Today, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential One Dollar Coin remembers President Lincoln’s letter of acceptance on June 27, 1864.
In early June of 1864, the third Republican National Convention occurred in Baltimore, Maryland. Mid-month, the committee sent the letter of nomination to the sitting president.
From the Life and Public Services of Abraham Lincoln, published in 1865 by Henry J. Raymond, the Republican National Committee’s letter follows:
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New York, June 14, 1864.
Hon. ABRAHAM LINCOLN : SIR:—
The National Union Convention, which assembled in Baltimore on June 7th, 1864, has instructed us to inform you that you were nominated with enthusiastic unanimity for the Presidency of the United States for four years from the 4th of March next.
The resolutions of the convention, which we have already had the pleasure of placing in your hands, are a full and clear statement of the principles which inspired its action, and which, as we believe, the great body of Union men in the country heartily approve.
Whether those resolutions express the national gratitude to our soldiers and sailors, or the national scorn of compromise with rebels, and consequent dishonor, or the patriotic duty of union and success; whether they approve the Proclamation of Emancipation, the Constitutional Amendment, the employment of former slaves as Union soldiers, or the solemn obligation of the Government promptly to redress the wrongs of every soldier of the Union, of whatever color or race; whether they declare the inviolability of the plighted faith of the nation, or offer the national hospitality to the oppressed of every land, or urge the union by railroad of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; whether they recommend public economy and vigorous taxation, or assert the fixed popular opposition to the establishment by armed force of foreign monarchies in the immediate neighborhood of the United States, or declare that those only are worthy of official trust who approve unreservedly the views and policy indicated in the resolutions they were equally hailed with the heartiness of profound conviction.
Believing with you, sir, that this is the people’s war for the maintenance of a Government which you have justly described as “of the people, by the people, for the people,” we are very sure that you will be glad to know, not only from the resolutions themselves, but from the singular harmony and enthusiasm with which they were adopted, how warm is the popular welcome of every measure in the prosecution of the war which is as vigorous, unmistakable, and unfaltering as the national purpose itself.
No right, for instance, is so precious and sacred to the American heart as that of personal liberty.
Its violation is regarded with just, instant, and universal jealousy.
Yet, in this hour of peril, every faithful citizen concedes that, for the sake of national existence and the common welfare, individual liberty may, as the Constitution provides in case of rebellion, be sometimes summarily constrained, asking only with painful anxiety that in every instance, and to the least detail, that absolute necessary power shall not be hastily or unwisely exercised.
We believe, sir, that the honest will of the Union men of the country was never more truly represented than in this convention.
Their purpose we believe to be the overthrow of armed rebels in the field, and the security of permanent peace and union, by liberty and justice, under the Constitution.
That these results are to be achieved amid cruel perplexities, they are fully aware.
That they are to be reached only through cordial unanimity of counsel, is undeniable.
That good men may sometimes differ as to the means and the time, they know.
That in the conduct of all human affairs the highest duty is to determine, in the angry conflict of passion, how much good may be practically accomplished, is their sincere persuasion.
They have watched your official course, therefore, with unflagging attention; and amid the bitter taunts of eager friends and the fierce denunciation of enemies, now moving too fast for some, now too slowly for others, they have seen you throughout this tremendous contest patient, sagacious, faithful, just-leaning upon the heart of the great mass of the people, and satisfied to be moved by its mighty pulsations.
It is for this reason that, long before the convention met, the popular instinct indicated you as its candidate; and the convention, therefore, merely recorded the popular will.
Your character and career prove your unswerving fidelity to the cardinal principles of American liberty and of the American Constitution.
In the name of that liberty and Constitution, sir, we earnestly request your acceptance of this nomination; reverently commending our beloved country, and you, its Chief Magistrate, with all its brave sons who, on sea and land, are faithfully defending the good old American cause of equal rights, to the blessing of Almighty God.
We are, sir, very respectfully, your friends and fellow-citizens.
William. Dennison, Ohio, Chairman.; W. Bushnell, Illinois; Josiah Drummond, Maine; L. P. Alexander, Michigan; Thomas E. Sawyer, New Hampshire; A. W. Randall, Wisconsin; Bradley Barlow, Vermont; A. Oliver, Iowa; A. H. Bullock, Massachusetts; Thomas Simpson, Minnesota; A. M. Gammell, Rhode Island; John Bidwell, California; C. S. Bushnell, Connecticut; Thomas H. Pearne, Oregon; G. W. Curtis, New York; Leroy Kramer, West Virginia; W. A. Newell, New Jersey; A. C. Wilder, Kansas; Henry Johnson, Pennsylvania; M. M. Brien, Tennessee; N. B. Smithers, Delaware; J. P. Greves, Nevada; W. L. W. Seabrook, Maryland; A. A. Atocha, Louisiana; John F. Hume, Missouri; A. S. Paddock, Nebraska; G. W. Hite, Kentucky; Valentine Dell, Arkansas; E. P. Tyffe, Ohio; John A. Nye, Colorado; Cyrus M. Allen, Indiana; A. B. Sloanaker, Utah.
REPLY OF MR. LINCOLN.
Executive Mansion, WASHINGTON, June 27, 1864.
Hon. W.M. DENNISON and others, a Committee of the Union National Convention:
GENTLEMEN:—Your letter of the 14th inst., formally notifying me that I have been nominated by the convention you represent for the Presidency of the United States for four years from the 4th of March next, has been received.
The nomination is gratefully accepted, as the resolutions of the convention, called the platform, are heartily approved.
While the resolution in regard to the supplanting of republican government upon the Western Continent is fully concurred in, there might be misunderstanding were I not to say that the position of the Government in relation to the action of France in Mexico, as assumed through the State Department and indorsed by the convention among the measures and acts of the Executive, will be faithfully maintained so long as the state of facts shall leave that position pertinent and applicable.
I am especially gratified that the soldier and seaman were not forgotten by the convention, as they forever must and will be remembered by the grateful country for whose salvation they devote their lives.
Thanking you for the kind and complimentary terms in which you have communicated the nomination and other proceedings of the convention, I subscribe myself, Your obedient servant,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
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The Abraham Lincoln Presidential One Dollar Coin shows beside an image of a telegram announcing his nomination at the Republican Convention of 1864.
