1860 Iowa pre-Civil War letter, talk of Lincoln election

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Nice pre-Civil war letter from Iowa City discussing life there, schools, courts, upcoming election contested by Lincoln and Douglas in 9 days.

Iowa City Nov 1st 1860
Dear Friend,
... I am putting in all my time a studying as fast as I can. I could get a school to teach this winter if I wished to, but I do not, for they do not pay any great wages here for teaching not in propation(?) with other things especially for District Schools. The District Court sits here next week and there about 800 cases on the docket for trial and it makes business quite lively a ___ for court.
...
Hurrah! For your hag: and three cheers for the man that will be the next President of the U.S. which I suppose we shall know who he is ere I hear from you again...
The idea of placing a mourning weed around my (ed. male organ) would be against my politics and morality. Therefore, I hope you will give yourself no more uneasiness about the matter for that stock is very scarce in Iowa. Business of all kinds seems to be very good here plenty of work to be done and money to pay for it with.
 
There was a Breckenbridge man that spoke here last evening: and Parker Pillsbury of Mass. is going to speak here to morrow eve.
 
This State is a going 10,000 majority for Lincoln my word for it. for you know that the Republicans are voting this year. Perhaps you may think I am approaching to personally on Politics but I know your good sense will prevent you from taking any offence. One of my most intimate friends here is a Douglas Democrat so if you are a Democrat and come to Iowa you will find some friends politically...They say you had ought to be here before the 1st of Dec. because that they do have a great many parties about Thanksgiving....
Direct as before except in case of Mackay and Bradley
Yours SC Albrich
 
Breckenbridge = John Cabell Breckinridge, Southern Democrat, ran for President in 1860, the 14th and youngest-ever Vice President of the United States, serving from 1857 to 1861
Parker Pillsbury = lecturer widely on abolition and social reform
Douglas = Democratic Party nominee for president in the 1860 election, losing to Republican Abraham Lincoln.
Mackay & Bradley  = attorneys at law
 
4 pages. Embossing top left front page.
 
Horizontal folds.
 
8" x 5" 

The United States Presidential Election of 1860 was the nineteenth quadrennial presidential election to select the President and Vice President of the United States. The election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860. In a four-way contest, the Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin emerged triumphant. The election of Lincoln served as the primary catalyst of the American Civil War.

The 1860 Republican National Convention nominated Lincoln, a moderate former Congressman from Illinois, as its standard-bearer. The Republican Party platform promised not to interfere with slavery in the states, but opposed the further extension of slavery into the territories. The first 1860 Democratic National Convention adjourned without agreeing on a nominee, but a second convention nominated Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois for president. Douglas's support for the concept of popular sovereignty, which called for each individual territory to decide on the status of slavery, alienated many Southern Democrats. The Southern Democrats, with the support of President Buchanan, held their own convention and nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for president

 

 

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