AN ELECTION WILL BE HELD ON MONDAY, THE 3D DAY OF NEXT JUNE, IN THE SECOND GRAND DIVISION, FOR AN ASSOCIATE JUSTICE AND FOR CLERK OF THE SUPREME COURT. . . YOU ARE AWARE THAT THE EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENTS OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT ARE ALREADY IN THE HANDS OF THE RADICALS. THE JUDICIARY ALONE HAS, SO FAR, ESCAPED THEIR DOMINATION, AND INTERPOSE THE ONLY BARRIER TO THEIR REVOLUTIONARY AND DISORGANIZING SCHEMES

Broadside, 5" x 8." Dated in typescript "Springfield, Ill., May 14, 1867. In handwriting at top margin: "Confidential." Addressed in ink handwriting to "Hon. James M. Epler." McClernand signs in type as Chairman of the Democratic Central Committee. Old horizontal folds, Near Fine. McClernand, now the Chair of the Illinois Democratic Central Committee, was Lincoln's contemporary. A Democratic Congressman, he was an ally of another Illinois politician, Stephen A. Douglas. As a Civil War general, a rank he gained largely through political maneuvering, he was considered incompetent and relieved of command in June 1863. After the War, McClernand was a leading opponent of Congressional Reconstruction. Here he warns that, if Democrats do not halt Republican inroads, "the fault will be ours, the spirit of lawlessness may be stimulated to still greater boldness, the Judiciary may be converted into a party engine, and the calamities which now distract the country may be rendered more grievous.".