Encounters
''begrudge'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜encounter｜ENC｜20260904152658-51-•
In mid-May, Lincoln told Joshua Speed that he would cheerfully abide by the results of the Pekin convention: “we shall have no split or trouble about the matter; all will be harmony.” Lincoln’s friend Simeon Francis urged Hardin to “banish every thought from your mind that there is dissatisfaction with your nomination.” Playfully, Lincoln challenged Hardin to a contest: if Sangamon County delivered a majority for Hardin more than double the majority he won in his home county of Morgan, then the Morgan County Whigs would have to throw a barbecue for their counterparts in Sangamon. To help make sure that he won his bet, Lincoln campaigned for Hardin extensively throughout Sangamon County. But despite what he said to Speed, Lincoln apparently begrudged Hardin the nomination. He may also have felt that Hardin’s triumph over Baker was unfair. (Hardin’s reputation for integrity was not spotless; some questioned his honesty.) On election day Lincoln did not vote for Hardin, who won the district handily; instead, he cast ballots for justice of the peace and constable, refusing to express any preference for congressional or county office candidates. Such uncharacteristically spiteful behavior suggests the intensity of his disappointment. That disappointment was shared by his wife, who wept copiously on the day that Hardin left Illinois to take his seat in Congress.
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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