Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1860-07-14
rFrom the Augusta (Me.) Journal
FUNNY LETTER FROM LINCOLN.

DUMMY LETTER. FhOuA LIN OOM<As'
The Republicans Of Boston celebrated
Thon as Jefferson's Birthday on the 18th
Of April. 1859. Among those invited to
Be present was the Hon. Abraham Lincoln
who responded in a letter Of great power,
and of remarkable felicity Of expression. 1t
is platform in itself, worthy Of the in
dorsement of al who believe in the funda-
mental doctrines of Free Government as
taught by Thomas Jefferson, Here is the
letter.
SPRINGFIELD, H., April 8, 1859.
GENTLEMEN :-Y FOUR kind note, inviting
me to attend festival in Boston, on the
18th inst, In honor of the birthday OF
Thomas Jefferson, was duly received. My
engagements are such chat | cannot attend.
Bearing in mind that about seventy years
AGO two great political parties were first
formed III this country; that Thomas JEFF
ferson was the head of one of them and
Boston the headquarters of the other, it is
both curious and interesting that those sup
posed to descend politically from the party
opposedto Jefferson, should now be celebra-
ting his birthday in their own original seat
of empire, while those claiming political de-
scent from him have nearly ceased to breathe
his name everywhere.
Remembering, too, that the Jefferson
party was formed upon its supposed supe-
rior devotion e Is Tie personal rights ofmen
holding the rights of property to be Sec
ondary only, and greatly inferior; and then
assuming that the so-called Democracy OF
to-day are the Jefferson, and their oppo-
nents the anti-Jetferson parties, it will be
equally interesting to note how completely
the two have changed grounds as to the
principle upon which they were originally
supposed to be divided.
The Democracy of to-day hold the tiber-.
tn of one man to be absolutely nothing,
when in conflict with another mans right
ofproperty Republicans, on the contrary
are for both the man and the dollar, but
Ia case Of conflict the man before the dol
lar.
/ remember being once much amused at
seeing two pali sally intoxicated men engag-
ed III a fight with their great coats on,
which fight, after a long and rather harm
les. contest, ended ii each having fought
himself out of his own coat and into that Of
the other If the two leading parties of
this day are really Identical with the two
in the days Of Jefferson and Adams, they
have performed the same feat as the two
drunken men.
But soberIy, it is now no child's play to
save the principles of Jefferson from total
overthrow in this nation.
One would state with great confidence
that he could convince any sane chgd that
the simpler propositions of Euclid So ssce,,
but nevertheless, he woSid FIJI, .Assh one
who should deny the definitions Sid axi-
oms. The principles Of Jeherson9 are the
definitions and axioms Of free society
And vet they are denied and evadeJi,, with viii
no small show Of success. One dashingly,
calls them "glittering generalities." An
other bluntly styles them eHevident lies"
And others insidiously argue that they ap-
ply only to superior races.
These expressions; differing in form, are
identical in object and effect-the supplant-
ing the principles of free government, and
restoring those Of classification, caste, and
Legitimacy. They would delight a convo-
cation of crowned heads plotting against
the people. They are the vanguard, the
sappers and miners, ofreturning despotism.
Wemust repulse them, OF they will subju-
gate us.
This is 4 world Of compensations; and
he who woHH be no slave must consent to
hare no SLAVE. Those who deny freedom
to Others deserve it not for themselves; and
under a just God, cannot long retain it.
All honor to Jefferson--to the man who,
in the concrete pressure Of a struggle for
national independence by a single people,
had the GOODNESS, forecast, and capacity to
introduce into merely revolutionary docu-
ment an abstract truth, applicable to al
men and all times, and so to emhalm it
there, that to day and in all coming days il
shall be a rebuke and a stumbling block TO
sle harbingers Of reappearing tyranny and
oppression.
Your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN.
MEssRs. III. L. PIERCE, AND OTHERS.