In his March 26, 1843 letter to Martin M. Morris, Lincoln provided a word description of how he, Lincoln, appeared to voters who knew nothing of his background. “It would astonish if not amuse, the older citizens to learn that I (a stranger, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flatboat at ten dollars per month) have been put down here as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction."

After viewing the daguerreotype image one can readily appreciate how early 1840s voters, who knew Lincoln only by his appearance, would think that he was "the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction."