William H. Hanna and John H. Wickizer to Abraham Lincoln, 5 November 18581
Bloomington IllNovr 5. 1858Hon A Lincoln,Dear Sir,
The indications are I suppose that we are beat.2 But I want to say to you that we feel that we have gained much, and that you have
planted the seed that will germinate & ripen in to glorious fruit.
The Republicans of this County are a great deal more than satisfied with the manner & great ability with which you
have conducted the canvass.3
You took the right ground in the beginning and have maintained it to the satisfaction
& gratification of every reading & thinking man.
You have done more, you have made a national reputation that I would much rather have
this day, than that of S A. Douglass, or any other Locofoco of them all.4
I give you my hand on the next great fight and when it comes shall not fail to be
with you.
Yours trulyW H HannaJ. H. Wickizer<Page 2>
Hon A LincolnPresent.1William H. Hanna wrote this letter. Hanna and John H. Wickizer signed their own names.
Hanna also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name on the second page which was folded to form
an envelope.
2Abraham Lincoln was the Republican candidate from Illinois for the U.S. Senate in 1858. He ran against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, the incumbent. At this time the Illinois General Assembly elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate, thus the outcome of races
for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate in the election of 1858 would determine the outcome of the senatorial race. Ultimately,
in the local elections of 1858, Republicans won a majority of all votes cast in Illinois,
but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of the Illinois General Assembly, and Douglas
won reelection. See 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-85, 546-47; Allen C.
Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392, 394, 414-16.
3McLean County was in the Sixteenth Illinois Senate District and Thirty-Eighth Illinois
House District. In the Sixteenth Senate District, Democrat Joel S. Post, elected in 1856, held over in 1858. In the Thirty-Eighth House District, Republican
Leonard Swett won over Democrat John Gregory. Post voted for Douglas and Swett for Lincoln in the senatorial election.
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.
4Despite Lincoln’s defeat, his campaign - especially his series of debates with Douglas - enhanced his standing in the national Republican Party. Meanwhile,
Douglas’s national reputation in the Democratic Party somewhat suffered. Earlier in
1858, Douglas’s criticism of President James Buchanan’s support for the Lecompton Constitution caused a rift in the Democratic Party. During Douglas’s debates with Lincoln, the
former’s defense of popular sovereignty as a means of determining whether to allow
slavery in U.S. territories further alienated Southern Democrats.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:553-57.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).