Hezekiah D. Sharpe to Abraham Lincoln, 9 November, 18581
New York Nov 9th 1858Hon Abrm LincolnSpringfield IllDear SirI have watched the progress of your late political canvass, in the Prairie State, with great interest & hoped (though against hope) that the party, whose leader for the time you have been, might triumph. It was too much to expect,
though not too much to hope for. Had you been successful in the ^contest^ I should not have written you, but as the reports indicate the contrary, I wish to
thank you, as a man, & as a Republican of the type of Franklin, Sherman & Jefferson, for your advocacy of the rights of man, as understood by those sages.2 Your opening remarks at Springfield, interested me much, being in harmony with my own views of the subject, the correctness
of which, time will disclose.3
As it is an attribute of Providence4 to help the weak & defenceless, let this encourage you and every one, in future endeavors to extend the blessings
of Liberty, until equal rights & franchises may be enjoyed by all, in our beloved
Country.
Respectfully YoursH D Sharpe320 Broadway N.Y.
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NOV[NOVEMBER] 9 1858Hon Abram LincolnSpringfieldIll
NOV[NOVEMBER] 9 1858Hon Abram LincolnSpringfieldIll
2Sharpe references the state elections in Illinois, which occurred on November 2, 1858. Abraham Lincoln, the candidate of the Republican Party, was challenging Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic incumbent, for seat in the U.S. Senate. 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. Lincoln and Douglas also debated at seven Illinois towns during the campaign.
In the state’s local elections as a whole, 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.
See 1858 Federal Election; 1858 Illinois Republican Convention.
Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 3 November 1858, 2:1; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458-60, 492-540, 556-47;
Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of
1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-94, 414-16; George Fort Milton, "Lincoln-Douglas Debates,"
Dictionary of American History, rev. ed. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976), 4:155-56.
3Reference to Lincoln’s speech--the famous “House Divided” speech--delivered to delegates
at the Illinois Republican State Convention on the evening of June 16, 1858. When
Abraham Lincoln had his scrapbook of the Lincoln-Douglass Debates published as a book in 1860, the House Divided speech
was the first item.
Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois; Fragment of A House Divided: Speech at Springfield; Report of Speech at Springfield, Illinois, Political Debates Between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas (Columbus: Follett, Foster, 1860), iii-iv, 1-5.
4In this context, Providence means the idea that certain things are under the control
of God.
Lesley Brown, ed., The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), 2:2393.
6Lincoln wrote this docketing. On December 8, 1858, Lincoln responded to this letter, stating that although he would have preferred victory over Douglas
in the 1858 Senate race, he felt that he made a worthy contribution to the ongoing
national debate over slavery and the goals of the Republican Party.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).