Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Fitz Henry Warren to Abraham Lincoln, 11 May 18491

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT.
Appointment Office,
May 111849.Sir:
I have the honor to inform you, that the Postmaster General has appointedDavid RobertsPostmaster at Tremontin the State ofIllinoisin place of R. J. Updike— Resigned.2
I am, respectfully,
Your obedient servant,Fitz Henry Warren
Second Assistant Postmaster General.To the HonorableA. LincolnSpringfieldIllinois.

1Fitz Henry Warren signed this form letter.

2This letter represented the culmination of a lengthy battle over who would succeed Richard S. Updike as postmaster--a battle in which Abraham Lincoln became embroiled. David Roberts and Alanson Stockwell were the original frontrunners for the job. Lincoln recommended one of the two to the Post Office Department, but then he began receiving letters opposing both Stockwell and Roberts and suggesting John H. Ball as an alternative. With Tremonters at odds over which candidate they preferred, Lincoln was forced to write the Post Office Department and ask that if the appointment was not already made, to suspend it until the town could unify around one candidate. On April 21, Lincoln wrote William D. Briggs offering advice on how to handle the vexing problem. Lincoln advised Briggs “to get up a full and fair meeting” of the Whigs and, if he thought fit, Democrats of the area to decide who would become postmaster. This meeting occurred on April 28, and Roberts received the majority of support.
Lincoln himself preferred Roberts and recommended him for the position. Roberts held the job until 1860.
Petition of Richard T. Gill and Others to Abraham Lincoln; Mary L. Perkins to Abraham Lincoln; Fitz Henry Warren to Abraham Lincoln; John M. Bush to Abraham Lincoln; Benjamin F. James to Abraham Lincoln; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1849 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1849), *489; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1851 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1851), 550*; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1853 (Washington, DC: Robert Armstrong, 1853), *520; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1855 (Washington, DC: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1855), 346*; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1857 (Washington, DC: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1857), 346*; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1859 (Washington, DC: William A. Harris, 1859), 74*; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1861 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1862), 376*.