The Property of
A DESCENDANT OF GOVERNOR RICHARD YATES (1815-1873)
The Property of
Details
The Property of
A DESCENDANT OF GOVERNOR RICHARD YATES (1815-1873)
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President. Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") to Richard Yates, Springfield, Illinois, 30 September 1857. One page, 8vo, professionally silked to reinforce fold separations, slight darkening at edges, tipped to a protective sheet.
"YOU CAN BE ELECTED....IT WILL BE SOMETHING OF A SACRIFICE TO YOU; BUT CAN YOU NOT MAKE IT?"
A good letter in which Lincoln urges the future Civil War governor of Illinois to throw his hat into the political ring. "Your letter, called out by the letter of J.O. Johnson, was received by me on my return from Chicago. Mr. Johnson wrote the letter by concert with me; and is entirely reliable. He is a new-comer; but he can devote more time to getting up an organization, than any one I know, who knows as well as he, how to do it.
"And now let me say, I wish you could make up your mind to come to the Legislature from Morgan [County, Illinois] next term. You can be elected, and I doubt some whether any other friend can. It will be something of a sacrafice [sic] to you; but can you not make it? Yours as ever A. Lincoln."
Richard Yates (1815-1873) had been born in Kentucky, like Lincoln, and moved to Sangamon County in 1831. He received the first degree awarded by the newly founded Illinois College at Jacksonville in 1835, studied law at Transylvania University, and entered the practice of law at Jacksonville in 1837. He served three terms in the state Legislature and two terms in Congress, being the only Whig member from Illinois. Yates shared Lincoln's anti-slavery convictions and as a Congressman, opposed the Kansas-Nebraska bill. "As contrasted with that of radical abolitionists, however, his attitude was conservative, resembling Lincoln's" (DAB). Having joined the Republican Party, he was a member of the national convention which nominated Lincoln for President in Chicago in May 1860. That same year, Yates himself was nominated for Governor of Illinois and was elected over a Democrat, James C. Allen. He served with distinction as Governor of Lincoln's home state from January 1861 to January 1865, in which capacity he gave U.S. Grant his first military assignment when hostilities broke out. The letter's cryptic reference to a joint communication from Lincoln and J.O. Johnson remains unexplained; Johnson is believed to have been employed by Lincoln as a party organizer. Published in Basler II:424.
Provenance:
1. Richard Yates (1815-1873)
2. Richard Yates II
3. The present owner, a daughter of the above, by descent.
A DESCENDANT OF GOVERNOR RICHARD YATES (1815-1873)
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President. Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") to Richard Yates, Springfield, Illinois, 30 September 1857. One page, 8vo, professionally silked to reinforce fold separations, slight darkening at edges, tipped to a protective sheet.
"YOU CAN BE ELECTED....IT WILL BE SOMETHING OF A SACRIFICE TO YOU; BUT CAN YOU NOT MAKE IT?"
A good letter in which Lincoln urges the future Civil War governor of Illinois to throw his hat into the political ring. "Your letter, called out by the letter of J.O. Johnson, was received by me on my return from Chicago. Mr. Johnson wrote the letter by concert with me; and is entirely reliable. He is a new-comer; but he can devote more time to getting up an organization, than any one I know, who knows as well as he, how to do it.
"And now let me say, I wish you could make up your mind to come to the Legislature from Morgan [County, Illinois] next term. You can be elected, and I doubt some whether any other friend can. It will be something of a sacrafice [sic] to you; but can you not make it? Yours as ever A. Lincoln."
Richard Yates (1815-1873) had been born in Kentucky, like Lincoln, and moved to Sangamon County in 1831. He received the first degree awarded by the newly founded Illinois College at Jacksonville in 1835, studied law at Transylvania University, and entered the practice of law at Jacksonville in 1837. He served three terms in the state Legislature and two terms in Congress, being the only Whig member from Illinois. Yates shared Lincoln's anti-slavery convictions and as a Congressman, opposed the Kansas-Nebraska bill. "As contrasted with that of radical abolitionists, however, his attitude was conservative, resembling Lincoln's" (DAB). Having joined the Republican Party, he was a member of the national convention which nominated Lincoln for President in Chicago in May 1860. That same year, Yates himself was nominated for Governor of Illinois and was elected over a Democrat, James C. Allen. He served with distinction as Governor of Lincoln's home state from January 1861 to January 1865, in which capacity he gave U.S. Grant his first military assignment when hostilities broke out. The letter's cryptic reference to a joint communication from Lincoln and J.O. Johnson remains unexplained; Johnson is believed to have been employed by Lincoln as a party organizer. Published in Basler II:424.
Provenance:
1. Richard Yates (1815-1873)
2. Richard Yates II
3. The present owner, a daughter of the above, by descent.