Abraham Lincoln wrote this short note pertaining to Rev. Ralph R. Gurley, the longtime secretary of the American Colonization Society, and entrusting him with a deposit of $200 from the government’s colonization fund. Lincoln’s authorization likely subsidized an investigative journey to Liberia by Chauncey Leonard, an African-American minister based in Washington, D.C.
TRANSCRIPT:
Executive Mansion
Washington Janry 30, 1863
Hon. Secretary of the Interior,
Rev. R.R. Gurley, Corresponding Secretary of the American Colonization Society, is authorized to draw two hundred dollars of the fund placed under my control for colonization purposes upon leaving his voucher for it, and afterwards accounting for the use he makes of it.
A. Lincoln