Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 5 [Oct. 24, 1861-Dec. 12, 1862].

About this Item

Title: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 5 [Oct. 24, 1861-Dec. 12, 1862].
Author: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
Publication: New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press; 1953.
Rights/Permissions: The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes, with permission from their copyright holder. If you decide to use any of these materials, you are responsible for making your own legal assessment and securing any necessary permission.
Cite this Item: "Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 5 [Oct. 24, 1861-Dec. 12, 1862]." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln5. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 19, 2024.

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To the Senate and House of Representatives1Jump to section

April 18, 1862.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a correspondence between the Secretary of State and Benjamin E. [H.] Brewster, of Philadelphia, relative to the arrest, in the city, of Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War, at the suit of Pierce Butler, for trespass, vi et armis, assault and battery, and false imprisonment.

Washington, April 18, 1862. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Annotation

[1] Thirty-seventh Congress, Second Session, Senate Executive Document No. 43. The correspondence between Cameron's attorney, Benjamin H. Brewster, and Secretary Seward, April 16 and 18, 1862, was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary in each house. Pierce Butler of Philadelphia, a South Carolinian by birth and a secession sympathizer who was accused of accepting a Confederate commission, was arrested August 15, 1861, on Secretary Cameron's order, and imprisoned at Fort Lafayette from August 20 to September 24, 1861, when he was released on pledge that he would do no act hostile to the U.S. and would not visit South Carolina without a passport from the Department of

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State. Butler brought suit against Cameron as a ``result of consultation among the Breckinridge leaders, who intend to divide and conquer your administration, and thus bring themselves into power. The Governor of Penna. has directed his law adviser to examine our constitution and laws, with the determination avert the proceedings, if he can do so---but I apprehend Congress only can apply the proper remedy. . . .'' (Cameron to Lincoln, April 17, 1862, DLC-RTL). The case was dropped before coming to trail.