{"id":1122,"date":"2013-06-29T13:14:29","date_gmt":"2013-06-29T13:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/?p=1122"},"modified":"2016-06-20T13:53:38","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T13:53:38","slug":"letter-to-thaddeus-stevens-september-3-1848","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/letter-to-thaddeus-stevens-september-3-1848\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to Thaddeus Stevens (September 3, 1848)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Contributing Editors for this page include Annemarie Gray<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Ranking<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #0000ff; font-size: 36px;\">#139<\/span> on the list of 150 Most Teachable Lincoln Documents<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Annotated Transcript<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/1305\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;You may possibly remember seeing me at the Philadelphia Convention&#8212;introduced to you as the lone whig star of Illinois. Since the adjournment, I have remained here, so long, in the Whig document room. I am now about to start for home; and I desire the undisguised opinion of some experienced and sagacious Pennsylvania politician, as to how the vote of that state, for governor, and president, is likely to go.&#8221;\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>On This Date<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/panel\/this_date\/1848-09-03\" target=\"_blank\">HD Daily Report, September 3, 1848<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelincolnlog.org\/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&amp;day=1848-09-03\" target=\"_blank\">The Lincoln Log, September 3, 1848<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Close Readings<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XIlDDuBZbho\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nPosted at YouTube by \u201cUnderstanding Lincoln\u201d participant Annemarie Gray, November 15, 2013<\/p>\n<h3>Custom Map<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?msid=214923210427089848626.0004def4e79e2ae545ca4&amp;msa=0&amp;ll=40.046409,-76.30713&amp;spn=0.023391,0.041413&amp;iwloc=0004e072c4e456f553def\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-3251\" src=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/files\/2013\/06\/Screen-shot-2014-01-26-at-4.55.55-PM.png\" alt=\"Screen shot 2014-01-26 at 4.55.55 PM\" width=\"484\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/files\/2013\/06\/Screen-shot-2014-01-26-at-4.55.55-PM.png 691w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/files\/2013\/06\/Screen-shot-2014-01-26-at-4.55.55-PM-300x273.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 484px) 100vw, 484px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?msid=214923210427089848626.0004def4e79e2ae545ca4&amp;msa=0&amp;ll=40.046409,-76.30713&amp;spn=0.023391,0.041413&amp;iwloc=0004e072c4e456f553def\" target=\"_blank\">View in Larger Map<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>How Historians Interpret<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cOn his return to Washington, Lincoln stopped in Wilmington, Delaware, to attend a local Whig meeting held to ratify the convention\u2019s choice, where he was introduced as the \u2018Lone Star of Illinois,\u2019 and given three cheers. Undoubtedly, he invented the nickname himself, adapting it from Clay, known as the \u2018Star of the West\u2019 early in his career. (In a letter sent in September to an influential lawyer among the Whigs of Pennsylvania that year for the house, Thaddeus Stevens, later to become the Radical Republican leader, Lincoln wrote, \u2018You probably remember seeing me at the Philadelphia Convention\u2014introduced to you as the lone Whig star of Illinois.\u2019) Lincoln\u2019s speech, as reported by the Wilmington newspaper, roundly assailed Polk for his \u2018abuse of power,\u2019 the \u2018high-handed and despotic exercise of the veto power\u2019 against internal improvements, and for waging \u2018a war of conquest brought into existence to catch votes.\u2019&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;Sidney Blumenthal,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=XqQbDAAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PA384&amp;dq=You%20may%20possibly%20remember%20seeing%20me%20at%20the%20Philadelphia%20Convention&amp;pg=PA384#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\">A Self Made Man: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln Vol. 1, 1809-1849<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(New York: Simon and Schuster, 2016), 384.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter he entered Congress himself in the late 1840s, Lincoln quickly cast his eyes beyond the doubtful districts of Western Illinois. He took it upon himself, for example, to contact former Whig legislator Thaddeus Stevens during the 1848 presidential campaign in an effort to obtain soundings from the state of Pennsylvania. \u2018You may possibly remember seeing me at the Philadelphia convention,\u2019 Lincoln began, reminding him that he was \u2018the lone whig star of Illinois.\u2019 Reporting that he was about to leave the nation\u2019s capital, Lincoln stated that he desired \u2018the undisguised opinion of some experienced and sagacious Pennsylvania politician, as to how the vote of that state, for governor, and president, is likely to go,\u2019 asking that Stevens send such opinions by mail to him in Springfield.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;Matthew Pinsker, &#8220;Lincoln and the Lessons of Party Leadership&#8221; in\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=edcYBQAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA194&amp;dq=You+may+possibly+remember+seeing+me+at+the+Philadelphia+Convention&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiNsMDqm6XNAhWCcj4KHWJYBCEQ6AEIOzAD#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\">Lincoln and Liberty: Wisdom for the Ages<\/a><\/em>, Ed. Lucas E. Morel (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2014), 194.<\/p>\n<h3>NOTE TO READERS<\/h3>\n<p>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&#8217;s Theatre and Gettysburg, please visit our Livestream page at <a href=\"http:\/\/new.livestream.com\/gilderlehrman\/lincoln\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/new.livestream.com\/gilderlehrman\/lincoln<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Searchable Text<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Hon: Thaddeus Stevens Washington,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Dear Sir: Sept. 3. 1848<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">You may possibly remember seeing me at the Philadelphia Convention&#8212;introduced to you as the lone whig star of Illinois. Since the adjournment, I have remained here, so long, in the Whig document room. I am now about to start for home; and I desire the undisguised opinion of some experienced and sagacious Pennsylvania politician, as to how the vote of that state, for governor, and president, is likely to go. In casting about for such a man, I have settled upon you; and I shall be much obliged if you will write me at Springfield, Illinois.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">The news we are receiving here now, by letters from all quarters is steadily on the rise; we have none lately of a discouraging character. This is the sum, without giving particulars. Yours truly\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">A Lincoln<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contributing Editors for this page include Annemarie Gray Ranking #139 on the list of 150 Most Teachable Lincoln Documents Annotated Transcript &#8220;You may possibly remember seeing me at the Philadelphia Convention&#8212;introduced to you as the lone whig star of Illinois. Since the adjournment, I have remained here, so long, in the Whig document room. I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10855],"tags":[10866,11645,6088,11635,10865],"class_list":["post-1122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-railsplitter","tag-antebellum","tag-election-of-1848","tag-letter","tag-partisanship","tag-private"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122","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=1122"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4439,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122\/revisions\/4439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}