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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE NEW YORK COLLECTION
LINCOLN, Abraham (1809-1865), President. Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") to Hezekiah M. Wead (1810-1876), Springfield, 6 December 1846. 1 page, 4to, blank integral, address leaf in Lincoln's hand, small closed tear at seal (only fragment of seal remaining).
Details
LINCOLN, Abraham (1809-1865), President. Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") to Hezekiah M. Wead (1810-1876), Springfield, 6 December 1846. 1 page, 4to, blank integral, address leaf in Lincoln's hand, small closed tear at seal (only fragment of seal remaining).
LINCOLN TELLS "FRIEND WEAD" TO GET READY FOR TRIAL and promises "that I will have your declaration filed and rule taken tomorrow, according to Gunter. Your case of Nicholas vs. Herbert, stands on the Docket No. 57, assigned to no particular day for trial. If the opposite party will be ready to try it, as soon as the court will, my opinion is you may come right along. My recollection is that I have never known the trial of a case in this court, delayed beyond the first week, where both parties are ready for trial." Wead, a native Vermonter, came out to Illinois to pursue his legal career and, like Lincoln, he had an appetite for politics and a hunger for public office. Unlike Lincoln, he was a Democrat and possessed of somewhat combative personality. Yet when Lincoln won the Republican Party nomination in May 1860, Wead congratulated him and fondly recalled how "we have toiled & struggled in the same profession for success, and my feelings have ever been kind towards you." As a Democrat he could not vote for Lincoln for President, but promised to do or say nothing "unkind or unfair...Indeed, I have always regarded you as one of the fairest political opponents" (Wead to Lincoln, 24 May 1860, LoC). Although a Democrat, Wead opposed secession and strongly supported Lincoln's unwavering determination to crush the rebellion.
LINCOLN TELLS "FRIEND WEAD" TO GET READY FOR TRIAL and promises "that I will have your declaration filed and rule taken tomorrow, according to Gunter. Your case of Nicholas vs. Herbert, stands on the Docket No. 57, assigned to no particular day for trial. If the opposite party will be ready to try it, as soon as the court will, my opinion is you may come right along. My recollection is that I have never known the trial of a case in this court, delayed beyond the first week, where both parties are ready for trial." Wead, a native Vermonter, came out to Illinois to pursue his legal career and, like Lincoln, he had an appetite for politics and a hunger for public office. Unlike Lincoln, he was a Democrat and possessed of somewhat combative personality. Yet when Lincoln won the Republican Party nomination in May 1860, Wead congratulated him and fondly recalled how "we have toiled & struggled in the same profession for success, and my feelings have ever been kind towards you." As a Democrat he could not vote for Lincoln for President, but promised to do or say nothing "unkind or unfair...Indeed, I have always regarded you as one of the fairest political opponents" (Wead to Lincoln, 24 May 1860, LoC). Although a Democrat, Wead opposed secession and strongly supported Lincoln's unwavering determination to crush the rebellion.