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March 24, '68
note to Mr. Binckley & answer
Attorney
General's Office.
Washington.
181
My Dear Sir,
Your wishes2 admit of easy compliance, since Mr
Browning3 has resolved to make a vacancy of the post of
pardon clerk and the opportunity will not be lost to add in the professional force
of the office—my brother has consented to take the place, for law labor, the
pending matters to be helped out by the aid of some one of the clerks, under his
supervision.
Yours Truly
John M Binckley
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Correspondent:
John M. Binckley served as assistant U.S. Attorney
General during the tenure of U.S. Attorney General Henry Stanbery
(1866–1868). Binckley died in 1878, of apparent suicide.
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed: W
Whitman Esq. [back]
- 2. This letter was Binckley's response to
Whitman's letter of the same day, March 24, 1868,
in which Whitman asserted his desire to remain in the role of Record
Clerk rather than be considered for a post as pardon clerk. [back]
- 3. Orville Hickman Browning (1806–1881) completed
the unexpired term of Senator Stephen A. Douglas after Douglas's death in 1861. Defeated for
re-election in 1862, Browning established a law firm in Washington, and later actively
supported President Andrew Johnson, who appointed him Secretary of the Interior
in 1866. After the resignation of Henry Stanbery (1803–1881), Browning was
appointed Acting Attorney General on March 12, 1868. At the conclusion of
Johnson's administration, Browning returned to private law practice. [back]