PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN - AUTOGRAPH ENDORSEMENT SIGNED 06/04/1862 CO-SIGNED BY: AMOS PETTYJOHN - HFSID 354615

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Lincoln adds his endorsement to a letter from an applicant for Marshal of Arizona Territory had been sent to Salmon P. Chase, Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury at the time who would later become a Chief Justice.
Autograph Endorsement signed: "A. Lincoln" as 16th U.S. President. In black ink "Respectfully submit/ted To the Attorney/General/A. Lincoln/ June 4, 1862" on verso of a letter to Salmon P. Chase from Amos Pettijohn. 1 page, front and verso, 11½ x 7½ unfolded. Framed to an overall size of 44x23. Frame exhibits minor surface chips.

In full:

"Demming Hamilton County Ind May 19/6
Hon. Salmon P Chase
Secretary of the Treasury
Washington City D.C.
Dear Sir I crave your attention a moment. I am an applicant for the Marshallship of Arizonia Territory and desire you to Speak to the president on the Subject. Having been a member of of the any Slavry political Party for the past Twenty five years, having in that lenth of time Suffered prosecution & persecution. Perhaps yourself recolicitt the J B Mahan fuss that took place in Brown County in the state Ohio about 20 odd years ago in which I was included in the Suit with Mahan, which utterally Broke me up / Having Since that time acted with no other party except the Republican Party. Believing that you think Such Men Since Such great changes have taken place Should be Recempesed to Some amount for their former difficulties. And ask your kind attention with the president in this matter for the truth of the above I Refer you to J D G Pettijohn & Z P Gunion of the Auditors department at Washington S.B Amos Pettijohn / My Papers and vouchers are in the hands of the Hon Mr Shanks M.C. of the 11th Cong__ District in Ind of which I am a citzen" Fine condition.

Self-educated and from modest means, Abraham Lincoln had developed a reputation as a "Man of the People", and as President, he continued to keep in contact with his constituents. Unfortunately, people soliciting federal positions and pardons besieged Lincoln so that he was forced to narrow down his unlimited visiting hours to only two or three hours a day, thus increasing the number of letters he received. On June 4, 1862, the President signed and forwarded this petition for a marshalship to Attorney General Edward Bates, whose office oversaw all United States Marshals.

An Indiana surgeon, Dr. Amos Pettijohn (1815-1886) was a native of Ohio who appealed to Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase (1808-1873), a former leader of the Ohio State Antislavery Society (founded 1835). Chase helped build the state's Society into the second largest auxiliary of the American Antislavery Society, but the movement declined in the 1840s with some abolitionists being physically attacked in the North. While big party politicians feared associations with antislavery groups, Chase joined the abolitionist Liberal Party, which was absorbed by the Free Soil Party in 1848. A prominent leader of this new political group, he was largely responsible for the Ohio Society's increasing role in politics, particularly after 1854 when Free Soilers turned to the recently created Republican Party, which Lincoln joined in 1856.

In spite of Chase's intervention with the President, Pettijohn did not receive the appointment as Marshal for Arizona, the southern and pro-slavery section of the New Mexico Territory. Although Arizona sided with the Confederacy, the Union needed the gold there, so Lincoln appeased its citizens by officially making Arizona a separate territory on February 24, 1863. Two weeks later, on March 10, Milton Duffield received the appointment as Marshal. In January 1865, Charles Poston, a Congressman from the Arizona Territory, asked Lincoln to replace Duffield, whom he considered to be "unworthy of the office". The President was assassinated before he could take action.