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LINCOLN, Abraham (1809-1865), President. Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") to Thomas Meharry, Urbana, Illinois, 21 April 1857. 1 page, 4to, with autograph address panel and cancelled postage.
LINCOLN IN THE BUSIEST CHAPTER OF HIS LEGAL CAREER: "I CAN NOT TELL IN ADVANCE WHAT FEE I WOULD CHARGE, BECAUSE I CAN NOT KNOW THE AMOUNT OF TROUBLE I MAY HAVE."
A fine example of Lincoln's legal correspondence (some 200 words in his hand). Hard at work on the Illinois court circuit, Lincoln answers Meharry's request to take on his case, and possibly a similar case involving his brother: "Owing to absence from home your letter of the 6th was received only two days ago. The land in question, as I suppose, is the two dollar and a half land, and my opinion is that there can be no lawful preemptions on those lands, based on a settlement made after, the allotment of those lands, in 1852 or 3 I think. If I am right in this opinion, your entry is valid, and you can recover the land. I suppose yours, and your brother's adversary, are in possession; and if so, I would advise suits in Ejectment to be brought in the U. S. court, at Springfield. I can not tell in advance what fee I would charge, because I can not know the amount of trouble I may have. If the pre-emptioners have had patents issued to them, the cases, as I think, can still be managed, but they will be a good deal more troublesome. If you conclude to have suits brought, & to engage me to bring them, call and see me at Springfield from the 5th to the 10th of May, at which time you will probably find me at home. I mention this, because I am absent a good deal." He certainly was. In the week prior to writing this letter from Urbana, Lincoln had also traveled to Pekin and Metamora, and was back in Springfield on the 22nd. He threw himself into his work with special intensity in 1857 because he sensed that his growing outrage over the slavery question would increasingly draw him into political combat and cut into his future income. On 26 June he would give a major address in Springfield attacking the Dred Scott decision, and in 1858 would wage the first of his two great contests with Stephen A. Douglas. Published in Basler, 2:393-94.
LINCOLN IN THE BUSIEST CHAPTER OF HIS LEGAL CAREER: "I CAN NOT TELL IN ADVANCE WHAT FEE I WOULD CHARGE, BECAUSE I CAN NOT KNOW THE AMOUNT OF TROUBLE I MAY HAVE."
A fine example of Lincoln's legal correspondence (some 200 words in his hand). Hard at work on the Illinois court circuit, Lincoln answers Meharry's request to take on his case, and possibly a similar case involving his brother: "Owing to absence from home your letter of the 6th was received only two days ago. The land in question, as I suppose, is the two dollar and a half land, and my opinion is that there can be no lawful preemptions on those lands, based on a settlement made after, the allotment of those lands, in 1852 or 3 I think. If I am right in this opinion, your entry is valid, and you can recover the land. I suppose yours, and your brother's adversary, are in possession; and if so, I would advise suits in Ejectment to be brought in the U. S. court, at Springfield. I can not tell in advance what fee I would charge, because I can not know the amount of trouble I may have. If the pre-emptioners have had patents issued to them, the cases, as I think, can still be managed, but they will be a good deal more troublesome. If you conclude to have suits brought, & to engage me to bring them, call and see me at Springfield from the 5th to the 10th of May, at which time you will probably find me at home. I mention this, because I am absent a good deal." He certainly was. In the week prior to writing this letter from Urbana, Lincoln had also traveled to Pekin and Metamora, and was back in Springfield on the 22nd. He threw himself into his work with special intensity in 1857 because he sensed that his growing outrage over the slavery question would increasingly draw him into political combat and cut into his future income. On 26 June he would give a major address in Springfield attacking the Dred Scott decision, and in 1858 would wage the first of his two great contests with Stephen A. Douglas. Published in Basler, 2:393-94.