George W. Rives to Abraham Lincoln, 15 November 18581
Paris Edgar County. IllinoisNov. 15. 1858.Honl[Honorable] A. LincolnSpringfieldIlls.Sir–
Since the battle is over and the Smoke of the same is now blown off, I thought, I
would Say one word of consolation & comfort to you– Be of Good Cheer."– we must & Shall prevail In this County we did our whole duty— it is now useless to enquire how Come about our defeat in,
Sangamon, Morgan, &, Madison— it is over and done, & there is now time now to enquire–2 But let us as One man, be up and at them in 1860– Douglas must fall either in the N.[North] or, S.[South] he cannot Sustain himself with both.–3 No man can possibly feel worse over our Defeat than I do. I will however make two
honorable exceptions in my town & that is Mr. Munsell & Jno. Hartley– I think it hurts them worse than me— we are beaten but not conquered– We of Edgar feel more determined that ever. We are not discouraged or disheartened– I do think
that the repubs of Edgar are of the best grit that men were ever made of– You can now Sit us down
as one of the Certain Ones we can & will always elect our man. I Saw Mr. Mosely our Rept.[Representative] yesterday– he feels as bad
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as we do– Let me on behalf of the Repubs[Republicans] of Edgar County. Return you their thanks for the faithfull and honest discharge of your whole duty in the Campaign. and be assured that we Stand ready to aid you in 1860
We are for You first, &, last.– We disire to be now recognized as one of the Certain Counties––. I hope to See you this winter as I Shall be at Springfield at the Legislature we Can then talk it all over.– No man never had Such friends in Edgar as you have–
! Can we do you any Good Command us & we will obey– we await your Command
Yours TrulyG W Rives<Page 3>
[Envelope]
PARIS Ill.[Illinois]
NOV[NOVEMBER] 16Abraham LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
NOV[NOVEMBER] 16Abraham LincolnSpringfieldIllinois
1George W. Rives wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name
and address on the envelope.
2Lincoln was the Republican candidate from Illinois for the U.S. Senate. In the summer and fall of 1858, he crisscrossed Illinois delivering speeches and
campaigning on behalf of Republican candidates for the Illinois General Assembly. 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 were of importance to Lincoln’s campaign. See 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election.
In the state elections of 1858, Republicans won a majority of all votes cast in Illinois,
but pro-Stephen A. Douglas Democrats retained control of the Illinois General Assembly and reelected Douglas, the incumbent, to the U.S. Senate. In elections to the Illinois House, Edgar County
give its one seat to Republican Robert Moseley, who defeated Charles Summers, his Democratic opponent, by fifty-three votes. Sangamon, Morgan, and Madison counties each had two
seats up for election, and the Democratic candidates James W. Barrett (Sangamon), Daniel Short (Sangamon), Cyrus Epler (Morgan), Elisha B. Hitt (Morgan/Scott), Zephaniah B. Job (Madison), and Joseph H. Sloss (Madison) easily out-polled their Republican challengers. In the Illinois Senate,
Cyrus R. Vanderen, a member of the American Party elected to represent Sangamon and Morgan counties in 1856, held over in 1858.
Republican Thomas A. Marshall defeated Democrat Usher F. Linder to represent Coles, Cumberland, Edgar, and Vermilion counties. In the senatorial election held on January 5, 1859, Barrett, Short, Epler,
Hitt, Job, and Sloss voted for Douglas; Moseley, Vanderen, and Marshall voted for
Lincoln.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-85, 546-47, 557; Allen
C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,”
The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac 1673-1968
(Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219, 221, 222; Daily State Illinois Journal (Springfield), 3 November 1858, 2:2;Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 5 November 1858, 1:3; Daily Illinois State Register
(Springfield), 31 October 1883, 3:4; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21th G. A., 30;
Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21th G. A., 32.The Weekly Chicago Times (IL), 11 November 1858, 2:3-4, 4:2.
3Despite Lincoln’s defeat, his campaign - especially his series of debates with Douglas - enhanced his standing in the national Republican Party. Rives, among
other Republicans in Illinois and beyond, indicated support for the idea of nominating
Lincoln for president in 1860. 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