SAMUEL J. RANDALL - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 10/26/1871 - HFSID 30362

SAMUEL J. RANDALL. ALS: "Samuel J. Randall", 4p, 4¼x7, ruled sheets. Jenkintown, Montgomery County [Pennsylvania], 1871 October 28. To Gen W. S. Hancock. In part: "I send you today a paper the 'Patriot' which gives a full & fair evaluation of our defeat & its causes. Our friends everywhere in the States wanted rest and our defeat made them little disposed to discuss or reflect upon the next Presidential candidates...I do not hear of any candidates for delegates within the City - to the State Convention except your friends, and I look for little trouble from them...I write to say to all my friends that our disaster (unexpected to me) makes your nomination a necessity. When we have consulted, we shall then make out further work. The Radicals are in great glee & feel assured of an easy victory for Grant in 72, but I have seen many...changes in politics. There may be another this year...." SAMUEL J. RANDALL represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1863 until his death in 1890, serving as Speaker of the House from 1876-1881. The addressee, General WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK, had sought the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1868 and was seeking support for another bid. Randall, who was supporting Hancock here, would be his rival for the nomination in 1876 and 1880. Nominated in 1880, Hancock lost to Garfield. Lightly creased. Folds. Vertical folds touch the "n" in Randall and some text. Fine condition.