William A. Grimshaw to Abraham Lincoln, 11 November, 18581
Nov, 11. 1858My Dear Sir,I regret the result in Illinois but you have nothing to regret & have won laurels of which you may be proud.2
We had hard fight in Pike Rail Road & other Irish overwhelmed us vote about 4500 & the increase all for Locos. I hope for better results in 1860. I said often Douglass stole our Thunder & Morris tried to play our Music— that beat us.4
Your friend trulyWm A. Grimshaw<Page 2>
[Envelope]
[?] Ill.
NOV[NOVEMBER] 10Hon A LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
NOV[NOVEMBER] 10Hon A LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
1William A. Grimshaw wrote and signed this letter and wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name
and address on the envelope.
2Grimshaw 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. 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; Allen C.
Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-94; George Fort Milton, "Lincoln-Douglas Debates," Dictionary of American History, rev. ed. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976), 4:155-56.
3In the state’s local elections as a whole, Republicans won a majority of all votes
cast in the state, tallying 190,468 votes to 166,374 for Democrats. Pro-Douglas
Democrats retained control of the Illinois General Assembly, however, 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.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:556-57; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political
Landscape of 1858,” 414-16.
4Grimshaw lived in Pike County during the state and federal elections of 1858. Voters
in Pike County sent Democrats to the Illinois House and Senate, all of whom voted
for Douglas in the U.S. Senate contest. Voters gave Democratic candidates majorities
of just over 500 votes.
Pike County was part of the Illinois Fifth Congressional District. In the congressional
election of 1858, Democrat incumbent Isaac N. Morris won reelection. Pike County
voters gave Morris a 480-vote majority over this Republican opponent. In the district
overall, Morris had a 1,881-majority.
Douglas’s second wife, Adele, was a Catholic, and two of his sons were being educated at a Jesuit school in Washington, DC. The Republican State Central Committee sought to exploit Douglas’s connection to Catholicism and the Democratic Party’s
dependence on Irish Catholic votes to enhance Lincoln’s electoral chances. Republican
stump speakers raised the specter of a “Celtic invasion” of Illinois electoral districts,
suggesting that Irish Americans building the Illinois Central Railroad would commit voter fraud on Douglas’s behalf, to convince old Whigs to vote for Lincoln
candidates to the General Assembly. The Republicans also sought to divide Irish American
and German Americans in hopes of getting votes in the larger German American community.
These tactics proved ineffective as Douglas was able to label Republicans as enemies
of all immigrants and Catholics, not just Irish American laborers.
Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 13 November 1858, 2:3; The Weekly Chicago Times (IL), 11 November 1858, 2:5; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 30; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections,
1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992),
10, 11, 142; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:553-57; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political
Landscape of 1858,” 394-96; Allen C. Guelzo, Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008) , 207-11; Robert W. Johannsen, Stephen A. Douglas (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), 676.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).