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LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President . Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") TO SENATOR JOHN J. CRITTENDEN of Kentucky, Springfield, 7 July 1858. 2 full pages, 4to, 246 x 196mm. (9.11/16 x 7 in.), extreme edges a bit browned, small traces of old mounting along left-hand edge of page 2 (not affecting text), otherwise in good condition. LINCOLN URGES CRITTENDEN TO TAKE A "HANDS-OFF" STAND IN HIS CONTEST WITH STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS A very revealing political letter, marked "Private" at the top, written less than a month after Lincoln's "House Divided" address and during the early stages of the bitter contest between him and Douglas (the Democratic Party's candidate) for a vacant Illinois Senate seat. Their famous series of debates--largely over the issue of the spread of slavery--attracted national attention, propelling Lincoln to the 1860 Presidential nomination. Senator Crittenden (1787-1863), some 22 years Lincoln's senior, had had a long judicial and political career as Attorney General of the Illinois Territory (1809-1810), Attorney General under Harrison (1841), Senator (1842 to 1848, in the seat formerly held by Henry Clay), Governor of Kentucky (1848-50) and again, Senator (1855-1861). Lincoln's tone is deferential in alluding to their earlier acquaintance, as he seeks to convince the powerful Crittenden to remain neutral in his contest with Douglas: "Dear Sir: I beg you will pardon me for the liberty in addressing you upon only so limited an aquaintance, and that acquaintance so long past. I am prompted to do so by a story being whispered about here that you are anxious for the reelection of Mr. [Stephen A.] Douglas to the United States Senate, and also of [Thomas L.] Harris, of our district, to the House of Representatives, and that you are pledged to write letters to that effect to your friends here in Illinois, if requested. I do not believe the story, but still it gives me some uneasiness. If such was your inclination, I do not believe you would so express yourself. It is not in character with you as I have always estimated you." "You have no warmer friends than here in Illinois, and I assure you nine tenths - I believe ninety-nine hundredths - of them would be mortified exceedingly by anything of the sort from you. When I tell you this, make such allowance as you think just for my position, which, I doubt not, you understand. Even if such could be had, my judgement is that you would better be "hands off." Please drop me a line; and if your purposes are as I hope they are not , please let me know. The confirmation would pain me much; but I should still continue your friend and admirer. You obedient servant, A. Lincoln." In a postscript, Lincoln stresses the private and secret nature of his inquiry: "P.S. I purposely fold this sheet within itself instead of an envelope." Lincoln's discreet appeal to Crittenden failed. In his reply of 29 July (only received by Lincoln the day after the election), Crittenden freely admitted that although he had "openly, ardently and frequently expressed" in conversation his conviction that Douglas' should win the Senate seat, he had written letters to no one in Illinois to that effect. But a former friend of Lincoln, T. Lyle Dickey, concerned that the new Republican party was taking too radical a course, had deserted to the Democratic party and was campaigning actively for Douglas. As part of his efforts, he too had written to Crittenden (on July 19) urging that he publicly support the "Little Giant," Douglas. Crittenden, in the end, obliged, and wrote the letter, although Dickey refrained from publishing it until just before the election, a strategm which some of his supporters believed constituted the decisive blow to Lincoln's campaign: "The manoeuver undoubtedly hurt Lincoln most in the very places he was beaten--that is, in the old Whig strongholds of central Illinois" (Fehrenbacher, Prelude to Greatness: Lincoln in the 1850s , p.118). Lincoln himself wrote again to Crittenden--in a rath