Abraham Lincoln to Andrew McCallen, 4 July 18511
Springfield, Ills. July. 4. 1851. Andrew McCallanDear Sir:I have news from Ottawa, that we win our Galatin & Saline county case–2 As the dutch Justice said, when he married folks "Now, vere ish my hundred tollars"3
Yours trulyA. Lincoln<Page 2>
SPRINGFIELD Ill.[Illinois]JUL[July] 7
5
Andrew McCallenShawneetownIllinois–[ docketing
]
1Abraham Lincoln wrote and signed this letter, including the address on the last sheet,
which was folded to create an envelope.
2This is a reference to People ex rel. Stephenson v. Marshall, a legal case involving challenges to the constitutionality of the incorporation
of Saline County, Illinois into Gallatin County, Illinois.
In 1847, the Illinois General Assembly divided Gallatin County, and formed Saline County out of its northwest portion.
Shawneetown became the county seat of Gallatin County, and, in late-1847, Saline County’s residents
selected Raleigh as their county's seat. From 1847 until early 1851, the Saline County Circuit Court
met regularly in Raleigh, since Raleigh was the county seat. On February 1, 1851,
the Illinois General Assembly passed an act that brought both Gallatin and Saline
counties into the Twelfth Judicial Circuit. On February 11, 1851, however, the Illinois
General Assembly passed an act to merge Saline County back into Gallatin County and
establish Equality as the county seat of the new, merged Gallatin County. Samuel S. Marshall, the judge of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, held court in Equality, but refused to
do so in Raleigh, arguing that, per the Illinois General Assembly, Saline County no
longer existed.
William K. Stephenson, a citizen of Saline County, believed that the 1851 act merging
Gallatin and Saline counties was unconstitutional because the Illinois General Assembly
did not provide for a public vote on the matter. He retained Robert F. Wingate as
his attorney, who in turn recruited Lincoln to assist with the case. In June 1851,
Wingate and Lincoln sued in the Illinois Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus ordering Marshall to hold court in Raleigh. Writs of mandamus
are only used in exceptional cases, when all other means of enforcement have been
unsuccessful. They can compel a public official, such as a judge, to perform their
official duty.
On July 3, 1851, the Illinois Supreme Court awarded the writ of mandamus and ruled
that the Illinois General Assembly’s 1851 act violated the state’s constitution.
Justice John D. Caton declared that the abolition of Gallatin and Saline counties and the creation of a
new Gallatin County had to be approved by the counties' voters. Caton stated that
the 1851 law “practically undertakes to remove a county seat by legislative action
alone.” He concluded that the counties could not be united, nor the county seat removed,
without “the constitutional sanction of the people.”
Eugene L. Gross and William L. Gross, An Index to All the Laws of the State of Illinois, Both Public and Private, 1818 to
1869 (Springfield: E. L. and W. L. Gross, 1869), 11; “An Act to Create the County of Gallatin
Out of the Counties of Gallatin and Saline,” 11 February 1851, General Laws of Illinois (1851), 28; People ex rel. Stephenson v. Marshall, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136012; The Staff of the Mitchell-Carnegie Public Library, "A History of Saline County,"
Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 27 (April 1934), 39, 42; History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin and Williamson Counties, Illinois
(Chicago: Goodspeed, 1887), 62-66; Saline County Historical Society, Saline County: A Century of History (Harrisburg, IL, Register, 1947), 110-12; “Mandamus,” Reference, Glossary, Martha
L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Reference.aspx?ref=Reference%20html%20files/Glossary.html.
3This is most likely not a reference to a specific justice of Dutch origin or descent,
but rather an attempt to offer an impression of a Dutch accent in jest, which was
sometimes done in popular culture during the nineteenth century.
Andrew McCallen’s response, if he wrote one, has not been located.
Illinois School Journal 2 (1882-3), 295.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Box 4, Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL).