This petition and Thompson’s letter represented the culmination of sorts of an extended controversy over Turner R. King’s appointment--a controversy in which Lincoln became embroiled. In December 1848, Thompson wrote Lincoln urging him to help King get a job at the General Land Office in Springfield. From December 1848 to February 1849, Lincoln received several letters urging him to help King secure a position. On April 7, 1849, Lincoln wrote a letter to Secretary Ewing recommending King for the job of register. On April 13, he wrote another letter reversing himself, recommending King for the job of receiver.

On April 25, Lincoln wrote Thompson that a “tirade” has erupted over his support for King. Whigs in Springfield were upset that Lincoln had endorsed King for a plum patronage job instead of someone from Sangamon County. Hoping to scuttle King’s appointment, opponents cast aspersions on King’s moral rectitude. Lincoln bemoaned that his influence in Washington had broken down and that King’s prospects for a job had diminished. Lincoln urged Thompson to find out the truth about King, and, if the charges proved false, to take measures to sustain his endorsement of King. In the meantime, Lincoln wrote Secretary Ewing attempting to head off any charges against King or his other recommendations for jobs in the Department of the Interior.

Acting on Lincoln’s request, Thompson crafted a petition denying the allegations leveled against King and secured the signatures of prominent Whigs and Democrats in Tazewell County. Between April 30 and May 7, Samuel R. Baker, Edward Jones, John W. Casey, and David Mark wrote Lincoln attesting to King’s moral character and his fitness for public office. Lincoln penned another letter to Ewing on May 10, again recommending King for the job of register. Lincoln enclosed these letters, Thompson’s letter, and the signed petition in his letter to Ewing, urging Ewing to pay particular attention to the petition. In late May, King received the appointment as register and held the job until 1853.