1841.
John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac 1673-1968, 208-9;
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 366.
6In the end, 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 recognition within the national Republican Party as a leading
voice for Republican values.
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). .