Abraham Lincoln to Casper U. Schlater, 5 January 18491
Washington, Jan: 5– 1849Mr C. U. Schlater:2Dear Sir:Your note, requesting my "signature with a sentiment" was received, and should have
been answered long since, but that it was mislaid–3 I am not a very sentimental man; and the best sentiment I can think of is, that if
you collect the names ^signatures^ of all persons who are no less distinguished than I, you will have a very undistinguishing
mass of names–
Very respectfullyA. Lincoln2Roy P. Basler, in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, did not identify Schlater, but did discover a “C. M. Schlater, clerk” listed in
the city directory for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for 1853, and a “C. W. Schlatter,
clerk,” in the directory for 1854. He suggested that both Lincoln and the compiler
of the directory were perhaps puzzled over Schlater’s middle initial and last name.
Further research allowed the editors to identify “C. U. Schlater” as Casper U. Schlater.
Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 2:19; McElroy’s Philadelphia Directory, for 1853 (Philadephia: Edward C. and John Biddle, 1853), 363; McElroy’s Philadelphia Directory, for 1854 (Philadephia: Edward C. and John Biddle, 1854), 463.
Autograph Letter Signed, 1 page(s), Gratz Collection, Case 2, Box 24, Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA).