Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Mason Brayman to Abraham Lincoln, 7 October [1853]1
Oct 7,3A. Lincoln Esq.[Esquire]Dear Sir.
Your favor of the third instant, from Pekin, is received.

The failure of the other parties to retain you in their behalf having left you at liberty to receive a retainer from our Company,2 I now say that I shall count upon your services in our suit already prepared for the Supreme Court from M^cLean . . . and such others as may . . . arise.3

I enclose you my check for $250– as a general retainer– other charges to be adjusted between us as the character of the business in which you may be called upon to engage, may render proper.

I hope to be at Springfield during the coming week.4
Yours &c[etc.]M. Brayman
Solicitor.

1Mason Brayman wrote and signed this letter.
Although Brayman only wrote “3” for the year portion of the date of this letter, he clearly penned this in response to Abraham Lincoln’s October 3, 1853 letter to him.

2In September 1853, Thomson R. Webber had expressed interest in having Lincoln represent him against the Illinois Central Railroad, but ultimately did not retain him. Lincoln informed Brayman of his availability to represent the railroad in his letter of October 3.
Abraham Lincoln to Thomson R. Webber.

3Brayman is referring to the case Illinois Central RR v. McLean County, Illinois & Parke. The Illinois Central Railroad owned 118 acres of land in McLean County, Illinois. The county assessor levied a $428.57 tax on the railroad's property. The railroad claimed that the Illinois General Assembly act incorporating the railroad exempted the railroad from taxes. In September 1853, the railroad sued McLean County in the McLean County Circuit Court for an injunction to stop the county from selling railroad land to pay taxes. In late-September 1853, the parties reached an agreement, in which the circuit court would dismiss the bill, thus ruling for McLean County, and the railroad would appeal the case to the Illinois Supreme Court, where the only question would be whether the county had a lawful right to tax the Illinois Central Railroad’s property.
Illinois Central RR v. McLean County, Illinois & Parke, 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=136867, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136868; For the act incorporating the railroad, see “An Act to Incorporate the Illinois Central Railroad Company,” 10 February 1851, Private Laws of Illinois (1851), 61-74.

4Lincoln represented the railroad in its Illinois Supreme Court case, which began in December 1853. In December 1855, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the McLean County Circuit Court, and Justice Walter B. Scates ruled that the Illinois General Assembly could exempt property from taxation. Therefore, the Illinois Central Railroad’s charter was constitutional. Lincoln received $5,000 for his legal services, although he had to sue the railroad in 1857 to collect the fee.
At the request of Brayman, Lincoln declined new cases against the railroad that came his way between 1853 and 1855, passing at least some on to John T. Stuart, and therefore lost opportunities to earn other legal fees as a direct result of his employment for the railroad.
Illinois Central RR v. McLean County, Illinois & Parke, 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=136867, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136868; Abraham Lincoln to James F. Joy; Abraham Lincoln to Mason Brayman; For details on Lincoln suing the railroad to collect the fee for his services, see: Lincoln v. Illinois Central RR, 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=136777.