Trusting Those Who Care for the Results, 1858
Trusting Those Who Care for the Results, 1858
This chapter suggests that Abraham Lincoln's failed senatorial bid in the 1858 elections allowed him to know who really cared about the results, and that they had come to trust him. In a March 8, 1958, letter to Owen Lovejoy, Lincoln ended with the statement “Let this be strictly confidential...I have some valued friends who would not like me any the better for writing it.” This cautionary tone is proof that Lincoln trusted Lovejoy enough to risk giving him candid information. After discussing Lovejoy's speech accepting his unanimous renomination to the U.S. Congress, this chapter considers Lovejoy and Lincoln's opinions on Negro equality. It also examines Lincoln's debates with Stephen A. Douglas in each of Illinois's seven congressional districts over the issue of slavery. Finally, it describes Lovejoy's victory in the 1858 elections and Lincoln's disagreement with the notion that he had made the wrong choice by keeping his principles and coming too close to Lovejoy.
Keywords: slavery, Abraham Lincoln, elections, Owen Lovejoy, speech, U.S. Congress, Negro equality, debates, Stephen A. Douglas, Illinois
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