Stephen A. Douglas Signs Promissory Note to School Commissioner
Stephen A. Douglas
Jacksonville, IL, July 9, 1836
Stephen A. Douglas Signs Promissory Note to School Commissioner
Partially printed DS
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, Partially Printed Document Signed, Note to John T. Jones, July 9, 1836, Jacksonville, Illinois. Also signed by Joseph Heslep and James L. James. 1 p., 7.375" x 6.5". Expected fold; light toning; very good.
Attorney Stephen A. Douglas, then spelling his surname with two s's, signed this promissory note, along with Joseph Heslep and James L. James, promising to pay the School Commissioner $212.50 at 12 percent interest.
Just over a month after Douglas signed this note, Abraham Lincoln wrote to the Morgan County School Commissioner, seeking payment for surveying a section of land for the schools. Lincoln wrote on August 22, "Something more than a year ago, at the request of the trustees, I surveyed Sec. 16 Town 19. Range 8, being in your county. As yet, I have been paid nothing for it. Will you be so good as to get my claim allowed at the September term of the County Commissioner's Court?" The Land Ordinance of 1785 reserved the sixteenth section of every township to support public schools within the township. In 1818, when Congress allowed the Illinois Territory to become a state, it granted to every township in the state the proceeds of the sale of land in each township's Section 16, which became known as the common school fund.
This promissory note may have been for the purchase of a part of section 16 of Township 17 North, Range 9 West.
Complete Transcript
One year after the date hereof, we Joseph Heslep James L. James and Stephen A. Douglass jointly and severally promise to pay JOHN T. JONES, School Commissioner and agent for the inhabitants of the county of Morgan, for the use of the inhabitants of Township Number 17 North, Range 9 West, Two Hundred and twelve 50/100 Dollars, value received, and interest thereon, at the rate of twelve per cent. per annum from this date till paid—payable semi-annually in advance, and in case additional security be required for the payment of said sum of money or any part thereof, the same shall be given to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, or his successor in office. Witness our hands, at Jacksonville, this ninth day of July 1836.
Joseph Heslep
James L James
S.A. Douglass
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.
Joseph Heslep (1814-1855) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and moved with his family to Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1833. In 1849, he and at least three brothers formed the Morgan County and California Rangers of Illinois to immigrate to California. Joseph Heslep was the captain,
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Stephen A. Douglas
Jacksonville, IL, July 9, 1836
Stephen A. Douglas Signs Promissory Note to School Commissioner
Partially printed DS
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, Partially Printed Document Signed, Note to John T. Jones, July 9, 1836, Jacksonville, Illinois. Also signed by Joseph Heslep and James L. James. 1 p., 7.375" x 6.5". Expected fold; light toning; very good.
Attorney Stephen A. Douglas, then spelling his surname with two s's, signed this promissory note, along with Joseph Heslep and James L. James, promising to pay the School Commissioner $212.50 at 12 percent interest.
Just over a month after Douglas signed this note, Abraham Lincoln wrote to the Morgan County School Commissioner, seeking payment for surveying a section of land for the schools. Lincoln wrote on August 22, "Something more than a year ago, at the request of the trustees, I surveyed Sec. 16 Town 19. Range 8, being in your county. As yet, I have been paid nothing for it. Will you be so good as to get my claim allowed at the September term of the County Commissioner's Court?" The Land Ordinance of 1785 reserved the sixteenth section of every township to support public schools within the township. In 1818, when Congress allowed the Illinois Territory to become a state, it granted to every township in the state the proceeds of the sale of land in each township's Section 16, which became known as the common school fund.
This promissory note may have been for the purchase of a part of section 16 of Township 17 North, Range 9 West.
Complete Transcript
One year after the date hereof, we Joseph Heslep James L. James and Stephen A. Douglass jointly and severally promise to pay JOHN T. JONES, School Commissioner and agent for the inhabitants of the county of Morgan, for the use of the inhabitants of Township Number 17 North, Range 9 West, Two Hundred and twelve 50/100 Dollars, value received, and interest thereon, at the rate of twelve per cent. per annum from this date till paid—payable semi-annually in advance, and in case additional security be required for the payment of said sum of money or any part thereof, the same shall be given to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, or his successor in office. Witness our hands, at Jacksonville, this ninth day of July 1836.
Joseph Heslep
James L James
S.A. Douglass
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.
Joseph Heslep (1814-1855) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and moved with his family to Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1833. In 1849, he and at least three brothers formed the Morgan County and California Rangers of Illinois to immigrate to California. Joseph Heslep was the captain,
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