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94

Abraham Lincoln

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:10,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
Abraham Lincoln

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Auction Date:2010 Nov 10 @ 19:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Scarce and significant printed circular letter signed “A. Lincoln” as a congressman, one page, 7.5 x 9.75, 1848. In part: “The Whig Members of Congress have, as heretofore, appointed an ‘Executive Committee’ to watch over the interests of the Whig party in the present canvass. In the discharge of their duties, the Committee have already made arrangements to supply every section of the country with useful information, such as is usually contained in political pamphlets and Congressional speeches.

It is highly important, especially as the labors of the Committee will continue without interruption from this time until the election in November, that full lists of names, to whom their publications may be sent, should be furnished them as soon as practicable. You cannot fail to estimate the excellent results which have been and may be produced by this plan of operation, nor yet to understand that its efficiency will be controlled, in a great degree, by the promptitude with which their Whig friends second the efforts of those entrusted with its execution. It is believed that all that is necessary to secure the election of Gen. Taylor, is for correct information to reach the mass of the people.

I therefore earnestly request that you will lose no time in forwarding lists for your neighborhood to Hon. Wm. B. Preston, Hon. Truman Smith, Hon. T. Butler King, or Hon. C. B. Smith, at Washington City, D.C. I would suggest that the names of the Whigs be distinguished from those of the more moderate of our opponents, and that the most active and influential Whigs be also designated from the general number. The names of individuals, and their Post Office and County, should also be distinctly written.

Your immediate attention to this subject will be gratifying to the Committee, who will be glad to hear from you, occasionally, the condition of the Whig cause in your immediate section. Should you write, direct your letters to the gentleman, or either of them, whose names have been given you.” Beneath Lincoln’s signature is a postscript in another hand: “Your name has been us by Mr Griffith of VA.”

Intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, light wrinkling, and a few stray marginal ink marks, otherwise fine condition.

Lincoln served his only term in Congress from 1847 to 1849, representing Illinois as its only Whig. During the 1848 Whig National Convention in Philadelphia, Lincoln supported the nomination of Zachary Taylor, eventually dispatching this printed letter, endorsing the Whigs’ election plans, “the promptitude with which their Whig friends second the efforts of those entrusted with its execution. It is believed that all that is necessary to secure the election of Gen. Taylor, is for correct information to reach the mass of the people.”

Deciding not to seek re-election, Lincoln later sought a nomination from President-elect Taylor to the office of Commissioner of the General Land Office—a hope that never came to fruition. Instead offered the governship of the Oregon Territory, Lincoln declined and returned to his law practice, convinced that his political career was over. Only seven letters signed by Lincoln while serving in Congress have appeared at major public auctions in the last 40 years. This one urging the election of Taylor as 12th president, signed by the future 16th president, is particularly desirable.
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