LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President . Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") to Indiana Congressman Elisha Embree, Springfield, 25 May 1849. 1 full page, 4to, marked at top by Lincoln "Confidential," docketed on verso, lightly browned . LINCOLN LOBBIES FOR A PATRONAGE APPOINTMENT FROM THE TAYLOR ADMINISTRATION Lincoln had been a delegate to the Whig convention in 1848, supported the candidacy of Zachary Taylor and vigorously campaigned for him in Massachusetts, Illinois and Maryland. When Lincoln's one term in the U.S. Congress ended in March 1849, he decided not to seek re-election and returned to Springfield, where he busied himself with his state's patronage claims on the new Taylor administration. In the persent letter, to an old Whig colleague from the House, written two months after Taylor's inauguration, Lincoln actively pursues an appointment in the Land Office to which he felt entitled. "I am about to ask a favor of you -- one which, I hope will not cost you much. I understand the General Land Office is about to be given to Illinois; and that Mr. [Thomas] Ewing [Secretary of Interior] desires Justin Butterfield, of Chicago, to be the man. I give you my word, the appointment of Mr. B will be an egregious political blunder. It will give offence to the whole whig party here, and be worse than a dead loss to the administration, of so much of its patronage. Now, if you can conscientiously do so, I wish you to write General Taylor at once, saying that either I, or the man I recommend , should be appointed to that office, if any one from Illinois, shall be. I restrict my request to Illinois, because I think it probable you have already recommended some one, probably from your own state; and I do not wish to interfere with that..." Basler, 2:51. Lincoln's strenuous efforts to win the plum appointment over Butterfield were unsuccessful. Instead, he was offered the post of Governor of Oregon Territory, which he declined. "While concern for his family probably determined his decision, political considerations no doubt reinforced it. Oregon...would have been a poor field of action for an ambitious Whig" (Fehrenbacher, Prelude to Greatness: Lincoln in the 1850s , p. 20). Provenance : Elsie O. Sang (sale, Sotheby's New York, 27 March 1985, lot 11).
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President . Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") to Indiana Congressman Elisha Embree, Springfield, 25 May 1849. 1 full page, 4to, marked at top by Lincoln "Confidential," docketed on verso, lightly browned . LINCOLN LOBBIES FOR A PATRONAGE APPOINTMENT FROM THE TAYLOR ADMINISTRATION Lincoln had been a delegate to the Whig convention in 1848, supported the candidacy of Zachary Taylor and vigorously campaigned for him in Massachusetts, Illinois and Maryland. When Lincoln's one term in the U.S. Congress ended in March 1849, he decided not to seek re-election and returned to Springfield, where he busied himself with his state's patronage claims on the new Taylor administration. In the persent letter, to an old Whig colleague from the House, written two months after Taylor's inauguration, Lincoln actively pursues an appointment in the Land Office to which he felt entitled. "I am about to ask a favor of you -- one which, I hope will not cost you much. I understand the General Land Office is about to be given to Illinois; and that Mr. [Thomas] Ewing [Secretary of Interior] desires Justin Butterfield, of Chicago, to be the man. I give you my word, the appointment of Mr. B will be an egregious political blunder. It will give offence to the whole whig party here, and be worse than a dead loss to the administration, of so much of its patronage. Now, if you can conscientiously do so, I wish you to write General Taylor at once, saying that either I, or the man I recommend , should be appointed to that office, if any one from Illinois, shall be. I restrict my request to Illinois, because I think it probable you have already recommended some one, probably from your own state; and I do not wish to interfere with that..." Basler, 2:51. Lincoln's strenuous efforts to win the plum appointment over Butterfield were unsuccessful. Instead, he was offered the post of Governor of Oregon Territory, which he declined. "While concern for his family probably determined his decision, political considerations no doubt reinforced it. Oregon...would have been a poor field of action for an ambitious Whig" (Fehrenbacher, Prelude to Greatness: Lincoln in the 1850s , p. 20). Provenance : Elsie O. Sang (sale, Sotheby's New York, 27 March 1985, lot 11).
Testen Sie LotSearch und seine Premium-Features 7 Tage - ohne Kosten!
Lassen Sie sich automatisch über neue Objekte in kommenden Auktionen benachrichtigen.
Suchauftrag anlegen
.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
