Richard C. Lewis to Abraham Lincoln, 26 July 18581
Hon A LincolnDr.[Dear] Sir
The Publisher of the "Fayette Observer" has an offer of a circulation of 850— with a nameless amount of "material aid" if he will make his paper— "Douglas Democratic"2
We Republicans are of course anxious that should it take a political caste that it will be different— and we know that if we can command the necessary influence we can make it Republican or opposition3

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Could you do anything to extend its circulation or otherwise– We are working in a minority here but we hope to be able to do our whole duty.4 Its editorial charge will undergo a change, should it become political
Yrs[Yours] trulyR C Lewis

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[Envelope]
R. C. LEWIS,
ATTORNEY AT LAW.
VANDALIA, - - - ILLINOIS.
VANDALIA Ill.[Illinois]
JUL[JULY] 27
Hon. A. LincolnSpringfieldIlls.
[ docketing ]
R. C. Lewis
Vandalia5
1Richard C. Lewis wrote and signed this letter, including the name and address on the envelope.
2Attorney Tevis Greathouse founded the Fayette Observer in 1855. Under Greathouse's leadership, the paper leaned strongly Democratic. In January 1858, the Observer supported rejecting the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution until it could be voted upon by Kansas citizens. This stance followed that of Stephen A. Douglas, who opposed James Buchanan’s support of that constitution, leading to a split in the Democratic Party into pro-Buchanan and pro-Douglas factions. In the next month, February 1858, there was a brief break in Greathouse’s tenure when the paper was purchased by James Parker and N. C. Davis. However, it soon returned to the ownership of Greathouse. See Bleeding Kansas.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:445; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Fayette County, ed. by Robert W. Ross and John J. Bullington (Chicago: Munsell, 1910), 2:679, 699; History of Fayette County (Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1878), 40; George W. Hawes, Illinois State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1858 and 1859 (Chicago: George W. Hawes, 1859), 334; The Salem Advocate (IL), 13 January 1858, 1:6; 17 February 1858, 3:4; 10 March 1858, 3:3.
3The Fayette Observer did not become a Republican newspaper until Lincoln won the nomination for president in 1860.
Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814-1879, vol. 6 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 343; History of Fayette County, 40.
4There is no evidence that Lincoln responded to this letter.
Lincoln was the Republican Party nominee for U.S. Senate in 1858, challenging Douglas, the incumbent. In the summer and fall of 1858, Lincoln crisscrossed Illinois delivering speeches and campaigning on behalf of Republican candidates for the Illinois General Assembly. At this time the Illinois General Assembly elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate, thus the outcome of races for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate were of importance to Lincoln’s campaign. Lincoln and Douglas both focused their campaign efforts on the former Whig Party stronghold of central Illinois, where the state legislative races were the closest. Republicans were eager to garner support in central and southern Illinois, but the vast majority of the counties south of Sangamon, including Fayette, home to Vandalia, were solidly Democratic. Douglas used the area’s hostility toward abolitionism to his benefit in his speeches, particularly during the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. As the pair traveled through central and southern Illinois, Douglas accused Lincoln of supporting a doctrine of racial equality. He continued by asserting the superiority of the white race and the dominance of white men’s rights above all else. Democratic newspapers echoed Douglas’s sentiments.
Douglas's tactics had the desired effect in Fayette County: Fayette County voters gave James C. Robinson, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in their congressional district, 58.2 percent of the vote in his successful bid to win election to Congress, and sent Democrats Stephen Hardin and Mortimer O'Kean to Illinois House and Illinois Senate, respectively. Hardin and O'Kean both voted for Douglas in the election for U.S. senator, allowing him to defeat Lincoln, but Lincoln, in defeat, was catapulted to national prominence. 1858 Federal Election; Lincoln-Douglas Debates.
Webster's New Geographical Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1988), 1284; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392, 393; Stephen Hansen and Paul Nygard, “Stephen A. Douglas, the Know-Nothings, and the Democratic Party in Illinois, 1854-1858,” Illinois Historical Journal 87 (Summer 1994), 123-25; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, 1:458, 486-87, 556-57; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 13 November 1858, 2:3; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32.
5Lincoln wrote this docketing.

Autograph Letter Signed, 3 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).