Abraham Lincoln ALS "You see I ask you to admit more points for me, than I admit for you" A Fine Sentiment of a Great Strategist, Superb Condition. PSA Encapsulated

In this brief letter to a fellow Illinois attorney who opposed him in this case, Abraham Lincoln attempts to get the facts established so the court can decide the specific issue in the case. Before the case was finally settled, Lincoln had run for the U.S. Senate, lost, campaigned for the Presidency, won, and led the nation through much of the Civil War.

Missouri resident Lloyd Powell retained Abraham Lincoln and in January 1858, sued Adams County farmer Anson C. Ament (1815-1863) and Samuel Beer (1828-1906) in the United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of Illinois, that sat in Springfield. Because the plaintiff lived in Missouri and the defendants and property were in Illinois, the federal courts had jurisdiction. In the case of Powell v. Ament & Beer, Powell claimed that Ament and Beer had unlawfully withheld from him 120 acres of land in northeastern Adams County, Illinois, and he sued them to eject them from the property.1 Ament retained Quincy attorneys Jackson Grimshaw and Archibald Williams and claimed that Powell’s time to sue had expired. As this letter makes clear, Lincoln and Grimshaw agreed to certain facts about the case. Both sides claimed ownership based on a chain of title back to Jabez Morse, who received a patent for the land in 1818. Attorneys for opposing sides often agreed on a set of facts to bring the legal issue into sharper focus for argument and presentation to the judge.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Autograph Letter Signed, to Jackson Grimshaw, March 27, 1858, Springfield, IL. 1 p., 5" x 8". PSA encapsulated to an overall size of 13.25" x 10." Some expert repair, barely visible and boldly signed. This is by far the cleanest encapsulated Lincoln ALS we have ever offered at University Archives.

Complete Transcript

Springfield, March 27, 1858.

Hon. J. Grimshaw

My dear Sir:

Herewith I send you a sketch for an argument in the case we spoke of. You see I ask you to admit more points for me, than I admit for you; but if you have any more merely labor-saving points (as mine are) admitted, add them, sign the paper & send it to me and I will also sign it.

I forget the names of the parties to the suits; but you and I will have no dispute about that.

The copy of the Will, I have duly authenticated from Boston, but being a copy, it has no note of it’s record in Adams county, though my men man says it is recorded there. The death of an Executor can also be proved, but it would cost some labor.2

Answer soon.

Yours truly

A. Lincoln

On April 3, 1858, Grimshaw responded to Lincoln:

Quincy 3 April 1858

Hon A. Lincoln

Springfield Ills

Dear Sir

Your favour of 27th ult. came duly to hand. I have been engaged in court or it should have been sooner answered. I return your agreement with the title of cases & signed. I also annex an additional agreement which if you will, please sign & notify me that you have done so. I also enclose you with a view to that agreement the certified copy of the deed as recorded. We can prove the facts stated by Recorders, but for the purpose of presenting the dry legal question in these cases can be? no use in either party being at any unnecessary trouble. Please return me this copy & notify me whether you do or do not sign the agreement.

We have a rumour here pr telegraph that Lecompton is defeated in the house. We will not however sell out to Douglass & Morris. The resolutions at our meeting the other night were drawn by Jonas, are a little too strong in several particulars, but in the main express the position of the Republicans of the 5th District.

We are not content merely with the defeat of Lecompton, we are opposed to the extension of slavery & believe Douglass & the leaders of the Illinois Democracy are responsible for affording the south the opportunity of carrying slavery into Kansas.

Mess Douglas, Morris et id omne genus3 may vote with me, but I never will vote for them or aid in endorsing them or elevating them to office. I am out of politics so far as any personal aspirations are concerned but I never will forgive any northern man who voted for the repeal of the Mo. Compromise while in Congress or who as a leader has since sustained it.

Yours truly

Jackson Grimshaw

A week later, Lincoln responded:

Springfield, April 11, 1858

Jackson Grimshaw, Esq

Dear Sir.

Herewith I return you the copy of deed, as you requested. I have signed your supplemental stipulation, and shall keep both with my papers of the cases till court, when I will produce them. As I understand you wish this copy to go in evidence in order to show that, if our deed was duly filed for record, it was not correctly recorded.

I believe this disposes of the cases until court.

I have not seen the political resolutions you refer to; but, I doubt not, our friends everywhere, act in the right spirit, and with their best judgment. We probably shall have a State convention early in summer, when, by mutual consultations, we can secure uniformity of action, if, indeed, any such uniformity be lacking before.

Yours very truly

A. Lincoln

In January 1859, Judge Samuel Treat ruled for Ament and Beer, but Powell requested a new trial, and the court granted it. In the new trial in June 1859, Judge Treat ruled for Powell, but Ament requested a new trial, which the court granted in June 1860. Lincoln continued to represent Powell until Lincoln won the election to the Presidency in November 1860.

In the third trial before the U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of Illinois in January 1863, a jury found for Powell. Caleb R. Hoyt, a tenant on the land, and Ament filed an injunction against Powell to stop the execution of the judgment until he paid them $1,405 for improvements that they had made to the land. They dismissed the injunction in January 1864, perhaps because the parties had reached a settlement. Six years and three trials after he began the ejectment process in federal court, Powell was finally entitled to the land.

Jackson Grimshaw (1820-1875) was born in Philadelphia. After working for a railroad as a civil engineer for five years, Grimshaw studied law in Pennsylvania. He was admitted to the bar in Illinois in January 1843. He formed a legal partnership with his brother in Pittsfield, in west-central Illinois, where he practiced for fourteen years. He was a member of the 1856 Bloomington Convention that formed the state Republican Party. In 1857, he moved to Quincy, Illinois, on the Mississippi River, where he formed a law partnership with Archibald Williams. Grimshaw strongly supported Lincoln’s campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1858 and the Presidency in 1860. Grimshaw’s partnership with Williams ended in 1861, when Williams became a federal district judge. In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Grimshaw as the collector of internal revenue for the Quincy district, a position he held until 1869, though Grimshaw had hoped to be appointed a federal judge in Kansas.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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