Lincoln, Abraham, sixteenth President

Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln"), 1 page (9 5/8 x 7 5/8 in.; 242 x 195 mm) on a bifolium of wove paper, Springfield, 14 February 1843, to Alden Hull, at Pekin, Illinois, integral leaf with autograph address panel signed by Lincoln; neatly rebacked with upper right corner restored, seal tear and repair, some fold separations repaired, browned. Tipped into a blue morocco binding with an engraved portrait of Lincoln and an autograph appreciation of the letter by Carl Sandburg.

Oliver R. Barrett, given by him, about 1925, to — Gretchen Vander Poel (accompanying correspondence discusses the gift)

Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Basler, 1:306–07

One of the earliest expressions of Lincoln's political ambition, contained in a letter to Alden Hull, who had been the legislative representative for Tazewell County from 1838 to 1842. The personal nature of the letter is captured by the unusually warm salutation ("Friend Hull") and closing ("Your friend as ever") that Lincoln employs.

"Your county and ours are almost sure to be placed in the same congressional district. I would like to be its Representative; still circumstances may happen to prevent my even being a candidate. If, however, there are any whigs in Tazewell who would as soon I should represent them as any other person, I would be glad they would not cast me aside until they see and hear further what turn things take.

"Do not suppose, Esqr. that in addressing this letter to you, I assume that you will be for me against all other whigs; I only mean, that I know you to be my personal friend, a good whig, and an honorable man, to whom I may, without fear, communicate a fact which I wish my particular friends (if I have any) to know.

"There is nothing new here now worth telling."

On 1 May 1843, Lincoln attended the Whig District Convention in Pekin, but the party's nomination for 1844 went to his friend, Edward Dickinson Baker, who was duly elected. Lincoln's turn to run for the secure Whig seat came two years later, and he served in Congress from March 1847 to March 1849.

Sandburg's commentary on the letter, written in 1925, is still insightful: "Lincoln as a 'mixer' in politics is seen; in a finely frank way he asks Hull to be for him, offers irresistable compliments, and then swiftly, whimsically, and with a hint of melancholy, brings to a close a letter that it wouldn't worry him any if it were published to the world. It is the most revealing piece of correspondence that has come to light on the methods of personal approach used by the early political Lincoln."