As things begin to intensify before the election, a new problem has come to my attention: voter fraud. This past afternoon, I wrote to my friend Norman Judd, explaining my views and presenting any way to prevent it. The way I see it, these carpetbaggers are coming from counties where they know their vote would not have an impact, and are settling temporarily in counties where their vote would have an impact. As I said to Norman, I now have a high degree of confidence that we shall succeed, if we are not over-run with fraudulent votes to a greater extent than usual. I'm not sure how this can be done effectively in a legal manner, so perhaps other methods are necessary. I hope Norman did not think me a scoundrel, but the only way I see the playing grounds to be fair again, is if we are deceitful ourselves. Do the ends justify the means? I believe so. I believe in fairness and equality as the highest principle, no matter how it can be attained. At this point, I'm not exactly sure how to go about doing this. In my letter, I suggested that a true man of the "detective'' class be introduced among them in disguise, who could, at the nick of time, control their votes . I was a little unclear to Mr. Judd, probably because I am a little unclear myself. But, if we plant carpetbaggers into certain counties to bribe other carpetbaggers in our favor, perhaps this may do the trick. I will need to think about this issue some more, and look forward to hearing back from Norman.
A. Lincoln
This entry is based off of a letter Abraham Lincoln wrote to Norman Judd on October 20, 1858. Additional information and interpretation come from Michael Burlingam's A Life, vol. 1 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1493. Further reading can be found at the Lincoln's Writing website (http://housedivided.dickinson.edu/sites/lincoln/letter-to-norman-judd-october-20-1858/)
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