The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 1
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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.