{"id":997,"date":"2013-06-29T12:29:33","date_gmt":"2013-06-29T12:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/?p=997"},"modified":"2016-06-18T11:59:58","modified_gmt":"2016-06-18T11:59:58","slug":"letter-to-andrew-mccormick-january-1-1841","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/letter-to-andrew-mccormick-january-1-1841\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to Andrew McCormick (January 1, 1841)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

Annotated Transcript<\/h3>\n

“For Heaven\u2019s sake, for your friends sake, for the sake of the recollection of all the hard battles we have heretofore fought shoulder, to shoulder, do not forsake us this time.”<\/a><\/p>\n

On This Date<\/h3>\n

HD Daily Report, January 1, 1841<\/a><\/p>\n

The Lincoln Log, January 1, 1841<\/a><\/p>\n

Custom Map<\/h3>\n

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

How Historians Interpret<\/h3>\n

\u201cLincoln\u2019s natural talents for party leadership appeared early. Writing to Captain Andrew McCormick, one of the legendary Long Nine in the Illinois legislature who had helped him move the state capital to Springfield in the late 1830s, a thirty-one-year-old Lincoln noted in a letter that was first published in 1957, \u2018I have just learned, with utter astonishment, that you have some notion of voting for Walters.\u2019 William Walters was a Democratic newspaper editor who was competing for a patronage contract from the assembly as state printer, vying against Lincoln\u2019s close friend and Whig ally Simeon Francis. \u2018It can not<\/em> be,\u2019 Lincoln wrote emphatically, \u2018that one so true, firm, and unwavering as you have ever been, can for a moment think of such a thing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

—Matthew Pinsker, “Boss Lincoln: A Reappraisal of Abraham Lincoln’s Party Leadership” in\u00a0The Living Lincoln<\/em>, Ed. Thomas A. Horrocks, Harold Holzer, and Frank J. Williams, (Southern Illinois University Press, 2011), 22.<\/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
Dear Captain:<\/span><\/div>\n
I have just learned, with utter astonishment, that you have some notion of voting for Walters. \u00a0This certainly\u00a0can not<\/em>\u00a0be true. \u00a0It\u00a0can not<\/em>\u00a0be, that one so true, firm, and unwavering as you have ever been, can for a moment think of such a thing. \u00a0What! \u00a0Support that\u00a0pet\u00a0<\/em>of all those who continually slander and abuse you, and labour, day and night, for your destruction. \u00a0All our friends are ready to cut our throats about it. \u00a0An angel from heaven could not make\u00a0them\u00a0<\/em>believe, that we do not connive at it. \u00a0For Heaven\u2019s sake, for your friends sake, for the sake of the recollection of all the hard battles we have heretofore fought shoulder, to shoulder, do not forsake us this time. \u00a0We have been told for two or three days that you were in danger; but we gave it the lie whenever we heard it. \u00a0We were willing to bet our lives upon you. \u00a0Stand by us this time, and nothing in our power to confer, shall ever be denied you. \u00a0Surely! \u00a0Surely! You do not doubt\u00a0my friendship<\/em>\u00a0for you. \u00a0If you do, what under Heaven can I do, to convince you. \u00a0Surely you will not think those who have been your revilers, better friends than I. \u00a0Read this & write what you will do.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Your friend,<\/span><\/div>\n
Lincoln<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ranking #77 on the list of 150 Most Teachable Lincoln Documents Annotated Transcript “For Heaven\u2019s sake, for your friends sake, for the sake of the recollection of all the hard battles we have heretofore fought shoulder, to shoulder, do not forsake us this time.” On This Date HD Daily Report, January 1, 1841 The Lincoln […]<\/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":[10896,10866,11651,6088,11669,10882,11635,10865,11643],"class_list":["post-997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-railsplitter","tag-anger","tag-antebellum","tag-friendship","tag-letter","tag-needs-close-reading","tag-newspapers","tag-partisanship","tag-private","tag-recent-discoveries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997","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=997"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4293,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997\/revisions\/4293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}