"Abraham." He had four brothers-Isaac, Jacob, John, and Thomas. They were born in Pennsylvania, and my grandfather, and some, if not all, the others, in early life removed to Rockingham County, Virginia. There my father-named Thomas-was born. From there my grandfather removed to Kentucky, and was killed by the Indians about the year 1784. His brother Thomas, who was my father's uncle, also removed to Kentucky-to Fayette County, I think where, as I understand, he lived and died. I close by repeating I have no doubt you and I are related. Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN. LETTER TO A. G. HENRY SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, September 22, 1860. Dear Doctor: Yours of July 18th was received some time ago. When you wrote you had not learned the result of the Democratic conventions at Charleston and Baltimore. With the two tickets in the field I should think it possible for our friends to carry Oregon. But the general result, I think, does not depend upon Oregon. No one this side of the mountains pretends that any ticket can be elected by the people, unless it be ours. Hence great efforts to combine against us are being made, which, however, as yet have not had much success. Besides what we see in the newspapers, I have a good deal of private correspondence; and without giving details, I will only say it all looks very favorable to our success. Make my best respects to Mrs. Henry and the rest of your famiy. Your friend, as ever, A. LINCOLN. LETTER TO G. YOKE TAMS (Private and confidential.) SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, September 22, 1860. My dear Sir: Your letter asking me "Are you in favor of a tariff and protection to American industry?" is received. The convention which nominated me, by the twelfth plank of their platform, selected their position on this question; and I have declared my approval of the platform, and accepted the nomination. Now, if I were to publicly shift the position by adding or subtracting anything, the convention would have the right, and probably would be inclined, to displace me as their candidate. And I feel confident that you, on reflection, would not wish me to give private assurances to be seen by some and kept secret from others. I enjoin that this shall by no means be made public. Yours respectfully, A. LINCOLN. LETTER TO J. M. BROCKMAN SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, September 25, 1860. Dear Sir: Yours of the 24th, asking "the best mode of obtaining a thorough knowledge of the law," is received. The mode is very simple, though laborious and tedious. It is only to get the books and read and study them carefully. Begin with Blackstone's "Commentaries," and after reading it carefully through, say twice, take up Chitty's "Pleadings," Greenleaf's "Evidence," and Story's "Equity," etc., in succession. Work, work, work, is the main thing. Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN. *LETTER TO J. E. HARVEY 1 (Private.) SPRINGFIELD, ILL., September 27, 1860. My dear Sir: Yesterday I was gratified by the receipt of yours of the 22d. There is no reality in that suspicion about Judge Kelly. Neither he nor any other man has obtained or sought such a relation with me. Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN. 1 Kelley was a pioneer of the Pennsylvania iron industry and an advocate of high tariff. It is supposed that this letter refers to a report of his seeking a second place on the ticket of 1860. *LETTER TO PROFESSOR GARDNER SPRINGFIELD, ILL., September 28, 1860. Dear Sir: Some specimens of your Soap have been used at our house and Mrs. L. declares it is a superior article. She at the same time protests that I have never given sufficient attention to the "soap question" to be a competent judge. Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN. LETTER TO J. H. REED SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, October 1, 1860. My dear Sir: Yours of September 21st was received some time ago, but I could not till now find time to answer it. I never was in McDonough County till 1858. I never said anything derogatory of Mr. Jefferson in McDonough County or elsewhere. About three weeks ago, for the first time in my life did I ever see or hear the language attributed to me as having been used toward Mr. Jefferson; and then it was sent to me, as you now send, in order that I might say whether it came from me. I never used any such language at any time. You may rely on the truth of this, although it is my wish that you do not publish it. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN. *LETTER TO J. E. HARVEY1 (Private and confidential.) October 2, 1860. My dear Sir: To comply with your request to furnish extracts from my tariff speeches is simply impossible, because none of those speeches were published. It was not fashionable here in those days to report one's public speeches. In 1844 I was on the Clay electoral ticket in this State (i. e., Illinois) and, to the best of my ability, sustained, together, the tariff of 1842 and the tariff plank of the Clay platform. This could be proven by hundreds-perhaps thousands of living witnesses; still it is not in print, except by inference. The Whig papers of those years all show that I was upon the electoral ticket; even though I made speeches, among other things about the tariff, but they do not show what I said about it. The papers show that I was one of a committee which reported, among others, a resolution in these words: "That we are in favor of an adequate revenue on 1 At this time there were many people in the East in favor of securing a high protective tariff. Harvey had taken the stump in 1860 and was besieged by numerous individuals to learn Lincoln's views and so wrote to him about the matter. Harvey was U. S. Minister to Portugal durng Lincoln's first administration. |