Abraham Lincoln ALS - July 12, 1856...

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Abraham Lincoln ALS - July 12, 1856 Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln"), 2 pages (6.75 x 8 in.; 171 x 203 mm.), front and back, Springfield, Ill., 12 July 1856, written to Hon. J.W. Grimes, Governor of Iowa, who had recently asked Lincoln to campaign in his state on behalf of Republican candidates. Mounting remnants on verso of conjoined leaf; otherwise, fine. Abraham Lincoln writes to Iowa Governor James W. Grimes who had asked Lincoln to campaign there on behalf of Republican candidates. "I am superstitious. I have scarcely known a party, preceding an election, to call in help from the neighboring states, but they lost the state... It seems to stir up more enemies than friends. Have the enemy called in any foreign help[?] If they have a foreign champion there, I should have no objection to drive a nail in his track." Lincoln writes in full: My dear Sir: Yours of the 29th. of June was duly received. I did not answer it, because it plagued me. This morning I received another, from Judd and Peck, written by consultation with you. Now let me tell you why I am plagued. First I can hardly spare the time. Secondly, I am superstitious. I have scarcely known a party, preceding an election, to call in help from the neighboring states, but they lost the state. Last fall our friends had Wade of Ohio, & others in Maine; and they lost the state. Last Spring, our adversaries had New-Hampshire full of South Carolinians, and they lost the State. And so generally. It seems to stir up more enemies than friends. Have the enemy called in any foreign help[?]. If they have a foreign champion there, I should have no objection to drive a nail in his track. I shall reach Chicago on the night of the 15th to attend a little business in court. Consider the things I have suggested, and write me at Chicago. Especially write me whether Browning consents to visit you. Your Obt. Servt. A. Lincoln Less than a month before this letter was written, Lincoln placed second in the contest to become the party's Vice President at the first Republican National Convention held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 17 - 19 June 1856. The convention approved an anti-slavery platform that called for congressional sovereignty in the territories, an end to polygamy in Mormon settlements, and federal assistance for a transcontinental railroad. John C. Frémont, John McLean, William Seward, Salmon Chase, and Charles Sumner all were considered by those at the convention, but the latter three requested that their names be withdrawn. McLean's name was initially withdrawn by his manager Rufus Spalding, but the withdrawal was rescinded at the strong behest of the Pennsylvania delegation led by Thaddeus Stevens. Frémont was nominated for president overwhelmingly on the formal ballot, and William L. Dayton was nominated for vice-president over Abraham Lincoln. Published in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. New Brunswick, N.J., University Press, 1953, Volume II, page 348.