{"id":206,"date":"2013-06-10T13:21:45","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T13:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/?p=206"},"modified":"2014-01-27T00:36:13","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T00:36:13","slug":"letter-to-richard-yates-august-18-1854","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/letter-to-richard-yates-august-18-1854\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to Richard Yates (August 18, 1854)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Ranking<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #0000ff; font-size: 36px;\">#15<\/span> on the list of 150 Most Teachable Lincoln Documents<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Annotated Transcript<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong><em>Context. <\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0<\/em>In the summer of 1854, Abraham Lincoln was a 45-year-old attorney and former one-term US congressman living in Springfield, Illinois. However, in this letter to Richard Yates, his local congressman and fellow Whig, Lincoln acted and sounded more like a political party boss than anything else. He used this letter to organize Yates&#8217;s announcement for his campaign for reelection to Congress. Lincoln wanted to avoid holding a convention to secure Yates&#8217;s renomination because the partisan situation that summer was in turmoil, not only over the controversy surrounding the Kansas-Nebraska Act, but also because of the rise of anti-immigrant nativism. Lincoln made reference to coordinating with those so-called &#8220;Know Nothings,&#8221; in this letter by referring to their local leader, Benjamin S. Edwards, whom Lincoln deemed &#8220;entirely satisfied.&#8221; The newspapers did announce Yates&#8217;s availability the next week, though without mentioning the Whig Party label. He was ultimately defeated in the November 1854 midterm elections. (By Matthew Pinsker)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/40348\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;I am disappointed&#8230;.&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Audio Version<\/strong><\/h3>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F98687977&visual=true\"><\/iframe>\n<h3>On This Date<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/panel\/this_date\/1854-08-18\">HD Daily Report, August 18, 1854<\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>I<\/strong><strong>mage Gallery<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-206 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/letter-to-richard-yates-august-18-1854\/lincoln-in-1854\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/files\/2013\/06\/Lincoln-in-1854-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Lincoln in\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-742\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-742'>\n\t\t\t\tLincoln in 1854\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/letter-to-richard-yates-august-18-1854\/richard-yates\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/files\/2013\/06\/Richard-Yates-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Richard Yates\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-743\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-743'>\n\t\t\t\tRichard Yates\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Close Readings<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/69638726?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0&amp;color=e6f4fa\" height=\"281\" width=\"500\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/69638726\">Matthew Pinsker: Understanding Lincoln: Letter to Richard Yates (1854)<\/a> from <a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/gilderlehrman\">The Gilder Lehrman Institute<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\">Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Custom Map<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?msid=214923210427089848626.0004def4e79e2ae545ca4&amp;msa=0&amp;ll=39.741481,-90.229082&amp;spn=0.021581,0.029998&amp;iwloc=0004df0a0ed835515be58\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-523\" alt=\"Yates\" src=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/files\/2013\/06\/Yates.png\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" \/><br \/>\n<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?msid=214923210427089848626.0004def4e79e2ae545ca4&amp;msa=0&amp;ll=39.741481,-90.229082&amp;spn=0.021581,0.029998&amp;iwloc=0004df0a0ed835515be58\" target=\"_blank\">View in Larger Map<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Other Primary Sources<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/memory.loc.gov\/cgi-bin\/query\/r?ammem\/mal:@field(DOCID+@lit(d4336200))\" target=\"_blank\">Abraham Lincoln to Richard J. Oglesby, Springfield, September 8, 1854<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/l\/lincoln\/lincoln2\/1:284?rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=boolean;view=fulltext;q1=richard+yates\" target=\"_blank\">Abraham Lincoln to Richard Yates, Naples, October 30, 1854<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/l\/lincoln\/lincoln2\/1:285?rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=boolean;view=fulltext;q1=richard+yates\" target=\"_blank\">Abraham Lincoln to Richard Yates, Naples, October 31, 1854<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=auf4A6UAGUQC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;pg=PA13#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=true\" target=\"_blank\">Richard Yates, &#8220;Speech of Richard Yates,&#8221; delivered in the Wigwam at the Springfield Jubilee, November 20, 1860, quoted in the\u00a0<em>Illinois State Journal,\u00a0<\/em>November 22, 1860, 3.<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<h3><strong>How Historians Interpret<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Feeling again the joy of political combat, he devoted all his time to the anti-Nebraska cause, except for his necessary commitments to court cases. \u00a0He became, in effect, Yates&#8217;s campaign manager, spending hours conferring with the Whig candidate and advising him on tactics. \u00a0Learning that English settlers in Morgan County were disturbed by reports that Yates was a Know-Nothing, he drafted a letter denying the charge, which could be distributed &#8216;at each precinct where any considerable number of the foreign citizens, german as well as english\u2014vote.&#8217; \u00a0When he heard that Democrats were whispering that Yates, though professing to be a temperate man, was a secret drinker, he recognized that the rumor might cost the Whigs the large prohibitionist vote and sought to kill the allegation. \u00a0&#8216;I have never seen him drink liquor, not act, or speak, as if he had been drinking, nor smelled it on his breath,&#8217; he wrote. \u00a0But then\u2013almost as if he realized that the future would show that Yates did indulge in liquor, to the point of being intoxicated when he was inaugurated as governor of Illinois in 1861\u2014Lincoln carefully explained his own position to a friend: &#8216;Other things being equal, I would much prefer a temperate man, to an intemperate one; still I do not make my vote depend absolutely upon the question of whether a candidate does or does not<em> taste\u00a0<\/em>liquor.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2014David Herbert Donald,\u00a0<em>Lincoln\u00a0<\/em>(New York: Simon &amp; Schuster, 1995), 171<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Further Reading\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>For educators:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/files\/2013\/06\/Handout-Lincoln-in-1854.docx\">Handout &#8211;Lincoln in 1854<\/a>\u00a0(Pinsker)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">\u00a0Searchable Text<\/span><\/h3>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Hon. R. Yates, Springfield,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Jacksonville, Ill.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">August 18, 1854.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">My dear Sir:\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">I am disappointed at not having seen or heard from you since I met you more than a week ago at the railroad depot here. I wish to have the matter we spoke of settled and working to its consummation. I understand that our friend B. S. Edwards is entirely satisfied now, and when I can assure myself of this perfectly I would like, by your leave, to get an additional paragraph into the Journal, about as follows:<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">\u201cTo-day we place the name of Hon. Richard Yates at the head of our columns for reelection as the Whig candidate for this congressional district. We do this without consultation with him and subject to the decision of a Whig convention, should the holding of one be deemed necessary; hoping, however, there may be unanimous acquiescence without a convention.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">May I do this? \u00a0Answer by return mail.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">\u00a0Yours, as ever,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">A. LINCOLN.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ranking #15 on the list of 150 Most Teachable Lincoln Documents Annotated Transcript Context. \u00a0In the summer of 1854, Abraham Lincoln was a 45-year-old attorney and former one-term US congressman living in Springfield, Illinois. However, in this letter to Richard Yates, his local congressman and fellow Whig, Lincoln acted and sounded more like a political [&hellip;]<\/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":[10866,11665,10888,11633,6088,11642,10883,10882,11635,10865],"class_list":["post-206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-honest-abe","tag-antebellum","tag-election-of-1854","tag-kansas-nebraska-act","tag-know-nothings","tag-letter","tag-management-style","tag-manipulation","tag-newspapers","tag-partisanship","tag-private"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206","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=206"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3373,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions\/3373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}