Lincoln’s Legacy: Historic Americana from the Life of Abraham Lincoln

1 p., 10 x 8 in. (254 x 203 mm); docketed on verso; creasing from old folds; scattered edge wear; residue in top verso corners.

DOCUMENT WRITTEN ENTIRELY IN THE HAND OF YOUNG ATTORNEY ABRAHAM LINCOLN, TAKING ON A POWERFUL AND DEFRAUDING SPRINGFIELD POLITICIAN.

In full: "A Copy Joseph Anderson vs Joseph Miller Judgement in Sangamon Circuit Court in favour of Joseph Anderson against Joseph Miller obtained on a note originally 25 dolls. and interest therein accrued—I assign all my right, titles, and interest to this said judgement to James Adams which is in consideration of a debt I owe the said Adams May 10th 1827 Joseph Anderson his X mark."

In 1821, James Adams (1783-1843) arrived in Springfield, Illinois, after fleeing from New York to avoid a forgery charge, and left behind a wife and daughter. Upon his arrival, he presented himself to his new townsfolk as a lawyer and became involved with the local Democratic Party, where he quickly rose to its top ranks. By 1823, Adams was appointed probate judge for Sangamon County and postmaster of Peoria, while simultaneously working as a lawyer, and partaking in insurance sales and land speculation. In the summer of 1837, Adams was locked in a contentious reelection campaign against Whig and Lincoln ally Anson G. Henry. At this time, Lincoln had come to represent Mary Anderson, a poor widow who claimed that Adams had fraudulently claimed title to land in Springfield from her late husband, Joseph Anderson, using forged documents. 

Lincoln was then a young lawyer, having been recently admitted to the Illinois bar in March of 1837. His representation of Mary Anderson and her son, Richard, was one of his first cases as an attorney. The complex events of the legal case entwined with the highly partisan election. In the summer of 1837, as Lincoln became more convinced of Adams's misdeeds, he began to pen articles in the Sagamo Journal revealing his foe's purported fraud. In a handbill Lincoln produced alongside these articles, he laid bare in plain language the complex affair to hurt Adams' bid for reelection (the so-called Adams Handbill, see lot 8). "When [Mary and Richard] reached [Springfield] they found the land was claimed by Gen. Adams. John T. Stuart and myself were employed to look into the matter, and if it was thought we could do so with any prospect of success, to commence a suit for the land. I went immediately to the Recorder’s office to examine Adams’ title, and found that the land had been entered by one [John] Dixon, deeded by Dixon to one [Joseph] Thomas, by Thomas to one [Joseph] Miller, and by Miller to Gen. Adams...I was thereby induced to examine the deeds very closely, with a view to the discovery of some defect by which to overturn the title, being almost convinced then it was founded in fraud. I finally discovered that in the deed from Thomas to Miller, although Miller’s name stood in a sort of a marginal note on the record book, it was no where in the deed itself..."

Lincoln goes on to detail, that when he examined the original deed that was given to him by Recorder Benjamin Talbott (who acquired it from Adams's son), "another paper fell out of it, which on examination, proved to be an assignment of a judgement in the Circuit Court of Sangamon County, from Joseph Anderson, the late husband of the widow above named, to James Adams, the judgement being in favor of said Anderson against one Joseph Miller." Lincoln, knowing that this piece of paper had some connection to the suspicious land transaction, made this very copy of it, "word for word, letter for letter and cross for cross..." 

Lincoln noted alterations to the original document, furthering his suspicions. He then detailed the complicated history that pointed to Adams's fraud: "Dixon sold and deeded the land to Thomas. Thomas sold it to Anderson; but before he gave a deed, Anderson sold it to Miller and took Miller’s note for the purchase money. When this note became due, Anderson sued Miller on it, and Miller procured an injunction from the court of Chancery to stay the collection of the money until he should get a deed for the land. Gen. Adams was employed as an attorney by Anderson in this chancery suit, and at the October term, 1827, the injunction was dissolved, a judgement given in favor of Anderson against Miller; and it was provided that Thomas was to execute a deed for the land in favor of Miller, and deliver it to Gen. Adams to be held up by him, till Miller paid the judgement, and then to deliver it to him. Miller left the county without paying the judgement. Anderson moved to Fulton County, where he has since died. When the widow came to Springfield last May or June as before mentioned, and found the land deeded to Gen. Adams by Miller, she was naturally led to enquire why the money due upon the judgement had not been sent to them, inasmuch as he, Gen. Adams, had no authority to deliver Thomas’ deed to Miller until the money was paid. Then it was the Gen. told her, or perhaps her son, who came with her, that Anderson, in his life time, HAD ASSIGNED THE JUDGEMENT TO HIM, Gen. Adams."

Adams claimed that the original assignment—copied here by Lincoln—never existed, or if it did, that it was forged by Talbott and/or the lawyers, and then slipped into Adams's papers to damage his reputation. Lincoln meets this counterfactual by damningly stating that several men would be willing to come forward to attest to the fact that the document did indeed exist, and that "IT WAS IN GENERAL ADAMS’ HANDWRITING".

Despite Lincoln's efforts to sensationalize Adams' purported fraud, Adams was handily reelected. Meanwhile, Lincoln's case against Adams languished in court, and Adams retained title to the land until his death in 1843. Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln 93658.

Provenance:

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California