Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Charles P. Danforth to Abraham Lincoln, 28 January 18591
Nashua N. H. Jany 28^th 1859Hon Abraham LincolnDear Sir
The Hon Frank P Blair addressed our citizens last evening & he in forms us that Douglass had consented to canvas our State, in part, prior to our March election–2 If such turns out to be the fact the Republicans are desirous of securing your services, that you may follow him, & meet him if necessary, and discuss the great political questions of the day. From what we have learned, in regard to the late canvass in Illinois,3 we think you the best man in the country to follow Mr Douglass Will you be good enough to let us know at your earliest convenience, whether you can spend a few weeks with us, commencing probably near the middle of February– Please state also the terms on which you will come.4 We shall be willing to pay liberally. Our state committee will meet soon, & I should be happy to have your answer

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to lay before them– We expect a vigorous campaign— and do not intend that our enemies shall gain anything by our lukewarmness5
Yours very Truly C. P. Danforth,
One of the State Central Com

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[Envelope]

N[ASHUA] N. H.
JAN[JANUARY] 31 1859Hon Abraham LincolnSpringfieldIllinois

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Lincoln, Abraham (President)

New Hampshire–6

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Jan 28 59[1859]7

1Charles P. Danforth wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name and address on the envelope.

2Reference to the congressional and state elections in New Hampshire to be held on March 8, 1859. After securing his reelection to the U.S. Senate in the Illinois state elections in November 1858, Stephen A. Douglas took a circuitous route from Illinois to Washington, DC, for the second session of the Thirty-Fifth Congress, which open on December 6, 1858 and ended on March 3, 1859. Douglas received invitations from numerous northern states in the spring of 1859 to speak on behalf of Democratic candidates, but he declined most of these invitations. There is no record of Douglas canvassing for Democratic candidates in New Hampshire.
The Jeffersonian (Stroudsburg, PA), 10 March, 1859, 2:2; U.S. Senate Journal. 1858-59. 35th Cong., 2nd sess., 3, 482; Robert W. Johannsen, Stephen A. Douglas (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), 680, 683-85.

3Reference to the congressional and state elections held in Illinois on November 3, 1858. Lincoln, the candidate of the Republican Party, had challenged Douglas, the Democratic incumbent, for Douglas’s senate seat. 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. Lincoln and Douglas also debated at seven Illinois towns during the campaign. Republicans had won the popular vote in the local and state elections but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control of the General Assembly, which elected U.S. senators in those days, allowing Douglas to retain his seat. Douglas's victory was confirm in the election held on January 5, 1859. See 1858 Federal Election; 1858 Illinois Republican Convention.
Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 3 November 1858, 2:1; George Fort Milton, "Lincoln-Douglas Debates," Dictionary of American History, rev. ed. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976), 4:155-56; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History, 94 (September 2007), 392-94, 415-16; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:458-60, 492-540; 556-57; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 30; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32.

4Abraham Lincoln did not go to New Hampshire to help the Republican campaigns in that state. He spent the entirety of February 1859 in Springfield and only left for a short trip to Chicago at the end of the month.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, February 1859, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarMonth&year=1859&month=2

5In the New Hampshire state elections in March 1859, Ichabad Goodwin, a Republican, defeated Asa P. Cate, a Democrat, for the governorship. Republicans won majorities in both the New Hampshire House of Representatives and the New Hampshire Senate, winning 105 of 141 seats in the House and eight of twelve seats in the Senate.
The Jeffersonian (Stroudsburg, PA), 10 March, 1859, 2:2; Hosea B. Carter, comp. and ed., The New Hampshire Manual for the General Court, With Complete Official Succession, 1680-1891 (Manchester, NH: John B. Clarke, 1891), 155;

6Lincoln wrote this docketing.

7An unknown person wrote this docketing.