Richard Yates to Abraham Lincoln, 15 December 18581
Jacksonville Dec 15, 1858Dear LincolnI have already sent Mr Conkling a paper signed by me which he sent Mr Cassel2 for my signature. Please say to Conkling that I believe he will receive a most cordial
support here— and I believe stands just as good a chance for election as the Dem. candidate, if they should believe that we were making no fight.3
Lincoln, tell Dr W. Jayne to show you my recipe for beating them.4 It is better than Conklin's. There mus ought to be no writing or printing in the whole as thing.
In hasteYour friendRichd Yates
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[Envelope]
JACKSONVILLE Ill[Illinois]
DEC[DECEMBER] 15 1858Hon. A. LincolnSpringfieldIlls
DEC[DECEMBER] 15 1858Hon. A. LincolnSpringfieldIlls
1Richard Yates wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name
and address on the envelope in the second image.
3Yates references the upcoming special election held for U.S. representative in the
Illinois Sixth Congressional District. Thomas L. Harris, a Democrat from Petersburg, Illinois, who represented the Sixth Illinois Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, won reelection in November 1858, defeating James H. Matheny, his Republican opponent, with 57.6 percent of the vote. Harris died on November 24, 1858, before
he was able to be sworn in for the second session of the Thirty-Fifth Congress. Article one, section two, clause four of the U.S. Constitution mandated that chief
executives of the states issue writs of election for special elections to fill vacancies
in the U.S. House of Representatives. Governor William H. Bissell issued a writ of election on November 29, 1858 for a special election to be held
on January 4, 1859 to fill Harris’s vacated seat for the second session of the Thirty-Fifth
Congress. Albert S. Brooks, William S. Frink, and Lyman Trumbull also corresponded with Lincoln about the special election. In a letter to Lyman Trumbull dated December 11, 1858, Lincoln wrote that had not “the slightest thought” of becoming
a candidate. Contemplating the options facing Republicans for the special election,
Lincoln noted that some Republicans favored running their own candidate, while others
favored staying out and allowing the Democrats to run multiple candidates and split
the vote. The Republicans ultimately decided on the former course, running James C.
Conkling against the Democratic candidate, Charles D. Hodges. Hodges won the election with 61 percent of the vote and took his seat on January
20, 1859.
Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 10, 11,
143; Daily Illinois State Register (Springfield), 25 November 1858, 2:1; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield, IL), 1 December 1858, 2:4; 15 January 1859, 2:1; Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 155, 1168; U.S. Const. art. I, § 2,
cl. 4; The Weekly Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 26 January 1859, 1:4; Kenneth C. Martis, The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989 (New York: MacMillan, 1989), 110-11; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 4 January, 1859, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1859-01-04&r; U.S. House Journal. 1859. 35th Cong., 2nd sess., 225; Albert S. Brooks to Abraham Lincoln; William S. Frink to Abraham Lincoln; Lyman Trumbull to Abraham Lincoln.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).