TO E. B. WASHBURNE.
       SPRINGFIELD, February 9, 1855
       MY DEAR SIR:
       I began with 44 votes, Shields 41, and Trumbull 5,--yet Trumbull was elected. In fact 47 different members voted for me,--getting three new ones on the second ballot, and losing four old ones. How came my 47 to yield to Trumbull's 5? It was Governor Matteson's work. He has been secretly a candidate ever since (before, even) the fall election.
       All the members round about the canal were Anti-Nebraska, but were nevertheless nearly all Democrats and old personal friends of his. His plan was to privately impress them with the belief that he was as good Anti-Nebraska as any one else--at least could be secured to be so by instructions, which could be easily passed.
       The Nebraska men, of course, were not for Matteson; but when they found they could elect no avowed Nebraska man, they tardily determined to let him get whomever of our men he could, by whatever means he could, and ask him no questions.
       The Nebraska men were very confident of the election of Matteson, though denying that he was a candidate, and we very much believing also that they would elect him. But they wanted first to make a show of good faith to Shields by voting for him a few times, and our secret Matteson men also wanted to make a show of good faith by voting with us a few times. So we led off. On the seventh ballot, I think, the signal was given to the Nebraska men to turn to Matteson, which they acted on to a man, with one exception. . . Next ballot the remaining Nebraska man and one pretended Anti went over to him, giving him 46. The next still another, giving him 47, wanting only three of an election. In the meantime our friends, with a view of detaining our expected bolters, had been turning from me to Trumbull till he had risen to 35 and I had been reduced to 15. These would never desert me except by my direction; but I became satisfied that if we could prevent Matteson's election one or two ballots more, we could not possibly do so a single ballot after my friends should begin to return to me from Trumbull. So I determined to strike at once, and accordingly advised my remaining friends to go for him, which they did and elected him on the tenth ballot.
       Such is the way the thing was done. I think you would have done the same under the circumstances.
       I could have headed off every combination and been elected, had it not been for Matteson's double game--and his defeat now gives me more pleasure than my own gives me pain. On the whole, it is perhaps as well for our general cause that Trumbull is elected. The Nebraska men confess that they hate it worse than anything that could have happened. It is a great consolation to see them worse whipped than I am.
       Yours forever,
       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