Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 2.

About this Item

Title
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 2.
Author
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
Publication
New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press
1953.
Rights/Permissions

The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes, with permission from their copyright holder. If you decide to use any of these materials, you are responsible for making your own legal assessment and securing any necessary permission. If you have questions about the collection, please contact Abraham Lincoln Digital Collections at lincoln-feedback@umich.edu. If you have concerns about the inclusion of an item in this collection, please contact Library Information Technology at LibraryIT-info@umich.edu.

Cite this Item
"Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 2." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 18, 2024.

Pages

To Ward H. Lamon1Jump to section

W. H. Lamon, Esq Springfield,
My dear Sir: June 11th. 1858

Yours of the 9th. written at Joliet is just received. Two or three days ago I learned that McLean had appointed delegates in favor of Lovejoy,2Jump to section and thenceforward I have considered his re-nomination a fixed fact. My opinion---if my opinion is of any consequence in this case, in which it is no business of mine to interfere---remains unchanged that running an independent candidate against Lovejoy, will not do---that it will result in nothing but disaster all round. In the first place whoever so runs will be beaten, and will be spotted for life; in the second place, while the race is in progress,

Page 459

he will be under the strongest temptation to trade with the democrats, and to favor the election of certain of their friends to the Legislature; thirdly, I shall be held responsible for it, and Republican members of the Legislature, who are partial to Lovejoy, will, for that, oppose me; and lastly it will in the end lose us the District altogether. There is no safe way but a convention; and if, in that convention upon a common platform, which all are willing to stand upon, one who has been known as an abolitionist, but who is now occupying none but common ground, can get the majority of the votes to which all look for an election, there is no safe way but to submit[.]

As to the inclination of some Republicans to favor Douglas, that is one of the chances I have to run, and which I intend to run with patience.

I write in the court room. Court has opened and I must close. Yours as ever A. LINCOLN.

Annotation

[1]   ALS, CSmH.

[2]   Owen Lovejoy, representative from the Third District, which included McLean County.

Do you have questions about this content? Need to report a problem? Please contact us.