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Abraham Lincoln to David Davis, 6 July 18491
Springfield, Ills, July 6. 1849Dear Davis:
Your note of the 2nd Inst is received; and I have just now written the Department as strong a letter as your statement of facts would permit–2
As to my Washington trip, you know the result–3 I can not give you particulars in a letter, but will tell you all when I see you– I will only say now, that I am less dissatisfied than I should have been, had I known less of the particulars; and that I hope my good friends every where will approve the appointment of Mr B. in so far as they can can, and be silent when they can not– approve–
Your friend as everA. Lincoln
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[ docketing ]
07/XX/1849
A Lincoln,
July 1849
no answer
1Abraham Lincoln wrote and signed this letter.
2David Davis’ July 2, 1849 letter to Lincoln has not been located. It is therefore unclear to which department Lincoln wrote and the topic of said correspondence.
3Lincoln references his trip to Washington, DC to lobby for the position of commissioner of the U.S. General Land Office. Originally, only Justin H. Butterfield, James L. D. Morrison, and Cyrus Edwards were vying for the position. Lincoln entered the competition after learning that Butterfield was favored over Morrison and Edwards. As competition for the job intensified, William H. Henderson and Josiah M. Lucas, Lincoln supporters living in Washington, DC, urged Lincoln to come to the nation’s capital to personally lobby for the position. Lincoln arrived on or before June 19. Ultimately, neither Morrison, Edwards, nor Lincoln received the appointment; the job went to Butterfield instead. See the General Land Office Affair.
William H. Henderson to Abraham Lincoln; William H. Henderson to Abraham Lincoln; Josiah M. Lucas to Abraham Lincoln; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 10 June 1849, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1849-06-10; 19 June 1849, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1849-06-19.

Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Box 3, Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL).