Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

James Steele to Abraham Lincoln, 22 May 18581
Paris Ills May 22^nd 1858Hon A LincolnSpringfield IllsDear Sir–
Will you do me the favor to let me know what length of time the rules of practice in the US District Court, require service to be had before the term to which summons is made returnable

There is a difference of opinion among the members of our bar on this subject, and we are without the means of posting up2

Our people here are in good spirits in regard to the approaching (fall) elections, and determined that this count representative & senatorial district shall give a good account of itself3

For the Senate T A Marshall will probably be the man; as it is thought he can most certainly unite the anti-administration sentiment of Coles & Cumberland, an object which is of the utmost importance, and which if attained will render our success almost certain.4

Coles & Edgar will do their best for anyone without regard to his locality

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O L Davis of Danville would make a good race if he could be induced to run, but he almost peremptorily declines

Blackburn is a good, but not a "taking" man among the sovreigns,5 and for this reason alone is not, I think, our best man. I hope to see you in June at the Convention, and would be glad to hear from you from time to time6
Respectfully YoursJames Steele

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[Envelope]

PARIS Ill[Illinois].
MAY 23Hon A LincolnSpringfieldIlls–

[ docketing ]
Lincoln, Abraham (President)

Steele–7

1James Steele wrote and signed this letter. He also wrote Abraham Lincoln’s name and address on the envelope shown in the third image.

2A summons is a kind of writ issued by a court directing a sheriff to notify someone named in an action that had been brought against them that they were required to appear in court to answer the allegations at a specified time. Steele is mostly likely asking Lincoln about federal laws pertaining to summonses for the U.S. Circuit Court, Southern District of Illinois. In general, federal courts were required to follow state procedures. Per Illinois law at the time, summonses for any circuit court in the state were dated the day they were issued and made returnable on the first day of the next term of the circuit court involved in the lawsuit. All summonses were required to be served to the defendant or defendants in the case no less than ten days prior to their date of return.
“Summons,” Reference, Glossary, 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), https://lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Reference.aspx?ref=Reference%20html%20files/Glossary.html; “An Act to Extend the Provisions of an Act Entitled 'An Act to Regulate Processes in the Courts of the United States,' Passed the Nineteenth May, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty-Eight,” 1 August 1842, Statutes at Large of the United States 5 (1856), 499; “An Act Further to Regulate Processes in the Courts of the United States,” 19 May 1828, Statutes at Large of the United States 4 (1846), 278-82; “Conformity by Federal Courts to State Procedure,” Harvard Law Review 35 (March 1922), 602-6; “Chapter LXXXIII: Practice,” 3 March 1845, Revised Statutes of Illinois (1845), 413.

3At the time, Paris and the rest of Edgar County was part of Illinois’ Eighteenth State Senate District and Twenty-Fourth State House District.
John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 219; The History of Edgar County, Illinois (Chicago: Wm. Le Baron, Jr., 1879), 237-38.

4Steele is discussing both Republican and Democratic discontent with President James Buchanan’s administration. Some Democrats were upset with Buchanan for his support of the Lecompton Constitution in December 1857, vexation which both the Republican Party and Stephen A. Douglas strove to use to political advantage in Illinois’ local elections of 1858 as well as in the 1858 Federal Election.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:445-52.

5John W. Blackburn apparently lacked popularity among the local citizens, something George W. Rives also warned Lincoln about in a May 15 letter.

6If Lincoln replied to this letter, his response has not been located.
Lincoln had met with Oliver L. Davis in April 1858, and written to Thomas A. Marshall and Rives about the same time, requesting that the three men cooperate to select a viable Republican candidate for Illinois’ Eighteenth State Senate District, which included Coles, Cumberland, Edgar, and Vermilion counties. Lincoln preferred that they find a candidate who had supported American Party presidential candidate Millard Fillmore in the election of 1856. Marshall had supported John C. Fremont in the election of 1856 and assisted Lincoln in his efforts to recruit Fillmore supporters to the Republican cause in that year. In the end, Marshall became the Republican Party’s candidate for the Eighteenth State Senate District and voters elected him to the Illinois Senate in November 1858.
Thomas A. Marshall to Abraham Lincoln; Thomas A. Marshall to Abraham Lincoln; Abraham Lincoln to Thomas A. Marshall; Thomas A. Marshall to Abraham Lincoln; George W. Rives to Abraham Lincoln; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 3 November 1858, 2:1-2; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968, 219, 222.

7Lincoln wrote this docketing.