The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Complete

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We declare it to be our solemn conviction, that the Whigs are always a
majority of this nation; and that to make them always successful needs
but to get them all to the polls and to vote unitedly. This is the great
desideratum. Let us make every effort to attain it. At every election,
let every Whig act as though he knew the result to depend upon his
action. In the great contest of 1840 some more than twenty one hundred
thousand votes were cast, and so surely as there shall be that many, with
the ordinary increase added, cast in 1844 that surely will a Whig be
elected President of the United States.

A. LINCOLN. S. T. LOGAN. A. T. BLEDSOE.

March 4, 1843.




TO JOHN BENNETT.

SPRINGFIELD, March 7, 1843.
FRIEND BENNETT:

Your letter of this day was handed me by Mr. Miles. It is too late now
to effect the object you desire. On yesterday morning the most of the
Whig members from this district got together and agreed to hold the
convention at Tremont in Tazewell County. I am sorry to hear that any of
the Whigs of your county, or indeed of any county, should longer be
against conventions. On last Wednesday evening a meeting of all the
Whigs then here from all parts of the State was held, and the question of
the propriety of conventions was brought up and fully discussed, and at
the end of the discussion a resolution recommending the system of
conventions to all the Whigs of the State was unanimously adopted. Other
resolutions were also passed, all of which will appear in the next
Journal. The meeting also appointed a committee to draft an address to
the people of the State, which address will also appear in the next
journal.

In it you will find a brief argument in favor of conventions--and
although I wrote it myself I will say to you that it is conclusive upon
the point and can not be reasonably answered. The right way for you to do
is hold your meeting and appoint delegates any how, and if there be any
who will not take part, let it be so. The matter will work so well this
time that even they who now oppose will come in next time.

The convention is to be held at Tremont on the 5th of April and according
to the rule we have adopted your county is to have delegates--being
double your representation.

If there be any good Whig who is disposed to stick out against
conventions get him at least to read the arguement in their favor in the
address.

Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.




JOSHUA F. SPEED.

SPRINGFIELD, March 24, 1843.

DEAR SPEED:--We had a meeting of the Whigs of the county here on last
Monday to appoint delegates to a district convention; and Baker beat me,
and got the delegation instructed to go for him. The meeting, in spite of
my attempt to decline it, appointed me one of the delegates; so that in
getting Baker the nomination I shall be fixed a good deal like a fellow
who is made a groomsman to a man that has cut him out and is marrying his
own dear "gal." About the prospects of your having a namesake at our
town, can't say exactly yet.

A. LINCOLN.




TO MARTIN M. MORRIS.

SPRINGFIELD, ILL., March 26, 1843.
FRIEND MORRIS:

Your letter of the a 3 d, was received on yesterday morning, and for
which (instead of an excuse, which you thought proper to ask) I tender
you my sincere thanks. It is truly gratifying to me to learn that, while
the people of Sangamon have cast me off, my old friends of Menard, who
have known me longest and best, stick to me. It would astonish, if not
amuse, the older citizens to learn that I (a stranger, friendless,
uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flatboat at ten dollars per
month) have been put down here as the candidate of pride, wealth, and
aristocratic family distinction. Yet so, chiefly, it was. There was,
too, the strangest combination of church influence against me. Baker is
a Campbellite; and therefore, as I suppose, with few exceptions got all
that church. My wife has some relations in the Presbyterian churches,
and some with the Episcopal churches; and therefore, wherever it would
tell, I was set down as either the one or the other, while it was
everywhere contended that no Christian ought to go for me, because I
belonged to no church, was suspected of being a deist, and had talked
about fighting a duel. With all these things, Baker, of course, had
nothing to do. Nor do I complain of them. As to his own church going
for him, I think that was right enough, and as to the influences I have
spoken of in the other, though they were very strong, it would be grossly
untrue and unjust to charge that they acted upon them in a body or were
very near so. I only mean that those influences levied a tax of a
considerable per cent. upon my strength throughout the religious
controversy. But enough of this.

You say that in choosing a candidate for Congress you have an equal right
with Sangamon, and in this you are undoubtedly correct. In agreeing to
withdraw if the Whigs of Sangamon should go against me, I did not mean
that they alone were worth consulting, but that if she, with her heavy
delegation, should be against me, it would be impossible for me to
succeed, and therefore I had as well decline. And in relation to Menard
having rights, permit me fully to recognize them, and to express the
opinion that, if she and Mason act circumspectly, they will in the
convention be able so far to enforce their rights as to decide absolutely
which one of the candidates shall be successful. Let me show the reason
of this. Hardin, or some other Morgan candidate, will get Putnam,
Marshall, Woodford, Tazewell, and Logan--making sixteen. Then you and
Mason, having three, can give the victory to either side.

You say you shall instruct your delegates for me, unless I object. I
certainly shall not object. That would be too pleasant a compliment for
me to tread in the dust. And besides, if anything should happen (which,
however, is not probable) by which Baker should be thrown out of the
fight, I would be at liberty to accept the nomination if I could get it.
I do, however, feel myself bound not to hinder him in any way from
getting the nomination. I should despise myself were I to attempt it. I
think, then, it would be proper for your meeting to appoint three
delegates and to instruct them to go for some one as the first choice,
some one else as a second, and perhaps some one as a third; and if in
those instructions I were named as the first choice, it would gratify me
very much. If you wish to hold the balance of power, it is important for
you to attend to and secure the vote of Mason also: You should be sure to
have men appointed delegates that you know you can safely confide in. If
yourself and James Short were appointed from your county, all would be
safe; but whether Jim's woman affair a year ago might not be in the way
of his appointment is a question. I don't know whether you know it, but
I know him to be as honorable a man as there is in the world. You have
my permission, and even request, to show this letter to Short; but to no
one else, unless it be a very particular friend who you know will not
speak of it.

Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.

P. S Will you write me again?




TO MARTIN M. MORRIS.

April 14, 1843.
FRIEND MORRIS:

I have heard it intimated that Baker has been attempting to get you or
Miles, or both of you, to violate the instructions of the meeting that
appointed you, and to go for him. I have insisted, and still insist,
that this cannot be true. Surely Baker would not do the like. As well
might Hardin ask me to vote for him in the convention. Again, it is said
there will be an attempt to get up instructions in your county requiring
you to go for Baker. This is all wrong. Upon the same rule, Why might
not I fly from the decision against me in Sangamon, and get up
instructions to their delegates to go for me? There are at least twelve
hundred Whigs in the county that took no part, and yet I would as soon
put my head in the fire as to attempt it. Besides, if any one should get
the nomination by such extraordinary means, all harmony in the district
would inevitably be lost. Honest Whigs (and very nearly all of them are
honest) would not quietly abide such enormities. I repeat, such an
attempt on Baker's part cannot be true. Write me at Springfield how the
matter is. Don't show or speak of this letter.

A. LINCOLN




TO GEN. J. J. HARDIN.

SPRINGFIELD, May 11, 1843.
FRIEND HARDIN:

Butler informs me that he received a letter from you, in which you
expressed some doubt whether the Whigs of Sangamon will support you
cordially. You may, at once, dismiss all fears on that subject. We have
already resolved to make a particular effort to give you the very largest
majority possible in our county. From this, no Whig of the county
dissents. We have many objects for doing it. We make it a matter of
honor and pride to do it; we do it because we love the Whig cause; we do
it because we like you personally; and last, we wish to convince you that
we do not bear that hatred to Morgan County that you people have so long
seemed to imagine. You will see by the journals of this week that we
propose, upon pain of losing a barbecue, to give you twice as great a
majority in this county as you shall receive in your own. I got up the
proposal.

Who of the five appointed is to write the district address? I did the
labor of writing one address this year, and got thunder for my reward.
Nothing new here.

Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.

P. S.--I wish you would measure one of the largest of those swords we
took to Alton and write me the length of it, from tip of the point to tip
of the hilt, in feet and inches. I have a dispute about the length.

A. L. A. L.






THE WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN


CONSTITUTIONAL EDITION




WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN VOLUME II.

1843-1858




FIRST CHILD

TO JOSHUA F. SPEED. SPRINGFIELD, May 18, 1843.

DEAR SPEED:--Yours of the 9th instant is duly received, which I do not
meet as a "bore," but as a most welcome visitor. I will answer the
business part of it first.

In relation to our Congress matter here, you were right in supposing I
would support the nominee. Neither Baker nor I, however, is the man, but
Hardin, so far as I can judge from present appearances. We shall have no
split or trouble about the matter; all will be harmony. In relation to
the "coming events" about which Butler wrote you, I had not heard one
word before I got your letter; but I have so much confidence in the
judgment of Butler on such a subject that I incline to think there may be
some reality in it. What day does Butler appoint? By the way, how do
"events" of the same sort come on in your family? Are you possessing
houses and lands, and oxen and asses, and men-servants and maid-servants,
and begetting sons and daughters? We are not keeping house, but boarding
at the Globe Tavern, which is very well kept now by a widow lady of the
name of Beck. Our room (the same that Dr. Wallace occupied there) and
boarding only costs us four dollars a week. Ann Todd was married
something more than a year since to a fellow by the name of Campbell, and
who, Mary says, is pretty much of a "dunce," though he has a little money
and property. They live in Boonville, Missouri, and have not been heard
from lately enough for me to say anything about her health. I reckon it
will scarcely be in our power to visit Kentucky this year. Besides
poverty and the necessity of attending to business, those "coming
events," I suspect, would be somewhat in the way. I most heartily wish
you and your Fanny would not fail to come. Just let us know the time, and
we will have a room provided for you at our house, and all be merry
together for a while. Be sure to give my respects to your mother and
family; assure her that if ever I come near her, I will not fail to call
and see her. Mary joins in sending love to your Fanny and you.

Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.




1844

TO Gen. J. J. HARDIN.

SPRINGFIELD, May 21, 1844.

DEAR HARDIN: Knowing that you have correspondents enough, I have forborne
to trouble you heretofore; and I now only do so to get you to set a
matter right which has got wrong with one of our best friends. It is old
Uncle Thomas Campbell of Spring Creek--(Berlin P.O.). He has received
several documents from you, and he says they are old newspapers and
documents, having no sort of interest in them. He is, therefore, getting
a strong impression that you treat him with disrespect. This, I know, is
a mistaken impression; and you must correct it. The way, I leave to
yourself. Rob't W. Canfield says he would like to have a document or two
from you.

The Locos (Democrats) here are in considerable trouble about Van Buren's
letter on Texas, and the Virginia electors. They are growing sick of the
Tariff question; and consequently are much confounded at V.B.'s cutting
them off from the new Texas question. Nearly half the leaders swear they
won't stand it. Of those are Ford, T. Campbell, Ewing, Calhoun and
others. They don't exactly say they won't vote for V.B., but they say he
will not be the candidate, and that they are for Texas anyhow.

As ever yours,
A. LINCOLN.




1845
SELECTION OF CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES

TO Gen. J. J. HARDIN, SPRINGFIELD, Jany. 19, 1845.
DEAR GENERAL:

I do not wish to join in your proposal of a new plan for the selection of
a Whig candidate for Congress because:

1st. I am entirely satisfied with the old system under which you and
Baker were successively nominated and elected to Congress; and because
the Whigs of the district are well acquainted with the system, and, so
far as I know or believe, are well satisfied with it. If the old system
be thought to be vague, as to all the delegates of the county voting the
same way, or as to instructions to them as to whom they are to vote for,
or as to filling vacancies, I am willing to join in a provision to make
these matters certain.

2d. As to your proposals that a poll shall be opened in every precinct,
and that the whole shall take place on the same day, I do not personally
object. They seem to me to be not unfair; and I forbear to join in
proposing them only because I choose to leave the decision in each county
to the Whigs of the county, to be made as their own judgment and
convenience may dictate.

3d. As to your proposed stipulation that all the candidates shall remain
in their own counties, and restrain their friends in the same it seems to
me that on reflection you will see the fact of your having been in
Congress has, in various ways, so spread your name in the district as to
give you a decided advantage in such a stipulation. I appreciate your
desire to keep down excitement; and I promise you to "keep cool" under
all circumstances.

4th. I have already said I am satisfied with the old system under which
such good men have triumphed and that I desire no departure from its
principles. But if there must be a departure from it, I shall insist upon
a more accurate and just apportionment of delegates, or representative
votes, to the constituent body, than exists by the old, and which you
propose to retain in your new plan. If we take the entire population of
the counties as shown by the late census, we shall see by the old plan,
and by your proposed new plan,

Morgan County, with a population 16,541, has but ....... 8 votes
While Sangamon with 18,697--2156 greater has but ....... 8 "
So Scott with 6553 has ................................. 4 "
While Tazewell with 7615 1062 greater has but .......... 4 "
So Mason with 3135 has ................................. 1 vote
While Logan with 3907, 772 greater, has but ............ 1 "

And so on in a less degree the matter runs through all the counties,
being not only wrong in principle, but the advantage of it being all
manifestly in your favor with one slight exception, in the comparison of
two counties not here mentioned.

Again, if we take the Whig votes of the counties as shown by the late
Presidential election as a basis, the thing is still worse.

It seems to me most obvious that the old system needs adjustment in
nothing so much as in this; and still, by your proposal, no notice is
taken of it. I have always been in the habit of acceding to almost any
proposal that a friend would make and I am truly sorry that I cannot in
this. I perhaps ought to mention that some friends at different places
are endeavoring to secure the honor of the sitting of the convention at
their towns respectively, and I fear that they would not feel much
complimented if we shall make a bargain that it should sit nowhere.

Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.




TO _________ WILLIAMS,

SPRINGFIELD, March 1, 1845.
FRIEND WILLIAMS:

The Supreme Court adjourned this morning for the term. Your cases of
Reinhardt vs. Schuyler, Bunce vs. Schuyler, Dickhut vs. Dunell, and
Sullivan vs. Andrews are continued. Hinman vs. Pope I wrote you
concerning some time ago. McNutt et al. vs. Bean and Thompson is reversed
and remanded.

Fitzpatrick vs. Brady et al. is reversed and remanded with leave to
complainant to amend his bill so as to show the real consideration given
for the land.

Bunce against Graves the court confirmed, wherefore, in accordance with
your directions, I moved to have the case remanded to enable you to take
a new trial in the court below. The court allowed the motion; of which I
am glad, and I guess you are.

This, I believe, is all as to court business. The canal men have got
their measure through the Legislature pretty much or quite in the shape
they desired. Nothing else now.

Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.




ABOLITION MOVEMENT

TO WILLIAMSON DURLEY.

SPRINGFIELD, October 3, 1845

When I saw you at home, it was agreed that I should write to you and your
brother Madison. Until I then saw you I was not aware of your being what
is generally called an abolitionist, or, as you call yourself, a Liberty
man, though I well knew there were many such in your country.

I was glad to hear that you intended to attempt to bring about, at the
next election in Putnam, a Union of the Whigs proper and such of the
Liberty men as are Whigs in principle on all questions save only that of
slavery. So far as I can perceive, by such union neither party need yield
anything on the point in difference between them. If the Whig
abolitionists of New York had voted with us last fall, Mr. Clay would now
be President, Whig principles in the ascendant, and Texas not annexed;
whereas, by the division, all that either had at stake in the contest was
lost. And, indeed, it was extremely probable, beforehand, that such would
be the result. As I always understood, the Liberty men deprecated the
annexation of Texas extremely; and this being so, why they should refuse
to cast their votes [so] as to prevent it, even to me seemed wonderful.
What was their process of reasoning, I can only judge from what a single
one of them told me. It was this: "We are not to do evil that good may
come." This general proposition is doubtless correct; but did it apply?
If by your votes you could have prevented the extension, etc., of slavery
would it not have been good, and not evil, so to have used your votes,
even though it involved the casting of them for a slaveholder? By the
fruit the tree is to be known. An evil tree cannot bring forth good
fruit. If the fruit of electing Mr. Clay would have been to prevent the
extension of slavery, could the act of electing have been evil?

But I will not argue further. I perhaps ought to say that individually I
never was much interested in the Texas question. I never could see much
good to come of annexation, inasmuch as they were already a free
republican people on our own model. On the other hand, I never could very
clearly see how the annexation would augment the evil of slavery. It
always seemed to me that slaves would be taken there in about equal
numbers, with or without annexation. And if more were taken because of
annexation, still there would be just so many the fewer left where they
were taken from. It is possibly true, to some extent, that, with
annexation, some slaves may be sent to Texas and continued in slavery
that otherwise might have been liberated. To whatever extent this may be
true, I think annexation an evil. I hold it to be a paramount duty of us
in the free States, due to the Union of the States, and perhaps to
liberty itself (paradox though it may seem), to let the slavery of the
other States alone; while, on the other hand, I hold it to be equally
clear that we should never knowingly lend ourselves, directly or
indirectly, to prevent that slavery from dying a natural death--to find
new places for it to live in when it can no longer exist in the old. Of
course I am not now considering what would be our duty in cases of
insurrection among the slaves. To recur to the Texas question, I
understand the Liberty men to have viewed annexation as a much greater
evil than ever I did; and I would like to convince you, if I could, that
they could have prevented it, if they had chosen. I intend this letter
for you and Madison together; and if you and he or either shall think fit
to drop me a line, I shall be pleased.

Yours with respect,
A. LINCOLN.




1846
REQUEST FOR POLITICAL SUPPORT

TO Dr. ROBERT BOAL. SPRINGFIELD, January 7, 1846.

Dr. ROBERT BOAL, Lacon, Ill.

DEAR DOCTOR:--Since I saw you last fall, I have often thought of writing
to you, as it was then understood I would, but, on reflection, I have
always found that I had nothing new to tell you. All has happened as I
then told you I expected it would--Baker's declining, Hardin's taking the
track, and so on.

If Hardin and I stood precisely equal, if neither of us had been to
Congress, or if we both had, it would only accord with what I have always
done, for the sake of peace, to give way to him; and I expect I should do
it. That I can voluntarily postpone my pretensions, when they are no more
than equal to those to which they are postponed, you have yourself seen.
But to yield to Hardin under present circumstances seems to me as nothing
else than yielding to one who would gladly sacrifice me altogether. This
I would rather not submit to. That Hardin is talented, energetic, usually
generous and magnanimous, I have before this affirmed to you and do not
deny. You know that my only argument is that "turn about is fair play."
This he, practically at least, denies.

If it would not be taxing you too much, I wish you would write me,
telling the aspect of things in your country, or rather your district;
and also, send the names of some of your Whig neighbors, to whom I might,
with propriety, write. Unless I can get some one to do this, Hardin, with
his old franking list, will have the advantage of me. My reliance for a
fair shake (and I want nothing more) in your country is chiefly on you,
because of your position and standing, and because I am acquainted with
so few others. Let me hear from you soon.

Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.




TO JOHN BENNETT.

SPRINGFIELD, Jan. 15, 1846.
JOHN BENNETT.

FRIEND JOHN:

Nathan Dresser is here, and speaks as though the contest between Hardin
and me is to be doubtful in Menard County. I know he is candid and this
alarms me some. I asked him to tell me the names of the men that were
going strong for Hardin, he said Morris was about as strong as any-now
tell me, is Morris going it openly? You remember you wrote me that he
would be neutral. Nathan also said that some man, whom he could not
remember, had said lately that Menard County was going to decide the
contest and that made the contest very doubtful. Do you know who that
was? Don't fail to write me instantly on receiving this, telling me
all--particularly the names of those who are going strong against me.

Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.




TO N. J. ROCKWELL.

SPRINGFIELD, January 21, 1846.

DEAR SIR:--You perhaps know that General Hardin and I have a contest for
the Whig nomination for Congress for this district.

He has had a turn and my argument is "turn about is fair play."

I shall be pleased if this strikes you as a sufficient argument.

Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.




TO JAMES BERDAN.

SPRINGFIELD, April 26, 1846.

DEAR SIR:--I thank you for the promptness with which you answered my
letter from Bloomington. I also thank you for the frankness with which
you comment upon a certain part of my letter; because that comment
affords me an opportunity of trying to express myself better than I did
before, seeing, as I do, that in that part of my letter, you have not
understood me as I intended to be understood.

In speaking of the "dissatisfaction" of men who yet mean to do no wrong,
etc., I mean no special application of what I said to the Whigs of
Morgan, or of Morgan & Scott. I only had in my mind the fact that
previous to General Hardin's withdrawal some of his friends and some of
mine had become a little warm; and I felt, and meant to say, that for
them now to meet face to face and converse together was the best way to
efface any remnant of unpleasant feeling, if any such existed.

I did not suppose that General Hardin's friends were in any greater need
of having their feelings corrected than mine were. Since I saw you at
Jacksonville, I have had no more suspicion of the Whigs of Morgan than of
those of any other part of the district. I write this only to try to
remove any impression that I distrust you and the other Whigs of your
country.