Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana

Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 2194.  Lincoln, Abraham. Autograph legal manuscript, 1852.

Lincoln, Abraham. Autograph legal manuscript, 1852

Auction Closed

January 27, 09:56 PM GMT

Estimate

3,500 - 5,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM


AN UNSIGNED LEGAL MANUSCRIPT, INSTRUCTING JURORS IN A PERJURY CASE


1 page (9 1/2 x 7 5/8 in.; 240 x mm) on a sheet of blue-ruled paper, 1852; some toning. Matted and framed; not examined out of frame. 


"The court instruct the jury..." Lincoln's directions to a jury during a perjury trial


On 16 April 1852, the case was tried in Metamora, Illinois, and presided over by Judge David Davis, who was a United States Senator, and a friend of attorney Abraham Lincoln. In the present document, Lincoln requests that the court instruct the jury: "That if they believe the affidavit of Johnson, was in fact false, still they cannot properly convict him, unless they also believe he made it, knowingly or believing it to be false, at the time he made it..." Johnson was ultimately acquitted. 


Later, Davis would serve as serve as Lincoln's campaign manager at the 1860 Republican National Convention, ultimately helping to engineer his nomination. 


LITERATURE:

The Lincoln Log (http://www.thelincolnlog.org/ accessed 14 December 2019)