Appointment document signed twice by Lincoln as President and countersigned by Salmon P. Chase as Secretary of the Treasury.

LINCOLN, Abraham.

Published by Washington, DC: 28 July 1862

About this Item

Lincoln appoints Lawrence White Coe collector of federal taxes for the State of Oregon. In August 1861, Congress passed a new direct tax to fund the Civil War. Oregon's share was $35,000, seven eighths of the state's annual revenue (Bancroft, p. 640). The measure marked both a substantial expansion of federal taxation and a wartime extension of presidential patronage through the appointment of tax officers. Oregon had become a state in 1859. Coe (1831-1897), resident in Wasco County, had opened steam navigation on the upper Columbia River with the stern-wheeler Colonel Wright, which was contracted to carry army supplies to Fort Walla Walla. His father, Nathaniel Coe, had been appointed by President Fillmore as the first postal agent in the Northwest. Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1888. Printed document with manuscript additions (281 x 434 mm), embossed seal of the US Treasury. Presented in a wooden frame with conservation acrylic glazing (555 x 425 cm). Minor chipping at extremities, tape residue on verso from former framing, minor soiling and light spotting. In very good condition.

Seller Inventory # 190938

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Appointment document signed twice by Lincoln as President and countersigned by Salmon P. Chase as Secretary of the Treasury.
• Publisher: Washington, DC: 28 July 1862