Lincoln, Abraham. Manuscript document signed as President, 21 July 1862....

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Lincoln, Abraham. Manuscript document signed as President, 21 July 1862. Manuscript document signed ("Abraham Lincoln") as President, 1 page (7.75 x 9.75 in.; 197 x 248 mm.), on lined stationery, [no place], 21 July 1862, being the appointment of Samuel Freeman Miller as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Docketed on integral overleaf, "Allotment to 9th Circuit By the President". Professionally reinforced on verso at folds. Abraham Lincoln appoints Samuel F. Miller as a Supreme Court Justice. Lincoln writes in full: Whereas Samuel F. Miller has been appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since the last term of that Court, and no allotment has been made by said Court since his appointment and whereas there is no allotment of any Justice of said Court to the Ninth Judicial Circuit Now therefore I Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States do hereby allot said Justice Samuel F. Miller to said Ninth Judicial Circuit with full power and authority to hold the Circuit Court in Said Circuit until another allotment shall be made. Given under my hand as President of the United States this 21st day of July A.D. 1862 Abraham Lincoln Lincoln's second appointment to the Supreme Court, Samuel Miller, was the first Justice born west of the Appalachians, the first to live west of the Mississippi, and the first to serve, concurrently, the newly-reconfigured Ninth Judicial Circuit, comprised of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Missouri, the old Ninth (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi) having seceded. This document, in accordance with the Judiciary Act of 1789 - by whose terms each Justice was required to "ride circuit," as part of his appointment to the Supreme Court - names Associate Justice Miller, Justice of the Ninth Circuit Court. Miller moved from his home state of Kentucky to Keokuk, in Iowa, a state more amenable to his views on slavery. Active in Hawkeye politics, he supported Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Lincoln nominated Miller to the Supreme Court on 16 July 1862. His reputation was so high that Miller was confirmed half an hour after the Senate received notice of his nomination. His opinions strongly favored Lincoln's positions, and he upheld his wartime suspension of habeas corpus and trials by military commission. Justice Miller wrote more opinions than any other Supreme Court Justice, leading future Chief Justice William Rehnquist to describe him as "very likely the dominant figure" on the Court in his time. Together with: Lincoln, Abraham. Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, 1 page (5 x 8 in.; 127 x 203 mm.), on "Executive Mansion, Washington" stationery, 16 July 1862, written to Hon. Attorney General - Edward Bates. Fine condition. Abraham Lincoln requests Attorney General Edward Bates for nominations of Samuel F. Miller as a Justice of the Supreme Court and Connally Trigg for District Judge in Tennessee. Lincoln writes in full: Sir: Please send me nominations, of Samuel F. Miller, of Iowa, as a Justice of the Supreme Court, for the Circuit in which Iowa is included; and of Trigg (you have his first name) for District Judge in Tennessee. Yours truly A. Lincoln Connally Findlay Trigg (1810 - 1880) was born in Abingdon, Virginia. A Whig, he ran for Congress in 1855, but was defeated by Democratic incumbent, Fayette McMullen. Following his defeat in the congressional election, Trigg moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he entered into private practice in partnership with Oliver Perry Temple. Trigg largely avoided Knoxville politics until the secession crisis intensified in the weeks following the election of President Abraham Lincoln. During this crisis, Trigg remained a steadfast supporter of the Union. On 16 July 1862, Trigg was nominated by President Lincoln to a joint appointment to the United States District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Tennessee, all vacated by West H. Humphreys, who had joined the Confederate judiciary. Trigg was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on 17 July 1862, and received his commission the same day. Trigg's service to the Western District was terminated by operation of law on 14 June 1878, with his assignment being reduced to the remaining districts. Trigg served on the Middle and Eastern districts until his death in 1880 in Bristol, Tennessee.