To George M. Parsons and Others1Jump to section
Messrs. Geo. M. Parsons and Others, Cent. Ex. Com., &c.
Gentlemen: Your letter of the 7th inst., accompanied by a similar one from the Governor elect, the Republican State officers, and the Republican members of the State Board of Equalization of Ohio, both requesting of me, for publication in permanent form, copies of the political debates between Senator Douglas and myself, last year, has been received. With my grateful acknowledgments to both you and them, for the very flattering terms in which the request is communicated, I transmit you the copies.2Jump to section The copies I send you are reported and printed, by the respective friends of Senator Douglas and myself, at the time---that is, his by his friends, and mine by mine. It would be an unwarrantable liberty for us to change a word or a letter in his, and the changes I have made in mine, you perceive, are verbal only, and very few in number. I wish the reprint to be precisely as the copies I send, without any comment whatever. Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN.
Annotation
[1] Illinois State Journal, January 30, 1860, and Political Debates (Follett, Foster and Company, 1860), p. 5.
[2] This was the scrapbook with clippings of the debates corrected by Lincoln, referred to as the ``Debates Scrapbook,'' which was used for the Follett, Foster and Company edition of the Debates, and which provides the text of the debates in the present edition of Lincoln's writings.