Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 6 [Dec. 13, 1862-Nov. 3, 1863].

About this Item

Title: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 6 [Dec. 13, 1862-Nov. 3, 1863].
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.
Link to this Item: http://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln6
Cite this Item: "Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 6 [Dec. 13, 1862-Nov. 3, 1863]." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln6. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 17, 2024.

Pages

To Salmon P. Chase1Jump to section

Executive Mansion, Washington,
Hon. Secretary of the Treasury: March 2, 1863.

My Dear Sir: After much reflection, and with a good deal of pain that it is adverse to your wish, I have concluded that it is not best to renominate Mr. Howard, for collector of internal revenue, at Hartford, Connecticut. Senator Dixon, residing at Hartford, and Mr. Loomis, representative of the district, join in recommending Edward Goodman for the place, and, so far, no one has presented a different name. I will thank you, therefore, to send me a nomination, at once, for Mr. Goodman. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.

Annotation

[1] Robert B. Warden, Account of the Private Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase (1874), p. 524. Mark Howard's appointment as collector of internal revenue for the First District in Connecticut had been opposed by Senator James Dixon, with the result that the Senate rejected the appointment on February 26. Chase replied on March 2:

``This morning I received your note directing me to send the nomination proposed by Mr. Dixon & Mr. [Dwight] Loomis & was about replying to it, when the Senator called & we talked the matter over. The result of our conversation was an agreement to call on you as soon as practicable and submit the matter to you for further consideration. I do not insist on the renomination of Mr. Howard and Mr. Dixon & Mr. Loomis, as I understand, do not claim the nomination of his successor.

``I shall be glad if this shall prove acceptable to you. My only object---and I think you so understand it---is to secure fit men for responsible places, without

Return

Page 123

admitting the right of Senators or Representatives to control appointments for which the President & the Secretary as his presumed adviser must be responsible. Unless this principle can be practically established I feel that I cannot be useful to you or the country in my present position.'' (DLC-RTL).

On March 9, Welles' Diary records, ``Had a call from Senator Dixon. Is depressed and unhappy. Regrets that he opposed the confirmation of Howard. Says if the subject was to be gone over again his course would be different. . . . He proposed several names for the place. I had no other candidate than my old friend James G. Bolles, and he, though naming two or three others, fell in with it.'' The appointment of James G. Bolles was confirmed by the Senate on March 12.