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Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 to George C. Latham re: encouraging Robert's friend to reapply to Harvard

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03876 Author/Creator: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Place Written: Springfield, Illinois Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 22 July 1860 Pagination: 2 p. : + blank Height: 20 cm, Width: 13.4 cm Order a Copy

Lincoln writes to his son's friend, who had been rejected by Harvard. He writes a letter of encouragement: "It is a certain truth, that you can enter, and graduate in, Harvard University; and having made the attempt, you must succeed in it. 'Must' is the word. [....] In your temporary failure there is no evidence that you may not yet be a better scholar, and a more successful man in the great struggle of life, than many others, who have entered college more easily. Again I say let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed." According the Lincoln's editor, Roy P. Basler, this document is Lincoln's greatest personal letter.

Basler, Roy P. The Collected Works Of Abraham Lincoln. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), Vol. IV 1860 - 1861,
p. 87.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
National Expansion and Reform, 1815-1860
President
Education
Philosophy
Children and Family
Age of Jackson
Lincoln

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