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Abraham Lincoln,
President of the United States of America,
To His Excellency
Senor Don Jesus Jimenez,
President of the Republic of Costa Rica.
Great and Good Friend: I have received the letter which you addressed to me on the 8th. ultimo, informing me of your Excellency's elevation to the Presidency of the Republic by the free
suffrages of your fellow-citizens and offering to me assurances of your desire to cultivate the relations established between our respective Governments.
I congratulate your Excellency upon this token of the confidence of the People of Costa Rica in your sagacity and statesmanship, and feel satisfied that the trust conferred upon you will be discharged for the best interests of that Republic. It shall be my constant endeavor so to conduct the relations between our respective countries as to strengthen the good understanding which now happily subsists.
I pray your Excellency to accept the assurances of my earnest wishes for your personal happiness and for the prosperity of Costa Rica.
And so commending you to the care of the Almighty I remain Your Excellency's Good Friend, ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
Washington, June 11, 1863.
[1] Copy, DNA FS RG 59, Communications to Foreign Sovereigns and States, III, 209-10.