William H. Bissell to Abraham Lincoln, 2 January 18571
Private.
Belleville, Illinois,Jany 2, 1857.Dear Sir:
On getting to Springfield I shall desire to consult you as to what I shall say in my message to the Legislature about Kansas.2
May I ask you to write out, hastily as you please, your views on that subject; that
I may make such use of it as I deem proper in preparing my message?3
I shall be at Springfield on monday or tuesday next.4
Yours Very TrulyWm H. BissellHon. A. Lincoln.<Page 2>
2Bissell’s inaugural address as the governor of Illinois, given on January 12, 1857,
included typical items such as the building of a new penitentiary, schools, railroads,
and the like. Bissell also included the standard Republican rhetoric about preventing the spread of slavery westward. Bissell devoted six paragraphs
to the Kansas-Nebraska Act and its meaning for the republic.
Illinois House Journal. 1857. 20th G. A., 82-86.
3Abraham Lincoln’s response, if he penned one, has not been found. There is no documentary
evidence of Lincoln contributing to Bissell’s views on Bleeding Kansas and slavery extension in his inaugural address.
4Lincoln was in Springfield that Monday and Tuesday, January 5 and 6, respectively.
However, there is no evidence of a meeting between Lincoln and Bissell at that time.
Lincoln did speak at the celebration of Bissell’s inauguration on January 12, 1857.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 5 January 1857, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1857-01-05; 6 January 1857, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1857-01-06; 12 January 1857, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1857-01-12.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).