Lincoln writes to John J. Hardin, the Whig Party's nominee for Illinois's 7th Congressional District. Hardin, of Jacksonville, won the nomination over Lincoln's friend Edward D. Baker. Lincoln assures Hardin that Sangamon County's Whigs back Hardin's candidacy. As proof, Lincoln refers to a "proposal" that he submitted to a Springfield newspaper. It reads, "the majority of votes in SANGAMON COUNTY for Hardin shall DOUBLE the number of his majority in MORGAN COUNTY. The losing County shall give a free BARBACUE to the whigs of the other county—the said Barbacue to be provided at some place most convenient for the accomodation of the whigs of the two Counties. Whigs of Morgan, will you go it?"Abraham Lincoln to John J. Hardin, 11 May 1843, CW, 1:322-23; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 11 May 1843, 2:2, 2:5.

[Moultrie Circuit Court convenes at Sullivan.]