Petition of James McCormick and Others to the Sangamon County Commissioners' Court,
[23 May 1839]1
To the Honorable, the County Commissioner’s Court for the county of Sangamon—We, the undersigned, citizens of the Upper and Lower Lick Creek Justices Districts
respectfully request that the said two Districts be thrown into one, and that there
be but two Justices & two Constables therein—
1Abraham Lincoln wrote the text of the petition.
According to Roy P. Basler, the signers of this petition and different signers of
two petitions bearing the same wording, but not in Lincoln’s hand, filed these documents
with the Sangamon County Commissioners’ Court on May 23, 1839. The Sangamon County
Commissioners’ Court Record Book owned by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
makes no mention of these petitions.
Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1974), 10:3.
2There were two adult males named Jacob Miller living in Sangamon County from at least
1830 to 1840; it is impossible to determine to which person this refers.
Copy of Handwritten Document Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Association Files, Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL).