Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Jacob B. Crist to Abraham Lincoln, 12 June 18481

11.

√
Hon– A. LincolnD^r[Dear] Sir
Having a little money on hand for the Colonization Society and not finding it convenient to procure and Eastern draft I have just deposited fifty dollars in the hands of your friend Judge Logan, subject to your order, you will greatly oblige me by paying the above amount to the of $50.00 to the order of Rev W^m M^cLain Sec^y[Secretary] Am Col Society.2

Judge Logan & his competition Major Harris are now both in town and will address the people of this county this afternoon from the stump. The Judge’s election is of course certain.3 The Whigs are well satisfied with the nomination of Gen^l Taylor.4 The wheat crop in this state will be extraordinarily good. The general health of this county is very good.
Most Resp^y[Respectfully]J B CristJacksonville
June 12^th 1848

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Hon A Lincoln M C[Member Congress]^fr[for] Rev W M^cLain^ Washington City D C

1Jacob B. Crist wrote this entire letter, including the address on the last sheet, which was folded to make an envelope.

2Crist is referring in the first line to the Illinois Colonization Society. Lincoln’s donation was one of two coming from Illinois to the American Colonization Society between July and September 1848.
The African Repository and Colonial Journal 24 (September 1848), 288.

3Stephen T. Logan and Thomas L. Harris vied to replace Lincoln, who did not receive the Whig Party’s nomination for another term, as representative from the Seventh Congressional District. In August 1848, Logan would lose to Harris in a close race.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:271; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 8, 126.

4Reference to the Whig National Convention’s nomination of Zachary Taylor for president in the 1848 presidential election.