Thursday, February 25, 1858.Springfield,
IL. | Lincoln responds to Mark Carley, who apparently asked
Lincoln to speak to Illinois Governor William Henry Bissell about installing
Carley as a county judge. In November 1857, Carley ran for the office of county
judge in Champaign County amid questions about whether or not he met the
minimum residency requirements. Lincoln writes that he spoke to Governor
Bissell "to day." Lincoln explains, "[H]e thinks you had no legal residence in
the precinct when you were elected; clearly you were not entitled to
vote in the precinct, and therefore he thinks you could not be
lawfully voted for in it." Abraham Lincoln to
Mark Carley, 25 February 1858, CW, 10:28; Our
Constitution (Urbana, IL), 7 November 1857, 2:1-3. |