{ "schema": "prokopton42-public-passage-v1", "id": "abraham_lincoln.papers_context", "canonical_url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/works/abraham-lincoln-archive-correspondents/incoming-mail-and-context/reference-mal0571000/", "language": "en", "title": "Abraham Lincoln Papers: Incoming and Contextual Documents", "author": "Correspondents and archival record", "date": "1833-1916", "summary": "Incoming letters, petitions, and administrative records preserve the voices of people who petitioned, informed, or challenged Lincoln. The archive reveals the pressures of a wartime presidency without attributing his correspondents’ words to the president.", "learning": "Reconstruct the requests, conflicts, and information reaching the presidency without confusing a filed record with Lincoln’s own writing.", "long_summary": "Soldiers, governors, diplomats, relatives, office seekers, and ordinary citizens write to Lincoln to request a favor, report a crisis, or defend a political course. Their correspondence restores the concrete texture of a presidency caught between administration, war, and public opinion.\n\nThese records illuminate the circumstances to which decisions responded, but archival proximity does not turn them into Lincoln’s words. They show what could be addressed to him, not what he necessarily read, believed, or decided. This distinction makes it possible to study a network of power without confusing received context with personal testimony.", "historical_context": "The collection preserves voices reaching Lincoln: military officers, governors, diplomats, relatives, office seekers, and ordinary citizens. This documentary mass conveys the material scale of a wartime presidency, but it remains context received by Lincoln, not his own testimony.", "material_world_label": "Industrial world of the 19th century", "material_world": { "technology": "Steam, coal, factories, steel, machine tools, railways, and telegraphy concentrate unprecedented mechanical power.", "science": "Laboratories, journals, precision instruments, and professional institutions accelerate physics, chemistry, geology, and life science.", "medicine": "Anaesthesia, germ theory, vaccination, and antisepsis gradually transform care, with sharp inequalities of access.", "transport": "Rail and steamship shrink distances; horses, walking, and carriages remain ordinary in town and country.", "agriculture": "Machinery, fertilizers, breeding, and rail transport expand output and markets without eliminating manual labour or food crises.", "communication": "Telegraphy, mass newspapers, photography, post, and the emerging telephone speed news and business.", "clothing": "Dark suits, shirts, and hats dominate bourgeois menswear; long dresses, corsets, and layers shape women’s fashion, with more functional working clothes." }, "material_world_scenes": [ { "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/24-1876-ce/world-01.webp", "title": "Technology, science, and care", "description": "Steam, coal, factories, steel, machine tools, railways, and telegraphy concentrate unprecedented mechanical power. Laboratories, journals, precision instruments, and professional institutions accelerate physics, chemistry, geology, and life science. Anaesthesia, germ theory, vaccination, and antisepsis gradually transform care, with sharp inequalities of access." }, { "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/24-1876-ce/world-02.webp", "title": "Travel and communication", "description": "Rail and steamship shrink distances; horses, walking, and carriages remain ordinary in town and country. Telegraphy, mass newspapers, photography, post, and the emerging telephone speed news and business." }, { "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/24-1876-ce/world-03.webp", "title": "Farming and food", "description": "Machinery, fertilizers, breeding, and rail transport expand output and markets without eliminating manual labour or food crises." }, { "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/24-1876-ce/world-04.webp", "title": "Clothing, women and men", "description": "Dark suits, shirts, and hats dominate bourgeois menswear; long dresses, corsets, and layers shape women’s fashion, with more functional working clothes." } ], "intellectual_tradition": { "id": "political-thought", "label": "Political thought and democracy" }, "period": { "id": "modern", "label": "Modern era" }, "languages": [ "en", "fr" ], "manifestations": [ { "coverage": "complete_for_attribution_partition", "file": "data/corpus/normalized/abraham_lincoln/papers_context/representations/en.ndjson", "language": "en", "records": 19210, "role": "archival_transcription", "sha256": "bdbd1855fd6c5d06c6e133d2235d2b74ded80136e4afc372369148b15f54c546", "source_id": "loc-abraham-lincoln-papers-complementary-datasets-2025" }, { "coverage": "source_attested_item_level_including_transcription_attested_french", "file": "data/corpus/normalized/abraham_lincoln/papers_context/representations/fr-source-attested-items-v1.ndjson", "language": "fr", "language_evidence": "LOC item title or item transcription attests French; exact source transcript is reused, including English archival annotation or Latin motto where present.", "records": 26, "role": "archival_transcription_source_attested_french", "sha256": "c643f4aa00eda5a82d465db4e082648321a8def6684ae841b1da224fcefe22d5", "source_id": "loc-lincoln-by-the-people-2025-12-01", "publication_year": 2026, "publication_year_basis": "source_metadata" } ], "concepts": [ { "id": "academic_skepticism", "label": "Academic skepticism" }, { "id": "affects", "label": "Affects" }, { "id": "attribute", "label": "Attribute" }, { "id": "care_of_soul", "label": "Care of the soul" }, { "id": "civil_war", "label": "Civil war" }, { "id": "constitutional_government", "label": "Constitutional government" }, { "id": "democracy", "label": "Democracy" }, { "id": "ether_field", "label": "Ether and field" }, { "id": "faith", "label": "Faith" }, { "id": "family", "label": "Family" }, { "id": "fear", "label": "Fear" }, { "id": "freedom", "label": "Freedom" }, { "id": "friendship", "label": "Friendship" }, { "id": "god", "label": "God" }, { "id": "hope", "label": "Hope" }, { "id": "judgment", "label": "Judgment" }, { "id": "justice", "label": "Justice" }, { "id": "law", "label": "Law" }, { "id": "mindfulness", "label": "Mindfulness" }, { "id": "peace", "label": "Peace" }, { "id": "pleasure", "label": "Pleasure" }, { "id": "political_union", "label": "Political union" }, { "id": "reason", "label": "Reason" }, { "id": "roles", "label": "Roles and relationships" }, { "id": "service", "label": "Service" }, { "id": "sin", "label": "Sin" }, { "id": "slavery", "label": "Slavery" }, { "id": "time", "label": "Time" }, { "id": "war_and_peace", "label": "War and peace" } ], "source_work_ids": [ "abraham_lincoln.papers_context" ], "passages": 19210, "word_count": 7989852, "word_counts_by_language": { "en": 7989852, "fr": 8149 }, "editorial_status": "curated_semantic_v1", "structure": { "citation_scheme": "loc-abraham-lincoln-papers-item-v1", "kind": "native", "levels": [ { "key": "archive_item", "label_fr": "Document d’archive", "label_en": "Archive item" } ], "leaf_fr": "Document", "leaf_en": "Document" }, "canonical_passage_id": "passage:abraham_lincoln.papers_context:mal0571000", "canonical_ref": "mal0571000", "canonical_parent_ref": null, "canonical_parent_id": null, "representations": [ { "language": "en", "text": "Hartford Daily Courant\nSaturday Morning, January 19 1861\n\nLetter from Henry Sherman to Senator Benjamin.\nHartford, January 3d, 1861.\n\nHon. J. P. Benjamin-\nMy Dear Sir:-I cannot express to you with how\nmuch pain and regret I read the announcement that\nyou were an advocate for secession; and until I read\nthe telegraph report of your speech, I still hoped it\nwas not really so. You are, in my judgment, decidedly\nin the wrong; and your argument, if I may\njudge of it from what I have seen in the papers, does\nnot come up to your usual statesman-like ability and\ndignity. I will suspend my opinion, however, till I\nsee a full report of it, which I trust you will send me.\nI may say in passing, that, in all that has been alledged\nand argued on your side, I have not yet seen\nany positive, distinct, or tangible cause for dissatisfaction\non the part of the slave holding States, which\ncould not be removed by constitutional means within\nthe Union.\nThe great mistake you make, the great mistake all\nyour politicians make, is, in supposing \"that the people\nof the North hate the South.\" It is not true. -\nThey do not even hate slavery enough to engender\nany such rankerous hostility towards your people.\nIn a lifelong intercourse and observation among all\nclasses, in almost all of the Eastern and Middle\nStates, I have never heard from man, woman, or\nchild, any expressions of hatred towards their Southern\nbrethren. In this our people are grossly abused\nand misrepresented.\nAnother great mistake you labor under, is, in believing\nthat all who voted with the Republican party,\nfor Mr. Lincoln, are abolitionists or sectionalists. It\nis not true, by a long shot. Reform yourselves, therefore,\nof these errors, in which you do great dishonor\nand injustice to many of the very best friends of the\nSouth in our midst.\nI think you will regret it all the days of your life,\nif you urge and help on your State into secession\nThere is no such thing in the Constitution, or in the\ntheory of our government, even as respects the original\nStates, (which never were exclusively sovereign\nin any part of their history;) and it cannot in any\nevent be made to consist with your senatorial oath.\nYou certainly have not forgotten the definition the\nold law books give us of outlawry? There is an outlawry\nof States and nations, as well as of individuals,\nwhich is a fearful condition for a State or nation to\nfall into. What is South Carolina to-day but an out-lawed\nState, so far as her relations with our national\ngovernment and with civilized nations are concerned?\nShe is self-outlawed. Every one of her public fuctionaries,\nand all the abettors of her secession, are\nacting in violation of their own most solemn oaths of\nallegiance to the Federal Constitution, and their most\nsacred obligations to foreign powers who have formed\ntreaties of amity and commerce with the national\ngovernment. Will respectable governments, or civilized\nnations, make treaties of amity and commerce\nwith outlaws? - or with any confederation of such?\nWill the millions of American freemen who voted\nfor Mr. Lincoln, and Mr. Douglas, and Mr. Bell,\ntamely see such a confederacy wrest from them, their\ngovernment, their constitutional rights, their national\nproperty, and their national honor? No, depend upon it, NO, NEVER.\nBut how are you to justify the secession of Louisiana?\nUpon what ground do you establish her right\nto withdraw from the Union? Was she ever out of\nit, as a State organization? Did she accede to it as\nsuch? Certainly not. The domain and sovereignty\nof Louisiana, when first known to our government,\nwas imperial in France. She was a territorial dependency.\nThe government of the United States\npurchased her in the territorial capacity, in her territorial\ndependence. It purchased both, the domain,\nand the imperial sovereignty of France over it; and\nthat territory became thenceforth the absolute property\nof the United States. The people inhabiting it\nbecame subject to the sovereign power of our national\ngovernment. They also became members of the\nAmerican Union. \"Citizens,\" as the convention\nwith France stipulated, \" of the United States,\" and\nyet they were not a State. I say, as a territory and a\npeople they were in the Union, and yet they were not\na State. They possessed no attribute of independence\nwhich entitled them to be called, or to become\na State. You will not say that they could have repudiated\ntheir allegiance to the national government,\nand have proclaimed themselves independent of its\nsovereignty without becoming rebels? Would France\nhave sustained them in any such attempt at revolution?\nWell then, tell me, if you can, when they\nacquired and independence, or sovereignty as a State\norganization, which gives them any such right of secession?\nIt was the national government of the\nUnion that nursed and trained their territorial infancy,\nand led them up to the position of a State organization;\n\nand gave them a State's rights, a State's\njurisdiction and government, within a State's precincts;\nall of these rights still subject to the paramount\nsovereignty, the paramount rights, and the\nparamount powers of jurisdiction of the government\nand laws of the United States. What preposterous\nlogic then, to say that they have now a right to throw\noff their allegiance to this government, and to become\nan independent sovereign nation, by a mere resolution,\nor ordinance, of secession! - and that they can\ncall upon both France and the United States to recognize\nthem as such!\nIt is proposed in Congress, by way of conciliation,\nto permit New Mexico to become a State organization,\nand to take a position in the Union as such, on\nthe same footing with the other States. But for what\nend? On your theory of secession, the moment this\nis done she can repudiate her allegiance to the government\nof the United States, declare herself independent\nof its sovereignty, and become confederate\nwith the other seceding States in at empting to destroy\nthis Union. We, who do not believe in the\nright of secession, say no; better to let New Mexico\nremain as she is, until we settle the question whether\nor not we have a national government which can\ncompel the allegiance which is its due.\nAgain: it is proposed in Congress by way of conciliation\nto divide the present territory of the United\nStates by the old Missouri Compromise line, and\npermit the people on either side to erect themselves\ninto a State organization, and as such to take\na position in the Union on the same footing with the\nother States. But for what end? According to your\ntheory of secession, as soon as this is done, either or\nboth may declare themselves independent of the government\nof the United State, disavow their allegiance\nto its sovereignty, and become confederate with\nthe other seedling States in attempting to destroy this\nUnion. Again, we do not believe in secession,\nsay, no; better to let the territory remain as it is, in\nunquestioned submission to the national sovereignty,\nuntil we settle the question whether we have a national\ngovernment which can compel the allegiance which\nis its due.\nAnd yet again: it has proposed, and you have\nadvocated the proposition, that we purchase Cuba\nfrom Spain, at an immense cost. Suppose we should?\nYou will admit that Cuba is thus in the Union, and\nthat her inhabitants have, in consequence, become\nsubject to the government of the United States.-\nYou must admit that they would owe to it the\nsame allegiance they previously owed to Spain.-\nYou must also admit that if they should repudiate\nsuch allegiance they would become rebels, that they\nshould be treated as rebels,and must be subjugated as\nrebels. But, on your theory of secession, all they\nhave to do is, to wait till they are permitted to erect\nthemselves into a State organization,and to take a position\nin the Union as such on the same footing with\nthe other States ; and then they may throw off their\nallegiance to the national government, declare themselves\nwholly independent of its sovereignty, by a\nsimple resolution or ordinance of secession, and become\nconfederate with the other seceding States in\nattempting to destroy this Union. And all this without\none word being said, or any reference made, to\nslavery. Is it not plain how preposterous is your\nlogic? How subversive of all government and all\nloyalty. Yet Cuba would be but an illustration of\nwhat you are claiming for Louisiana. We who do\nnot believe in secession, say, no; let Cuba alone until\nwe settle the question whether we have a national\ngovernment which could compel the allegiance which\nwould be its due.\nBut again: How would your convention resolve\nthe State of Louisiana out of the Union? You cannot\nadopt the ordinance of South Carolina, worthless\nas it is. Would you resolve that the treaty between\nFrance and the United States for the purchase of the\nLouisiana Territory was void,and cancel it as respects\nyour State? You then become subjects of France.\nAnd will France recognize your independence of the\nUnited States and of herself too? Would you resolve\nthat the act of Congress permitting your people\nto erect themselves into a State organization, and as\nsuch to take a position in the Union on the same\nfooting with the other States, is void, and cancel it?\nYou then become a territorial dependency of the\nUnited States, and if you rebel against its sovereignty\nyou will be treated as rebels. No, my dear Sir,\nNO; there is not such thing as secession, peaceable\nor otherwise. The seceding States become outlaws,\nor rebels, in the eyes of the whole civilized world.\nYou cannot make it any more respectable by endeavoring\nto complicate it with slavery. The position of\nan honorable, upright, and respectable power on earth\ncannot be gained, even among nations, by a violation\nof good faith. Nor could it be upheld by men, or\nStates, who trample upon the sanctity of constitutional\nobligations or Senatorial oaths, or who madly\nresolve to overthrow the best and freest government\nGod ever permitted man to establish upon his footstool,\nsimply because its organism gives to a free\npeople power to elect whoever they may see fit, to the\nhigh and responsible trust of administering its functions\nand executing its laws.\nYou and I, my dear Sir, have known each other\nlong and well. From the time we first entered old\nYale together until now, I have watched your progress\nthrough life with a pleasure, an interest, and\nwith a pride, which you and I can understand. I\nshall grieve over it with unaffected sorrow, if a career\nso brilliant as yours has been, shall end in an infamy\nso foul as, to my mind, seems to wait on the\nprecipitate and persistent leaders and abettors of secession,\ndisunion and treason.\nYours, always truly, HENRY SHERMAN\n\nIt turns out that the contingent of U.S. arms for\nthe year 1861 has been distributed to the Southern\nStates in advance, the most shameful evidence of the\ntreason of Floyd yet produced.", "edition": "Library of Congress Abraham Lincoln Papers transcription dataset", "source_id": "loc-lincoln-by-the-people-2025-12-01" } ], "content_checksum": "b17f0ea3f314f560ff7be51d9c7ffa1bd171de22c7d0aa40985aa167d1b88a3c" }