Abraham Lincoln to Burton C. Cook, 2 August 18581
Springfield, Aug. 2. 1858–Hon: B. C. CookMy dear SirI have a letter from a very true friend, and intelligent man, insisting that there is a plan on foot in La Salle and Bureau, to run a Douglas republicans for congress, and for the Legislature in those counties, if they can only get the encouragement of our folks nominating
pretty extreme abolitionists–2 It is thought they will do nothing if our folks nominate men, who are not very obnoxious
to the charge of abolitionism–3
Please have your eye upon this–
Signs are looking pretty fair–
Yours very trulyA. Lincoln4<Page 2>
2Henry C. Whitney’s letter to Lincoln and William H. Herndon of July 31, 1858, reported the rumor of a movement to challenge Republican candidates
in Bureau and La Salle counties in the state elections of 1858 in this manner. Lincoln
himself had recently been nominated at the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention to run against incumbent Stephen A. Douglas to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate. At this time the Illinois General Assembly elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate, thus the races for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate were of particular importance to Lincoln’s campaign. See 1858 Federal Election.
Despite Whitney’s and Lincoln’s concerns about the electoral races in Bureau and La
Salle counties, the Republican candidates for these offices were ultimately successful.
Although Churchill Coffing was put forward as an independent candidate for the Third Congressional District
of Illinois, he withdrew from the race in October, 1858 and incumbent Republican Owen Lovejoy defeated Douglas Democrat George W. Armstrong and Buchanan Democrat David Le Roy.
Republican candidates also won the three seats in the Illinois General Assembly that
were up for election in these counties in 1858. Bureau and La Salle counties were
both in the Seventh Illinois Senate District, where Cook himself held over in the
election of 1858. Bureau County comprised the Forty-Seventh Illinois House District,
where Republican John H. Bryant won the election with 2,570 votes, while his opponents, Buchanan Democrat Thomas
Tustin (Tusten) and Douglas Democrat Benjamin L. Smith received 786 and 611 votes
respectively. No evidence has been found of an independent candidate running in the
Forty-Seventh House District. La Salle County was in the Forty-Third Illinois House
District, in which Republicans Alexander Campbell and Richardson S. Hick earned 4,139 and 4,089 votes respectively, defeating Democratic candidates Samuel
C. Collins and William Cogswell, who earned 3,383 and 3,412 votes respectively. Two
other unidentified candidates named McBurney and Hoffman appeared in the election
returns for the Forty-Third House District in this race. Their party affiliations
are not indicated, and they received only 29 and 22 votes respectively.
Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Political Landscape of
1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-99, 400-401; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-58, 476-77; The Ottawa Free Trader (IL), 11 September 1858, 1:8, 2:1; 30 October 1858, 2:1; 6 November 1858, 3:2; The Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 13 September 1858, 2:1-2; 9 October 1858, 2:2; The Belvidere Standard (IL), 21 September 1858, 3:1; The Weekly Chicago Times (IL), 21 October 1858, 2:5; 11 November 1858, 2:5; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A.
Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 11, 142;
Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 5 November 1858, 1:3; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219-20, 222; The Weekly Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 3 November 1858, 2:4; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 4 November 1858, 3:2; History of La Salle County, Illinois (Chicago: Inter-State, 1886), 1:281.
3Of the three men nominated to be Republican candidates for the Illinois House of Representatives
from Bureau and La Salle counties, apparently only Bryant was an abolitionist. Campbell
had a political background as a Whig and became a supporter of Lincoln, and Hick was rumored to have previously been a
member of the American Party.
H. C. Bradsby, ed., History of Bureau County, Illinois (Chicago: World, 1885), 163; The Chicago Daily Tribune (IL), 10 August 1898, 12:3-4; The Ottawa Free Trader (IL), 23 October 1858, 2:4.
4Joseph O. Glover responded to this letter on behalf of Cook, who was in Canada and not expected home before September 1, 1858. Lincoln also wrote a letter on this
subject to Lovejoy on August 2, 1858. That letter has not been located, but Lovejoy
responded to it on August 4.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL)