Abraham Lincoln to Gustave P. Koerner, 25 October 18571
(Confidential)
Springfield, Oct 25. 1857.Hon: G. KoernorMy dear Sir:Our Sangamon Circuit Court is now in session, and will continue in session for two or three weeks yet– By agreement
with Logan, I can fix up your Quo Warranto case, at any time, during the term, for the Supreme Court this ensuing winter–2 Now, for the object of this note– I want your authority, at my discretion, to pass the case over the next term of the Supreme Court– I can ^not^ mention the reason now; but there is a reason which I believe you will appreciate,
when you come to know it– The reason is precisely the same to you and to me, not being
of any pecuniary interest to either– I write like letters to Brown and Yates–
Please answer at once–3
Yours very trulyA. Lincoln<Page 2>
2A quo warranto is a writ issued to halt the exercise of an unlawfully-held office.
The phrase translates literally as “by what authority”, and such a writ orders a sheriff
to summon the individual before the court to demonstrate under what authority their
occupation of an office is legitimate.
The quo warranto case in Sangamon County Circuit Court that Lincoln refers to was
People ex rel. Koerner et al. v. Ridgely et al. In 1848, Governor Augustus C. French had appointed Nicholas H. Ridgely, Uri Manley, and John Calhoun as trustees of the remaining assets of the liquidated State Bank of Illinois. Governor William H. Bissell subsequently removed the men from the position of trustees in 1857 and appointed
Koerner, George T. Brown, and Richard Yates in their stead. Ridgely, Manley, and Calhoun, however, refused to relinquish their
positions, and the State of Illinois, in the interest of Bissell’s appointees, retained
Lincoln and William H. Herndon to sue in an action of quo warranto to remove them. Stephen T. Logan was serving
as one of the defense attorneys on the case, which had initially been called in
Sangamon County Circuit Court on August 11, 1857, and continued. Lincoln had previously
written to Koerner concerning the case on July 19, 1857.
“Quo Warranto,” Reference, Glossary, 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/Reference.aspx?ref=Reference%20html%20files/Glossary.html; People ex rel. Koerner et al. v. Ridgely et al., Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=140181; Illinois Journal (Springfield), 8 November 1848, 1:4; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 11 August 1857, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1857-08-11.
3No correspondence with Brown or Yates on the subject of delaying the hearing of People ex rel. Koerner et al. v. Ridgely et al. has been located, nor has any response to this letter from Koerner. The case was
continued at the October 1857 term of the Sangamon County Circuit Court. It was ultimately
decided in that court on November 15, 1858, in favor of the defendants. The case
was then appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court where it was heard on January 24,
1859. The Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision, with Justice Sidney Breese ruling that the trusteeships were not technically offices and thus could not be subject
to a quo warranto action.
People ex rel. Koerner et al. v. Ridgely et al., Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=140181; http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=140182; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 15 November 1858, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-11-15; 24 January 1859, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1859-01-24.
4An unidentified person wrote this docketing, which is apparently unrelated to the
contents of the letter. No evidence has been found that Simeon Dean was a commissioner
of deeds for Illinois in Wisconsin around the time of this letter.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Collection, Missouri Historical Society (St. Louis, MO).