GDG- Mr. Lincoln Goes to Washington

[Dennis Lawrence]

(The Lincolns arrived late at night on December 1 and take lodgings at 
Brown's Hotel.Allen C. Clark, Abraham Lincoln in the National Capital;
Later they take rooms at Mrs. Sprigg's boarding house on site of Library of 
Congress.)

To [David A.?] Smith [1]
Friend Smith: Washington, Decr. 3. 1847

This is my first day at this place, & on reaching here I found your letter 
in relation to your business with Douglass. I met him afterwards, but 
disliking to dunn him at the first meeting with him, I let it pass, for the 
time. I will attend to it shortly however & write you.

You intimate there is some danger of my neglecting the business; but if you 
will get me as good a fee as you got for Jo. Gillespie [2] in the case he 
tells of, I'll never desert you. Yours truly

A. LINCOLN
Annotation

[1]   ALS, ICHi. It seems probable that the person addressed was David A. 
Smith, an attorney of Jacksonville, Illinois, with whom Lincoln had long 
been acquainted in law practice. The possibility of its being Robert Smith 
of Alton, Illinois, seems less likely, in view of the fact that he was like 
Lincoln a member of the Thirtieth Congress, and being in Washington could 
very well have attended to the business indicated in the letter for himself.

[2]   Joseph Gillespie of Edwardsville, Illinois.



Road to White House:
1838 - Defeated in becoming speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives.
1840 - Defeated in becoming elector.
1847 - Served one term in US House of Representatives as a Whig.
1849 - Defeated for US House of Representatives.
1849 - Rejected for the position of Commissioner of the General Land Office.
1849 - Retired from politics.
1855 - Defeated for US Senate as a Whig.
1855 - Became a Republican.
156 - Considered for vice-president (got less than 100 votes in convention).
1858 - Nominated as the Republican candidate for US Senator from Illinois.
1858 - Challenged Stephen A. Douglas. The seven debates became famous.
1858 - Defeated for US Senate as a Republican, he had made his mark.
1860 - Selected as the Republican candidate for president. 1
860 - Elected president of the United States with a minority of the popular 
vote.
1861 - Inaugurated March 4. 1861 - Seven states had seceded by the time of 
his inauguration.