David Davis to Abraham Lincoln, 25 September 18581
Lincoln IllsSeptr 3 252 58.Dear Lincoln–
He says that Tuesday night ^next^ in C H[Court House]–
He says— that in the Louisville Democrat.
You are reported as saying in one of your discussions with Douglass not only that you are in favor of Congress legislating against Slavery in the Territories— but also to legislate so as ultimately
to terminate it in the States– I told him that this was not so—
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that you held— that Congress had nothing to do with Slavery in the States— & you would
oppose Congress intermeddling in the matter in the States at all–
Write me a short note on this subject— to Lincoln so that I can get it Monday afternoon4
Your concluding speech on Douglass at Charleston was admirable–5
They all think here (as Douglass has been here) that you should come here and speak—say 16th October—the day after your discussion with Douglass at Alton–6 Try & do it, as Douglass has spoke here thrice– They are making desperate efforts in this Representative District–
You must come– Parks represents this District. may be a little doubtful7
Yr[Your] friendD Davis<Page 3>
[Envelope]
[LI]NCOLN C H ILL[ILLINOIS]
SEP[SEPTEMBER] 25Hon A LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
SEP[SEPTEMBER] 25Hon A LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
[ docketing
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Sept[September] 25
1David Davis wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name and
address on the envelope.
3In 1858, Stephen A. Douglas was running for reelection to the U.S. Senate; Lincoln was running as the Illinois Republican Party’s candidate to replace him. In the summer and fall of that year,
the two candidates engaged in a series of political debates throughout the state. See the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election. At the time of this letter, Lincoln and Douglas had debated at Ottawa (August 21), Freeport (August 27), Jonesboro (September 15), and Charleston (September 18).
John W. Crockett delivered a political speech at the Logan County courthouse in Lincoln on September 28, 1858. Reports of the specific contents of
Crockett’s speech vary in Republican and Democratic newspapers. In a letter to editors of the Louisville Courier, however, Crockett asserted that he made no direct reference to Lincoln’s or Douglas’s
senatorial campaigns during his speech. He stated that his remarks pertained to his
views on the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the Fugitive Slave Act, the Dred Scott decision, and the role of the Democratic Party in creating “sectional strife.” Crockett also
indicated his support for forming “a party of conservative men” from both North and
South to defeat the Democrats in the 1860 Federal Election.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-85; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 21 August 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-21; 27 August 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-27; 15 September 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-15; 18 September 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-18; Daily Missouri Republican (Saint Louis), 2 October 1858, 2:3; Weekly Belleville Advocate (IL), 20 October 1858, 1:7; Louisville Daily Courier (KY), 30 October 1858, 1:6.
5In their fourth debate, Lincoln and Douglas each spoke at Charleston, Illinois, on
September 18, 1858.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 18 September 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-09-18.
6Lincoln and Douglas held their seventh debate in Alton, Illinois, on October 15, 1858.
The next day, as Davis requested, Lincoln traveled to Lincoln, Illinois, to give a
two-hour speech near the Logan County courthouse.
The Lincoln Log, 15 October 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-10-15; Ibid., 16 October 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-10-16.
7Logan County was part of the Seventeenth Illinois Senate District and the Thirty-Fifth
Illinois House District. At the time, members of the Illinois General Assembly voted for and elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate; therefore,
the races in Logan and other counties for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate would determine the outcome of the race for U.S. Senate.
Samuel C. Parks had represented Logan County in the Illinois House of Representatives
in 1855. Parks had supported Lincoln on nine of the ten ballots during the election for U.S. senator in 1855. By 1858, however, Parks had left the Illinois House.
In the local elections of 1858, Republicans won a majority of all votes cast in Illinois,
but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of the General Assembly, allowing Douglas
to win reelection. In Logan County, Democrat Samuel W. Fuller, elected in 1856 to the Illinois Senate, held over in 1858. In the race for the
seat representing the Thirty-Fifth House District, Democrat George H. Campbell won over Republican William Walker. Fuller and Campbell both voted for Douglas for U.S. senator.
Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of
1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392, 394; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219, 220, 221, 222; Daily State Illinois Journal (Springfield), 17 September 1858, 2:3; 3 November 1858, 2:2; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 5 November 1858, 1:3; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21th G. A., 30; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21th G. A., 32.
Autograph Letter Signed, 3 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).