Albert I. Brooks to Abraham Lincoln, 16 December 18581
Private
Petersburg IllsDec 16= 1858Hon A. LincolnDr[Dear] Sir
There is a move on foot at the head of which Seems to be J. C. Conkling to "Spring" a man for Congress in every part of this district on the very eve of election a candidate for Congress2— to which movement I would like to suggest that if they start the name of Wm H– Herndon Menard will do something very handsome– There are many Democrats here anxious to vote for "Bill"— & there is no other name half so potent here
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and I think that will work equally well all over the district We are all for Bill– I make these suggestions through to the party who are controlling
this affair- Because I suppose that you of course are one of them or at least cognizant
of the matter3I wish to ask a favor of you– Maj Harris was the Notary Public here– I would now like the appointment– will you mention my
name in that connection (if your conscience & time will permit) to the Governor4
I would add something in regard to your defeat but I suppose you feel bad enough about it already5
Truly yoursAlbert I. Brooks<Page 3>
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2Brooks 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.
Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 10, 11;
Daily Illinois State Register (Springfield), 25 November 1858, 2:1; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield, IL), 1 December 1858, 2:4; Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 155, 1168; U.S. Const. art. I, § 2,
cl. 4.
3William S. Frink, Lyman Trumbull, and Richard Yates also corresponded with Lincoln about the special election. In a letter to Trumbull dated December 11, 1858, Lincoln wrote that had not “the slightest thought”
of becoming a candidate. Lincoln also gave no indication he wished to select the
Republican candidate. Contemplating the options facing Republicans, 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, foregoing William H. Herndon
and selecting James C. Conkling to run 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. In Menard county, Hodges defeated Conkling by 527 votes to 503 votes.
Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield, IL), 15 January 1859, 2:1; The Weekly Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 26 January 1859, 1:4; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds.,
Illinois Elections, 1818-1990, 11, 143; 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; Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996, 155; Kenneth C. Martis, The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989 (New York: MacMillan, 1989), 110-11; U.S. House Journal. 1859. 35th Cong., 2nd sess., 225; William S. Frink to Abraham Lincoln; Lyman Trumbull to Abraham Lincoln; Richard Yates to Abraham Lincoln.
4Governor Bissell does not mention Brooks and the appointment to notary in the only
extant letter between Bissell and Lincoln between December 1858 and February 1859.
5Brooks supposed that Lincoln felt badly because of the outcome of the state elections
held on November 2, 1858. Lincoln had been the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, running against Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic incumbent. Republicans had won the popular vote in the state elections
but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of the Illinois General Assembly, which elected U.S. senators in those days, allowing Douglas to retain his seat.
Douglas's victory was confirmed in the election held on January 5, 1859. 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.
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, 556-57;
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; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 30; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32.
Autograph Letter Signed, 4 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).