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

1 p.; 5 x 8 in. (127 x 203 mm); creasing from old folds; a few letters smudged, including the "A" of Lincoln's name. Docketed on verso: "Recd. on the within Note one hundred and twenty five dollars this the 19 day of October 1833", and endorsed by Reuben Radford on same ("R Radford").

ONE OF THE EARLIEST EXTANT DOCUMENTS IN LINCOLN'S HAND, RELATING TO THE OPENING OF HIS GENERAL STORE.

In 1833, Lincoln was only twenty-four years old, recently discharged from serving in the Black Hawk War, and defeated in his first run for political office. Ambitious to rise above his frontier origins, but unsure about the direction of his future, he considered his next steps. He thought of becoming a blacksmith, but was wary of a life of physical labor, and he also considered pursuing the law, but being self-taught, Lincoln believed he needed a better, and more formal, education. It was during this period of uncertainty that James and John Rowan Herndon decided to sell their general store in New Salem, one of the town's three country stores. In the summer of 1832, William F. Berry, a corporal in Lincoln's company in the Black Hawk War, bought one-half share of the store, while Lincoln, who was boarding with John Rowan Herndon, bought the other half.

Reuben Radford was one of Lincoln and Berry's two competitors in New Salem, having opened his own store in 1831. Following a drunken altercation with the Clary's Grove Boys gang in January 1833, who destroyed his property, Radford despairingly sold everything to William Green, for $400. On 15 January 1833, Green sold the store and merchandise to Lincoln and Berry for $750. They paid $265 cash and assumed the payment of two notes Green had used to facilitate the purchase from Radford (and which was secured with a mortgage on Green's property in New Salem). By October 19, the notes had matured, and Lincoln, Berry, and Green signed the above note, totaling $379, payable to Radford, and due the following day.

Before their payment became due, Lincoln and Berry had set up shop in Radford's old premises and stocked the store’s shelves with a variety of goods and merchandise. Despite their efforts, neither man had a knack for properly running the business, and through a combination of lending credit too easily and investing poorly, they became seriously overextended and sank deeper and deeper into debt. This was exacerbated by Berry's heavy drinking and Lincoln's penchant for reading and telling anecdotes on the job, instead of tending to the store's many responsibilities. Critically, these problems were compounded by New Salem's dwindling growth, which left many of its residents without money to pay for their goods. As a result, the business floundered, and as Lincoln lamented later, in only a short period of time, it “winked out.”

Radford had apparently sensed that these men may not be good for the money, and sold part of his debt to a Dutch money-lender, Peter Van Bergen. Because of their financial troubles, Lincoln and Berry failed to pay Van Bergen, who then sued them in the spring of 1834 to recover the debt. A judge ruled in Van Bergen's favor for $204.82, with an additional $18.42 in damages. Unable to pay the judgment, the court subsequently auctioned Lincoln's surveying equipment, saddle, and bridle (James Short, a friend of Lincoln's, kindly purchased and returned to him).

The debt from this failed business venture was worsened by Berry's death in January 1835, when Lincoln then became accountable for Berry's share. Overall, Lincoln’s debt from this period totaled over $1,100, with this note representing the largest portion. Lincoln would jokingly refer to this as his “national debt", and it followed him well into the 1840s. It wasn’t until 1848–while Lincoln was serving as a United States Congressman for Illinois—that he was able to pay it off in full.

This very early document represents one of Lincoln's first efforts to forge his own path as a young man, and it is among the earliest autograph documents signed by him to appear at auction in nearly 40 years. Basler I, p. 20 ("Legal document owned by William H. Townsend, Lexington, Kentucky. The praecipe filed by Stuart and Dummer on April 7, 1834, in Peter Van Bergen v. Berry, Lincoln, and Green, contains a copy of the note. The original has not been identified"); The Papers of Abraham Lincoln Digital Library D200025; Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln 125928; see Pratt, The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 12-13

Provenance:

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California

Exhibition:

The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America, at the Huntington Library, October 1993-August 1994