{"id":1007,"date":"2013-06-29T12:31:32","date_gmt":"2013-06-29T12:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/?p=1007"},"modified":"2016-06-18T20:47:51","modified_gmt":"2016-06-18T20:47:51","slug":"instructions-for-john-nicolay-july-16-1860","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/instructions-for-john-nicolay-july-16-1860\/","title":{"rendered":"Instructions for John Nicolay (July 16, 1860)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ranking<\/strong><\/h3>\n

#82<\/span> on the list of 150 Most Teachable Lincoln Documents<\/em><\/p>\n

Annotated Transcript<\/h3>\n
“Tell him my motto is “Fairness to all,”\u00a0But commit me to nothing.”<\/a><\/div>\n

On This Date<\/h3>\n

HD Daily Report, July 16, 1860<\/a><\/p>\n

The Lincoln Log, July 16, 1860<\/a><\/p>\n

Custom Map<\/h3>\n

\"Screen<\/a>
\nView in Larger Map<\/a><\/p>\n

How Historians Interpret<\/h3>\n

\u201cIt is only this scrap of writing which makes the incident at all worthy of record. There could be no better exemplification of Mr. Lincoln\u2019s character and caution than this short memorandum of instructions. It reflects all his directness of method, all his sincerity of dealing, all his determination to keep free from any entanglements of intrigue, and to expressly avoid any inferential obligations. \u2018Commit me to nothing\u2019 is his positive injunction; on the other hand the announcement of his motto \u2018fairness to all\u2019 is the promise of that broad liberality which he carried out as President, and through which he maintained the easy party leadership that secured his renomination and re-election.\u201d<\/p>\n

–Michael Burlingame, An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln: John G. Nicolay\u2019s Interviews and Essays <\/a><\/em>(Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1996), 94.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cCallers who tried to get at Lincoln personally in his temporary capital office were screened first by Nicolay, who was told to schedule interviews only if \u2018indispensable\u2019 and to \u2018commit me to nothing\u2019 Lincoln did not even write to the vice-presidential nominee whom the convention had selected for him Hannibal Hamlin, a former Maine Democrat, until mid-July.\u201d<\/p>\n

–Allen C. Guelzo, Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President<\/a> (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999), 248.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough concerned with progress in all the Northern states, he focused his attention primarily on the critical West. He urged Caleb Smith to do his utmost in Indiana, believing that nothing would affect the November results in Illinois more strongly than the momentum provided by an Indiana victory in the October state elections. In July, he sent Nicolay to an Indiana supporter who wished to prevent a Bell ticket from being placed on the ballot. \u2018Ascertain what he wants,\u2019 Lincoln instructed Nicolay. \u2018On what subjects he would converse with me. And the particulars if he will give them. Is an interview indispensable? Tell him my motto is \u2018Fairness to all,\u2019 but commit me to nothing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

–Doris Kearns Goodwin,\u00a0T<\/a>eam of Rivals<\/a><\/em>\u00a0<\/a>(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005),\u00a0272.<\/p>\n

NOTE TO READERS<\/h3>\n

This page is under construction and will be developed further by students in the new \u201cUnderstanding Lincoln\u201d online course sponsored by the House Divided Project at Dickinson College and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. To find out more about the course and to see some of our videotaped class sessions, including virtual field trips to Ford’s Theatre and Gettysburg, please visit our Livestream page at http:\/\/new.livestream.com\/gilderlehrman\/lincoln<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Searchable Text<\/span><\/h3>\n
Ascertain what he wants.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
On what subjects he would converse with me.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
And the particulars if he will give them.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Is an interview indispensable?<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Tell him my motto is “Fairness to all,”<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
But commit me to nothing.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ranking #82 on the list of 150 Most Teachable Lincoln Documents Annotated Transcript “Tell him my motto is “Fairness to all,”\u00a0But commit me to nothing.” On This Date HD Daily Report, July 16, 1860 The Lincoln Log, July 16, 1860 Custom Map View in Larger Map How Historians Interpret \u201cIt is only this scrap of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10856],"tags":[10866,56,11633,11642,11669,10864,11635,11658,10865],"class_list":["post-1007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-honest-abe","tag-antebellum","tag-election-of-1860","tag-know-nothings","tag-management-style","tag-needs-close-reading","tag-notes","tag-partisanship","tag-pragmatism","tag-private"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1007"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4350,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions\/4350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}