Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Volume 2 (of 2) — John Shaqi
Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Volume 2 (of 2)Herndon, William Henry
History
Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Volume 2 (of 2)
Herndon, William Henry
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
* In a letter from Princeton, Ill., March 15, 1866, John H.
Bryant, brother of the poet William Cullen Bryant, writes:
"I have succeeded in finding an old file of our Princeton
papers, from which I learn that Mr. Douglas spoke here on
Wednesday, Oct. 18, 1854. This fixes the date. I recollect
that he staid at Tiskilwa, six miles south of this, the
night before, and a number of our Democrats went down the
next morning and escorted him to this place. Douglas spoke
first one half-hour and was answered by Lovejoy one half-
hour, when Douglas talked till dark, giving no opportunity
for reply.
"Yours truly,
"John H. Bryant."
During this campaign Lincoln was nominated and elected to the
Legislature. This was done in the face of his unwillingness and over his
protest. On the ticket with him was Judge Logan. Both were elected by
a majority of about 600 votes. Lincoln, being ambitious to reach the
United States Senate, and warmly encouraged in his aspirations by his
wife, resigned his seat in the Legislature in order that he might the
more easily be elected to succeed his old rival James Shields, who was
then one of the senators from Illinois. His canvass for that exalted
office was marked by his characteristic activity and vigilance. During
the anxious moments that intervened between the general election and
the assembling of the Legislature he slept, like Napoleon, with one eye
open. While attending court at Clinton on the 11th of November, a few
days after the election, he wrote to a party friend in the town
of Paris: "I have a suspicion that a Whig has been elected to the
Legislature from Edgar. If this is not so, why then, '_nix cum arous_;
but if it is so, then could you not make a mark with him for me for U.
S. Senator? I really have some chance. Please write me at Springfield
giving me the names, post-offices, and political positions of
your Representative and Senator, whoever they may be. Let this be
confidential.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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