A letter that could move an election
United States, 20 October 1880. James A. Garfield, a candidate in the approaching election, learns by telegram that a letter on the “Chinese question” is being attributed to him. The text is addressed to H. L. Morey of Lynn, Massachusetts. Garfield writes in his diary that the accusation could cost him the Pacific Coast: his alleged position on labor has become an immediate electoral stake.
The facsimile published by a hostile anti-Garfield broadside puts words in the candidate’s name. The letter says that individuals and companies have the right to buy labor wherever it is cheapest. It also calls for maintaining the treaty with the Chinese government until manufacturing and corporate interests are protected.
This document allows the exact accusation to be read, not the hand that wrote it to be authenticated. The broadside is an opposing campaign publication; its facsimile proves neither that Garfield signed the letter, that Morey received it, nor who made the forgery.
In his diary, Garfield answers that he wrote no such letter, had never heard of Morey and had never expressed its sentiment. The file therefore opens with two different kinds of object: a campaign text assigning him a position and the private self-defense of the man it targets.
Clipped editorial summary based on L01, L02. Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Printed Ephemera Collection. Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, James A. Garfield Papers. Locators: L01 (item 2020781913; image 001dr; facsimile letter body beginning ‘Yours in relation’ and ending ‘matter of labor’) ; L02 (item mss219560003; digital image 0202; diary entries Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 October 1880). No source pixels or institutional OCR are reused; allegations, denials and rulings remain attributed.