Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln/Volume 3/In Favor of Equal Suffrage and Public Improvements
In Favor of Equal Suffrage and Public Improvements.
Announcement of Political Views in Candidacy for the State Legislature.[1]
To the Editor of the "Journal": In your paper of last Saturday I see a communication, over the signature of "Many Voters," in which the candidates who are announced in the "Journal" are called upon to "show their hands." Agreed. Here's mine.
I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage who pay taxes or bear arms (by no means excluding females).
If elected, I shall consider the whole people of Sangamon my constituents, as well those that oppose as those that support me.
While acting as their representative, I shall be governed by their will on all subjects upon which I have the means of knowing what their will is; and upon all others I shall do what my own judgment teaches me will best advance their interests. Whether elected or not, I go for distributing the proceeds of the sales of the public lands to the several States, to enable our State, in common with others, to dig canals and construct railroads without borrowing money and paying the interest on it.
If alive on the first Monday in November, I shall vote for Hugh L. White for President.[2]
Very respectfully,
- ↑ At the close of the poll, Lincoln stood second of the four successful candidates.
- ↑ Judge Hugh L. White, Democratic Senator from Tennessee, 1825 to 1839, was nominated by a combination of Whigs and anti-Jackson Democrats for President in 1836. He received the electoral votes of Tennessee and Georgia.