Henry Asbury to K. K. Jones, 2 October 1882 (SC-5836), American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio.

In response to a letter from K. K. Jones, an Illinois Republican writing a history of the 1860 Republican National Convention, Henry Asbury reflected on how and why Abraham Lincoln was nominated and then elected. Asbury was present at the 1860 Illinois Republican Party Convention in Decatur which put Lincoln on track to the presidency, and his law partner, Abraham Jonas (a friend and champion of Lincoln), was present at the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago which actually nominated Lincoln for the presidency.

Asbury described these conventions, and corrected some factual errors of Jones, before moving on to the question of why Lincoln was elected. Asbury stressed Lincoln?s honesty and candor as a politician, tracing Lincoln?s career through his debates with Stephen Douglas for the Illinois Senate seat in 1858 (including the text of a letter Lincoln wrote him at that time), the Decatur and Chicago Conventions of 1860, and Lincoln?s presidency, noting his abilities in coping with the national divide, Civil War, and the issue of slavery. Asbury believed that Lincoln was nominated and then elected due to a people?s movement, rather than the work of any one man or group of men.

Asbury concluded the letter with the statement: ?Lincoln was only known as honest and great ? His short record was clean. Does any man now wonder why and how he was elected President of the United States?? (page twenty-one)

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