Baltimore delegation of public men calls on President and asks that J. L. Ridgely be reinstated as collector of internal revenue. Memorandum: Removal of James L. Ridgely, 17 December 1863, CW, 7:75-76.

President transmits to Senate convention between U.S. and Great Britain relative to claims of Hudson's Bay and Puget's Sound Agricultural Companies. Abraham Lincoln to the Senate, 17 December 1863, CW, 7:76.

Submits to Congress proposition for establishing "Bureau of Emancipation" as proposed by Freedmen's Aid Societies. Abraham Lincoln to the Senate and House of Representatives, 17 December 1863, CW, 7:76-77.

Justices of Supreme Court pay their annual visit to President. Washington Chronicle, 19 December 1863.

Benjamin P. Moore, Jr., introduced by Cong. Edwin H. Webster (Md.), interviews President and asks exemption from draft as conscientious objector. President gives him card to Sec. Stanton . Moore to Lincoln, 18 December 1863, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Visits Ford's Theatre to see Shakespeare's comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor with James H. Hackett as Falstaff. Hay, Letters and Diary.

Introduces Joshua F. Speed and Joshua Tevis, of Kentucky, to Thurlow Weed, "and I think their mission an important one." Abraham Lincoln to Thurlow Weed, 17 December 1863, CW, 7:77.

Lincoln writes James H. Hoes, jeweler of Chicago: "I have received from the Sanitary Commission of Chicago, the Watch which you placed at their disposal, and I take the liberty of conveying to you my high appreciation of your humanity and generosity, of which I have unexpectedly become the beneficiary." [Lincoln received watch for gift of draft of Emancipation Proclamation to Northwest Sanitary Fair, where it sold for $3,000, making him largest individual contributor and award winner.] Abraham Lincoln to James H. Hoes, 17 December 1863, CW, 7:75.