WASHINGTON, January 8, 1848.
       DEAR WILLIAM:--Your letter of December 27 was received a day or two ago. I am much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken, and promise to take in my little business there. As to speech making, by way of getting the hang of the House I made a little speech two or three days ago on a post-office question of no general interest. I find speaking here and elsewhere about the same thing. I was about as badly scared, and no worse as I am when I speak in court. I expect to make one within a week or two, in which I hope to succeed well enough to wish you to see it.
       It is very pleasant to learn from you that there are some who desire that I should be reelected. I most heartily thank them for their kind partiality; and I can say, as Mr. Clay said of the annexation of Texas, that "personally I would not object" to a reelection, although I thought at the time, and still think, it would be quite as well for me to return to the law at the end of a single term. I made the declaration that I would not be a candidate again, more from a wish to deal fairly with others, to keep peace among our friends, and to keep the district from going to the enemy, than for any cause personal to myself; so that if it should so happen that nobody else wishes to be elected, I could not refuse the people the right of sending me again. But to enter myself as a competitor of others, or to authorize any one so to enter me is what my word and honor forbid.
       I got some letters intimating a probability of so much difficulty amongst our friends as to lose us the district; but I remember such letters were written to Baker when my own case was under consideration, and I trust there is no more ground for such apprehension now than there was then. Remember I am always glad to receive a letter from you.
       Most truly your friend,
       A. LINCOLN.

First Child
To Gen. J. J. Hardin.
Selection of Congressional Candidates
To _________ Williams,
Abolition Movement
Request for Political Support
To John Bennett.
To N. J. Rockwell.
To James Berdan.
To James Berdan.
Verses Written by Lincoln After a Visit to His Old Home in Indiana-(A Fragment).
Second Child
To Morris and Brown
To William H. Herndon
To William H. Herndon.
Resolutions in the United States House of Representatives, December 22, 1847
Remarks in the United States House of Representatives, January 5, 1848.
Desire for Second Term in Congress to William H. Herndon.
Speech on Declaration of War on Mexico
Report in the House of Representatives
To William H. Herndon--Legal Work
Regarding Speech on Mexican War
To William H. Herndon.
On the Mexican War
Report in the House of Representatives, March 9, 1848.
Report in the House of Representatives, March 9, 1848.
To Archibald Williams.
Remarks in the House of REpresentatives, May 11, 1848.
On Taylor's Nomination
Defense of Mexican War Position
On Zachary Taylor Nomination
Speech in the House of Representatives, June 20, 1848.
Opportunities for Young Politicians
Salary of Judge in Western Virginia
National Bank
Young v.s. Old--Political Jealousy
General Taylor and the Veto
Speech Delivered at Worcester, Mass., on Sept. 12, 1848.
His Father's Request for Money
Bill to Abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia
Bill Granting Lands to the States to Make Railways and Canals
On Federal Political Appointments
More Political Patronage Requests
To the Secretary of the Interior
To the Secretary of the Interior.
To the Postmaster-General.
To the Secretary of the Interior.
To the Secretary of the Interior.
To J. Gillespie.
Request for General Land-Office Appointment
Request for a Patent
To the Secretary of Interior.
To W. H. Herndon.
To J. Gillespie.
Resolutions of Sympathy with the Cause of Hungarian Freedom, September [12??], 1849.
To Dr. William Fithian.
Springfield, Dec. 15, 1849.
Resolutions on the Death of Judge Nathaniel Pope.
Notes for Law Lecture
Letters to Family Members
To C. Hoyt.
To John D. Johnston.
Petition on Behalf of One Joshua Gipson
To J. D. Johnston.
To J. D. Johnston.
Nov. 4, 1851
To John D. Johnston.
To John D. Johnston.
Eulogy on Henry Clay, Delivered in the State House at Springfield, Illinois, July 16, 1852.
Challenged Voters
Legal Office Work
To O. L. Davis.
Nebraska Measure
To A. B. Moreau.
Reply to Senator Douglas--Peoria Speech
Request for Senate Support
To T. J. Henderson.
To J. Gillespie.
Political References
To T. J. Henderson.
Loss of Primary for Senator
Return to Law Profession
To O. H. Browning.
To H. C. Whitney.
Response to a Pro-Slavery Friend
Request for a Railway Pass
Speech Delivered Before the First Republican State Convention of Illinois, Held at Bloomington, on May 29, 1856.
Political Correspondence
On Out-of-State Campaigners
Republican Campaign Speech
On the Danger of Third-Parties
To Jesse K. Dubois.
To Harrison Maltby.
To Dr. R. Boal.
To Henry O'Conner, Muscatine, Iowa.
After the Democratic Victory of Buchanan
To Dr. R. Boal.
To John E. Rosette. Private.
Response to a Douglas Speech
To William Grimes.
Argument in the Rock Island Bridge Case.
To Jesse K. Dubois.
To Joseph Gillespie.
To J. Gillespie.
To H. C. Whitney.
Another Political Patronage Reference
Political Communication
Brief Autobiography