Nathaniel G. Wilcox to Abraham Lincoln, 21 October, 18581
Rushville Octr 21. 1858.Hon. A. LincolnMy Dear Sir:I send you herewith a paper containing the 2nd day's proceedings of the “Philaa Whig Convention” of 1848.2
I was not presant yesterday when you alluded to my course of action in said convention in contrast to that of "Singleton’s", or I should have most cheerfully corroborated the statement I am informed you
made from the stand,— and I did not know that you made any mention of my name until
I was so informed by a gentleman who was riding in my wagon some miles from town on
my way home— and as I had about a dozen miles to ride— was obliged to leave before
you closed.3
on reading the proceedings carefully you will not fail to notice the fact that on
the vote being taken by "Ayes Noes" on the first resolution reported by "the committee
of states"— that Singleton voted with all the balance of our delegation— to reject
said resolution, (9 votes)4 and that on the two ballots taken for President only (8 votes) were cast, I declined
to vote, (altho[although] my name was called by the secy[secretary] twice on each vote) Smith, Singleton & Coffing— voted for Clay.5
Success to you, and the good cause!6
in haste, Yours TrulyN. Greene Wilcox<Page 2>
[Envelope]
Hon. A. Lincolnat MacombIllinois
2The enclosed paper was not found with this letter and has not been located. The second
day of the 1848 Whig National Convention, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was June 8, 1848. Wilcox was apparently a delegate to the convention, which ran
from June 7 to June 9. Abraham Lincoln also attended the convention.
Public Ledger (Philadelphia, PA), 9 June, 1848, 1:4; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:277; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 6 June, 1848, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1848-06-06; 7 June 1848, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1848-06-07; 8 June 1848, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1848-06-08; 9 June 1848, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1848-06-09.
3Lincoln delivered a speech in Rushville, Illinois, on October 20, 1858. Contemporary
newspaper reports of Lincoln’s speech make no mention of Lincoln alluding to Wilcox’s
actions at the Whig National Convention.
Lincoln delivered the speech in Rushville in the context of the election to the U.S. Senate. Lincoln, the candidate of the Republican Party, was challenging Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic incumbent, for the seat. 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 at the time; therefore the outcome
of the races for the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate were critical to the race for the Senate seat. See the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention.
Lincoln and Douglas both focused their campaign efforts on the former Whig Party stronghold of central Illinois, where the state legislative races were the closest.
Former members of the Whig and American parties were an important source of votes for both Democrats and Republicans in the
state and federal elections of 1858, and both sides worked to garner their support.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458, 486-87; Allen C. Guelzo,
“Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-94; Stephen Hansen and Paul Nygard, “Stephen A. Douglas,
the Know-Nothings, and the Democratic Party in Illinois, 1854-1858,” Illinois Historical Journal 87 (Summer 1994), 123-29, Tyler Anbinder, Nativism & Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings & the Politics of the 1850s (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 246-78.
4The Committee on Credentials reported the following resolution in the morning session
of the second day of the convention: “That a majority of the delegates from each state
shall have authority to cast the votes of those districts not fully represented, and
also to fill vacancies.” The resolution failed by a vote of 126 votes for and 156
against. This vote was seen as a test vote between the two leading candidates for
the presidential nomination, Zachary Taylor and Henry Clay. The “no” votes were seen as being opponents of Taylor.
Public Ledger (Philadelphia, PA), 9 June, 1848, 1:4-5.
5Illinois sent nine delegates to the convention. It took four ballots for Taylor to
receive a large enough majority to win the nomination. Illinois had a split vote on
the first three ballots: three votes for Clay, four for Taylor, and one vote for
Winfield Scott, with Wilcox abstaining. On the final ballot, all the Illinois delegates except
Wilcox, who continued to abstain, voted for Taylor.
Public Ledger (Philadelphia, PA), 9 June, 1848, 1:7; 10 June, 1848, 1:4.
6As part of their respective campaigns, Lincoln and Douglas battled over who best represented
the legacy of Clay. In his speeches and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Douglas repeatedly invoked the name of Clay in his arguments regarding sectionalism,
slavery, and his purported desire for national unity, hoped to link Clay to the doctrine
of popular sovereignty as a way to convince former Whigs that he and Clay shared a
common interest in keeping slavery out of national politics.
Lincoln greatly admired Clay, whom he referred to during the debates as “my beau ideal
of a statesman, the man for whom I fought all my humble life.” He quoted Clay’s thoughts
on slavery during the debates, emphasizing his agreement with Clay’s view of it as
“a great evil” and an unfortunate inheritance from the nation’s forefathers that its
citizens must contend with as best they could. He also accused Douglas of representing
that class of men whom Clay referred to as determined to “repress all tendencies to
liberty and ultimate emancipation” by snuffing out “the moral lights around us.”
Former Whigs turned Douglas supporters condemned Lincoln for abandoning Clay’s principles.
Perhaps more damning, some charged that Lincoln had betrayed Clay in 1847 and 1848
by backing Taylor for president. James W. Singleton, a former Whig who attended a
meeting of Whig leaders in August 1847 to discuss the presidential election, claimed in September 1858 in a speech in Jacksonville that Lincoln went so far as to try and keep him from attending the national convention
knowing that Singleton was backing Clay. T. Lyle Dickey and other former Whigs took
up this refrain, and Douglas repeated Singleton’s charges in the seventh and final
debate in Alton on October 15. Douglas also made it the subject of his speech in Springfield on October 20. Lincoln defended himself and his actions in a speech in Lincoln, Illinois, on October 16 and again at Rushville.
In the state’s local elections as a whole in 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 as well as standing within the national Republican
Party.
Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of
1858,” 400-401, 414-16; Stephen Hansen and Paul Nygard, “Stephen A. Douglas, the
Know-Nothings, and the Democratic Party in Illinois, 1854-1858,” 123; Michael Burlingame,
Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:49, 274, 538, 543, 556-57 ; Daily Illinois State Register (Springfield), 24 September 1858, 2:3; 22 October 1858, 2:3-4; 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.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).