Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 2 [Sept. 3, 1848-Aug. 21, 1858].
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Title
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 2 [Sept. 3, 1848-Aug. 21, 1858].
Author
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
Publication
New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press
1953.
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"Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 2 [Sept. 3, 1848-Aug. 21, 1858]." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln2. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 19, 2024.
His Excellency, Springfield, Ills.
James W. Grimes Aug: [c.17] 1857.
Dear Sir Yours of the 14th. is received and I am much obliged for the legal information you give.
You can scarcely be more anxious than I, that the next election in Iowa shall result in favor of the Republicans. I lost nearly all the working part of last year, giving my time to the canvass; and I am altogether too poor to lose two years together. I am engaged in a suit in the U.S. Court at Chicago, in which the Rock-Island Bridge Co. is a party[.] The trial is to commence the 8th. of September, and probably will last two or three weeks. During the trial it is not improbable that all hands may come over and take a look at the Bridge, & if it were possible to make it hit right, I could then speak at Davenport.2Jump to section My courts go right on without cessation till late in November. Write me again, pointing out the most striking points of difference between your old, and new constitutions;
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stitutions; and also whether Democratic and Republican party lines were drawn in the adoption of it; & which were for, and which against it. If by possibility I could get over amongst you, it might be of some advantage to know these things in advance. Yours very truly A. LINCOLN---
[2] The trial was held September 8-24, but Lincoln did not visit Davenport. The question of whether he visited the site of the bridge has been and is a matter of controversy. The evidence that he did is contained in a copy of a letter purportedly written by N. B. Judd to Lincoln, September 4, 1857, in which he mentions Lincoln's trip to Rock Island ``last Tuesday,'' which would have been September 1. This purported copy of Judd's letter is of questionable authenticity.