Beschreibung:

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President ]. SEWARD, WILLIAM H., Secretary of State . Letter signed ("William H. Seward") with four-line autograph closing, to Charles C. Nott and others, "For the Republican Central Committee," Auburn, N.Y., 21 May 1860. 3 1/2 pages, 4to, 248 x 197 mm. (9 3/4 in. x 7 13/16 in.) . In fine condition. SEWARD, DISAPPOINTED IN HIS BID FOR THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION, PLEDGES HIS SUPPORT TO LINCOLN FOR THE 1860 CAMPAIGN A long, flowery reply to letter of support from a Committee of New York Republicans headed by Charles C. Nott (who had been instrumental in inviting Lincoln to New York to deliver the Cooper Union Address and who was reaponsible for publishing the definitive text). Seward, who had campaigned heavily for his party's nomination and had been assured of the New York delegates 70 votes, was initially the frontrunner at the Chicago Republican Convention. On the first ballot Seward polled 173 votes and Lincoln 102. In the second ballot the gap narrowed dramatically to 184 to 181 and on the final ballot Lincoln won the nomination. "I will not affect to conceal the sensibility with which I have received the letters in which you...have tendered to me expressions of renewed and enduring confidence.... I was not unwilling to await...the vindication of my political principles...yet they did nevertheless receive the generous support of many good, wise and patriotic citizens of my own time....You will at once perceive that such expressions [of support] would become painful to me and justly offensive to the community if they should be allowed to take on any public...form..." For the same reason Seward declines to attend a meeting in New York "in which you propose some demonstrations of respect to myself while so justly considering the nominations which have been made by the recent [Republican] National Convention in Chicago. At the same time it is your right to have a frank and candid exposition of my own opinions...on that important subject. "The presentation of my name to the Chicago Convention was...their [the people's] act, not mine. The disappointment therefore, is their disappointment. It may have found them unprepared....I have no sentiment either of disappointment or discontent, for who...could withour presumption claim that a great national party ought to choose him for its candidate for the first office....? I find in the resolutions of the Convention a platform as satisfactory to me as if it had been framed with my own hands, and in the candidates adopted by them [Lincoln and Hamlin], able and eminent Republicans with whom I have cordially cooperated in maintaining the principles embodied in that excellent creed. I cheerfully give them a sincere and earnest support....' He expresses his hope that his supporters shall let no sense of disappointment "embarass the progress of that cause to the consummation which is demanded by a patriotic regard to the safety and welfare of the country and the best interests of mankind...." A recent biographer notes that "Seward put the best possible face on his crushing defeat at Chicago, taking comfort in an outpouring of letters from well-wishers" (J.M. Taylor, William H. Seward: Lincoln's Right-Hand Man , 1991, p.119). On 8 December, Lincoln asked Seward to accept the nomination as Secretary of State. Seward accepted on 28 December and was soon confirmed.