Lincoln, Abraham, sixteenth President

Autograph endorsement signed ("A.L."), Washington, D.C., 8 February 1864, on the blank verso of a letter from Jonathan D. Defrees, 2 pages (9 1/4 x 7 1/4 in.; 235 x 185 mm), Washington, 7 February 1864, asking for Lincoln's intervention with Congress to push through the thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery. Matted, double-glazed, and framed with a portrait of Lincoln.

Forbes Collection (sale, Christie's, 15 November 2005, lot 100)

Autograph endorsement signed ("A.L."), Washington, D.C., 8 February 1864, on the blank verso of a letter from Jonathan D. Defrees, 2 pages (9 1/4 x 7 1/4 in.; 235 x 185 mm), Washington, 7 February 1864, asking for Lincoln's intervention with Congress to push through the thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery. Matted, double-glazed, and framed with a portrait of Lincoln.
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Confident of Congress's progress on the question of passing the thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery, Lincoln declines to intervene. He comments: "Our own friends have this under consideration now, and will do as much without a message or with it."  Republican Congressman from Indiana, John D. Defrees, makes an impassioned plea to the President to take the lead in the matter of abolishing slavery: "[S]end a message to Congress recommending the passage of a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution forever prohibiting slavery in the States and territories ... It would be your measure and would be passed by a two thirds vote, and, eventually, three fourths of the States, through their Legislatures, would consent to it ... If not done very soon the proposition will be presented by the Democracy and claimed by them as their proposition. ... Is it not right in itself and the best way to end slavery? It would have a beneficial influence on our elections in the fall. ... I think it a great move on the political chess board." On 11 January 1864, Senator John B. Henderson of Missouri  submitted a joint resolution for a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery. Abolition of slavery was historically associated with Republicans but Henderson was a Democrat. Lincoln's cool and collected response on 8 February might be explained by the fact that on that very day Charles Sumner (Republican, Massachusetts) went one step further than the Democrats on the "chess board" by presenting a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery as well as guarantee equality.

The Senate passed the amendment on 8 April 1864 but two months later on 15 June it failed to reach a two-thirds majority in the House. It was only then that President Lincoln actively worked for its passage by ensuring that the amendment was added to the Republican Party platform for the 1864 presidential election. It was finally passed by the House on 31 January 1865 and adopted on 6 December 1865, becoming the first of three Reconstruction Amendments, and the first amendment to be adopted in more than sixty years. It was followed by the Fourteenth Amendment (civil rights in the states) in 1868, and the Fifteenth Amendment (which banned racial voting restrictions) in 1870.