To John T. Stuart1Jump to section
There is a considerable disposition on the part of both parties in the Legislature here, to reinstate the law bringing on the congressional elections next summer. What motive for this, the Locos have, I can not tell. The whigs say that the canal & other public works will stop, and consequently, we shall then be clear of the foreign votes, whereas by another year they may be brought in again. The whigs here of our district, say that every thing is in favour of holding the election next summer, except the fact of your absence, and several of them have requested me to ask your opinion on the matter. Write me immediately what you think of it.
On the other side of this sheet, I send you a copy of my Land Resolutions which passed both branches of our Legislature last winter.2Jump to section Will you show them to Mr. Calhoun, informing him of the fact of their passage through our Legislature? Mr. Calhoun suggested a similar proposition last winter; and perhaps, if he finds himself backed by one of the states, he may be induced to take it up again. You will see by the resolutions, that you and the others of our delegation in Congress are instructed to go for them.3Jump to section
Annotation
[1] AL, IHi
[2] See under date of January 17, 1839, supra. The copy which Lincoln sent to Stuart is not with this letter and may be presumed to have been turned over to Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina by Stuart according to Lincoln's suggestion.
[3] Since this one-page holograph bears no signature, it may be that the page bearing the resolutions carried also the close of the letter. Lincoln did not, however, write ``on the other side of this sheet'' as the text specifies.