James G. Wright to Abraham Lincoln, 11 October 18581
Naperville, Ill.October 11th1858Honl[Honorable] A LincolnSpringfieldHonl SirI would beg to call your attention to a pamphlet containing what is purported to be
the speeches delivered by Judge Doulass & Yourself in debate at Charleston,2 but if I am not much mistaken your speech is so badly mutilated that it is well calculated
to work a great injury to yourself & our party's Cause. there are about 10.000 of this pamphlet in this place for circulation, &
I fear will work on the unwary the Democrats are untiring & Claim that this version of your speech is ^must be^ Correct from the fact that you have never taken the trouble to assert its falsity.
You have doubtless seen the
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pamphlet I refer to, not only is it mutilated but, your speech is in small poor type
while Douglass' is in good Clear & large. the pamphlet has doubtless issued from the Times Office ^Chicago^ but contrary to an established rule with all printers to endorse all their work with
their names or the name of the office where the work was done. there is neither one
nor the other on this damnable document. Enough to stamp it in the minds of all honest men with the title it deserves.
We look upon this here abouts as the most shameful ^and dishonest^ imposition & fraud, yet committed by our inscrupable opponents, & respectfully suggest that it would be well for you in your next debate
to call particular attention that they are either affraid to or else cannot either speak or print the truth.3
Most Respty[respectfully] Your Obt[Obedient] Sevt[Servant]Jas G. Wright<Page 4>
[Envelope]
CHICAGO Ill[Illinois]
OCT[OCTOBER] 12 1858Honl A LincolnSpringfieldIlls
OCT[OCTOBER] 12 1858Honl A LincolnSpringfieldIlls
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1James G. Wright wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name
and address on the envelope shown in the fourth image.
2Wright references the fourth Lincoln-Douglas Debate, which took place at Charleston, Illinois, on September 18, 1858. Lincoln and Stephen
A. Douglas debated one another as part of the run-up to the 1858 Federal Election, in which they competed to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate. Douglas was the Democratic incumbent; Lincoln was the Republican challenger. See
the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458; 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; Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois; Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois; Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois.
3The pamphlet Wright references was published sometime between the September 18 Lincoln-Douglas
Debate in Charleston and this October 11 letter. No publisher or other publication
information is listed on or in the pamphlet. In volume one of his Lincoln Bibliography: 1839-1939, Jay Monaghan posits that the pamphlet is a “Democratic campaign publication reprinted
from Weekly Chicago Times, Sept. 23, 1858.” However, the September 23, 1858 edition of The Weekly Chicago Times does not contain coverage of Lincoln and Douglas’s remarks at the Charleston debate.
Wright is correct that Lincoln’s remarks are represented in the pamphlet in significantly
smaller print than those of Douglas. Although the text provided in the pamphlet for
Lincoln’s opening remarks and his closing remarks after Douglas spoke is different
in places than what appears in newspaper coverage of the Charleston debate, most of
Lincoln’s remarks appear to either match or closely resemble what other newspapers
at the time recorded as his words. A more extensive comparison and analysis of the
various extant versions of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Charleston would be needed
to determine if Lincoln’s speech was, as Wright claims, “mutilated” to the extent
that specific portions of Lincoln’s remarks were actually unfairly represented.
There is no evidence in extant newspaper coverage of Lincoln’s remarks during the
remaining three Lincoln-Douglas Debates that he discussed this pamphlet, as Wright
urged.
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. At the time, members of the General Assembly voted for and elected the state’s representatives
in the U.S. Senate, and Douglas ultimately won reelection. 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.
Jay Monaghan, comp., Lincoln Bibliography: 1839-1939, vol. 31 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library(Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1943), 1:4; The Weekly Chicago Times (IL), 23 September, 1858, 1-4; Speeches of Douglas and Lincoln: Delivered at Charleston, Ill., Sept. 18th, 1858 (n.p.: n.p., [1858]), Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and
Museum, Springfield, Illinois; Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois; Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois; Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois; Fifth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Galesburg, Illinois; Fifth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Galesburg, Illinois; Fifth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Galesburg, Illinois; Sixth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Quincy, Illinois; Sixth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Quincy, Illinois; Sixth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Quincy, Illinois; Seventh Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Alton, Illinois; Seventh Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Alton, Illinois; Seventh Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Alton, Illinois; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:556-57; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political
Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392, 394, 414.
Autograph Letter Signed, 5 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC). .