Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of a letter sent from Abraham Lincoln to John E. Rosette, editor of the Springfield Republican.
A native of Delaware, Ohio, John E. Rosette (1824-1881) moved to Springfield, Illinois, in 1855 at the request of Abraham Lincoln. He practiced law with the Sangamon County Bar for nearly thirty years and was editor of the Springfield Republican, a short-lived newspaper printed in 1857.
In the letter, dated February 20, 1857, Abraham Lincoln wrote privately to John E. Rosette wishing to resolve a misunderstanding between Mary Lincoln and the carrier of the paper. In the days prior, an issue of the Springfield Republican was delivered to the Lincoln home, and Mary Lincoln chided her husband for "taking another worthless paper." Lincoln responded that he had not instructed the paper to be delivered. Mary Lincoln then sent a message to the carrier; the contents of her note are unknown, though it is believed that the Republican printed a "little paragraph" in response to her comments to the carrier in the following issue. Afterward, Lincoln wrote to Rosette to tell him the "whole story."
A transcription of this letter can be found The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (edited by Roy P. Basler, et al.) in Volume 2, on page 390. An online version of the transcription can be found in the online Collected Works: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2/1:422?rgn=div1;view=fulltext.
The Library purchased this letter in 2021 with support from the Kenneth B. and Ruth D. Henderson Fund and the Richard A. and Elaine S. Avner Fund.
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