Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln to Halsey O. Merriman1
Washington, Feb. 16. 1848Dear Merriman:
Your letter, asking me to procure passports, has been received– I have just been to M^r Buchanan, who turned me over to an understrapper, which understrapper, suspended the application on the ground that the affidavit of the applicant is not sufficient evidence of naturalization–2 He gave me a printed circular showing exactly what is to be done, which I transmit to you, together with some extra copies to be kept for future use3
Yours trulyA Lincoln–

1Abraham Lincoln wrote and signed this letter. The original letter, which was owned by Edward D. McCulloch of Peoria, Illinois, as of 1953, has not been located. Edward McCulloch found the letter while going through the papers of his father, David McCulloch, who had been an associate in the law firm of brothers Amos L. and Halsey O. Merriman. Edward McCulloch did not know to which brother Lincoln addressed the letter, but noted that an endorsement--which is not included in the copy received by the Abraham Lincoln Association--was in Amos’s handwriting. Roy P. Basler, editor of The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, was unable to identify to which brother Lincoln sent this letter. A search in the passport records at the National Archives, however, lead to the discovery of a letter from Halsey to Lincoln dated January 28, 1848, which confirms that Lincoln addressed this letter to him.
Ernest E. East to Benjamin Thomas, 7 January 1938, Abraham Lincoln Association Copy Files, Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL; Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 1:452.

2Merriman was seeking passports for Christopher F. and Rosina Koch, German-born, naturalized citizens hoping to travel to Europe. An understrapper is an assistant or subordinate official. In this particular instance, the understrapper worked for the U.S. Department of State, of which James Buchanan, as secretary of state, was in charge.
Local and state authorities and notaries public, as well as the secretary of state, issued passports in the United States until 1856 when, because foreign governments refused to recognize passports issued by local authorities, Congress restricted issuance to the U.S. Department of State.
Halsey O. Merriman to Abraham Lincoln; Lesley Brown, ed., The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), 2:3476; L. J. Meyer, “Passports,” Dictionary of American History, rev. ed. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976), 5:225; “An Act to Regulate the Diplomatic and Consular Systems of the United States,” 18 August 1856, Statutes at Large of the United States 11 (1859):60-61.

3The printed circular has not been located. In July 1845 and May 1846, the State Department issued circulars of instruction as to how to proceed in procuring a passport.
Gaillard Hunt, The American Passport: Its History and A Digest of Laws, Rulings, and Regulations Governing its Issuance by the Department of State (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1898), 46-48.