Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln to Frederick S. Potter, Peleg S. Perley and others, 3 August 18581
Springfiedd, Aug 3, 1858.Messrs[Messieurs]. F. S. Potter, P. S. Perley and Others—Gentlemen:
Your kind letter of July 12th, signed by thirty Democrats and fifty Republicans, inviting me to visit your city and address you during the campaign, has been duly received. I have waited so long in order to fix a time which will not interfere with other arrangements. Now, I can say I will meet you on the 23d of August, if agreeable to you, and you will so notify me; I could not well do so any other day.2 Please write me.3
Your Ob’t Serv’t[Obedient Servant]A. LINCOLN.

1This letter is attributed to Abraham Lincoln. The original in Lincoln's hand is not extant. This printed transcription appeared in the August 6, 1858 edition of the Henry Weekly Courier.

2The invitation stemmed from Lincoln’s recent nomination at the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention to run against incumbent Stephen A. Douglas to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate. At this time the Illinois General Assembly elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate, thus the outcome of races for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate were of importance to Lincoln’s campaign. Lincoln and Douglas both focused their campaign efforts on the former Whig stronghold of central Illinois, where the state legislative races were the closest.
Lincoln boarded a train at 3 a.m. on August 23 and arrived in Henry, Illinois, to address the town for several hours on his promised date. Peleg S. Perley introduced Lincoln to a crowd that was several thousand strong.

Marshall County was a northern Illinois county assumed to be strongly Republican in 1858, and that proved to be the case in the state election of that year. Marshall was in the Eighth Illinois Senate District, where Republican George C. Bestor defeated Democrat William S. Moss, and the Forty-Second Illinois House District, which elected Republican John A. McCall over Democrat Washington E. Cook.
Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-99, 400-401; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-58, 476-77; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 4 November 1858, 3:2; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 5 November 1858, 1:3; The Weekly Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 10 November 1858, 2:1; 24 November 1858, 2:3; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219-22; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 23 August 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-23.

3Perley responded to Lincoln on August 9, agreeing to the date of August 23 and promising Lincoln a “rousing gathering” to greet him.