Carl Schurz meets with Abraham Lincoln, July 1860

Carl Schurz. Letter, July 27, 1860, regarding Abraham Lincoln


Carl Schurz (1829-1906) was a German immigrant who settled in Watertown, Wisconsin, and became a leading anti-slavery advocate and Republican politician. In 1860, he led the Wisconsin delegation to the Republican Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln, and in the summer and fall of that year campaigned enthusiastically for his candidate. On July 24, 1860, he gave a campaign speech in Springfield, Illinois, which Lincoln attended and the two spent much of the evening together. The next morning Schurz wrote the letter translated here, describing to his wife his meeting with Lincoln and Lincoln's gift of an inscribed copy of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates (the inscription is also linked below).

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Related Topics: Wisconsin in the Civil War Era
Abolition and Other Reforms
Wisconsin and the Republican Party
Creator: Schurz, Carl (1829-1906)
Pub Data: English translation of letter to Margarethe Schurz, July 25, 1860 in Wisconsin Historical Society Archives (Wis Mss GN); this translation was published in Wisconsin Then and Now, Jan. 1963. Inscription by Abraham Lincoln in Political debates between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas... Columbus, Ohio: Follett, Foster, 1860. (WHS Rare Book Collection E457.4 L732a).
Citation: Shurz, Carl. Autograph letter to Margarethe Schurz, July 25, 1860; Wis Mss GN. Online facsimile at:  http://wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=1625; Visited on: 4/25/2024