Prev | Current Page 292 | Next

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

"The Writings of Abraham Lincoln - Volume 1: 1832-1843"

According to Mr. Wilton's statement of the seventy-six
appointments we examined, fifty-four were of Democrats, eleven of Whigs,
and eleven of unknown politics.
The chief ground of complaint against Mr. Wilton, as we had understood
it, was because of his appointment of so many Democratic candidates for
the Legislature, thus giving them a decided advantage over their Whig
opponents; and consequently our attention was directed rather
particularly to that point. We found that there were many such
appointments, among which were those in Tazewell, McLean, Iroquois,
Coles, Menard, Wayne, Washington, Fayette, etc.; and we did not learn
that there was one instance in which a Whig candidate for the Legislature
had been appointed. There was no written evidence before us showing us at
what time those appointments were made; but Mr. Wilton stated that they
all with one exception were made before those appointed became candidates
for the Legislature, and the letters, etc., recommending them all bear
date before, and most of them long before, those appointed were publicly
announced candidates.


Pages:
280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304