Stephen A. Douglas
Springfield, IL, December 14, 1839
Attorney Stephen A. Douglas Endorses Writ Against His Client in Illinois Court
AES

STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, Autograph Endorsement Signed, on William Butler, Partially Printed Document Signed, Writ of Fieri Facias, to Sheriff, December 14, 1839, Springfield, Illinois 2 pp., 7.75" x 12.5". Expected folds; general toning; separation on one fold repaired on verso with tape.

Attorney Stephen A. Douglas, then spelling his surname "Douglass," endorsed this writ of fieri facias to the sheriff of Sangamon County. The writ from the clerk of the Sangamon County Circuit Court ordered the sheriff to seize enough of the property of the defendant Albert Crowder (1816-1846) to pay the $10 judgment that the judge had awarded to the People of the State of Illinois against Crowder. Douglas's endorsement in pencil explained that the defendant had to pay all of the fee bills against him.

Excerpt
"WE command you, that of the Goods and chattels, lands and tenements of Albert Crowder late of your County, you cause to be made the sum of Ten dollars and —— cents, which The People of the State of Illinois lately in our Circuit Court of Sangamon County, hath recovered against him for Damages with legal interest thereon from the 30th day of November in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and 39 until paid...."

[Douglas endorsement:]
"According to the decision of Judge Treat the deft Crowder is required to pay all of the Fee Bills against him after deducting four dollars & fifty cents
S. A. Douglass / Atty for Deft
To Mr Crowder"

Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861) was born in Vermont, and his father died when he was a few months old. After attending Canandaigua Academy in western New York, he began to teach school and study law. In 1833, Douglas migrated to Illinois and settled in Jacksonville, where he was admitted to the bar in 1834. As a Democrat, Douglas served in the Illinois House of Representatives (1836-1837), as Register of the U.S. General Land Office in Springfield (1837-1838), as Illinois Secretary of State (1840-1841), and as associate justice of the Illinois Supreme Court (1841-1843). Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, he served from 1843 to 1847, when he became one of Illinois' U.S. Senators, a position he held until his death. He became a leader in the U.S. Senate, and his sponsorship of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and popular sovereignty in the U.S. territories drew the opposition of fellow Illinoisan Abraham Lincoln. Their series of debates in 1858, when Lincoln tried to unseat Senator Douglas, drew national attention to both men. In 1860, southern opposition to Douglas as the Democratic nominee for president divided the Democrats, allowing Abraham Lincoln to win a plurality of the votes and a majority in the electoral college. Douglas strongly supported the Union and urged compromise to avert secession before dying of typhoid fever in June 1861.

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