Edward D. Baker and Abraham Lincoln to Thomas Ewing, 11 March 18491
Washington Mar 11th 1849.To the Secretary of the Home Department,SirWe beg leave to renew in writing our earnest request that no appointments of Citizens
of Illinois not local may be made, (and especially that of Commissioner of the Land office,) without the consultation with us which you were kind enough to say you thought
proper,
We take great interest in the question as to the location of that officer, and refrain
from any endorsement of our own citizens, in order to agree in presenting a name indicated
by public opinion, if as we trust the choice is to be made from Illinois2
Very Respy[Respectfully]Your Obt[Obedient] ServantsE. D. BakerA. Lincoln
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[ docketing
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Lincoln & Baker
requesting Consultation before Appts[Appointments] in Illinois & air made.
Land
requesting Consultation before Appts[Appointments] in Illinois & air made.
Land
2Lincoln himself eventually became a candidate for commissioner of the General Land
Office, although he did not receive the appointment, the job going to Justin H. Butterfield instead. See the General Land Office Affair.
This letter is similar in tone and content to a letter Lincoln wrote to Secretary of the Treasury William M. Meredith on March 9, 1849. As a lame-duck, one-term Congressman, Lincoln was somewhat disappointed
at his inability to command appointments from the new Whig presidential administration
of Zachary Taylor, for whom he had campaigned and strongly supported in the presidential election of 1848.
Abraham Lincoln to George W. Rives; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:294-95.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Thomas Ewing Family Papers, Box 52, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).