William P. Dole's Pass to the 1864 Union National Convention at Which Abraham Lincoln was Nominated for a Second Term as Pres...

Description

William P. Dole's Pass to the 1864 Union National Convention at Which Abraham Lincoln was Nominated for a Second Term as President. 5 x 3 1/2 inch printed cardstock. A pass admitting the bearer to the "Union National Convention," and granting access to the "Hall of Convention...during the sitting." Signed, "Edw McPherson" as Secretary of the National Executive Committee.

A pencil annotation in the hand of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Dole reads, "Baltimore May 1864 / Nomination of A. Lincoln." Her notation slightly misdates the event, as the Baltimore Union Convention met in early June 1864, when the wartime Union Party formally renominated Abraham Lincoln for a second term. Organized as a coalition of Republicans, War Democrats, and border-state Unconditional Unionists, the convention also selected Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, a War Democrat, to replace Vice President Hannibal Hamlin and strengthen the ticket's national appeal during the Civil War. This is the first example of a Union National Convention admission pass of this type that we have encountered, making it a very scarce piece of Lincoln campaign ephemera.

The pass was originally mounted on a page in a scrapbook kept by Lizzie Dole, wife of Lincoln's Commissioner of Indian Affairs. An image of the full page is available for reference and context. A printing of all the pages of the scrapbook will be included with the lot.

Condition: Previously mounted in a scrapbook, with heavy ghosting from the facing page visible across the center of the pass, creating an impression of Lincoln and Johnson's portraits. Mounting remnants on the verso and minor edgewear.

Provenance: Elizabeth Dole and by descent, to our consignor.

More Information: Elizabeth "Lizzie" Dole was the wife of William Palmer Dole, Lincoln's Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Born in Bedford, New Hampshire, Lizzie married William Dole in 1861 after the death of her first husband, Frank Allis. When William was appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs on March 12, 1861, the newly married couple moved to the nation's capital. With her husband now a member of the Lincoln administration, Lizzie found herself at the very center of Washington's political and social elite; a marked change from the small-town world she had left behind.

According to The History of Edgar County, Illinois (1879), William "was on the most intimate relations with the President so long as Mr. [Abraham] Lincoln lived." However, we can only speculate as to exactly when the two men were first acquainted. Born in 1811, he was two years younger than Lincoln, and in his youth traveled along the Mississippi River by flatboat selling produce. Lincoln similarly worked as a flatboat laborer during the same years. Dole moved to Paris, Illinois in 1854, and Lincoln spent time in Edgar County while riding the Eighth Judicial Circuit from 1847 to 1859. What is in the historical record is that Dole was an early member of the Republican Party, served as a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention, and was an ardent supporter of Lincoln's nomination for President.

Lots 47146 to 47164 were assembled by Lizzie during her years in Washington. They speak to the access she had as a member of Lincoln's inner social circle and capture significant moments of both triumph and anguish. In addition to the two printed passes to the East and North rooms for Lincoln's funeral, note the quickly handwritten pass jotted by Mary Todd Lincoln's cousin, John Blair Smith Todd allowing entrance to the White House a day earlier on April 18, 1865. None but the most intimate of friends would have been welcomed by Mary on such a grievous occasion. An autograph album she began in the 1860s includes signatures as late as an 1898 signing by William McKinley; and so diverse as to include two signatures by "Kit" Carson, six associate Supreme Court Justices, and King Kamehameha V of Hawaii. The countless letters and calling cards collected are the story of a rich life that crossed paths with one of America's most cherished presidents.

The items have been passed down through multiple generations and are now offered here for the first time.