Details
The Property of
A DESCENDANT OF GOVERNOR RICHARD YATES (1815-1873)
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President. Autograph letter signed to RICHARD R. YATES of Jacksonville; Springfield, Ill., 18 August 1854. One page, 4to, on pale blue paper without watermark, verso with Yate's docket, professionally silked.
ON THE THRESHHOLD OF HIS RETURN TO POLITICS IN THE WAKE OF THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT, LINCOLN AND YATES PREVARICATE TO THE PRESS
A fine, revealing political letter, written three months after the momentous adoption by Congress of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which had repealed the Missouri Compromise line. The profound implications of that act, which permitted the extension of slavery into all the Northern lands acquired by the Louisiana Purchase, galvanized Lincoln "as he had never been before." The chance meeting between Lincoln and Yates (who also opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act) on a railway platform, mentioned in this letter, served evidently as one of the catalysts which aroused and refocussed Lincoln's attention on national politics. His public speeches and editorials against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and in support of Yate's candidacy marked Lincoln's return to active political affairs (since his term in Congress ended, in 1849, he had devoted himself mostly to his thriving law practice). The mushrooming controversy eventually prompted him (as it did Yates and others) to abandon the Whig and join the Republican party and, ultimately, brought him into national prominence. Yates, the Whig Congressman of the district, later became an influential Republican and the Governor of Illinois.
At the date of the present letter, Yates was being put forward by the Whigs for reelection to his Congressional seat, one which he had held for two previous terms. Lincoln, who had not run for office since his one term in Congress (1847-49) had remained active in local Whig affairs and was the Illinois delegate to the Whig National Committee. Here, he asks Yates' permission to insert a notice in the Illinois Journal announcing that Yates had been proposed as a candidate, "without consultation with him," subject to the approval of the Whig Convention, should one be held at a later date. Since Yates obviously was being consulted about his candidacy, and the text reveals that he and Lincoln had discussed the matter "more than a week ago" when they met at the railroad depot in Springfield, the letter records a clear instance of unabashed political artifice on Lincoln's part. ÿpparently Lincoln, Yates, Edwards and other Whigs had decided that Yates was more likely to be approved by the voters if Yates was represented as having been unaware of his nomination, a classic instance of the subtle use of the media to influence politics. Not long afterwards, Yates came to Springfield to confer with Lincoln about the nomination. On 22 August the Illinois Journal printed the accouncement of his candidacy almost exactly as suggested by Lincoln in this letter. In the end, the choice of Yates did go unopposed by the Whig voters, and no Whig Convention was convened. Unfortunately, Yates was defeated in the general election.
"My dear Sir: I am disappointed at not having seen or heard from you, since I met you more than a week ago, at the Railroad depot here. I wish to have the matter we spoke of settled, and working to its consummation. I understand that our friend B.S. Edwards is entirely satisfied now; and when I can assure myself of this perfectly I would like, by your leave, to get an additional paragraph into the Journal about as follows:
"'To day we place the name of Hon. Richard Yates, ["Esq." is deleted] at the head of our column, for reelection, as the Whig candidate for this Congressional District. We do this, without consultation with him, and subject to the decision of a Whig Convention, should the holding of one be deemed necessary; hoping, however, there may be unanimous acquiescence without a convention.'
"May I do this? Answer by return mail...."
Richard Yates, like Lincoln, was born in Kentucky and had moved to Sangamon County, Illinois 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 (for one term he was the only Whig member from Illinois). Yates, in Congress, supported the Homestead Act, and the movement to establish Land Grant colleges; he shared Lincoln's anti-slavery convictions and 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, was very successful in raising troops for the Union, and gave U.S. Grant his first military assignment when hostilities broke out. Published from a speech of Governor Richard Yates II in 1921, in Collected Works, ed. R.P. Basler, 2:226.
The meeting on the Springfield railway platform between Yates and Lincoln, mentioned here, took place on August 9 and proved a momentous one. E.S. Meirs, in fact states that "this meeting marks Lincoln's re-entry into politics, caused by repeal of the Missouri Compromise..." (Lincoln Day by Day, 125). In June 1860, in the heat of his own turbulent campaign for the Presidency, Lincoln prepared an autobiographical sketch for John L. Scripps for use as an outline for an official campaign biography. In one passage, reviewing his early political career, Lincoln gave a synopsis of the key events of this period: "In 1854, his [Lincoln's] profession [law] had almost superseded the thought of politics in his mind, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused him as he had never been before. In the autumn of that year he took the stump with no broader aim or object than to secure, if possible, the re-election of Hon. Richard Yates to Congress. His speeches at once attracted a more marked attention than they had ever before done. As the canvass proceeded, he was drawn to different parts of the state, outside of Mr. Yates' district....(Collected Works, 4:67). For reports of several of the speeches Lincoln made on Yates' behalf during the campaign, see those at Winchester on 26 August (Collected Works, 2:226-227), at Carrolton on 28 August (ibid, 2:227), and, especially at Bloomington on 12 September (ibid, 230-233).
Provenance:
1. Governor Richard Yates (1815-1873)
2. Governor Richard Yates II
3. The present owner, by descent.