Lot 385

Stephen A. Douglas Endorses Warrant for His Pay as Illinois Secretary of State

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Stephen A. Douglas Endorses Warrant for His Pay as Illinois Secretary of State

Estimate: $400 - $500

Starting Bid: $140

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June 17, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Live Auction
Wilton, CT, US

Description:

Stephen Douglas
Springfield, IL, March 2, 1841
Stephen A. Douglas Endorses Warrant for His Pay as Illinois Secretary of State
AES

STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, Autograph Endorsement Signed, on James Shields, Partially Printed Document Signed, Pay Warrant to Stephen A. Douglass, March 2, 1841, Springfield, Illinois. 1 p., 8.75" x 3.5". Bold signature; small holes from cancellation with minimal effect on text.

This pay warrant from Illinois Auditor of Public Accounts James Shields paid Secretary of State Stephen A. Douglas, then spelling his surname with two s's, his salary for the quarter ending February 28, 1841. Douglass held the position of Illinois Secretary of State from November 30, 1840, to February 14, 1841, when the state legislature appointed him to the Illinois Supreme Court. Milton Carpenter (1808-1848), the recently elected state treasurer, also signed the pay warrant.

James Shields, who signed this pay warrant as State Auditor, famously challenged Abraham Lincoln to a duel over an anonymous article Lincoln had written for a local newspaper. In September 1842, Lincoln and Shields traveled to an island in the Mississippi River that was part of Missouri (where dueling was legal). As the challenged party, Lincoln could choose the weapons. He selected cavalry broadswords, which favored the long-limbed Lincoln, who was seven inches taller than Shields. When they reached the island, their friends arranged to dampen the conflict and avoid the duel between Shields and Lincoln.

Excerpt
"Cashier of the —— State Bank of Illinois, pay to S A Douglass or order, the sum of One hundred Eighty three dollars and thirty four cents, it being in full for his salary as Secy of State for final quarter ending 28th Feby 1841
Jas Shields / Auditor of Public Accounts
M. Carpenter Treasurer."

[Douglas endorsement:]
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.

James Shields (1806-1879) was born in Ireland and moved to the United States in 1827. A year later, he settled in Kaskaskia, Illinois, where he studied law and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1832. Voters elected Shields as a Democrat to the state legislature in 1836, and that same year, he became auditor for the State of Illinois. As auditor, Shields helped to restore the finances of the state after the Panic of 1837, but the Whigs were critical of his efforts. In response to anonymous charges made in the Sangamo Journal by Abraham Lincoln and Lincoln's fiancée, Mary Todd, Shields challenged Lincoln to a duel in 1842. The two men traveled to an island in the Mississippi River that was part of Missouri (where dueling was not illegal), but negotiations and explanations averted an actual duel. In 1843, Governor Thomas Ford appointed Shields to the Illinois Supreme Court. He held that position for two years but resigned to accept an appointment as the commissioner of the General Land Office in Washington, DC. With the outbreak of the Mexican War, Shields resigned as commissioner to become a brigadier general of Illinois volunteers. In 1849, the legislature elected Shields as U.S. Senator from Illinois. In 1855, Shields lost his bid for reelection to Lyman Trumbull, and he moved to the Minnesota Territory. After Minnesota achieved statehood, Shields was elected as one of its U.S. Senators. After his term expired, he moved to San Francisco, California, and then to Mexico. When the Civil War began, Shields became a brigadier general and campaigned in the Shenandoah Valley. In 1863, he resigned his commission and returned to San Francisco, where he accepted an appointment as railroad commissioner. Three years later, Shields moved to Carrollton, Missouri, and reentered politics. In 1879, he was elected to fill out an unexpired term in the U.S. Senate and became the only person to have been a U.S. Senator from three different states.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 8.75" x 3.5"
  • Medium: AES

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