Lincoln Runs for Congress

By Prof. Donald W. Riddle

“THIS study of Lincoln’s campaign for nomination and election to Congress is offered as a report of an episode in Western history, rather than as a chapter of Lincoln biography. In the broadest sense it is a documentation of the Frederick Jackson Turner hypothesis of the significance of the frontier. Its potential contribution to Lincoln biography is within the framework of frontier history. The regional factors in the settlement of Illinois enable the understanding of the emergence of political attitudes and parties in a frontier state, and Lincoln’s early career can be understood as the issues and viewpoints of Illinois politicians were shaped by the regional influences in western settlement.

“If the estimate of Congressman A. G. Riddle—that Lincoln was a consummate manager of men—is correct, Lincoln’s finesse in political technique is discovered to be no sudden acquisition at the time of his election to the presidency, but a skill developed in the formative days of his career as an Illinois politician. Lincoln’s ability as a minority President is much more readily understood when his leadership in a minority party in his state is studied. His success in handling the border slave states in the secession crisis was made possible by what he learned as a local politician in a region which had been settled largely by emigrants from Kentucky and Tennessee.” (Donald W. Riddle, Preface)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Papamoa Press
• Release date: Feb 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9781787209367

Prof. Donald W. Riddle

Donald Wayne Riddle (May 13, 1894 - August 22, 1968) was a U.S. Army major, a university professor and author. Born in 1894 in Kirkland, DeKalb County, Illinois, he was an associate professor at the University of Chicago when he entered the army air corps unit as a ground officer serving in Italy during World War II. By 1944 his unit had taken part in 15th air force operations in support of the Russians in the Balkans, the partisan fighters in Yugoslavia, the Fifth and Eighth armies in Italy and the Seventh army’s invasion of southern France. Major Riddle was also an author of several book on topics such as Christianity, including Paul, Man of Conflict: A Biographical Sketch (1940), and historical studies on Abraham Lincoln, including Lincoln Runs for Congress (1948) and Congressman Abraham Lincoln (1957). Riddle was married to Ruth Stommel Riddle (1897-1993). He died in 1968 in Naperville, DuPage County, Illinois.

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Text originally published in 1948 under the same title.

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LINCOLN RUNS FOR CONGRESS

BY

DONALD W. RIDDLE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

PREFACE 5

Chapter I—THE CLOSE OF A LEGISLATIVE CAREER 8

Chapter II—ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S ILLINOIS 19

Chapter III—THE WHIG STRONGHOLD 28

Chapter IV—UNSUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE 36

Chapter V—TURN ABOUT IS FAIR PLAY 44

Chapter VI—IT IS ABRAHAM’S TURN NOW 52

Chapter VII—HARDIN’S PROPOSALS AND LINCOLN’S REPLY 58

Chapter VIII—A NEWSPAPER SKIRMISH 65

Chapter IX—HARDIN WITHDRAWS 71

Chapter X—PRECINCT AND COUNTY CONVENTIONS 75

Chapter XI—THE DISTRICT CONVENTION 81

Chapter XII—THE CAMPAIGN 86

Chapter XIII—THE ELECTION 95

APPENDIX 100

BIBLIOGRAPHY 109

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 115

PREFACE

THIS study of Lincoln’s campaign for nomination and election to Congress is offered as a report of an episode in Western history, rather than as a chapter of Lincoln biography. In the broadest sense it is a documentation of the Frederick Jackson Turner hypothesis of the significance of the frontier. Its potential contribution to Lincoln biography is within the framework of frontier history. The regional factors in the settlement of Illinois enable the understanding of the emergence of political attitudes and parties in a frontier state, and Lincoln’s early career can be understood as the issues and viewpoints of Illinois politicians were shaped by the regional influences in western settlement.

If the estimate of Congressman A. G. Riddle—that Lincoln was a consummate manager of men—is correct, Lincoln’s finesse in political technique is discovered to be no sudden acquisition at the time of his election to the presidency, but a skill developed in the formative days of his career as an Illinois politician. Lincoln’s ability as a minority President is much more readily understood when his leadership in a minority party in his state is studied. His success in handling the border slave states in the secession crisis was made possible by what he learned as a local politician in a region which had been settled largely by emigrants from Kentucky and Tennessee.

My sketch of the settlement of Illinois is based upon the excellent studies of Professors Arthur Clinton Boggess and William Vipond Pooley. My summary of Illinois history owes much to the writings of Professor Theodore C. Pease. It is a pleasure to acknowledge indebtedness to these scholars.

Assiduous effort has been made to exhaust primary sources in this study. No new Lincoln sources have been found; it was with regret that I discovered the Robert Todd Lincoln Collection of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln to contain nothing on Lincoln’s congressional candidacy. Nevertheless the published Lincoln documents are the most important materials. Next to these the voluminous Hardin Manuscripts in the Chicago Historical Society are most valuable. Manuscripts and newspapers of the Illinois State Historical Library contain much heretofore unused data. My hope that all extant primary sources have been used is the greater in view of the assurance of Dr. David Donald and Dr. Theodore L. Agnew, Jr., who have made definitive studies of William H. Herndon and Peter Cartwright, that as Lincoln’s campaign for Congress touched their subjects their source materials coincided with those which I have used.

I have documented all relevant source materials in the hope that Lincoln biographers may be saved time and effort as they address themselves to the limited area in which my subject involves Lincoln’s life. The three most important source documents are reprinted in full in the Appendix to the present study.

I am deeply indebted to Professor Avery O. Craven for instruction and guidance in American History, and to Professor Frederick Merk, in whose Seminar my research for this book began. Dr. Roy P. Basler, Dr. Benjamin P. Thomas, Mr. George W. Bunn, Jr., and Miss Marion D. Bonzi of The Abraham Lincoln Association, have been more than generous in publication and editorial assistance. Dr. Paul M. Angle has co-operated in placing the resources of the Chicago Historical Society at my disposal. Mr. J. Monaghan has given cordial assistance as State Historian in charge of the Illinois State Historical Library. Miss Margaret Flint not only has made the materials of the Illinois State Historical Library available, but has assisted in procuring some of the illustrations used. Mr. James N. Adams has helped with the newspaper files. I am obliged to Mr. Ralph Newman for advice and encouragement. Mrs. Riddle has worked with me in all phases of the production of this book, assisting me in research, typing, and numerous mechanical details.

DONALD W. RIDDLE

The University of Illinois

Chicago Undergraduate Division

February 6, 1948

Another popular mistake is to suppose Mr. Lincoln free from ambition. A more ardent seeker after office never existed. From the time when, at the age of twenty-three, he announced himself a candidate for the legislature from Sangamon County, till his death, he was almost constantly either in office, or struggling to obtain one. Sometimes defeated and often successful, he never abandoned the desire for office till he had reached the presidency the second time.

LYMAN TRUMBULL, Letter to his son.

Horace White, The Life of Lyman Trumbull, 429.

*****

He was in no common usage of the term a leader. He was a Manager of men, of the rarest aptitude; a Persuader of wonderful endowments; a Conductor of nations, peoples,—and he was of special gifts.

A. G. RIDDLE, Recollections of War Times, 1860–65, 337.

*****

He watched his field of operations, planned his strategy, and handled his forces almost with the vigilance of a military commander. As a result, he won both his nomination in May and his election to the Thirtieth Congress in August, 1846.

JOHN G. NICOLAY, A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln, 75.

Chapter I—THE CLOSE OF A LEGISLATIVE CAREER

ON THE FIRST DAY OF MARCH, 1841, the session of the Twelfth General Assembly of Illinois adjourned. On that date, whether or not he was then aware of it, Abraham Lincoln closed his career as a state legislator.

Lincoln’s legislative career had embraced four terms. After an unsuccessful candidacy in 1832 he had been elected to the lower house of the Assembly in 1834 and had been successively re-elected three times. During his four terms his reputation had grown. At the beginning he evinced little originality; he seems to have been markedly under the influence of John T. Stuart, his political mentor in the campaign for election in 1834 and in the Ninth General Assembly, when both were members of the lower house. But with further experience Lincoln developed individuality and leadership, and it was not long until he had won the respect of friends and of opponents.

In his campaigns for election to the legislature Lincoln’s popularity as a candidate attested high standing.{1} When he failed of election in 1832 he was eighth in a field of thirteen candidates. When first elected, in 1834, he was second of thirteen aspirants. In 1836 he stood highest of seventeen who ran, and in 1838 he kept first position among sixteen candidates. Only in 1840 had he lost relative position, being fifth (the lowest of the five elected) of ten seeking election. Even so, he was but fifteen votes behind the leader, and 578 ahead of the nearest loser.

Two achievements as state legislator especially distinguished Lincoln. In recognition of his ability as a parliamentarian he had become the recognized floor leader of the Whigs in the lower house; twice put forward as candidate for speaker, he had once narrowly missed election. By assiduous use of his party leadership and his parliamentary skill he, more than any other leader or combination of leaders, deserved and was accorded credit for the removal of the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield. These distinctions alone fully warranted Lincoln’s expectation of further political preferment and advancement by the suffrages of his constituents.

While in the legislature Lincoln had become a Whig. When he first ran for office, in 1832, the Whig-Democratic party lines were not yet drawn in Illinois. In those days voters were Jackson men or anti-Jackson men, Clay men, or Adams men. Lincoln became a Clay man, but in his first campaigns for office he was not a party candidate.

In neither of his first two canvasses (in 1832 and 1834) did he publish avowal of support of party candidates nor of party principles or measures. Although he later specified that in 1832 he had been an avowed Clay man,{2} it was not until 1836 that he published his espousal of a party measure, and then he declared for one only: Clay’s bill which proposed that the proceeds of the sale of public lands should be distributed to the states. It is significant, too, that in the same public statement he declared his support of Hugh L. White for the presidency. For although White’s candidacy was advanced by Whigs in the nation (the Whig party had not then emerged in Illinois, and the name was avoided by anti-Van Buren men), much of his popularity in Illinois was based upon the fact that White was acceptable to many Jackson men, who regarded him as a better Jackson man than was Van Buren. At least 41 White men were elected to the Illinois Assembly in 1836.{3} Lincoln was one of them. It was but slowly and gradually that Lincoln became a Whig.

In 1838 Lincoln was a completely committed Whig. By that time the Whig and Democratic party lines were clearly drawn in Illinois. Local issues, particularly the movement to establish Menard County by the further partition of Sangamon, had greatly increased the Democratic vote in Lincoln’s New Salem and the nearby precincts—New Salem, where Lincoln had obtained large majorities before, went Democratic by eight to one in 1838, giving Lincoln only 31 votes.{4} Perhaps the perception of this trend was one of the considerations which had led Lincoln, in 1837, to remove his residence from New Salem to Springfield. Another reason was the prospect of improving his financial condition. Having begun the practice of law, Lincoln’s partnership with John T. Stuart presaged an increase of income, and made residence in Springfield highly advantageous. When Springfield became the state capital it was not only a desirable location for a rising lawyer, but an equally favorable residence for an ambitious politician, of Whig convictions especially, for this formerly Jackson area had become overwhelmingly Whig.

Certainly Lincoln was no less active in politics in Springfield than he had been in New Salem. Nor did his voting strength at first decline, for it was as a resident of Springfield that Lincoln received the highest number of votes polled by any candidate in Sangamon County in 1838. But two years later the situation showed some change. Lincoln was elected easily, to be sure, but that he had lost some of his former popularity is evident from the fact that he was only grudgingly nominated. And the reasons for this were, first, his aggressive advocacy of the nominating convention, and, second, his membership in the Springfield Junto.

While party lines were being drawn in Illinois, the Jackson men as early as 1835 began to hold conventions to nominate candidates. At first this innovation was unpopular, for it had been usual for candidates to put themselves forward on their own hook or by publishing the announcement that many friends had urged them to run. The Whigs were especially slow to make use of the nominating convention. Lincoln was one of the few Whigs sagacious enough to see that its use by the Democrats largely accounted for their ability to win elections, and for this reason he favored its use, if for no better reason than self-defense. In this he was in the minority.

As a practical substitute for the convention, or as a supplement to it, it was customary for small groups of Whig leaders to meet informally to determine party measures and choose the candidates. The most powerful of these groups was that in Springfield. It was given the epithet the Junto by the local Democrats, and much was said of it in the Illinois State Register, the Democratic newspaper.{5} E. D. Baker, Stephen T. Logan, Ninian W. Edwards, and Lincoln were the most prominent of the dozen or more members. The group functioned effectively; but, as its influence grew, malcontents voiced vociferous objections to its assumption of leadership, and an anti-Junto movement developed. Only one anti-Junto candidate, who received 101 votes, can be identified in 1836, but in 1838 six candidates ran in opposition to the Junto, and one of them received 1,222 votes, only 347 less than the vote of one of the Junto candidates elected.

The force of the anti-Junto protest was felt strongly in 1840. Lincoln was acutely conscious of it, even doubting that he would be nominated. Writing to Stuart, who was then in Congress, Lincoln estimated his prospects as not very flattering. But his candidacy was essential to the success of the party ticket. Both he and Baker were nominated in recognition of their effectiveness as stump speakers,{6} although they were the only members of the Junto who were chosen.

Perhaps Lincoln’s association with the Edwards family, particularly with the younger Ninian Edwards, was a third reason for the temporary decline in his popularity. Edwards was of a wealthy family. His father had accumulated a considerable fortune in law practice, and had added to it by land speculation. As the governor of Illinois Territory, serving from 1809 to 1818, the elder Ninian Edwards had built up a powerful political faction, which became even stronger with his election as one of the first senators from Illinois in 1818 and as governor of the state in 1826. The younger Ninian Edwards, inheriting wealth and prestige, lived accordingly. A shrewd contemporary observer said that he was naturally and constitutionally an aristocrat and that he hated democracy...as the devil is said to hate holy water.{7} When Lincoln married a sister of Mrs. Ninian Edwards (the younger) in 1842, he not only strengthened his alliance with the Edwards faction, but also made it possible for his opponents to taunt him with being an aristocrat.