Private & Confidential
SPRINGFIELD, ILLS. Dec. 10. 1860
Hon. L. Trumbull.
My Dear Sir: Let there be no compromise on the question of extending slavery. If there be, all our labor is lost, and, ere long, must be done again. The dangerous ground—that into which some of our friends have a hankering to run—is Pop. Sov. Have none of it. Stand firm. The tug has to come, & better now than any time hereafter.
Yours as ever
A. LINCOLN.