To Richard M. Corwine[1]
PRIVATE
Hon: R. M. Corwine Springfield, Ills. May 2. 1860.
Dear Sir: Yours of the 30th. ult. is just received. After what you have said, it is perhaps proper I should post you, so far as I am able, as to the “lay of the land.” First then, I think the Illinois delegation will be unanamous for me at the start; and no other delegation will. A few individuals in other delegations would like to go for me at the start, but may be restrained by their colleagues. It is represented to me, by men who ought to know, that the whole of Indiana might not be difficult to get. You know how it is in Ohio. I am certainly not the first choice there; and yet I have not heard that any one makes any positive objection to me. It is just so everywhere so far as I can perceive. Everywhere, except in Illinois, and possibly Indiana, one or another is prefered to me, but there is no positive objection. This is the ground as it now appears. I believe you personally know C. M. Allen, of Vincennes, Ia.[2] He is a delegate, and has notified me that the entire Ia. delegation will be in Chicago the same day you name—Saturday the 12th. My friends Jesse K. Dubois, our Auditor, & Judge David Davis, will probably be there ready to confer with friends from other States. Let me hear from you again when anything occurs.
Hon: R. M. Corwine Springfield, Ills. May 2. 1860.
Dear Sir: Yours of the 30th. ult. is just received. After what you have said, it is perhaps proper I should post you, so far as I am able, as to the “lay of the land.” First then, I think the Illinois delegation will be unanamous for me at the start; and no other delegation will. A few individuals in other delegations would like to go for me at the start, but may be restrained by their colleagues. It is represented to me, by men who ought to know, that the whole of Indiana might not be difficult to get. You know how it is in Ohio. I am certainly not the first choice there; and yet I have not heard that any one makes any positive objection to me. It is just so everywhere so far as I can perceive. Everywhere, except in Illinois, and possibly Indiana, one or another is prefered to me, but there is no positive objection. This is the ground as it now appears. I believe you personally know C. M. Allen, of Vincennes, Ia.[2] He is a delegate, and has notified me that the entire Ia. delegation will be in Chicago the same day you name—Saturday the 12th. My friends Jesse K. Dubois, our Auditor, & Judge David Davis, will probably be there ready to confer with friends from other States. Let me hear from you again when anything occurs.
Yours very truly A. LINCOLN
[1] ALS, owned by Mrs. Lewis S. Thompson, Red Bank, New Jersey. A copy of Corwine’s letter of April 30 in Lincoln’s handwriting is preserved in the Lincoln Papers, perhaps because Lincoln turned the original over to his campaign managers. Corwine states his positive preference for Lincoln and his belief that “ . . . we can not elect extreme men. Moderation in their past life & their present views, must mark them, or we can not elect. …” (DLC-RTL)
[2] Abbreviation for Indiana.
Abbreviations:
- ALS: Autograph Letter Signed; A letter entirely handwritten by the individual noted
- DLC-RTL: The Robert Todd Lincoln Collection of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, Library of Congress
The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 4 By Abraham Lincoln; page 47; Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1953