Lincoln wrote the 1863 letter to James C. Conkling, his friend and a former member of the Illinois House of Representatives, to address the concerns of citizens of Illinois as well as the greater public. The war, in its third year, continued. Northern Democrats shared uncertainties over the president’s policies and wanted peace. The Illinois legislature, which Conkling then served as a state agent, had condemned the Emancipation Proclamation and demanded its retraction.