Supreme Court, in Booth & Martin v. Rives, overrules motion Lincoln filed January 9, 1856. Record.

Lincoln and forty-eight others sign a petition requesting that Illinois Governor Joel Matteson pardon James H. Lee, of Springfield. At the November 1855, term of the Sangamon County Circuit court, Lee pleaded guilty to grand larceny for the theft of $26. The court sentenced Lee to one year in the state penitentiary. The petitioners note, "[A]lthough . . . Lee may have been guilty of taking the sum of money alledged . . . we believe that it was the first time he was ever guilty of a crime & we sincerly think he has determined & will be an honest & upright man in future."Petition for Pardon of James H. Lee, 21 January 1856, CW, 2:329-30.

[Lee is pardoned three days later. Photocopy.]