Sangamo Journal

[Amy L.]

Dated this day 177 years ago, a contribution to the Sangamon Journal -

LETTER FROM THE LOST TOWNSHIPS

I see you printed that long letter I sent you a spell ago --- I'm quite encouraged by it, and can't keep from writing again. ...

...
"`Loss, damnation!' says he, `.. I defy even you, aunt Becca, to show how the people can lose any thing by paying their taxes in State paper.'

"`Well,' says I, `you see what the officers of State say about it, and they are a desarnin set of men.' `But,' says I, `I guess you're mistaken about what the proclamation says; it don't say the people will lose any thing by the paper money being taken for taxes. It only says ``there will be danger of loss,''

...

"All the galls about town was there, and all the handsome widows, and married women, finickin about, trying to look like galls, tied as tight in the middle, and puffed out at both ends like bundles of fodder that hadn't been stacked yet, but wanted stackin pretty bad. ... They wouldn't let no democrats in, for fear they'd... dirty the floor. I looked in at the window, and there was this same fellow Shields floatin about on the air, without heft or earthly substance, just like a lock of cat-fur where cats had been fightin."
...
And now Mr. Printer, will you be sure to let us know in your next paper whether this Shields is a whig or a democrat? I don't care about it for myself, for I know well enough how it is already, but I want to convince Jeff. It may do some good to let him, and others like him, know who and what these officers of State are. It may help to send the present hypocritical set to where they belong, and to fill the places they now disgrace with men who will do more work, for less pay, and take a fewer airs while they are doing it. It aint sensible to think that the same men who get us into trouble will change their course; and yet its pretty plain, if some change for the better is not made, its not long that neither Peggy, or I, or any of us, will have a cow left to milk, or a calf's tail to wring.
Yours, truly, REBECCA---.


https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/te...ncoln1:310

[RJNorton]

Thank you to Gene who once posted (explained) about the Rebecca letters:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"In 1842 Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd along with one of her friends, Julia Jayne, wrote a series of political letters to the Sangamon Journal that were laced with satire and aimed at James Shields and signed "Rebecca". Shields became very upset and demanded the editor furnish him with the authors name. Lincoln, chivalrously told the editor to tell Shields that he, Lincoln had written them. The incident got a bit more involved than Mary or Abraham intended and Shields challenged Lincoln to a duel. How much of the letters Lincoln actually wrote is still questioned."

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lin...w=fulltext

http://www.historynet.com/abraham-lincol...r-duel.htm

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[David Lockmiller]

(08-27-2019 06:36 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thank you to Gene who once posted (explained) about the Rebecca letters:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"In 1842 Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd along with one of her friends, Julia Jayne, wrote a series of political letters to the Sangamon Journal that were laced with satire and aimed at James Shields and signed "Rebecca". Shields became very upset and demanded the editor furnish him with the authors name. Lincoln, chivalrously told the editor to tell Shields that he, Lincoln had written them. The incident got a bit more involved than Mary or Abraham intended and Shields challenged Lincoln to a duel. How much of the letters Lincoln actually wrote is still questioned."

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lin...w=fulltext

http://www.historynet.com/abraham-lincol...r-duel.htm

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lincoln, chivalrously told the editor to tell Shields that he, Lincoln had written them.

Lincoln thought about what was going to happen next and made this decision. Mary, with all her wit and charm, how would she have responded to a challenge from Shields?

[RJNorton]

(08-27-2019 10:21 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Mary, with all her wit and charm, how would she have responded to a challenge from Shields?

Good question!

[Gene C]

Personally, I don't believe the editor would have told Shields that Mary and/or her friend wrote them.
He may have given Shields an opportunity to refute and/or explain his political position, but who knows?

If the editor had told Shields who wrote them, I'm not sure Shields would have directly confronted Mary or her friend.
Either way, Lincoln would become involved some how.

[David Lockmiller]

(08-27-2019 11:22 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(08-27-2019 10:21 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Mary, with all her wit and charm, how would she have responded to a challenge from Shields?

Good question!

Literally, Mr. Lincoln almost had to fall on his sword for the "Mary" prankster.

[Mylye2222]

Those satirical letters look like 19th century version of SNL skits.