02 November 1839

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Autograph document signed

Title: [Declaration in the case of John Kerr and Augustus Kerr v. Thomas Constant and Josiah Francis].

John and Augustus Kerr sued Constant and Francis for $522.55 they were owed. Lincoln, working as a lawyer with John T. Stuart, won judgment for $440.14 on November 26, 1839.

GLC00672

22 June 1776

Jay, John, 1745-1829

Manuscript document signed

Title: [Warrant for the arrest of the traitor John Campbell]

Cosigned by Gouverneur Morris and Philip Livingston. Authorizing the arrest of the Campbell for "treasonable conspiracies" and the seizure of his papers.

GLC00679

October 1751

Ross, George, 1730-1779

Document signed

Title: [Case of Dalton verses McClure]

Details a case in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, between Andrew Dalton and Robert McClure about a promissory note for payment. Dated "October term."

GLC00682

May 6, 1849-June 16, 1849

Kell, John McIntosh, 1823-1900

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kell

John McIntosh Kell writes to his sister while suspended from duty and awaiting Court Martial aboard the Albany. He describes surrounding islands of Santo Domingo and Navarro with stories of landscape and native islanders. He arrives at Aux Cayes, Haiti, on June 11, 1849 and learns that "the Frigate Raritan had sailed from there ten days since for Port au Prince." On June 16, 1849, writes of the Albany's move to St. Iago de Cuba, where he is allowed to go ashore after four months confinement. He feels like "quite a new being" and reports to his family that he will reach Pensacola by "the…

GLC00684.02

June 30, 1818

Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848

Letter signed

Title: to William Rabun

Secretary of State Adams informs Governor of Georgia Rabun that President Monroe has directed that Captain Obediah Wright be prosecuted for the murder of Chehaw Indians. He discusses some details necessary to start the prosecution. The Chehaw were American allies during the first Seminole War. Docket indicates a reply was sent on July 29, 1818.

GLC00782.11.02

January 17, 1810

Revere, Paul, 1735-1818

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Joseph Revere

Discusses Nathaniel Macon's anti-tariff bill in Washington, D.C. and its potential consequences for the Embargo Act of 1807. Also discusses business matters and the health of their family. With a diagram drawn on the verso. Joseph was Paul's son.

GLC00782.18

October 24, 1814

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Manuscript letter signed

Title: to Callender Irvine

The secretary of state informs the commissary general of purchases that an appropriation of $60,000 had been made to him for contingency expenses for the execution of the War of 1812.

GLC00786

February 3, 1831

Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Henry Eaton

Andrew Jackson writes to Secretary of War Eaton about arranging the removal of the Brothertown Indians of New York to a reservation in Wisconsin. He comments on a recent meeting he had with the New York Indians. Informs him that the Menominee of the Green Bay, Wisconsin area object to Indians from New York being settled on their land and dispute the validity of "any contract made" because it "was without the consent of their council & by men unauthorized by their nation." He asks Eaton to arrange a treaty with the Menominee to facilitate the move. Discusses the land and rights to be given…

GLC00791

December 18, 1782

Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790

Manuscript document signed

Title: [Testimonial in defense of Silas Deane]

Franklin, as Ambassador to France, asserts that the accusations of fraud against Deane are false. British newspapers had accused Deane of making fraudulent purchases of munitions in France.

GLC00782.02

May 7, 1818

Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845

Letter signed

Title: to William Rabun

Andrew Jackson asks that Rabun, governor of Georgia, arrest Captain Obediah Wright for murder. Wright had destroyed a Chehaw village and murdered several of its inhabitants, while many of its members were aiding him in his expedition against the Seminole Indians during the first Seminole War. Seal remnant in upper and lower left corners.

GLC00782.11.01

May 23, 1818

Davis, John M., fl. 1818

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Rabun

Assistant Inspector General Davis forwards Governor of Georgia William Rabun a letter from Andrew Jackson (see GLC00782.11.05) regarding the Chehaw Affair. He also explains his plans for a trip to apprehend Obediah Wright for massacring several Chehaw, a tribe allied with the Americans in the first Seminole War.

GLC00782.11.04

May 7, 1818

Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845

Letter

Title: to John M. Davis

A clerical copy of Jackson's letter to Davis in which he deals with the aftermath of the Chehaw Affair. He orders Davis to send a "talk to Kinnard with instructions to explain the substance to the Chehaw Warriors." Also orders him to arrest Obediah Wright for murdering several female and elderly Chehaw Indians. If Davis is unable to locate Wright, he is instructed to obtain assistance from the governor of Georgia. A note written on the interior leaf by James Gadsden, then serving under Jackson, indicates that this copy was for the Secretary of War John C. Calhoun and that it should be sent…

GLC00782.11.05

May 29, 1818

Davis, John M., fl. 1818

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Rabun

Davis informs Georgia Governor Rabun that Obediah Wright, whom Davis arrested for massacring Chehaw Indians, has been released through a writ of habeas corpus. He requests that Rabun have Wright returned to his custody. The Chehaw were American allies in the first Seminole War. After the massacre, Jackson sent Davis to arrest Wright, who had been a member of the Georgia militia.

GLC00782.11.06

January 17, 1825

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Cummings, Hilliard & Company

Jefferson mentions ordering books for the schools of art and modern languages and ancient and modern history. He writes concerning courses in law at the University of Virginia and the need for books, especially "Thomas' edition of Coke Littleton published not long since in London. it is the first book which will be put into the hands of our law Students, and will in fact be the elementary book of the school" and is therefore "the most essential and most immediately necessary..." He notes that they will need to order the edition from London and gives a detailed description and how much it…

GLC00782.12

November 13, 1915

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Typed letter signed

Title: to William R. Castle

Writes to the assistant dean at Harvard (later founder of a professional consular service of the United States). Roosevelt encloses an article (not included) from the November 1915 Metropolitan magazine which had been vetted by James Brown Scott, an expert on international law. Roosevelt condemns isolationism, pacifism, Wilson's neutrality policies, and American indifference to Germany's August 1914 invasion of Belgium in violation of the Hague and Geneva Conventions. Includes interlinear editing and manuscript comments by Roosevelt. Letter written on Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York,…

GLC00782.19

October 6, 1862

Smith, Gustavus Woodson, 1821-1896

Letter signed

Title: to Robert E. Lee

Confederate Major General Smith discusses troop activities and movements, including an attack on Union gunboats. Also discusses a requisition for "negroes to work upon the fortifications under recent act of the Legislature - When we get negroes the works will be finished rapidly to completion." Refers to the request of North Carolina Governor Zebulon Vance "for more protection for the eastern portion of the state." Writes "The yellow fever at Wilmington will prevent the enemy from attempting anything in that quarter for some time to come - and during the epidemic the Troops had better be…

GLC00648

5 March 1928

Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964

Typed document signed

Title: [Appointment of Oscar George Foellinger as Hoover's agent and attorney in Indiana]

Witnessed by "B.J. Nash" and "George Akerm." Foellinger was to help Hoover enter the Indiana primary for the Presidential election of 1928. Atypically signs his full name, "Herbert Clark Hoover."

GLC00728

1868

Brady, Mathew B., 1823-1896

Photograph signed

Title: Managers of the House of Representatives of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson

A composite picture by Brady with signatures of Benjamin F. Butler, James F. Wilson, Thaddeus Stevens, George S. Boutwell, Thomas Williams, John A. Logan and John Armour Bingham. These men were elected by the House to serve as managers of the impeachment proceedings against President Johnson in 1868. See smaller version of image accompanying manuscript document, GLC05274.

GLC00734

05 June 1862

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Document signed

Title: [Presidential pardon of Edward Stevenson who had been convicted in Massachusetts in May 1858 of counterfeiting].

Edward Stevenson was pardoned by Abraham Lincoln because he had served out his sentence, but was unable to pay his fine he remained incarcerated. Countersigned by Secretary of State William H. Seward.

GLC00741

25 November 1935

Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945

Document signed

Title: Pardon of Miguel Lujan (c/s Homer S. Cummings [AG])

Pardon restoring civil rights. Pleaded guilty to importing sotol; pardoned since he was unable to pay the fine.

GLC00743

January 13, 1818

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Document signed

Title: [Pardon of Patrick Neady for an unspecified felony]

Countersigned by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. Neady had been convicted in Washington in December 1817. Pardoned after the jury and the judge in the case recommended mercy.

GLC00744

January 1, 1863

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Document signed

Title: Emancipation Proclamation [California printing, Cheesman copy]

One of three color lithographic broadsides. Printed by L. Nagel and copyright by "F.S. Butler, 1864." Presented to Lincoln for signing by David Williams Cheesman. Signed on back: "Property of Mrs. Maria Cheesman/ Phoenix/ Oregon." See Eberstadt, "Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation," New Colophon (2d Series, 1950) no. 19. The broadside, according to Eberstadt, was "executed by a fourteen-year-old boy. Benjamin F. Butler, who was a California pioneer of 1849 and established the first lithographing plant on the West Coast, may have been the boy's father." (p. 337)

GLC00742

March 27, 1828

Clay, Henry, 1777-1852

Letter signed

Title: to Daniel Hugunin, Jr.

Marked "private and inofficial" at the top of the page. Referring to trade between the United States and Great Britain, Secretary of State Clay informs Hugunin, a Representative from New York, that "sound policy requires that there should be the freest and most unshackled competition between the vessels of the two countries in any trade that may be tolerated on the Lakes ..." Discusses an Act passed on 1 March 1, 1823 concerning colonial ports and trade between Britain and America. Refers to a resolution recently moved by New York Representative Daniel Dewey Barnard concerning trade between…

GLC00754

December 6, 1869

Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885

Document signed

Title: [Presidential authority to the Secretary of State to affix the seal to the pardon of John Stafford, Martin Johnson and Andrew Melvin].

GLC00757

14 March 1777

Hart, John, 1708-1780

Autograph document signed

Title: [Act of Assembly constituting a Council of Safety]

Written by Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, as speaker of the New Jersey Assembly. Also signed by Stevens as Vice President of the New Jersey Assembly. Establishes a committee of safety to govern New Jersey during the Revolutionary War. Lists members of the newly created Council of Safety, including among others, John Cleves Symmes, Silas Condict, Dick Samuel, and Nathaniel Scudder, who were all members of the Continental Congress. Has 10 sections that describe how the council will work. Allows the body to operate under a quorum of five and appoints the governor as…

GLC00753